Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1872-07-26
GREBLEI-s LETTER or re-
CRPT.f.vCE.

Gentlemen Upon mature deliberation,
it seems fit that l should give to your let
ter of the 10Th inst, some further and full
Ter response than the hasty, unpremedita-
ted words in which | acknowledged and
accepted your nomination ON tho 10Th.
That your convention saw fl to accord lis
highest honor TO one who had been promi-
nently and pointcdly opposed to your party
in the earnest and sometimes angry con-
troversies of the last 40 years, Is essentially
noteworthy. That many of YOU originally
preferred that tic liberal republicans
should present another candidate for prosi-
dent, and would have more readily united
with us In the support of Adams and Trum-
bull, Davis, or Brown, is well known. 1
owe my adoption at Baltimore wholly TO
the fact that had already been nominated
at Cincinnati, and that a concentration of
forces upon any new ticket had been proved
impracticable. Gratified ne / am at your
concurrence in Tie Cincinnati nominations.
certain as ! am that you wunld not have
thus concurred had You not deemed me
upright and capable. I find nothing in the
circumstances calculated to inn1me my
vanity or noursh my self conceil. but that
your convention saw tit in adopting the
Cincinnati ticket to reafIirm he Cincinnati
platform. That body was constrained to
take this important step by no party nee
essity, real or supposed. II might have ac-
cepted the candidate of the liberal republi-
cans upon grounds entirely its own, 49,
might have presented them as the first ma
| tional convention did Harrison and Tyler,
without adopting any platform whatever.
That it chose to plant itself deliberately, by
a vote nearly unanimous, upon the fu Hest
| and clearest enunciation of principles which
are, at once, soundly republican and en-
phatically democratic, gives trustworthy
assurance that a new and more prosperous
era is dawning upon our long distracted
country.
Some Of the best years and best efforts of
my life were devoted TO astruegle against
chattel slavery. n struggle memo the less
earnest or arduous because respect for con-
stitutional obligations constrained me TO
act, for the most part on the defensive, in
resistance TO the diffusion, rather than in
direct efforts for the extinction of human
bondage. Throughout the most of those
years, my vision was uncheercd, my exer-
tions were rarely animated by even so
much as a hope that should live to see
my country peopled by lreemen alone
The aflirmance by your convention, of the
Cincinnati platform is most conclusive
proof that not merely slavery is abolished,
but that its spirit is extinct; that, despite
protests of respectable but isolated few,
there remains among us no party, and no
formidable interest which requires the
overthrow or establishment of human
bondage, whether in letter or in spirit. l
am therefore justified in my hope and trust
that the first century of American indie
pendence will not close before the grand
elemental truths on which its riahtrulness
was based by Jefferson and the congress
of'76, will no longer be regarded as "glit-
tering generalties," but will have become
the universally accepted and honored foun-
daton of our political fabric.
demand the prompt application of these
principles TO our existing condition. Hay
ing done what could for the complete
emancipation of the blacks, now insist on
full reimbursement of all my white
countrymen. Let them not say the law has
just been removed from all but a few hun
dred elderly gentlemen, to whom eiigibili-
ty to Office can be of little consequence.
My view contemplates, not the hundreds
prescribed, but the millions who are de-
MED the right to be ruled and represented
by men of their unfettered choice. Pro-
scription were absurd, if those did not wish
to elect the very men whom they are for
hidden TO choose. l have pro 'ound re-
gard for the people Of that New England
wherein l was born, in who-e common
schools was taught. l rank no other peo-
pie above them in Intelligence, capacity
and moral worth, but, while they do many
things well, and some things admirably.
there is one thing which an sure they
cannot wisely or safely undertake, and
that is the selection, for states remote from
ana unlike their own, of the persons by
whom those states shall be represented in
Congress. If they could do this TO good
purpose, then republican institutions were
unfit and aristocracy tho, only true political
system. Yet what have we recently wit
messed? Zebulon Il. Vance, the unques-
TONED choice of large majority of the
present Legislature. of North Carolina, a
majority backed by Il majority of the peo-
pie who voted at its election, denied the
seat in the federal Senate TO which he was
luirly chosen, and the legislature thus con-
strained to choose another in his stead. or
leave the state unropresented for wears.
The votes of New England thus deprived
North Carolina of the Senator of her choice
and compelled her to send another. who in
our late contest was, like Gov. Vance. n
rebe!, and lighting rebel, but who had
not served in Congress before the war, as
Vance had, though the latter remained
faithful TO the Union till the close of his
term. | protest against the 'dsfranchise-
ment of a state, presumptlvely, of a num-
Der Of states, on grounds so narrow and
technical as this. That the same Senate
which refused Gov. Vance his seat pro-
ceeded to remove his disabilities after that
seat had been filled by another, only serves
to place in a stronger light the indignty to
North Carolina and the arbitrary, capri,
c;ous tyranny which dictated it. thssls
you, gentlemen, that my name Is TO DO
conspicuously associa ted with yours in n
determined effort to render amnesty COM
plete and unqualified. Even defeat. in
such a cause, would have no sting. while
triumph would rank with those victories
which no blood reddens, and which evoke
no tears but those of gratitude and joy.
Gentlemen, your platform, which is also
mine, assures me that democracy Is not
henceiorth TO stand for one thing and re-
publicanism for another, but that these
terms are TO mean in politics, as they al-
ways have meant in the dictionary. one
and the same thing,-namely: Equal
rights, regardless of creed, or cline. or
color. l hail this as a genuine new de-
parture from outward forms and meaning
less contentious in the direction of progress
and reform. Whether / shall be found