Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1868-1875, 1872-08-16
.l'ss'soz POLITICAL. s1s
GREELEY'S ACCEPTANCE.

BALr1MoRE Julyl 10, s72.--Dear Sir: Il y our
pleasure, in eomplisnce with the Instructions Of
the Demoeratic National Convention assembled
in this city, TO inform you that you have been
unanimously nominated It's Candidate for the
Presidency OF the United States E1H at4H
The Convention, consisting Of 732 delegates.
representing every state and Territory N me
ration of principles affirmed By the Convention
Of Liberal Republicans at Cincinnati, and
strengthened by the indorsement contained In
The action CT this great body Of dslegates proves
that they are, with singular unanimity y enter
under your leadership upon the patriotic duty Of
restoring 70 the administration OF the government
purity and integrity, and that independenee to
its Departments which regards the Constitution
as alike the source and the limit OF Federal poE-
Laying aside the differences of the past. abans-
oning all purpose Of mere partisan advantage,
asking for no pledge other than that o. fidelity
to the principles to which they have given their ee
liberate and resoIute sdhereues, and which they
believe win command the approval Of large
their nomination, confident that peace and good
government viii be iraugurated and maintained
under your administration Respecnally your
Obedisnt servants. ,bara A. ~ 4o SOnTsptloo
Frs. W. Sykes, Alabama; John 9. Maccabe,
Arkansas; j. g. Downey, California; A. e
Burr. Connecticut; Z. l., Martin, Delaware; L.
w Jones, Florida; ". A. Hawkins, Georgia; A.
~.
Thompson, Iowa; John Martin, Kansas B. Ma
Coffin, Kentucky; Given Campbell, louisiana;
James @. Madigan, Maine; John Lee Carroll,
Maryland; JIG. Abbott, Massachusetts,; George
II. Bruce. Michigan; William Lee Minnesota;
e. o. Sykes, Mississippi; Henry Brokmyer, Mis-
souri,; j. c. Crawford, Nebraska; 8. d. Wyman,
Nevada; James s. Thayer, New York; John 8.
Darcy, North Carolina; j. A McMahan, Ohloi
George W.. Cas-, Pennsylyania;s A Sprague,
Rhode Island; james Chestnut, South Carolina;
John @. Burch, Tennessee, Ashbel Smith, Tex
a.; Lucius Robinson, Vermont; j. H Marye,
Virginia; VIM d. Clements; West Virginia; B.
s. Well, Wisconsin,; @. p. Clever, New Mexico.
To the Hon. Horace Greeley, New YORK.
a-I5IF Mr.. GRxRLKY's ACCBPTkNcs. - =
NEW YoRK, July Is, 1s72.-GEETLKNEz; Up
on mature deliberation, il seems ut that should
give to your letter of the 10th inst some further
and fuller response than the hasty, unpremedi-
tated words in which 1 acknowledged and ac-
cepted your nomination at our meeting on ne
- That vour Convention saw ut to accord its
highest honor to one who had been prominently
and pOintedly opposed to your party In the earn
est and sometimes angry controversies OF the last
forty years, Is essentially noteworthy. That
many of YOU originally preferred that the Liberal
Republicans should present another candidate
for President and would more readily have
united with as in the support of Adams or Trum-
bull, Davis Or Brown, Is well known: owe my
had already been nominated at Cincinnati, and
that q concentration of forces upon, any new
ticket had been proved impracticable.. Gratihed
as am at your concurrence IN tne Clnc, ,1 an
have thus concuTred had you not deemed me
upright and capable, / find nothing in the cir
cumStance calculated to inhanie vanity or nour-
But that YOUR Convention saw fit, in adopting
the Cincinnati ticket, to reaftirm the Cincinnati
Platform, Is to me source of the profoundest
satisfaction. That body was constrained 10 take
this important step BY no party necessity, real or
of the Liberal Republicans upon grounds entirely
its own, or It 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 deliberately, BY vote
nearly unanimous, upon the fullest and oleaFest
enunciatio1 Of principles which are AZ once in
contestaoly Republican and eTnphatieaily Dem
Ocratic, gives trustworthy assurance that a new
and more suspicious era 10 dawning upon our long
distracted country. - -A-ss--, Z
Some of the best years and best efforts Of nny
life were devoted 70 the struggle against chattei
slayery-a struggle none the less earnest or ar
duous because respect for constitutional obliga-
lions constrained me to act for the most part on
the defensive lin resistance to the diffusion
rather than in direct efforts for the extinction OF
human bondage. Throughout most Of those
