The Democratic press. [volume] (Ravenna, O. [Ohio]) 1868-1901, 1880-07-01

uPou tuC uoucSty anu tHTlit VI
Con gress. which has reduced the pnblic expend
itures $40. 600 100 year. upon the continuation
of prosperity at home and the National honor
abroad, and above all upon the promise of such
q change in the administration OF the Govern
| ment as insures genuine and lasting reform
inevery department OF the public service 81
LII ~ 1-t-. > = =. :. - -llnii'ii 81
| ds54 .l.i(y. Iii-iU sGI Al1.ls.s-lI sa il.
i'.sa A Powerful Speech. %"
10 Upon taking the Chair as temporary
Chairman Of the Democratic National
Convention, Hon. George HOadley was
greeted with hearty applause. ia He
spoke as follOws:l hIs3 ahs ai i..ssl =.
r. Mr. CHAIRMAN, AND GENTLENIEN
OF THE NATIONAL EXECUTIvE Com.
MITrEE : l obey this call to the chair
of this Convention with grateful ac-
knowledgement of the confidence re-
posed in me. 1t shall be my sedulous
care to prove worthy of your nomina-
ton. Fellow delegates, fellow Demo-
Gratis, thanks for your welcOme|your
generous welcome. My best response
TO which will be-my only adequate re-
sponse can be-the strictest impartial
kity in the exercise of power during the
brief period it is committed to me. 1
shall make mistakes; trust you will
forgive them. am sure you will as
soon as satisfy you that although as
n delegate / am the Jealous friend,
even the partisan, of my favorite cam
didate, as your officer shall know
neither friend nor foe of any candidate,
but discharge mysduty with absolute
fairness and fidelity of purpose. OF
this you have my pledge.
0f
fathers, distrusting popular choice, es-
tablished in each State an Electoral
College,, to whose dunpledgetl action
they sought to entrustl the election of
the Chief Magistrates of the Republic.
Their children, taught by experience,
have wisely modified the constitutions
al scheme by an unwritten amend-
ment, which com bines the advantages
by the electoral system with the direct
popular vote. while it preserves to each
State its just weight OF influence upon
the result. Conventions of delegates
chosen by the people of two or more
parties, have already presented candi-
dates for popular acceptance at the
coming election, and another great
college of electors is now assmbled in
this hall. The Office you thus fill,
though not defined by law, is of trans
cendent legal consequence. I need
not say that in this assembly it will
not be doubted that you are not dele
gates from congressional districts but
representatives of those in,iestruetible
units of our indestructible Union. The
States custom has defined your duties.
They are TO construct platform and
to nominate candidates. You are not
however, called together to create a
creed, but to apply known principle
to present public affairs. The Demo-
cratic principle does not date its birth
from your assembling and does not
perish with the success or defeat Of the
candidates you nominate. 1T is eternal
"a divine fire burning in the hearts of
men. 1t quicker the thought of the
statesman, nerves the arm of the SOL
fdier and doubles tile energy of the
ftoiler. Tt is found In the Roman pre-
lcept SiaIps euique tribuere and is the self
evident truth of American patriots
that all men are created equal. 1t is the
unrelenting foe of despOtism and of
communism, whether open or sought
to be hidden under the Disguise of pa
ternal government. Its benificent Of
flee in political affairs is to secure to
every man the utmost possible liberty
of action consistent with equal liberty
to every other. Yours is not, there
fore, the office Of invention, but of pro-
lhulkf1tlOh-AOIf W ulSCONSI DuG 10 u0s
clare and to apply the Democratic
principle to the changing affairs of
human society, and that this principle
may have living force in public con-
Germs, you will Illuminate candidates
whose election, will ensure its full
fruitiOn during. the next Presidential
term. These duties no Democrat doubts
that you will worthily perform, but
you are called to their discharge this
day under circumstances of no COM
mon mOment-circumsta which
God in his mercy grant shall in the
history of our Republic never recur.
Four years ago the Democratic party
in Convention assembled at st. Louis
bannOunoed to the country its.platform
and nominated as its candidates two
of the foremost statesmen of the Ma
tfOn-both then and now men worthy
of the most enthusiastic political de-
votiOn and the most ardent private
friendship, and Samuel j. Tilden and
Thomas A. Hendricks were elected
President and Vice President of the
United States elected as fairly as was
George Washington, or James Monroe.
That they were not inauguratedi that
the Chief Magistrate of this Nation
has for more than three years been one
whom the people rejected that in the
Executive Department, government
BY the people has eeased SINCE March
1877, is a living monument, sesn
now of all men and to be remembered
in all generations. of the fraud of the
Republican party, Of its intideliiy to
Republican principles, Of its willing
election-that '"vital principle Of Re- |
pnblics"-rather than relax its hold
upon power, and of the loyalty of the |
Democratic party, even to the forms of
law of its confidence that the will of
the people must finally prevail, ahid-
ing in which it patiently awaits for the I
full fruitiOn of Its hopes, until March 4
4, 1881. but no, longer, no longer, un-
less defeated at the polls. If beaten |
fairly, we shall submit. i repeat, we |
shall submit and again wait. But if
again successful, no cunning device of
9rbitr4tiQn shall deprive us
will never again appear before 1 trf. |
bHnallfalsely called of justice, q tribunal
deaf To testimony, but not blind to the |
finger Of favor. But though
we failed to inaugurate our candidate,
our cause was not even for the moment
wholly lost. Retributive justice visit
ed without delay the immediate au-
thOrs of the infamy. The courts of
Florida had thwarted the cOnspiratOrs
who proposed the theft OF its State
and the stern refusal of
the Democratic House of Representa-
tives to appropriate man or dollar
To continue the subjugation of South
Caroline and Lousiana soon forced
the oppressor to relax bis grasp. No
Trace now remains OF HE c;.rpet-bag
Q T the South, except the
one hundred and seventy million dol
lars of increased public debt they con-
trived in seven years of mislnanage-
ment to heap upon its impoverished
people. Yes, another trace remained
Louisiana, entitled by the Constitution