The Opelousas journal. [volume] (Opelousas, La.) 1868-1878, 1872-08-17


for no pledge other than that of fidelity
to the principles in which they have
their deliberate and resOlute adherence,
and which they believe will command
the approval of a large majority of the
American people, they tender you their
nomination, confident that peace and
good government will be inaugurated
and maintained under your administrtl
ton. s-.:
Respectfully, your obedient servant.
" @ j. r. DooLITTLE,
Chairman of Convention at Baltimore, July 10,
1872, and members Of the Committee of No
fifieatiOn.
MIR. GRERLEY's ACCEPTANCE. s
New YORK, July 18, 1879.
GENTLEMEN-UpOn mature delibera-
ton it seems fit that should give your
letter of the 10th instant some further
and fuller response than the hasty, I'M
premeditated words in which acknowl-
edged and accepted your nomination at
your meeting On the 18th. That your
convention saw fit to accord it's highest
honor to one who has been prominent
ly, pointedly opposed to your party in
the earnest and angry controversies of
the last forty years, and that many, of
you originally preferred that the Libe-
candidate for President, and would
more readily have united with us in
support of Adams, Trlmbull, Davis or
Brown, / well know, | owe my, adOp-
ton at Baltimore wholly to the fact
that had already been nominated at
Cincinnati, and that concentration up
on any new ticket had been proved i'm
practicable. Gratified as am at your
concurrence in the Cincinnati nOmina-
hOns, certain. as / am that you would
not have thus coneurred had You not
deemed me upright and capable, l find
nothing In the circumstance calculated
to infiame vanity or nouriSh self-cOn-
ceit.
But that your Convention saw fit i'll
adopting the Cincinnati ticket tOreafi1m
the Cincinnati platform, is to me a
| source OF the pFofOunleSt. satisfaction.
That body was constrained to take this
important step by no party necessity,
real or supposed. 1t might have accept
ed the candidates of the Liberal Repub-
| licans upon grounds entirely its own,
or might have presented them as the
| first Wing National Convention did
Harrison and Tyler, without adopting
any platform whatever.
That it chose to plant itself deliber-
| atelY. by vote nearly unanimous up
on the fullest and clearest enlrneiati0n
| of principles, which at once incOnfesta-
bly, Republican and emphatically De-
| moeFatic, gives trustworthy assurance
| that d new and more auspiciOus era is
| dawning upon our long distracted conn
| try. Some of the best years and best
| efforts of my life were devoted to a
struggle against ehattel slavery; a
struggle none the less earnest and arr
IL
/ obligations constrained me to act, for
| the most part, on the defensive in re-
| sistan0S to the diffusion rather than in
direct efforts for the extinction Of hui
man bondage. Throughout most of
these years my vision was nncheepel /;
| my exeptipns were rarely animated by
/ even so much as hope that should live
TO see my country peoplea with free11len
alone.
The affirmance by your Convention
OF the Cincinnati platform is most e0Tl=
elusive proof that not merely is slavery
abolished, but that its spirit is extinct /;
i that despite the protests Of a respect
able but isolated {feW0 there remains
among rs no party, and no formidable
/ interests which regrets the overthrow
or desires the establishment oil human
| bondage, whether in letter or spirit.
am therefore justified in my hope and
| trust that the first century of American
independence will not close before the
grand elemental truth on which its
1 Tightfulness was based by Jefferson and
/ the Continental Congress of 90, will no
longer be regarded as glittering gen
IePaItffes, but will have become the
] universally accepted and honored foun-
dation of our political fabric,
/ demand the prompt application of
i those principles to our existing eondi=
tiOns. Having done what I could for
i the complete emancipation the blacks
I new insist on the full Northumberland
of all my white e0agattgyIneIl. Let none
say the bar has just been Eena0yeti fraIu
ALI but q few hundred elderly gentle.
Inen to whom eligibility TO office can be
| Of more consequence, Ny view confeIn-
i plates not the hundred prescribed, but
the millions who are denied the right To
be ruled and represented by men gf
their unfettered choice. Prescription
were absurd il these did not wish to
elect the very men who they are for
hidden to o1speaG, have profound
regard for the people of Iaats egg Eng
/ IlanIFwhere was born in whose el5iil-
saaan schools was taught; ] rank no
other people above them inintelli gence,
Ecapaeity and moral woakb hllt while
they do many things WE'LL and aoHlR
aaatign blg, there is one thing which
am sure flIey eaig NOT wisely and safely
i do, and that is the aeleetlDa for States
i remote from and unlike their own, ass
i the persons by whom those States shall
be represented in Congress- HtlleY do
j this to any coed purn nese, the republican
institutions were unfit and aT1stgcFaey
the only good political system yet
what have we recently witnessed Zg-
bua0n b. lance, the una gstionea choice
i of d large majority of tile present eg-
/ islataYe Of North Carolina, d naaj0Fity
hacked bs5R majority of the people who
voted ct its election, refused lis seat
I in the Federal Senate to which lie Naa
/ fairly chosen, and the Legislature tlltls
constrained to choose another liz his
j steaa or leave tIle State unnepresell-
Il ted f0T years. T HE votes OF New Eng
= land thus deprived North Carolina nf
the Senator OF her choice aud conf
1 PEELED her to- send another in his stead
/ another Who In our latest contest was,
j like Vance, a rabel and d aighEings rebel,
but who had nfsE served In CO gFesss be-
/ fore the war as Il anee had though the
/ latter remained faithful to the UniGn
4 till after the close Of his term.
protest the disfFa lent