Rock Island Argus., 1872-08-01

| iustified 10 my hope and trust thAt the nrst
canturv of American Independence will not
close before the grand elemental truths on
vbich its riehtfulness was based by Jeffer-
\ .on and the Continental Congress Of '76 will
no longer be regarded as "glitering gener.
ali,ies,h but will have become the univer-
sally accepted and honored foundations Of
our political fabric
demand the prompt application Of those
principles to our existing condition. Hsv-
ing done what l could for the complete
emancipation of Blacks, now insist on the
full enfrAnchisement Of all my White coun-
trymen. Let none say that the ban has
ust been removed from all but few hun
dred elderly gentlemen, to whom eligibility
to office can be Of little consequence. Ny
view contemplates not the hundreds pro-
scribed but the millions who are denied the
right to be ruled aud represented BY the
men Of their unfenered choice. Proscsrip-
ton we're absurd ifthese did not wish to
elect the very men whom they are forbidden
to choose.
l have profound regard for the people OF
that New England wherein | was born, IN
whose common schools | was taught 1
rank no other people shove them In inteli-
geuce. cApaoity and moral worth. But,
while thew do many things well, and some
admirably, there is one thing which | am
apra tbey cannot wisely or safely undertake,
and thai is the selection, for States remote
from and unlike their own, OF the persons
by whom those States shall be represented
in Congress. lfthey could do this to good
purpose, then republican institutions were
unfit, and aristocrAcy the only true political
system.
Yet what have we recently witnessed
Zsbulon b. Vance, the unquestioned
choice Of a large msjority Of the
present Legislature OF North Caro-
iina-A msjority backed by q msj ority
OF the people who voted st its election-re'
fused the seatn the Federal Senate to which
be was fairly chosen, and the Legislature
!, thus constrained to choose another in hi
stead or leave the State unrepreseuted fol
; years. The votes Of New England thu
deprived North Carolina OF the Senator o
her choice, aud compelled her 10 sent
another who, in our late lntest, was, lk
Vance, rebel, aud . fighting rebel, bu
y Who had not served in Congress before lh
war AS Vance had, though the latter re
manned faithful 10 the L nioH till after tn
close Of his term. protest against III
disirauchisemen of a aS,Sts-presumPtivelJ
' of number Of States-on grounds 90 mar
row and technical as this. The fact that th
same Senate which refused Vance his sea
proceeded 10 remove bis disabilities afte
that seat had been filled by smother, onl
serves TO place in stronger light the indIg
i nifty 10 North Carolina Gnd the arbitrary
o. cApricious tyranny which dictated it.
is thank you, gentlemen, that my name is I
n be conspicuously " associated with yours in
he determined effort to render Amnesty con
plete and universal, in spiri, as well as
o. letter. Even defeat in such q cause wouI
ri leave ne suug, while triumph would ran
d. With those victories which no blood reddeI
ed aud which evoke no tears but those of graf
Us tude aud j5y.
n Gentlemen, your platform, which is al:
C. mine, assures me that Democracy IS n
henceforih TO stand for Que thing aud R
q pubiicanism for another but that thol
q terms are to mean m politics, as they alwaJ
ur have meant in the dictionary, substantia!
IT. one and the same thing-namely, Equ
n Rights, regardless of creed, or cline,
A. color. | hail this as genuine New d.
ts parture from outworn feuds and neaningle lei
ne contentious in the direction of Progress an
Reform. Whether | shall be found worth
u, to bear the standard Of the great Liber
In movement which the American People has
IN iuRugurAtsd is to be determined not
h words but deeds. With me if l stesdi
o. advance, over me if fsl.er, its grand srra
i'll moves on to achieve for our country b.
ty glorious, benehcent destiny.
ou remain, gentlemen, yours,
Id Horace GREELEY.
nd To the Hon. James r. Dooli.tle, ChAirms
To- of the convention, aud Messrs, T. Y
Sykes, John G. Msecsbs, and other
committee.