The Donaldsonville chief. [volume] (Donaldsonville, La.) 1871-current, 1880-06-26

the Continued confidence and support of the
people, ard this convention submits for
their approval the following statements and
purposes, and which will continue to guide
and inspire its efforts.
First. We affirm that the work of the
last twenty-one years has been such as to
commend itself to the nation, and that the
fruits of the costly victories which we have
achieved through immense difficulties
should be preserved. That the peace re-
gained should be cherished, that the dis
severed union, now happily restored,
should be perpetuated, and that the liber-
ties secured to this generation should be
ations, that the order established and the
credit required should never be impaired !;
that the pensions promised should be paid !;
that the debt, SO much reduced, should be
extinguished by the full payment of every
dollar thereof; that the reviving industries
should be further promoted, and that the
ALREADY 50 great should be
2. The constitution of the United States
is supreme law, and not q mere contract
Out Of Confederate States it made SOW
elign nation. Some powers are denied to
the nation, while others are denied to States
but the boundaries between the powers del
egated and those reserved, is to be deter
mined by the national and not by tho State
tribunal.
3. The work of popular education is ono
left to the care of the several States, but it
is the duty of the national government to
aid that work to. tie extent Of its constitu-
tional ability. The intelligence Of the ma
ton is but the aggregate Of the intelligence
in the several States, and the destiny Of the
nation must not be guided by the genius Of
any one State, but by the average genius
at all.
4. The constitution wisely forbids con-
gress to make any laws respecting an cs-
tablishment Of religion, but it is idle to
hope that the notion can lie protected
against the influence Of sectarianism, while
each State is exposed to its denomination.
We, therefore, recommend that the consti-
tuition be SO amended as to lay some restric-
tons upon the legislature of each State, and
to forbid the appropriation Of public funds
to the support Of sectarian schools.
S. We reatfirm the belief avowed in 1876,
that the duties levied for the purpose Of
revenue should SO discriminate as to favor
American labor; that no further grants of
the public domain should be made to any
railway or other corporation; that slavery
having persisted in the States, its twin bar
that every where the protection accorded to
a citizen of American birth must be secured
to citizens by American adoption; that we
deem it the duty of Congress to develop and
improve our water courses and harbOrs, but
insist that further subsidies to private per-
sons or corporations must cease that tie
obligations of the republic to the men who
are undiminished by the lapsed of fifteen
years since their final victory. To 40 them
honor is, and shall forever be, the grateful
privilege and sacred duty of the American
people.
s. Since the authority to regulate immi-
grafton and intercourse between the United
States and foreign nations rests with the
congress of the United States, and the trea-
ty-making powers, the Republican party re-
garding tho unrestricted immigration of
Chinese as matter of grave Government
under the exercise Of both these powers,
would limit and restrict that immigration
by the enactment OF such just, humane and
reasonable laws and treaties as will pro.
duce that result.
Z. That the purity and patriotism which
characterized the earlier career of Ruther-
ford B. Hayes in peace and war, and which
guided the thought Of our immediate pre-
decessors to him for a presidential cantli-
date, have continued to inspire him in his
career as chef executive, and that history
will accord to his administration the honors
which are due to an efficient, just and cour-
teous discharge OF the public business, and
will honor his vetocs interposed between
thS pSOpAS HHu AltCHIlIlCt ptftISfu laws.
8. We charge upon the Democratic party
the habitual sacrifice of patriotism and JUS
tice to a supreme and Unsuitable lust for
Office and patronage; that to obtain posses
sion OF the national and State governments,
and the control OF places and position. they
have obstructed all efforts to promote the
purity and to conserve the freedom Of suf-
TRACE, and have devised fraudulent ballots
and invented fraudulent certificates of re-
turns; have laborc.l to unseat lawfully
elected members Of Congress, to secure at
al hazards, the vote Of u majority Of the
States i'll the House Of Representatives; have
endeavored to occupy by force and fraud,
the places OF trust given to others by the
people OF Maine, rescued by the courage in
action OF Names patriotic sons; have by
methods, vicious in principle and tyrannical
in practice, attached partisan legislation to
appropriation bills upon whose passage the
very movement OF the government de-
pcnfed; have crushed the rights of the in
tliv'al, have advocated the principles and
sought the favor of the rebellion against the
nation, and have endeavored to Obliterate
the sacred memories of the war, and to
overcome the inestimably valuable results
vidnal equality. The equal, and steady,
and complete enforcement of the laws, and
the protection OF all our citizens in the en-
joyment of all the privileges and immunity
guaranteed by the constitution are the first
duties of the nation. The dangers Of a solid
South can only be averted by faithful per-
fOrmancc Of every promise which the nation
has made to the citizens. The execution Of
the laws and the punishment of all those
who violated them are the only safe methods
by which an enduring peace can be secured,
and genuine prosperity established through
ont the South. Whatever promises the ma
ton makes the nation must perform. ma
ton can not with safety, relegate this duty
to the States. The solid South must be
divided by the peaceful agencies of the bal
lot, and all honest opinions must there find
free expression. To this end the honest
voter must be protected against terrorism,
violence or fraud.
9. Aud we affirm it to he the duty and
the purpose of the Republican party to use
all legitimate means to restore all the |
States of this Union to the most perfect |
which may be possible; and we |
submit to the practical, sensible people of |
these United States to say whether it would |
not be dangerous to the dearest interests of |
our country, at this time, to surrender the |
of the national government !
to party which seeks to overthrow the ex- |
stlag policies under which we are SO pro
porous, and thus bring disturbance and con
fusion where there is now order, confidence
and hope. The Republican party, adhering
70 the principles affirmed by its last nation
u convention. of respect for the constitu-
ional rules covering appointments to office,
adopt the declaration of President Hayes
hat the reform of the civil service should |
&c thorough radical and complete. To this
nd it demands the cooperation OF the iegis-