The Daily state journal. [volume] (Alexandria, Va.) 1868-1874, 1872-07-09

and Vice-President, for whom they solici
the sutfrages of the Democratic and Con
sentative voters ofthis great Republic.
AT our last National Convention on thu
4h of July, 1865, | predicted that the cleo
ton of General Grant would result in tn,
gradual usurpation of all the functions o
the government by the Executive, and b,
Congress, to be enforced by the bayonet,
of a military despotism. The vast majority
OF the people of the United States have wit
messed with griefand sorrow the correctness
ofthe prediction and they look forward with
fear and apprehension to the dangers which
are threatening us, if by the reelection
of General Grant, the policy thus far pur.
sued by the Radical party be continued.
The thinking men of both parties have be.
come alive to the fact that we are now liv.
ing under a military dcspotism overriding
the civil authority in many States of the
Union; that by the enactment of arbitrary
and unconstitutional laws through a de-
PRAYED majority In Congress, the rights Of
these States are infringcd and trampled
upon, and that C9sarism and centraliza-
ton are undermining the very foundations
of our Federal system and are sweeping
away the constitutional bulwarks erected
by the wisdom of the fathers of the Re-
public.
"These abuses have become so glaring
that the wisest and best men of the Re-
publican party have severed themselves
from the Radical wing, which is trying to
fast enupon the country another four year.,
reign of corruption u%surpation and despot-
ism, and whatever individual opinions we
may entertain as to the choice of the cam
didate whom they have selected in opposi-
ton to General Grant, there cannot be any
doubt OF the patriotic impulses which die
tated their action, nor can any fault be
found with the platform of principles upon
which they have placed their candidates.
The Resolutions of the Cincinnati Con-
vention are what the country require, and
they must command the hearty support of
every patriot Throughout the vast extent of
our land. In the struggle which is before
us we must look to principles and not men,
and | trust that no personal prediction OF
~prejudices will deter us from doing our duty
to the American people.
General Grant has been a good and
faithful soldier during our civil war. His
stubborn, indomitable courage has helped
to crown the Union arms with victory, and
the American people have rewarded his SER
vices with the most unbounded generosity.
| am willing to concede that his intentions
on taking the Presidential chair were good
and patriotic, but he has most signally and
sadly failed in the discharge of the high
trust imposed upon him by the confidence
of a grateful people. lie is at this moment
the very personilication of the misrule
ic pnnracc,pn ,,o oal IL, ,~.1oo.x.
fraught with the most deplorable conse-
quences for the welfare of the Republic, and
endangers the liberties of our people.
son the other hand, Mr.. Greeley has
been heretofore a bitter opponent of the
Democratic party, and the violent attacks
against myself individually, which have
from time to time appeared in his journal,
certainly do not entitle him to any sympa-
thy or preference at my hands; but Mr..
Greeley represents the national and consti-
tutional principles of the Cincinnati plat
and by his admirable and manly
letter of acceptance he has shown that he
is fully alive to their spirit, and that, if
he means to carry them out honest
ly and faithfully.
"Should you, therefore, in your wisdom
decide to pronounce in favor of the Cincin-
natl candidates, | shall for one most cheer
fully bury all past difference, and vote and
labor for their election with the same zeal
and energy with which | have supported
heretofore, and mean ever to support, the
of the Democratic party.
1.-The American people look with deep
to your deliberations. 1t is for
you to devise means by which to free them
from the evils under which they are suffer
ing; but in order to obtain that end you
are called upon to make every sacrifice of
party preference, however much you might
desire to fight the coming battle for our
rights and liberties under one of the trusted
leaders of the Democratic party. 1t will
your duty to discard all considera-
of party tradition, if the selection of
a good and wise man outside our own
rank offers better chances of success. You
must remember that you are here not only as
but as citizens of our common
and that no sacrifice can be too
great which..s h demands at your hands,"
MIR. Belmont, after some personal re-
nominated Thomas Jefferson Ran
of Virginia. He said: "I5 is an
suspicious omen that a scion of the author
of the Declaration of Independence is to
inaugurate the struggle OF the Democracy
for freedom and equality for every Ameri-
can citizen, and against oppression and
tyranny in our fair land.
Mr.. Randolph's Election and Acceptance.
Mr.. Randolph was elected by acclama-
tion. On taking the chair he said: | am
ware that the very great honor conferred
upon me by this body is due to no personal
merit of my own, but is a token of respect
TO the State from which | come, and is a
recognition of other circumstances, possibly
adventurous. | ann perhaps the oldest
member of this body, and a life of eighty
years spent in the Democratic Republican
party constitutes me a senior member.
vi remember freshly every Presidential
contest from the first election of Jefferson
to the present time, and | can say with
truth that | remember none which involved
higher questions of personal liberty, local
self-government, honest administration and
constitutional freedom, than the present, or
n which demands of u party and our
people a calmer or more earnest recourse
to Presidential principles.
ut strikes me as the duty of this body
and of this hour, to wrest the government
from the hands of its present despotic and
corrupt holders and to place it honest
hands, to restore the citizens everywhere to
the proud c~onciousness of personal right,
and to all the states the perfect integrity OF
local self-governmcnt. This, with the recog-
milton of the supremacy of their state con-