Delaware tribune. [volume] (Wilmington, Del.) 1867-1877, 1874-10-15
National P0Dlsics.


GENTLEMEN OF THE CONVENTION Before the
convention sl,all proceed to the consideration OF
the business for which it s assembled, you will
permit me to return my most grateful achnow-
Judgments for the honor conferred on me by an
invitation to preside over its deliberations That
honor derives is chief value from the fact that
il il convention of Massachusetts Republic
cans. 1t was In this Commonwealth, that IA poll
tical organization to meet All oyersadowlng na-
tional peril with the principles OF the Republic
can Party had It's origin, and here thore prihcl-
pies have commanded All unfaltefihg support
through all the phases Of early development, in
every emergency of conflict with national ene-
miles, and during all the subsequent years OF
doubt and encouragement, waiting on the work
of national restoration. And now, without
stain upon its honor, with the betrayal OF no
trnst committed TO ts care, it's representatives
are gathered in convention here to-day in the
State of its birth, to deserve continued support
by correcting the errors and misstep1 Of the past,
by an enlightened and patriotic zeal IN the pres
ent, and by wise esndcomprehensive statesman-
ship for the future. shall not seek TO tickle
the ear by boastiug Of past achievements, nor
to turn your attention from the duty Of
the hour to the glorious record already
made up by the Republican Party. 1t is
not OH these we live. According AZ we shall
meet the present and prepare for the future
will be the measure of public confidence
bestowed upon MS. We must deserve success or
not hope to succeed. No party can live upon its
past. To stand still is to so backward. Let the
brilliant record of what has been done serve but
to lght up the patl, of duty and thus make more
plain what liz to be done. Let it be demonatra-
ted that the party which led this nation safely
through the Red Sea of the rebellion has capao
ity to meet every new exigeney and cope with
every new force that shall spring up IN its path
way What that party has done which it ought
not to have done, let 1t not hesitate to undo
what it has yet left undone, let it make haste to
accomplish. The unbroken control of public
Affairs in Massachusetts from the beginning Of
Republican power brings to your door not secnr-
ity, but increased responsibility and earnest
work. That wise policy which has 30 success
fully carried well nigh to completion one OF the
grandest works of internal Improvement of this
or any age, requires vt the hands OF those who
began il that they should solve for Massaclru-
setts the problem Of cheap transportation, and
bring back to her in return for her expenditures
the wealth OF new industries and enlarged COM
petition in old ones. The burden Of taxation
which the necessities of the war and the great
undertakings of the State have laid upon her
people, also demand from those who are respon-
sible for these burdens that the elements Of ne
cessity and equalization should pervade every
system created for their enforcement. The pres
ence of these two elements will lift without COM
plant the heaviest burden OF taxation. Their
absence will make the lghtest too heavy to be
tolerated by the Massachusetts, Taxpayer. The
labor Of the State is its largest capital, and is
entitled to the most remnnerstive Investment
that will not impair just and fair return to
those whose prosperity il inseparable from that
Of labor itself. On these and other questions
OF Legislation now agitating the public mind, as
thinking men We differ in respect to the meaus
and methods and their just limitations; but in
the great. purposes and beneticent ends TO be
obtained we are unit and in earnest. But our
work ends not here; we are also a part OF that
great national organization, ont OF the glory OF
I'm
present and the voice which is the inspiration OF
the future. As We shall discharge our duty at
home, 30 shall we meet the requirements OF the
| larger and broader relation. Our action here
to-day and its results will reach in their influence
beyond our Commonwealth to the remotest limits
| OF national authority. The voice and vote Of
| Massachusetts in the councils of the nation have
been uAbroksn and undivided since the Repuli-
| can Party has had being, Shall they so
continue & The spirit IT, Of pihsnda the rebellion lion
seems secure, but iustinctly waking into
incarnate ferocity at the faintest promise
Of return of the Democratic Party
e s;s e.s. 1 fls been ae!pAea ez shs Spring slss.
