Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1884-07-23

Tee from cltlZens IN various cities from
Maine to California, showing an extraor.
binary number of sIgners to the declara
tion Of Independence.
Mr.. Quimby, of New jersey. said that
to save the Republican party Blaine must
be beaten. and that for every Democrat in
New Jersey who would vote for Blaine
there were five Republicans who would
vote for Cleveland.
). +. Claflin, of Illinois, said that there
was strong Cleveland element among
the Republicans in the West.
President Seeley, Of Amherst, also made
an address, in which he said that he was
not prepared to join the Democrats, but
was IN favor OF choosing a separate can
dldate. de also made plea for temper
ance principles.
THE NATIONAL COMMITTEE.
The Committee on Permanent Organi-
zatlon recommended that a national COM
mittee be appointed, and the Chair ap-
pointed the following: From New York.
Carl SchurZ, Theodore Bacon. John Fl.
Cowing, Charles P. Miller, r. r. Bowker,
George W. Folsom, Ethan AL
len DOty, George Walton Greene
and Horace E. Deming; from
Massachusetts, William II. Forbes,
Joseph Tucker, Joseph Fl. Walker, Samuel
HOar. Phineas Pearce. George V Everett
and WinslOw Warren; from Connecticut,
Simon K. Baldwin, o. p. Armstrong and
II. W. Farnham; from New Jersey,
Daniel Drake Smith, Simeon Huntington
and W. G. Peekham; from Pennsylvania,
Stuart Wood and Joseph Parrish. Chair
man Goldman and George Claflin, of Illi-
nois, were added to the committee.
Then Carl Schurz, in behalf of the Com
mittee on Resolutions, said that there was
no intention to make a platform for a new
party, but only appeal for honest govern
ment.
George VIM. Curtis read the address,
which is of considerable length. Mr..
Curtis was frequently interrupted by ap-
plause, and when he had finished the reso-
lutions were adopted without dissent.
THE PLATFORM.
The following is the platform of the In
dependent Republican party:
The paramount issue Of the Presidential
election Of this year is moral rather than pO-
1tlcal. 1t concerns the national honor and
character and honesty OF administration
rather than general policies of the govern
ment, upon which the platforms of the two
parties not essentially differ. No position
taken by one platform is seriously traversed
by the other. Both evidently contemplate a
general agreement of public opinion on
subjects which have been long in controversy.
and indicate an unwillngness tOldec,are, upon
other and cardinal questions, views which, i'm
the present condition of opinion, might seri-
ously disturb the parties within themselves.
Parties indeed now c0here mainly by habit
and tradition, and since the great issues
which have divided them have been settled
the most vital political activity has been the
enueaVor OF good citizens in both parties to
adjust them TO living issues and make them
effective agencies of political progress and
reform. The indispensable necessity of this
course has long been apparent, for in time
OF profound peace at home and abroad the
most threatening national peril is an insidious
political corruption. mercenary and de-
moralizing in spirit and tendency.
HOAR's PAT DESCRIPTION.
The result Of what is well described by SEN
atOr IlOar, of Massachusetts, as 1.-THE shame
less doctrine that the true way by which
power should be gained in the Republic is to
brbe the people with the offices created for
their service, and the true end for which it
should be used, when gained, is the promo
tion of selfish ambition and the qualification
of personal revenge" But this doctrine has
produced results which are still more alarm
ing: A corrupt spirit and tendency has so
rapidly developed that they seek pO-
liueal power not only to crafty
ambition and revenge, but to promote private
gain. They deride appeals to the public con-
science, defend the sOled regulations of pub
lie men by a bold assertion that all public men
are equally guilty, declare that success in OBJ
tanning eminent position disposes of every i'm
putation and suspicion of wrong doing and,
despising all practical measures to reform the
system Of official patronage which fosters dis
honest politics, makes great party nOminally
responsible for prolonged and monstrous
frauds, and proclaims that it is the duty
of every citizen who for great and beneicent
ends has habitually supported the party to
regard the success of the party at an election,
without regard to the characters of those
whom it selects as its executive agents. to be a
supreme national necessity.