years, my vision was uneheered, my exerti0ns
were rarely animated, by even SO much as hope
that should live to see my country peopled by
freemen alone The athrmsnce by your eonyen-
tion of the Cincinnati Platform is most concur
sive proof that not merely b slavery abolished but
that its spirit is extinct-that, despite the pro-
tests of a respectable but isolated few, there re-
mains among Us no party and no formidable IN
re-estahlishment of human bondage, whether in
letter OF IL spirit / am thereby JUSTIFIED in my
hope and trust that the first century Of American
will not close before the grand eie-
mental truths on which It's rightfulness was based
by Jefferson and the Continental Congress Of rs
will no longer be regarded as glittering general
tiles" but win hare become the universally ac-
cepted and honOred foundations Of our political
fabric. @ Esd
/ demand the prompt application OF these
principles to our existing condition. Having
done what could for the complete emancipa-
ton of blacks, now insist on the full enffan-
chisement of all my white countrymen. Let
none say that the ban has Just been removed
from all but few hundred elderly gentlemen, to
whom eligibility to office can be OF little conse-
quenee. NY view e0ntemplates not the hum
dreds prescribed but the millions who are denied
the rightto be ruled and represented by the men
of their unfettered choice. Prescription were
absurd if these did not wish to elect tia very
men whom they are forbidden to choose.
1 have a profound regard for the people Of that
wherein was born, IN whose
common schools l was taught rank no 9th
er people above them in intelligence, capacity
and moral worth But, while they do many
things we'll, and some admirably, there Is one
thing which am sure they cannot wisely on
safely undertake, and that 10 the selection, for
States remote from and unlike their own, Of the
In Congress. II they ceIG do this 70 good purpose
then republican institutions were unfit, ana aris
tOorscy the only trne political system. = 3
Yet what have we recently witnessed7 Zebulon
D. Vance the unquestioned ehoice.of q large ma
jorty of the present. Legislature Of North Carolina
"a majority backed by q majority of the people
W no voted at it's electon-refused the seat in the
Federal Senate TO which he was fairly chosen, and
the Legislature thus constrained to choose another
in his stead or leave the State unrepresented for
years. The votes of New England thus deprived
North Carolina of the Senator Of her choice, and
compelled her to send another IN bis steadan0ther
who in our late contest, was, like Vance, rebel
and fighting rebel, but who had not served in
Congress before the war as Vance had. though the
latter remained faithful to the Union till after ne
close of his term. Iprotest against the dlsfran-
ohisement Of State-presumptiyely, Of number
Of States-on grounds, SO narrow and technical as
this The fact that the same Senate which 10
fused Vance his seat proceeded to remove his disa
bilitles after that sest bad been hled by another
only serves to place in stronger light the iHdigniy
to North Carolina and the arbitrary, capricious
tyranny which dictated H. thank You, gentle
men, that my name Is to be conspieuously assoei
ated with yours in determined effort to render
amnesty complete and universal, in spirit rs well
as in letter. Even defeat In such q cause would
leave no sting, while triumph would rank with
those victories which no blood reddens and which
evoke no tears but those Of gratitude and Jay,
Gentleman, your platform, which ia also mine,
assures me that Democracy 10 not henceforth to
stand for one thing aud Repuhliosnism for an
other, but that those terms are to mean IN poll
tics as they always have meant in the dictionary,
one and the same thing-namely,
Equal rights, regardless Of creed, or cline, or
color. i hail this as genuine New Departure
from. outworn feuds and meaningless CONVENTIONS
in the direction of Progress and Reform, Wneth-
en- shah be found worthy 10 bear the standard O.
the great Liberal movement Inch the American
People hare inaugurated Z 70 be determined not
by words but BY deeda, With me If { steadily ad-
vance, over me Il falter, its grand array moves
on To achieve for our country her gloriods, ben
eE0kat destiny. 40 - 81 ~ -----.
remain, gentlemen, yours,
IT. q. p H.-i HORACE GREELEY.
To the don. James r. Doolittle, Chairman Of the
Oorventions and Messrs. T. w; Sykes; John c.