The Portland daily press., 1888-06-07


ment In its whole constitutional vigor, as the
sheet-anchor Of our peace and safety abroad.
"a jealous care Of the right Of election
by the people, mild and safe corrective Of
abuses, which are Topped off by the sword Of
revolution where peaceable means are un-
provided.
6-Absolute acquiescence In the decisions
Of the majority. the vital principle Of repub-
Hes, from which Is no appeal but TO force,
the vital principle and Immediate parent Of
despotism.
IA well-disciplined militia, our best re-
lance in peace and for the first moments in
war.
s--The supremacy Of the civil over the
military authority.
9-Economy In the public expenses, that
labor may be lightly burdened.
10-The honest payment OF our debts and
the preservation OF our public faith.
1-EncOuragement OF agriculture and Of
commerce as its handmade.
12-The diffusion OF information, and the
arraignment Of all abuses at the bar OF pub
lie reason.
13-Freedom Of religion.
14-Freedom Of the press.
15-Freedom Of the person under the pro-
lection Of the habeas corpus.
16-Trial by jurles impartially selected.
Add to these the golden economic rule
that no more taxes should be levied upon
the people, In any way, than are necessary
TO meet the honest expenses OF the govern
ment, and you have a body of principles to
sin against which has been political death to
every party hitherto, TO sin against which In
the future will be political suicide.
True to these principles the Democratic
party fought successfully our foreign wars,
protected our citizens in every cline, COM
PEELED the respect of all nations for our flag,
added imperial domain tc our territory, and
insured peace, prosperity and happiness to
all our people.
False to these principles the great Federal.
Wing and Known Nothing parties went down,
never TO rise again. And we are here today
representative Of the party that has sur
vived all others, the united, triumphant, in
vincible democracy, prepared to strike down
forever the last surviving foe In November.
Our standard must be the rallying point
now and In the future for all good citizens
who love and cherish republican institutions,
who love liberty regulated by the eonstitu-
tion and law, who belieye In a government
not for a class or for few, but govern
ment Of all the people, by all the people and
for all the people.
This has been the asylum for all good men
from over the earth who flee from want and
oppression and want to become Americans.
this ground and dn To- fbs RspabIe
Our institutions cannot change to meet hos
tile wishes. nor be so much as sensibly m0di-
ned save by the peaceful and deliberate ac-
tion OF the mass OF our people in accordance
with the constitution and laws Of the land.
Whatever problems the present has, OF the
future may present. so far as political action
can affect them, will be dealt with by the
American people within the law. And In the
future, as In the past, the people will find Sc
curity for their liberty and property. eneour-
peace and prosperity in following the party
OF the American masses, which will ever
shield them against the aggressions Of power
and monopoly on the one side, and on the
other the surgings Of chaos.
While almost all the rest of the civilized
world Is darkened by armies, crushed by
kings or nighmared by conspiracies.w we alone
enjoy healthy peace, a rational liberty, a
progressive prosperity. We owe it TO our
political Institutions, to Democratic teach
i1fl sofIi. at least as much as to the ''D''r'H'
The man Is not a good American who,
knowing what we are, by act or word,
experiment or thought, In any way, will at
tempt to weaken the foundation Of this
splendid political structure-the Republic Of
We meet today under conditions new to the
Democrats OF this generation. How often
we stood In conventions In the past, when 70
others 1t seemed as IL the shadows Of death
closed about us. when the day Of victory
seemed almost as far away as the day Of gen
eral judgment. 1t could not then be said
that we met for spoils or personal advance
ment. We met to keep the fires Of Demo
cratic liberty alive till the dawn Of a better
day. IL we were party OF misfortune. II
must also be agreed that we were party of
undaunted courage and infexible principle.
Twenty-eight years ago the Democratic
party, rent into fragments, heated by feuds
that only time could allay or punishment de-
stroy, met, as 1t looks now. merely to settle
in angry mood the terms upon which they
should become exlles from power
By their mad dissensions they elected to
go 60 defeat rather than wait for the sober
ing influence of time to close the breach. To
the younger men Of that day the act seemed
suicide-mitigated by insanity.
Their madness transferred to a minority
Of the American people the political govern
ment of all. The party, whatever the homes
ty and responsibility Of its members, howev-
er patriotic its motives, was not broad OF
national at its base. Ithad at most but one
central idea, and when that idea was set in
the constitution and crystalized into law, il
ran q career of riot that appalled, all men.
The history Of that period of political de-
bauchery Is too sad and familiar to Ameri-
cans to be recited anew.
The Republican party, sometimes peace
fairly and sometimes by fraud, succeeded in
holding power "A years; till at last the
American people, no longer condoning its
faults or forgiving its sins, hurled It from
power, and again committed TO the historic
party Of the Constitution and the whole
Union the administration Of our political af-
fairs.
We won by the welI-earned confidence Of
the country in the rectitude Of our purpose,
by the aid Of the chivalrous and eonsclen-
tious men, who could no longer brock the
corruptioDs of the Republican party. Ii was
a great, deserved. necessary victory.
The day on which Grover Cleyeland-the
plain, Straightforward, typical American
citizen chosen at that electiOn-t0ok the oath
Of office In the presence OF the multitude
n Aau lu hat all No
ture seemed exuberantly to sanction and to
celebrate the victory-that day marked the
close Of an old era and the beginning Of a
new one.
1t closed the era of usurpation OF power
by the federal authority. Of illegal force, OF
general contempt for constitutional limita-
items and plain law, Of glariDg scandals.
prohlgate waste and unSpeakable c0rrup-
tions, of narrow sectionalism and class strife
Of the reign of party whose good work had
long been done.
Ii began the era Of perfect peace and per.
feet union-the State fused In all their SOW
ereignty into federal republic with limited
but ample powers; Of a public service con
Quoted with absolute integrity and stric
economy; OF reforms pushed to their ex
treme limit; Of comprehensive. sound anC
safe financial policy, giving security and con
fidenee to all enterprise and endeaYor-s
Democratic administration, faithful to III
mighty trust, loyal TO its pledges, true to thG
COnStltutiOn, sale guarding tne interests ant
liberties Of the people.
And now we stand on the edge Of another
and perhaps greater contest; with rela
tion to the electors that we have not held fol
a generation-that of responsibility for the
great trust Of government. We are no long
er auditors, but accountants; no longer crit
les, but the criticised. The responsibility Ii
ours, and II we have not taken all the powel
necessary TO make that responsibility good
the fault Is ours, not that OF the people.
We are confronted by a willy, unscrupulou'
and desperate foe. There will be no spech
on the record that they will not magnify in
| TO blot, no circumstance that they will moi
| torture and misrepresent. no disappointment
| that they will not exaggerate into a revolt
no class or creed that they will not seek tC
infame, no passion that they Will net at
| tempt 10 rouse, no fraud that they will moi
willingly perpetrate. They fancy. indeed
that there is mo imposture too monstrous
for the popular eredulity," no crime thai