The Charleston daily news. [volume] (Charleston, S.C.) 1865-1873, 1872-07-10

looks over he body of men, representing as
they do three million ofcitizens, aud who feel,
as every one here must feel, the high and
patriotic purpose which inspires you. Gen.
| tlemen, what means this great and rising
movement which we everywhere see What
means this proposed union of three millions
of Democratic Republicans with a million,
it may be, of Liberal Republicans What
means this union, upon common
platform, and proposed union upon the same
candidates; union 30 sudden, go compact, so
earnest as to surprise Its friends, and to con-
found lis enemies? [Applause.] Which comes
as The winds come; which, TO borrow figure,
overwhelms the ordinary currents of public
opinion, as the great storms always run to the
surface currents? What means all this, There
are some things, gentlemen, 1t does not mean.
It means no abandonment of what Is true, of
what is just, Of what ls good In human gov
ernnent. [Applause] 1t means no union of
the dead upon dead Issues; but union of the
living Issues of the present. 1t means no union
for the spoIls Of office [appause;l but 1t means
union OF men with the same faith upon the
great and paramount issues of the present
hour-a frank, manly, honorable and equal
union of men, who have the sagacity to see,
and the moral courage to accept, the sltua-
lion. [Good good and loud cheering 1t
means union of men who have the sagacity
10 see what is past and dead with the issues Of
the present, and for the future to do their duty
to their country, their God and their fellow
men. The issue OF to day ls not the repeal
of the Missouri Compromise, nor the ques-
ton of slavery In the Territories, upon
which alone the Republican party was
organized In 1856. 1t Is not upon that
which followed when the Lecompton con-
stitutlon for Kansas divided the Demo-
cratic party In twain and elected Abraham
Lincoln to the Presidency in 1860. It Is not
the question of secession nor of war to put
down rebellion, nor the abolition of slavery In
the States by military order or by constitu
tional amendment, upon which Mr.. Lincoln
was reelected In 1864; nor yet is 1t the question
of reconstruction, or OF the fourteenth or
fifteenth amendments; nor the question of ne
gro suffrage; nor the establishment by federal
power of universal negro suffrage, as condl.
ton precedent to the States of the South
having any rights, or any existence even as
States In the Unioa. 1t is none of these ques-
tons that is now In Issue. All OF these have
been issues of the past; great Issues, sufficient
in themselves to create and dissolve political
parties because ideas are stronger than men
hnf fhau
have been fought out ann fought to the end,
10 the forum or In the field, and they are no
more In issue to-day than the Mexican war or
the far-off rebellion. [Appause] We could
not reopen them II We would, and they falsely
mlsrepresent our purpose who cay that we
would reopen them If we could. This great
union, therefore, means no step backward.
TCheera.l Forward Is the word. Loud
cheers And, first of all, 1t means to day, TOR
all the other States OF the South, what 1t has
already done in Missouri. Instead OF proscrlp-
ton, test oath, suspension OF habeas corpus
and military despotism. 1t means personal free
dom ior the Individual and Republican good
for all. loud applause.l Instead OF negro
supremacy, upheld by the prescription and
The bayonet, 1t means equal rights to all men,
white as we'll as black. LOUD applause ]
Instead of thlevlDg governments, organized
to pluuder 1sub]ugated States, 1t means the
dominance of intelligence and integ flty.
Instead OF strife, hate and robbery, 1t means
Justice, liberty, peace, loyalty and goodwill;
aud, gentlemen, for our whole country, East,
It
Instead Of War President, trained only
in military school, and whose
whole character has been formed In the
ldras, arts, habits and despotlsm Of
military life; instead of this, 1t means the
election of q Peace.Presldent. [Cheers.l
Trained in the ideas, arts. blessings and Re-
publican simplicity of peace and universal
freedom. loud cheers.l OF peace, not en-
chained. OF liberty, not under arrest, await
ing trial, sentence and execution by drum-head
court.martlal, but that liberty and peace
which the Constitution secures by placing the
civil law above ths sword. Loud applause !
By preserving in full vigor the sacred writ Of
habeas corpus, and by the right OF trial
by Jury. [Applause.l 1t means another
thing, and perhaps the most Important OF
them all-it means to arrest the Capitalization
OF power In the Federal Government. Loud
cheers.l It means to assist the vital principle
of our Republican system, In which 1t moves,
aud has Its very being, that constitutions are
| made by the people In their sovereign capacl-
ty for the express purpose Of defending and
limiting the powers OF all governments, State
or National. Itmeans that we are determined
that Presidents and governors. Congress and
State Legislatures, aud every department of
the government shall obey the constitution.
Prolonged applauee.l
Mr.. DooIittls In conclusion said: Gentle.
men, 81 have thus briefly stated the situation,
the duties and the purpose which brlng US
here. great responsibility rests upon this
convention. II Its acLion shall be such as to
uut an end to this mlsrule which for the past
| few wears has afflicted our believed country,
this generation ani generations to come after
| us will remember with pride aud gratitude
the convention at Baltimore on the 9th of July,
1872"
Amid loud and long continued applause, Mr..
Doollttle took his seat.
All resolntIons were referred, without de-