The Tiffin tribune. (Tiffin, Ohio) 1868-1887, 1872-05-09

were GEeeley men. n IellOuSLEauCo
from the men left out in the cold was
received but the ill-liberaIs paid no at
tention to it. There was trouble in
California and one man was allowed
to cast the vote, when there were two
present The Committee on Resolu-
tions had hot time over the Tariff
plank Of the platform but finally got
through a cheap article, that means
anything to everybody.
Wednesday the Liberals got ready
to work and formed temporary or
ganization by calling Stanley Mat
thews to the Chair. Judge Matthews
said:
FELLOW CITIZENS AND GENTLENEN
OF THE CONVENTION: It IS no idle
aftectatiOn on my part when / say to
you that it is impossible for me to ex-
press the deep sensibility with which
L have received this unexpected and
most distinguished mark Of your con-
sideratiOn. The honor OftempOrarily
diseharging the duties of the chair in
the preliminary organization of a
body which, believe and trust, is to
be memorable in the history of parties
and politics i'm this country, Is alto
gether undeserved, and l am alto
gether unprepared, by the suddenness
OF the invitation, to assume these du-
ties properly or TO preface them with
remarks which, under other circum-
stances, might be considered in prop
er conformity with the usual custom
and yet, nevertheless, the occasion,
the circumstances, this admirable and
wonderful presence, inspires a
thought or two, in venturing to sug-
gest which I will not, perhaps, be1
trespassing too much upon your time
and your attention.
OF course, gentlemen, it would not
be becoming or prudent in me to as
sumo, at the onset, the role of a /
prophet, for 81 am neither a prophet, /
nor the son of a prophet" and no |
man can yet tell what will be the is /
sue of your deliberations, or the re-
suit to which your conclusions may |
tend. And yet, without reference to /
the future, as to certain results with /
in the scope Of present predictions, |
there are some things which l know /
can be safely affirmed in respect to /
this convention; and the main thing /
the thing which 1 regard above all /
other things, the thing which 1 prize |
most in myself as a treasure to be
guarded and defended, and to witness
the spectacle of il in the breasts of
other mems this: That the time
has come when il is the voice Of q
large and influential portion of the
American people that they are deter
mined that they will no longer wear
the collar of a party. lApplause.
We have assembled ourselves To-
gether, gentlemen, under call lin
iting our character as Republicans, as
those who have heretofore, i'm the
divisions of party politics, been desig-
mated as members of the Republican
party. l am not ashamed, gentle
men, to have borne that name. With
thousands OF others whose party affi-
iatiOns might have led them other
wise, united, almost unconsciously
and invOluntarily, by the oYerpOwer-
ing force of public circumst .hces in
the history of the country, with the
Others who constituted that party,
rallying at the call of the country,
when the integrity of the Union was
assaIled by the spirit and arms of Sc
eession, for the purpose Of maintain
ing the integrity of the nation. That
was successfully accomplished, and
Of the past, at least, we are secure
The great achievements of that strug-
gle have been imbedded, not only in
the hearts, and the habits, and the
convictions of the whole people, but
have now become perpetually part
of our fundamental law, establishing
forever the unassailable unity of the
nation, and with it the principle of
the political equality of all citizens
before the law. [Applause.l So far,
gentlemen, as the Republican party,
under the Providence of God, We're
instrumental in accomplishing that
work, they are entitled to, and will i
receive the congratulations of this
generation and the approval of gener-
atiOns to come. Applause.
And now, then, whence this upris-
ing? If the Republican party has
done so well in the past, why not |
trust it in the future? Ah! gentle
men, I see in this assem- biage-in this
rebellion against the Republican party
the highest eulogy that can be pro-
nOuuced upon that party [applause1;
because it has sufficient consciousness
and integrity enough left to reform
itself by ITSELF [Applause.l Parties
in this country, gentlemen, can not
live on their regulations. Loud ap-
plause.l It was Sir Walter Raleigh,
l believe, who, in thF reference to the
pride of ancestry, said that those who
boast the most of their prOgenitors
were like a plant which ne had dis
covered in America-the best part
was under ground. lApplause.
A voice-A good lick.
Judge Matthews-It is not because
the Republican party has done good
things that it deserves to live, but on
ly as il shows a present ability to con-
tinue the work of reform by the ap-
plication Of the same principles with
which it achieved its past success
Applause It is because those who
have succeeded in obtaining control
of its organization and machinery
have diverted il from its legitimate
objects and purposes that we are here
to call back those who have wandered
and TO recall those who are willing to
work with US to restore those princi-
pies to their proper primacy. LAp-
plause.
And now, gentlemen, one of the
deep and earnest convictions which
has spread almost universally
throughout the hearts of the AmeTi-
can people out of which this move
ment originates, is this: That the
war of the rebellion is ended, and that
peace has come Ccheers] j; and that, as
the war has ended so ought military
rule and military principles end
Applause. So ought everything
that is arbitrary. So ought
that degrades States or individuals.
80 ought everything that Oppresses.
80 ought everything that corrupts.-
30 ought everything that keeps
alive and fans the embers Of the dy-
lng-and ought-tO-be-dead-passions
plause.]
-Four years ago the great cry came
up, "Let US have peace y and II was
hailed as an anspicious omen of the
coming of that time for which We
have looked in vain. "I,et ms have
peaee ~ But we have not had neaca
Look at the South to-day. What a
spectacle! We have the example OIL
sO-called civil government bankrupt
ing the societies which they affect to
represent-power usurPed by stran-
gers, not conferred by the power Of
the people Lapplausel, and welded
not for restoring the prosperity Of
those battle-glazed fields, but for cor
ruptly enriching the men who think
that power and Office belong to them
as DrODeFtV not as frflstS And so,
gentlemen, in every department of
the government. The slow poison of
corruption-Only not sufficiently slow
seems to have pervaded the whole
political and civil administration of
the country from the head to the foot.
[ lApplause
And now, then, it is because Repub-
licans, with pain and reluctance, and