full armed, 10 hunt and murder the loyal citi-
zens whom il hates. At such time Massachu-
setts cannot afford to break her front and give a
single vote to that party with which, by some
strange instinct, the +" White Lsaguer - aud the
Kuklnx ally themselves, and refuse to be shaken
off, There is not Democrat in: Massachusetts,,
l know, whose soul does not revolt at the atroci-
ties daily committed on defenceless Southern cit
izens, and who would not shun their perpetra-
tors as he would leper, and yet the inevitable
tendency of things is stronger than good resolu-
tions Political allies must be political friends,
| until the humbest Americancitizen in the mean-
est hovel, though his face be az black A. Me
| heart of his prosecutor, shall be armed with all
legal weapons to defend himself in the enjoy
| ment of every civil right to which the conatitu-
ton entities him. There is no room in tho Mas
sachusetts delegation in Congress for a single
representative Of that party whose votes
are uniformly withheld from sucl legis-
| lstion. The recent ontrBges upon the homes
| and lives OF colored citizens at the South
arc shocking the heart of the nation,
and the attempts to overthrow constituted All
thorty infouthern States are FLEEING it with seri-
GUS forebodings. But these violent DEM
onstrstions are premature, and will defeat their
own ends. They have taught the people, be-
| fore it was too late, to withhold confidence from
mere professions, and to deyoutly thank God
that Grant, and not Buchanan, wields the
power of the Government. No more than in c-
| vii rights can the Massachusetts, Republicans
abate their zeal in the maintenance Of the public
faith, endangered by false theories of finance
| and open assaults, against which the executive
whom they support has interposed as shield
the Just exercise OF his constitutional preroga-
tive. They will stand by the government Of
their choice in this controversy so long as there
shall exist opposition to the restoration Of gold
silver Az Ille ITUe Dhelh pi tLe currency,
and early resumption of specie payments and
the payment of the debt Of tho nation in the
money recognized by the civilized world. In all
this work, local and national, the Republican.
Party will be true to lis traditions and
search itself. No faint of corruption in
office will go unpnnished; no uniaitil,
fulness in public trust will be permitted
to escspe accountability never initiating
that pliarsaical spirit which contents itself with
loud dehunciations of corruption and crime in
| 0tbara while pnrafully cpnceaiup IFS de-
faults. Republicanism probes Its own sores and
grows strcng thereby plucks ont its own Often
ding members, wherever they must be. and
casts them from the public service,
discovering mites, with beams in their own
eyes, without fear that the people can be de-
ceived thereby. Nor can they be won from the
support OF Republican measures by that Demo
cratic school Of antagonism which Processes alb
soluts free trade in Maine and high protection il
Pennsylvania hard money in Massachusetts
aud New York, inflated greenhacks and repulia
alton in Ohio and Indiana and war of race
in the south. Let il be remembered that ucom
patbity of principles in politics, like incompat
blity OF temper in the household, is sure t.
breed dissolution II You shall be true 10 you
trusts, aud awake to yonr opportunities, thei
will it be demonstrated that by and through th
Republican Party of the State and nation shsl
the live issilen OF the present. and the Just OK
pectatons Of the future, lie successfully met
Thus and then will it be that in and through th
Republican Party shall the civil service be re
generated, the pubic faith maintained nvioate
the public expenditures reduced TO the loves
point OF necessity and efficiency, the currenc.
lifted to the specie level, the national debt place.
npon basis OF gradual extinction in coin, th'
industries of the land so cared for that the Amer
ican laborer shall control the labor and the wage
that supply the American CONSUMER. and the law
less assassin and nncured rebel shall be ta,ish
to respect the civil right of every cit
izen, and the constituted authorities 0
every State. To accomplish these re
suits is the duty OF the hour They lie in tn
direct pathway Of the Republican Party an
their attainment is the condition Of continue
success. But, in the near future, even at on
very doors, are questions of tho utmos
gravity, and of the broadcast scope, from the &c
luton OF which there will be no escape but /
surrender. No one can fail to discern their aI
proach, and they will not admit Of postponemen
!, The deep-seated political disease which, 70
/, lowing the rebellion, has perverted and waste
the life Of the Southern States, demands hero
: treatment. How shall the healing influences
! interrupted self-goverment be made to pc
:. wade body polite too sick to discern them all
q too weak to grasp them The subtle and migl
q ty agencies Of the telegraph and steam, GOVERN
q the continent with the nerves and arteries
II new systems Of communication and of tran
J. mission, crossing State lines. passing und
rivers, over mountains and through tunnels, al
9 binding the nation in one unbroken and ine'
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