Wilmington daily commercial., 1874-10-09
National Politics.

AnpREss OF HON. HENRY L. DAWES. AT THE MAS
sAcHusRTTs REPUBLICAN coSvESTIoS-THE IN
CONSISTENCY OF THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY.
GENTLEMEN OF THE CONVENTION Before the
convention shall proceed to the consideration of
the business for which it is assembled, you will
permit me to return my most grateful acknow-
Judgments for the honor conferred on me by an
invitation to preside over its deliberations. That
honor derives its chief value from the fact that |
it is convention of Massachusetts, Republi- |
cans. 1t was in this Commonwealth that poll |
teal organization to meet an oyershadowing ma |
uonal peril with the principles of the Republ- |
can Party had its origin, and here those pl1ncl-
pies have commanded an unfaltering support
through all the phases of early development, III
| every emergency of conflict with national enc
mics. and during all the subsequent years OF
| doubt and discouragement waiting on the work
| of national restoration. And now, without
stain upon its honor, with the betrayal OF no
| trust committed to it's care its representatives
are gathered in convention here to-day in the
State of its birth, TO deserve continued support
by correcting the errors and missteps of the past
BY an enlightened and patriotic zeal in the pres
ent and by a wise and comprehensive statesman
| ship for the future. | shall not seek to tickle
| the ear by Boosting Of past achievements, nor
to turn your attention from the duty Of
| the hour to the glorious record already
made mp by the Republican Party. 1t is
not on these we live. According as We shall
meet the present and prepare for the future
| will be the measure Of public confidence
| bestowed upon us We must deserve success or
not hope to succeed. No party can live upon it,
| past. To stand still is to 60 backward. Let the
| brilliant record Of what has been done serve but
to light up the path Of duty and thus make more
| plain what Il TO be done. Let 1t be demonstra-
| ted that the party which led thus nation safely
| through the He'd Sea of the rebellion has capac
| itv 70 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 il not hesitate to undo
what it has yet left undoue, let It make haste to
| accomplish. The unbroken control Of public
| affairs IN Massachusetts from the beginning Of
| Republican power brings 10 your door not secur-
| ity, but increased responsibility and earnest
| wolk. That wise policy winch has so success
| fully carried well nigh 10 completion one Of the
| graudest works OF internal Improvement Of this
OF any age, requires at the hands Of those who
| began it that they should solve FOR Massachu-
setts the problem Of cheap transportation, and
bring back 10 her in return for her expenditures
the wealth Of new Industries and enlarged COM
petition IN old ones. The burGen 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-
sihle for these burdens that tile elements OF ne
cessity aud equalization should peryade every
system created for their enforcement. The pres
ence Of these TWO clements Will lift without COM
: plant the heaviest burden Of taxation. Their
Y absence will make the lghtest too heavy TO be
"a tolerated by the Massachusetts, taxpayer. The
labor Of the state If its largest capital, and is
l. enthed TO tile most remuneiatiye Investment
% that Will not impair lust ana falr return tl
H. those whose prosperity II ureparabe from that
Of labor Itself. On these and other question,
Of legislation now agitaung the public mind, a.
thinking men we diner in respect to the meal
re | and methods aud their Just limitations; but il
rv the great. purposes and benefcent ends 10 b.
obtained we are a unit and in earnest. But GU
vi work ends not here; we are also part OF tina
a great national organization, out Of the glory o
an whose part comes the light which illumines tn
present and the voice which is the inspiration o
'N the future As We shall discharge our duty a
DIV home. shall We meet the requirements Of tn
IN larger and broader relation. Our action her
IL to-day and It's results will reach in their iniGenc
beyond our Commonwealth to the remoiest limit
Of national authority. The voice and vote @
NJ Massachusetts in the councils Of the nation hay
been unbrokeu and undivided since the Repul
s can Party has had beng. Shall they
's continue The spirit Of the rehelio
a always -.eepiug, 70 long Republican mi
ye seems secure, but nstinctly waking int
Ter mcAluaie ieroelty at tie iantest Promi'
Of return of the Democratic Par
o. TO power has been deuded by the Spring ele
nj tons. and Las come OUT from it lurking ulac'
~ full armed TO hunt and murder tie loyal ell
zens whom it hates. At such a time Ma-sach
-7s setts cannot afford to break her front and give
'us single vote 70 that party with which, by son
ny strange instinct, the e. White Lacquer and Il
o.. kgkluN ally thems elves, and refuse 10 lie shak,
OF. There l. not g Democrat IT,, Ma=scAu=eti
| know, whose soul doc- not revolt at the afro,
ties asiiy committed on defenceess Southern e.
!zeLs. aud WHO would not sAuu ther perpetf
tlv tor a. lie would leper, and yet the ineyltsl
80 tendency Of things = stronger than good resol
4'e tons. Political allies must be political f.ieut
ag- until the humolest American citizen in the mea
&C. est novel. though his face be az black I
.,i heart Of his prosecutor, shall be armed with
ID" legal weapons 70 defend himself in the eniC
Tue meia OF every civil right to which tie consul
vi ton entities him. There is 10 room in the MI
,,v "a sachusetts delegation in Congress for sin.
representative Of that party whose vol
a. are uniformly withheld from such leg
AS lauon. The recent outrages upon the hon
ole and lives of colored citizens at the Sot
go are shocking the heart Of the matt,
80 and the attempts 70 overthrow constituted
DIS thorty nEoutnern States are FLEEING it with st
oih- Gus torebodlngs. But these violent de
an constructions are premature, and will defeat tn
own ends. They have taught the people,
ice fore il was TOO late, TO withhold confidence FIR
airly mere professions, and 10 devoutly thank q
dee, hat Grant, and not Buchanan Yields
IN. power Of the Government No more than in
- vii rights can the Massachusetts Republic
taz- ahate their zeal IN the maintenance OF the pu
can | faith endangered by false theories of iina
,to and open assaults against which the eNecut
whom they support has interposed as shi
mere the just exercise of his constitutional prerO
hose tive. They will stang 10y the government
hose their choice in this controversy long as Ill
.,.i shall exist opposition TO the restoration Of
- aud silver a. the only true basis OF the currel
lore and early resumption Of specie payments
ibre the payment of the debt Of the nation in
thot money recognized by the civilized world. II
- this work, local and national, the RepuhI
'lNe' Party will be true to ITS traditions
lived search itself No faint of corruption
ID no office viii go unpublished no unfa
fulness in public trust will be permit
% to escape accountability never imita
and that pharsaical spirit which contents itself '
/ ac. loud denunciauons of corruption and Grim
49,, others. while carefully concealing its own
sas grows strcng slereby pncks ont its own Of
little ding members, wherever they must he.
mora casts them from the public ser,
1t will leave to others the task
'ooAH discovering mites, with beams in their
suits eyes, without fear that the people can be
octor ceived thereby. Nor can they be won from
/, =. support of Republican measures by that De
~ cratic school of antagonsm which processes
Mt Of soute free trade in Maine and high proteetio
Pennsylvania hard money in Massaehus