Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1868-1875, 1872-07-11

4
want no Man On Horseback" Neither
do we. They want Civil Service Re-
form. So do we. They want econo-
my in the administ alton of the Govern
ment. So do we. They want to
limit the occupant of the Presidency to a
single term. So do we. They demand
amnesty. So do we. They insist that the
military shall be subordinate to the civil
power. So also do we. Upon these and
other points equally strong, and equally
important, they stand shoulder to shoulder
with us. The Cincinnati Platform is
almost an exact counterpart of the Demo-
cratic Platform of 1868. The principles
eDu1ciated are the same in both. The
only difference is in the language in which
they are expressed, and in this respect we
mike bold to say the Cincinnati Platform,
reId by the light Of Mr.. Greeley's letter
Of acceptance, is clearer, terser, more ex-
p!icit, and altogether the mora satisfactory
of the two. The Cincinnati Platform is
printed elsewhere in to-day's paper, and
herewith we print Mr.. Greeley's letter &C
eepting the Cincinnati nomination, in
which he succinctly epitomises the sub
stance of the platform:
NEW YORK, May 20, 1S72.-GENTLE-
MEN: have chosen not to acknowledge
your letter of the Sd instant until l could
learn how the work OF your convention was
received in all parts of our great country,
| and judged whether that work was approx
ed and ratified by the mass of our fellow
citizens. Their response has from day to
day reached me through kilograms, letters,
and comments Of journalists, independent
Of official patronage, and Indifferent to the
smiles or frOwns of power. The number
AMI character of these unconstrained, I'M
! purchased, unsolicited utterances satisfy me
that the movement which found expression
at Cincinnati has received the stamp of
public approval, and has been hailed by the
ma jority of our countrymen as the hardin
ger of better days for the Republic. l do
not misinterpret this approval as especially
! complimentary to myself, nor even the
! chvalrous and Justly esteemed gentlemen
with whose name thank your convention
for associating mice.
/ receive and welcome iC as a spontaneous
and deserved tribute to that admirable plat
| form of principles wherein your Convention
/ so tersely, so lucidly and so forcibly set
! forth the convictions which impelled and
! the purposes which guided its course-a
| platform which, casting behind it the wreck
and rubbish Of worn out contentious and
! by-gone feuds, embodies in fit and few
! words the needs and aspirations of to-day.
! Though thousands stand ready to condemn
your every act, hardly sy liable of criticism
or cavi has been aimed at your platform, of
which the substance may be fairly epitom-
| lied as follows:
/. All the political rights and franchises
which have been acquired through our late
| bloody CONFUSION, must and shall be guar
anteed, maintained, enjoyed and respected
| evermOre.
2. All the political rights and fran
| chises which have been lost through that
| CONFUSION should and must be promptly
restored and re-established, so that there
! shall be henceforth no prescribed class and
no DISTINGUISHED caste within the limits Of
our Union, whose long estranged people
| shall reunite and fraterniZe upon the broad
basis of universal amnesty with impartial
| suffrage.
! 3. That subject to our solemn cOnstitu-
tional obligation to maintain the equal
rights of all citizens, our policy should aim
at local Self-government, and not at central
| iZatiOn; that the civil authority should be SUI
prelne over the military; that the writ of
habeas corpus should be jealousy upheld as
| the safeguard of personal freedom; that the
! individual citizen should enjoy the largest
| liberty consistent with public order, and
that there shall be no Federal subversion of
the internal polity of the several States and
municipalities, but that each shall be left
free to enforce the rights and promote the
wel-being of the inhabitants by such means
as the judgment. of its own people shall
| prescribe.
4. There shall be a real and not merely
simulated reform in the civil service of the
republic, to which end it is Indispensable
the chief dispenser of its vast official pat ron
age shall BE- shielded from the main temp
talon TO use his power seliishly by a rule
ilexorably forbidding and precluding his
reelection.
| by tariff or otherwise, shall be recognized
and treated as the peoples immediate bust
ness, to be shaped and directed by them,
| through their representatives in Congress
whose action thereon The President must
neither overdue by his veto, attempt TO die
tate, nor presume to punish by bestowing
Office only on those who agree with him, or
withdrawing il from those who do not.
6. That the public lands must be sacred
| ly reserved for acquisition and occupation
| by cultivators, and not recklessly squander-
| ed on the projectors of railroads, for which
! our people have no present need, and the |
premature construction ofwhich is annual |
| IL plunging us into deeper and deeper
| abysses of foreign Indebtedness.
Z. That the achievement Of these grand |
purposes of universal bene6Cence is expect |
ed and sought of all who approve them, ir-
respective Of past affiliations.
s. That the public faith must at all haz-
ar Is, be maintained, and the national credit |
| be preserved.
8. That the patriotic devotedness and in !
estimable services of our fellowci liens, !
| who, as soldiers or sailors, upheld the flag |
and maintained the unity of the Republic, |
shall ever be greatly remembered and hon |
orabiy reqpited.
These propositions, so ably and torclbly |
presented in the platform of your COnven- !
t on, have already fixed the attention and |
Commanded the assent of a large majority |
of our countrymen who joyfully adopt |
| them, as | do, as the basis of true, benef- |
cent, National reconstruction, of new de. |
patufe from jealousies, strifes aud hates, |
which have no longer an adequate motive,
or even plausible pretext, into an atmos-