The Columbia herald. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 1850-1873, 1872-08-02
POLITICAL.
An Able Letter from Mr.. Greeley.
lsis Formal Acceptance Of the DEM
0cRaslc N0ninasl0a.
OFFICIAL.


tion of Greeley's nomination at Balti
more:
BALTIMORE, July 10, 1S72!To Hon
Horace Greeley-Dear Sir: 1t is oul
pleasure, in compliance withthe instruc
tiOns Of the Democratic National Con
ventiOn assembled in this city, to inform
you that you have been unanimously
nominated its candidate for. the Presi
dent of the United States. The con
vention, consisting of 732 delegates, rep
resenting every State and Territory in the
Union, adopted without amendmentthe
declaration of principles affirmed by the
Convention of Liberal Republicans al
Cincinnati, and strengthened by the
endorsement contained in your letter OF
acceptance. The action of this great
body of delegates proves that they are,
with singular unanimity, determined tC
enter, under your leadership, upon the
patriotic duty of restoring to the al.
ministration of the government purity
and integrity, and that independence t.
its departments which regards the con.
stitution as a like the sourceand limit oi
Federal power. Laying aside the diff
ferences of the past, abandoning al
purpose of mere partisan advantage
asking for no pledge other than that Of
fidelity to the principles to which
they have given their deliberate and
resOlute adherence, and which they be.
lieye will command the approval of 8
large majority of the American people
they tender you their nomination, CON
fident that peace and good government
will be inaugurated and maintained un-
der your administration.
Respectfully, yours obediently,
Signed by J. X. Doolittle, Chairman
of the Convention ut Baltimore, July
10, 1872, and members of the Commit
tee on Notification.
MIR. GREELEY's REPLY.
New YORK, July IS, 1872. Gentle
men: Upon mature deliberation il
seems fit that 1 should give to your
letter of the 10th inst. some further and
fuller response than the hasty, unpre-
meditated words in which 1 acknowl-
edged and accepted your nomination ui
our meeting ON the 18th. That your
convention saw lit to accord its highest
honor to one who had been prominent
ly, pointcdly, opposed to your party in
the earnest and angry controversies OF
the last forty years, and essentially y
noteworthy that many Of you originally
preferred that the Liberal Republicans
should present another candidate for
President, and would more readily have
united with us in the support of Adams
OF Trumbull, Davis or Brown. 1t is
we'll known that I owe my adoption at
Baltimore wholly to the fact that had
already been nominated at Cincinnati,
and that q concentration of forces up
on any new ticket had been proved
impracticablc. Gratified as / am at
your concurrence in the Cincinnati
nominations certain Us L am that you
would not have thus eoncurred, had
You not deemed NE upright and capa-
bic, find nothing in the circumstances
calculated to infiame vanity or nonrish
self-conceit. But that your convention
saw fit in adopting the Cincinnati ticket,
to re-affirm tho Cincinnati platform, is
to me source of the profoundsst salts.
faction. That body was constrained to
take this important step by no party
necessity, real or supposed. 1t might
have. accepted the candidates of the
Liberal Republicans upon grounds EN-
tirely its own, or it might have presented
them as the first Wing National Con-
vention did Harrison and Tyler, without
adopting any platform whatever. That
it choose TO plant itself deliberately, by
a vote nearly unanimous, upon the
fullest and clearest enunciation of the
principles which are ut once incontest-
ably Republican and demphatically Dem
ocratic, gives trustworthy assurance
that new and more auspicious era Is
dawning upon our long distracted
country. Some of the best years and
best efforts of my life were devoted to
q struggle against chattel slavery, and
none the less earnest or arduous because
respect for constitutional obligations
constrained me to act for the most part
on the defensive at distance. Through
out most Of those years my vision was
cheered, my exertions were rarely ani-
mated by even so much as "a hope that
[ should live to see my country peopied
by fresmen alone. The aifirmance by
your convention Of the Cincinnati plat
form is most conclusive proof that that
is not merely abolished, but tAatits spirit
is extinct that despite the protests of u
respectable but isolated few, there re-
mains among us no party and no forni-
dable interest which regrets the over
throw or desires the establishment of
human bondage whether in letter or IN
spirit. / am therefore justified IN my
hope and trust, that the first century
of Anne rican independence will not
close before the grand elemental truth,
ON which its Hghtfulness was based by
Jefferson and the continental Congress
of '76 will no longer be regarded as gilt
tering generalities, but will have be-
come The universally accepted aud hon
ored foundation of our political fabric.
[ demand the prompt application Of
those principles to our existing condi-
ton. Having done what L could for
the complete emancipation OF the
blacks, now insist on the full enfran-
chisement Of all my white countrymen.
Let DO one say the bar has Just been
removed from all but few hundred
elderly gentlemen, to whom eligibility
to Office can be of little consequence.
MY view contemplates not the hun
dro1 prescribed, but the millions who
are denied the right to be ruled and
represented by men of their unfcttered
choice. Prescription were absurd If
these did not wish to elect the very
men whom they are forbidden To
choose. fhave a profound regard Tor
the people of that New England wherein
I was born, in whose common schools
was taught. 1 rank no other people
above them in intelligence, capacity
and moral worth. But while they do
something's well and some admirably,
there is one thing which am sure they
can't wisely or safely, and tkat is the
selection for States remote from or IN
like their own of the persons by whom
those States shall be represented in
Congress. II they could do this to good
purpose, then republican institutions
were unfit and aristocracy the only true
political system. Yet what have we re
Gently Witnessed? Zebulum Il. Vance,
the unqnestioned choice of large ma
iority OF the present Legislature of
North Carolina, u majority backed by q
majority of the people who voted at his
election, refused the seat in the Feder'i
Senate to which he was fairly chosen,
and the Legislature thus constrained to
n bo<,,, o,ofhar i'm hia stpa1 or IL ave the