A FATAL TENDENCY.
A tendency more fatal to the country's well
fare can't be conceived, and when by public
indifference or Misunderstanding this corrupt
spirit is able to demand that tie COUNTRY shall
approve 1t by according to it the highest honor
in Its gift, every patriotic citizen must per-
ceive that no duty could be more pressing, vi
tai and Imperative than that of battling and
defeating this demand. If the Republican
Convention had presented a candidate whose
character and career were pledges of a resO-
Lutte contest with the tendencies that we have
described, if they had foretold stern dealing
with political corruption and vigorous cor
rectiOn of the vast abuses which a long and
term Of power by any
party is sure to breed, if
promised innexlbIe honesty Of admins
tratiOn, purtication OF the government and
the elevation of the party standard every
Republican voter would have gladly sup
cisey anuclpations which the nomination
fOrbids.
BLAINE ABSOLUTELY UNFIT.
1t offers candidate who is an unfit leader.
shown by his own words and his acknowledged
acts, which are on official record, to
dence: who has traded upon his
Official trust for his pecuniary gain;
a representative of men, methods and con-
duct which the public conscience condemns
and which illustrate the very evils which
honest men would reform. Such a nomna-
tiOn does not promise in the executive chair
infleXible official integrity, calm and wise
Judgment, sole regard for the public welfare
and an unshrinking determination to promote
reform in the civil service, and ceaselcssly to
pursue and punish public robbers of every
kind and degree. The Independent voters
have generally supported the Re-
publican nominations as more surely
promising reform than those of the Democratic
party. The Independents, however. cannet
tiOn of a tendency they would correct. The
Republicans cannot hope that under such
as we have mentioned the abuses
Of the past can be corrected, or the party re-
record and services of the Republican party,
but not with our consent or cOnniVance shall
the record be disgraced.
DANGER OF DEsPoTIsM.
Every party must be consistent
" renewed by the intelligent in
dependence of its own members, or it will
sink from an agency to secure good govern
ment into a remOrseless Gespotism. The Re-
publican party first sprang from a moral sem
tment. 1t was the party of political morality
the conscience of the citizen, but, like all par
ties, it was a political agency, not to be wor-
SHIPPED, but to be carefully held to the
spirit and purposes on which and
II do not know" said Mr.. seward 30 wears
ago, when he left the Whig party to join the
Il do not know that it viii
always, or even long, preserve its courage. its
moderation. and its consistency. If it shall
do so, il will secure and save the country. If
it, too. shall become unfaithful, as all pre-
sorrow and regret on my part, perish as they
are perishiDg, and Will give place to
another truer one. This reasoning must not
be forgotten. 1t IS with a profound convic-
tiOn of its wisdom that Republicans, faithful
TO their party, but holding with the great Re-
publican fathers that political morality and
purity of administration are more precious
than the party. are more constrained to op-
in the interest of what they believe to be
pure Republicanism. of the publ welfare
and OF the honor of the American name.
OFFICIAL HONESTY AT STAKE.
The Republican nomination has for the time
all other issues, by raising the
can't be avoided except upon the plea that the
official character of the candidate need not be
considered, and that in order to secure the
party the present members Of the party ought
to vote for any candidate who has been regu-
larly nominated. This is plea beyond which
party madness cannot go. Acquiescence in it
WOulu require the surrender OF the self
respect OF every voter. There could
be no candidate SO unfit that this
plea would not demand his support, and Re-
publican success justified by an argument
which defes public conscience, would be the
overthrow of the vital principles of the party,
and show that the spirit and character which
created lis great traditions are rapidly per-
ishing.
THE REAL ISSUE OF THE CAMPAIGN.
Upon the practical questions Of the tariff
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