The Democratic advocate., 1888-06-09
spRRcu OF THE CHAIRMAN.


On being presented as the permanent
chairman Mr.. Collins said: TO stand BY
YOUR favor in this place, SO often filled by the
foremost men in our great party, is a distinc-
tion of the highest character and an honor foI
which am profoundly grateful. In perform
ing the delicate and difficult service to which
YOU have assigned me | can scarcely hope tc
Justify the wisdom of your choice. | shall al
all times need continuance OF your indul-
gence and courtesy, as well as your full CO
operation to promote order, decorum and
goodwill, until these proceedings are brought
to happy close. We represent in this con
yention more than thirty millions Of the Amer
lean people, we bear the commission to act
for them and their injunction to act, with all
the wisdom that God has given us, to protect
and safeguard the institutions OF the republic
as the fathers founded them. In time when
the world was king-ridden and pauperized by
the privileged few, when men scarcely dared
to breathe the word Liberty" even if they
understood its meaning, the people scattered
along our eastern coast, with sublime hero
ism never equaled, broke from all traditions,
rejected all known systems and established,
to the amazement of the world, the political
wonder of the ages, the American republic,
the child of revolution nursed by philosophy.
The hand that framed the immortal Declara-
ton of Independence is the hand that guided
the emancipated country to progress and glory.
1t is the hand that guides us still in our on
ward march as free and progressive people.
The principles upon which our government
can securely rest, upon which the peace, pros
perity and liberties of the people depend, are
the principles of the founder of our party, the
apostle OF Democracy, Thomas Jefferson.
Our young men under thirty have heard more
in their time of the clash of arms and the
echoes of war than of the principles of gov
ernment. 1t has been a period of passion,
force, impulse and emotional politics; so thai
we need not wonder that now and then we
hear the question asked and scarcely answer
ed What difference is there between the two
parties?'
THE PRINCIPLES OF DEMOCRACY.
"Every Democrat knows the difference.
The Democratic creed was not penned BY
Jefferson for a section or class of the peo-
pie, but for all time. These principles con.
served and expanded the republic in all its
better days. A strict adherence to them will
preserve it to the end; SO the Democracy Of
to-day, as in the past, believe with Jefferson
in:
81. Equal and exact justice to all men, oi
whatever state or persuasion, religious Oh
political,
SO. Peace, commerce and honest friendship
with all nations, entangling alliances with
none.
SO. Support of the State governments in al
their rights as the most competent admins
traitors of our domestic concerns and the
surest bulwarks against anti-repubhcan tend
encies.
~. The preservation ofthe general govern
,~o,,t -, ,hola constitutional viOor thf
sheet anchor of our peace and safety abroad
"5. A Jealous care of the right of election
by the people, mild and safe corrective o.
abuses, which are Topped of by the sword o
revolution where peaceable means are unpro
Yidsd.
&c. Absolute acquiesoenoe in the decisions
of the majority, the vital principle of repub
lies, from which is no appeal but to force, the
vital principle and immediate parent of des
potism.. ;. .,,
lance in peace and for the first moments il
war.
$50. The supremacy of the civil order above
the military authority.
SO. Economy in the public expenses, thai
labor may be lightly burdened.
$40. The honest payment of our debts anc
the preservation of our public faith.
''il. Encouragement of agriculture and o
commerce as its handmaid.
'l2 The diffusion of information and ar
raignment of all abuses at the bar of public
reason.
s!la. Freedom of religion,
IA. Freedom of the press,
"l5, Freedom of the person under the pro
tection of the habeas corpus,
"l6. Trial by juries impartially selected.
tha t-fIla 4
that no more taxes should be levied upon tht
people in any way than are necessary to NEE
the honest expenses of government. and yol
have body Of principles to sin against which
has been political death to every party hith
erto, to sin against which in the future will b,
political suicide.
True to these principles, the Democratic
party fought successfully our foreign wars
Projected our citizens in every cline, com
PEELED the respect of all nations for orr flag
added imperial domain to our territory aut
insured peace, prosperity and happiness t
all our people.
sFalse to these principles, the great Fed
eral, Wing and Know Nothing parties wen
down, never to rise, and we are here to-day
representatives of the party that has survived
ali others-the united; tpiuMphagt, ipEiHelhIi
Democracy-prepared TO strike down forever
the last surviving foe in November. Ou
standard must be the rallying point now ant
in the future for all good citizens who loye
and cherish Republican institqtiqqs-whc
lave liberty regulated by the eoRstitgtio9. ane
laE-whp believe in government nat tpr,
class or for few, but government of oil tht
people, by all the people and for al! tht
ppeopple. This has been the asylum for al
good men from over the earth who flee from
want and oppression and mean to become
Americans. But we invite and welcome only
friends to this ground and liegemen' to the
republic Our institutions cannot change tC
meet hostile wishes, nor he 50 much "a sen
sihly modified, save by the peaceful and de
liberate action of the mass of our people, IL
accordance with the constitution and the law:
of the land. Whatever problems the nresep
has or the future may present, SO iar as polit
iGal action can effect them, will be dealt witt
by the American people within the law. Ani
in the future, as in the past, the people vii
find security for theiF liberty and ppoperty
encouragement and protection for their in
dnstries, peace and prosperity in following
the party of the American masses, which will
ever shield them against the aggFessians o
monopoly and hower on the one side, and or
the other the sufgings ofchaos. While almos
all the rest Of the civilized world is darkenet
by armies, crushed by kings or nightmarec
by conspiraoies, we alone enjoy a healthy
peace, national liberty, progressive pros
perity. We owe it to our political institu
tions, to Democratic teachings at least ai
much as to the exuberant soil. The man i:
not good American who, knowing what We
are, by act or word, experiment or thought
in any way, will attempt to weaken the foun
dation of this splendid political structure
the republic Of the United Ststes,
THE PAST AND THE BRRsEsF,
"We meet to-day under conditions new to
the Democrats of this generation. How otter
we stood in conventions in the past when tc
others it seemed as if 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 thai
we met for spoils or personal advantage
We met to keep the fires of Democracy alive
till the dawn Of better day. If we we're q
party of misfortune It must also be agreed
that we were a party of undaunted courage
and inAexible principles. Twenty eighi
years ago the Democratic party, rent in frag.
ments, heated by feuds that only time could
allay or punishment destroy, met, as 1t looks
now, merely to settle in angry mood the terms
upon which they should become eyies from
power By their mad dissensions they elected
to go to defeat rather than wait for the sober
ing influences of time to close the breach.
To the younger men of that day the act