The Columbia herald. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 1850-1873, 1872-05-31

your platform, Of which the sub
stance may be fairly epitomized 81
follows: "a
First. All the political rights and
franchises which have been acquired
through our late bloody CONFUSION
must and shall be guaranteed, main-
tanned, enjoyed and respected ever
more.
Second. All the political rights and
franchises which have been lost
through that CONFUSION, should and.
must be promptly restored and re-
established, so that there shall be
Aenceforth no prescribed class and
no disfranchised caste within the
limits of our Union, whose long-es-
rranged people shall reunite and ira
ternize upon the broad basis of uni
versal amnesty, with impartial sui
frage. h.r fs 4-f
Third. That subject to our solemn
Constitutional obligations to main
tain the equal rights of all citizens,
our policy should aim at local self
government, AMI not centraliza-
ion; that the civil authority shall be
supreme over the military that the
writ of habeas corpus should be jeal-
ously upheld as the safeguard of per-
sonal freedom ). that the individual
citizen should enjoy the largest lib
erty consistent with public order,
and that there shall be no Federal
subversion of the internal policy of
the several States and municipalities,
but that each shall be left free to en-
force the rights and promote the
we'll being of its inhabitants by such
means as the judgment of its own
people shall prescribe. 80.
Fourth. There shall be real and
not merely q simulated reform in the
civil service of the Republic, to
which end it is indispensable that the
chief dispenser of its vast official pa
tronage shall be shielded from the
main temptation to use his power
selfishly by rule inexorably forbid
ding and precluding reelection. b.,
Fifth. That the raising of revenue,
whether By tariff or otherwise, be
recognized and treated as the peoples
immediate business, to be shaped and
directed by them through their rep
resentatives in Congress, whose ac-
ton thereon the President must
neither override by his veto, attempt
to dictate, nor presume to punish by
bestowing office only on those who
agree with him, or by Withdrawing
it from those who do not. 10 -u
Sixth. That the public lands must
be sacredly reserved for occupation
and acquisition by cultivation, and
not recklessly squandered on the pro-
jectors of railroads for which our
people have no present need, and the
premature construction of which are
annually plunging us into deeper
and deeper abyss of foreign indebt-
edness. .
Seventh. That the achievement of
these purposes of benefcence is ex-
pected and sought at the hands Of all
who approve them, irrespective of
past affiliations.
Eighth. That the public faith must
at all hazards be maintained and the
national credit preserved.
Ninth. That the patriotic devoted
ness and inestimsble services OF our
fellow-citizens who, as soldiers or
sailors u pheld the flag and maintain:
ed the unity of the republic, shall
ever be gratefully remembered and
honorably requited. ri-r.
These propositions, so ably and
forcibly presented in the platform of
your convention, have already fixed
the attention and commanded the
support of large majority of our
countrymen, who joyfully adopt
them, as 1 do, as the basis of true
benefcent, national reconstruction
of new departure from jealousies,
strifes aad hates which have no long
er adequate motive, or even plausi-
BILE pretext, into an atmosphere of
peace, fraternity and mutual good
will. In vain do the drill SER
geants of decaying organizations
flourish menacingly their truncheons,
and angrily insist that the files shall
be closed and Strengthened. In vain
do the whippers-in of parties once
vital, because rooted in the vital
needs of the hour, protest against
straying and boiling ; denounce men
nowise their interiors as traitors and
renegades, and threaten them with
infamy and ruin. l am confident
that the American people have al
ready made your case their own,
fully resolved that their brave hearts
and strong arms shall bear 1t on in
triumph. u -,
In this faith, and with the distinct
understanding that, if elected, l
shall be the President, n Ut of party,
but of the whole people, l acceptyour
nomination, in the confident trust
that the masses of our countrymen,
North and South, are eager to clasp
hands across the bloody chasm which
has too long divided them, forget
ting that they have been enemies in
the Joyful consciousness that they
are and must henceforth remain
brethren. Yours gratefully,
HORACE GREELEY.
To Hon. Carl Schurz, President; Hon.
Geo. w. Julian, Vice President, and