Butler citizen. [volume] (Butler, Pa.) 1877-1922, 1882-05-31
H1s. sIARsHALL'S LETTER.
Declining the nomination for
Congressman III at-Large on
the Harrisburg Ticket.
PIrTsBURGH. Nav %. 1882.

PITrsBURGH, May %, 1882.
Hon. George Lear:
MY DEAR SIR-The kind and eulo-
CYSTIC language of your letter convey
ing official notice of my unanimous
nomination for Congressman-at-Large"
by the Republican State Convention,
can be appreciated as the exuberant
warmth of personal friendship. It
would have been a man of stolid tenn
permanent, who could be insensible to
the enthusiastic reception accorded to
the nomination 1t was the result of
passionate excitement rather than the
calm Judgment of a deliberatiye body.
The tender of the position which
would have enabled me to appear be-
fore the people Of the Commonwealth
and demand literal observance and
fulflment of the letter aud spirit of the
platform adopted by the Convention,
was strong temptation towards an
acceptance of the trust. The profess
sion of faith therein set forth, in my
Judgment, embodies sound political
doctrine and practice and is in accord
with the patriotic wishes of the peo-
pie. 1t would have afforded me salts
faction to enforce and maintain the
proposition, that public trusts should
be administered with the same scrupu-
lous fidelity as private trusts; that no
diversion from the original purpose
should be permitted. 1t is mockery of
common business sense to displace
tried and faithful servants, in order to
provide places for hungry applicants
who may prove as. worthless as they
are voracious No sane man so acts
in his private affairs it is equally re-
pugnant to sound economy in the ad-
ministratiop of public interests.
The use of public patronage to con-
troll or direct the people in their choice
of candidates for Office, is grave po-
litical crime /; it subverts the princi-
Piles of representative government and
tends to make the servant master, to
the common debasement of the people
To have aided in some degree in call
ing attention to these vital questions
of the hour, would have been my duty
as nominee. The great moral and
political ideas which called the Re-
publican party into existence, have be-
come imbedded in the organic law of
the land. If it is the mission of the
present party organization to 60 for
ward in the spirit of the platform, it
should succeed. If it fails to come up
to the full measure of its promise, it
should perish Mere party obligations
sit very lightly on my shoulders, the
call upon me for party service was a
genuine surprise, one not likely to be
repeated in a lifetime it came un-
sought and should not be declined
without adequate and commanding
reasons. Such exist in my case.
Personal and private duties in which
the pubic take no interest, demand
that all my energies be devoted to
their fulfillment. Therefore, | must
decline the protfered position. To say
that l do SO with great reluctance,
but family expresses the fact. A life
time has been devoted to the advocacy
of those principles which constituted
the grandeur and glory of the republi-
can triumph; that triumph was accom-
plished at priceless cost. May the
inheritors of the name and organization
prove themselves worthy to administer
the future of the party.
Sincerely your friend,
THOMAS NJ. MARSHALL.