The times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1897-1901, 1900-08-31
The Party of Lincoln Not That of
McKinIey-OId Ideals Have Been
ingion and Jefferson Sneered Mt
by the Present Administrations.

/ you as Of the few Republicans now living
| who participated in the Republican conventions
| of 1856 at Pittsburg and Philadelphia, and on
behalf of the delegates to the coming Republican
| National Convention extends to you and to your
surviving associates in those historic events a
cordial inyitItion to be present and to occupy a
seat upon the platform of the convention, which
meets the 18th day OF June, 1900, in the city
| OF Philadelphia.
| Neariy halt a century has elapsed since you
| participated in laying the foundation Of the
| Republican party You have witnessed its mag
nifcenf growth from popular vote OF l,34l ,Z64
I and III electoral votes for Fremont in 1886 to
popular vote of 7l0i, ,779 and 271 electoral votes
( for Mckinley in 1896; and therefore the Repub-
lieans of today profoundly ap.reciating the work
| of yourself and other pioneers Of our party VIII
| feel honored by your distinguished presence, and
assure you most cordial welcome.
| With considerations OF high esteem, very truly
yours. NJ. A. HANNA, Chairman
CHARLES DICK, Secretary.
| Reply of Edserton.
The cutting declination of Mr.. Edgerton,
in part, follows:
! Akron, Ohio, June 3, 1900.
MY Dear Sir: l have received your let
| ter of the I'd inst. in which you invite
! me to be present at the Convention to bs
| held at Philadelphia on Tuesday next.
For your courtesy in extending to me
| this invitation l am extremely obliged to
| you. The thoughtfulness which inspired
| it-knowing as you do how little there is
| in common between the principles held by
me and the foreordained work of the &C.
casion referred to, and how little use you
will have for such as l am-argues dis
| interestedness on your part, which, being
SO rare in this day, is appreciated accord
ingly.
II am, indeed. very unequal to the task
to which you have invited me- for l am
borne down by the weight of many years
and am laboring under great infirmities OF
1
to hazard the undertaking il my journey
/ thither and my presence there could at all
! promote the keeping by the coming Con-
vention of the ancient faith of the Repub-
lican part- or the maintenance of its an
cestral honor. What that Convention will
do is absolutely known to you and is sub
stantially known to me. From this knowI-
edge l am persuaded that the condition of
my attendance above referred to- must fail
has failed in adyance-and the condition
failing. my presence must fail also
The Philadelphia Convention OF 1856
| was made up of men who had convictions
of political right and duty and the cour-
| age Of them. And they came together for
conference and comparison of views. to
| the end that by wise and tolerant concert
OF political effort the welfare of the peo-
| pie might be promoted. and tho great
| cause of human liberty advanced.
THE Philadelphia Convention of 1900 haa
| for its sole work to ratify and register a
| political rescript set forth by one man,
| having for its purpose TO perpetuate In
power an Administration which has wholly
disregarded the interests of the masses.
The Pittsburg Convention Of 1856 was
/ held on the birthday of Washington, and
| the Philadelphia Convention OF that year
was called on June II. the anniversary Of
the battle Of Bunker Hill. the significance
| of which dates Will suggest itself . you
Your Convention will eulogize and en-
dorse with fulsome praise a policy which
has turned its back upon the last counsel
OF Washington TO his people and which is
| organized to sneer at the principles for
which he fought and will commend an
| Administration which, for its simple
| laekeying and trucking subserviency to
| Great Britain has not its match in his
tory, and this is, too, by President whose
principal stock in trade for a generation
past has been our economic wrongs suf-
fered at the hands of this hereditary in
| e.Istrial enemy of ours
Tine Convention held at Philadelphia in
! 1856 addressed its declaration of doctrine
10 those who were in favor of restoring
the action of the Federal Government to
the principles of Washington and Jefferson.
TI,e Philadelphia Convention.
THE Philadelphia Convention of this
view the principles Of Washington and
Jefferson are avowedly antiquated and out
| CT date-useful only in the orations of
the Fourth of July or the warmed-oyer
porch -platitudes of political campaign.
and it will in terms countenance policy
which denies TO 10000, eco persons within
our exclusive jurisdiction the inaienable
rights which In its earlier days the Re-
publican party thus guaranteed policy
| which avows its purpose of governing sub
| ject peoples without their consent, outside
Of constitutional principles and safe
| guards, at the caprice Of irresponsible
I appointees or a venal matarity in Congress.
| and in fragrant and derislrs violation Of the
| principles of Washington and Jefferson and
those promulgated in the Declaration OF
| Independence and embodied in the Federal
| Constitution.
Your Convention viii yociferously up
| hold and applaud the doings of an Admin
istration which. doubling in its own track.
within a space of sixty days, has broken
| faith with an innocent and confiding peo-
! pie who by the hazards of war, passed
under its jurisdiction an act tightly
| characterized by itself as the breach of a
| plain duty at the command OF the con-
| scienceless and mercenary appetite for
| plunder possessed by those by whom that
| Administration was created, and which
| thus is constrained to remember its
| creator
1T will endorse a policy which. thus
| Iawlessly put in motion, has already be-
! gun 10 bear the fruits of lawlessness in
| the peculations being perpetrated by cur
! officials upon those whom it appears we
| rescued from one set of brigands only TO
| turn loose upon them another, and II viii
| denounce the individual thieves, In apparent
| forgetfulness that the theyery Is but the
| symptom and necessary sequence OF an ir-
responsible despotism. For a government
| of peoples outside of constitutional sane
! tions is upon any rational republican
| theory but a despotism, and it is SO not
| the less because il Is promised to be ad-
ministered benevclently and for the good
| Of the governed; the fact that they are
governed without their consent puts the
policy at war with the Republican doc
trine of 1856.
"And so, being irresponsible al its source
! thu principle of irresponsibility permeates
the entire fabric and stealing and spolia-
tion by subordnates follow as night sue
| ceeds the day. Shortly before the con-
vention of 1856 a man Of some prominence
then and later said:
when the white man governs him
self, that is self government; but when lie
governs himself and also governs another
man, that is more than self goverumt at-
that is despotism.
What | do say is that no man is gcoi
enough TO govern another man without
that mans consent. Little by little, but
steadily as mans march to the grave we
have been giving Up the old for the new
faith.
Near eighty years ago we began by de-
claring that all men are created equal, but
now from that beginning we have run
dowr to the other declaration that for