Year: 1868

than the New York platform-although thn


conveys all I have said. and means more tha


| can tell you--the declaration of Mr.. Blair


the candidate of the Democratic party 70


Vice President. On the Sunday before tn


convention met, he wrote q letter to Governo


broadhead, which was published and placed


In the hands of every delegate to that con


vention. In that letter he declared thai


those reconstruction acts were null and void


those new State governments Illegal and un.
! authorized, and went on to tell how we


should get rid of them. He said YOU can


not change the character Of the Senate of the


United States under four years. That was


true; they might elect new House of Rep.


resentatives, but could not change the char,


aeter of the Senate, and therefore they could


not repeal those laws. How was he going t.


get clear of them? By notification, said he


the President must trample these laws int


the dust, and by the power of the army o


the United States must overthrow what ht


called the ''carpet-bag governments" of the


Southern States. He said, want to go be


fore the convention upon this policy and


upon no other. This is the only issue; all
| questions of finance, of tariff. and all ques.


tlons of currency are to be kept out; for there


is but one great question, and that is the ques-


ton OF overturning this policy stablished by


Congress, destroying the new State govern


ments that have been called into existence,
and placing the power back into the hands
of the rebels-the men whom it has cost us
SO much blood and treasure to conquer. Gen
eral Blair went before the convention upon
that letter; he was nominated on the first bal
lot, and unanimously. He was placed in
nomination by a rebel General from Ken
lucky, General Preston; his nomination was
seconded by General Wade Hampton, of
South Carolina, and the overwhelming rebel
sentiment of that convention caused his nom.
ination to be made unanimously and enthusi-
astically


This letter of General Blair's is the true
platform of the Democratic party, upon which
lt stands to-day. 1t is the same in substance
with their resolutions, but it is more clear,
more definite, and more tangible to the pop
ular understanding Consider, for moment
what are the elements that compose the Dem
ocratic party. A great party, like man,
has constitution and an organism, from
which it can not get away, that must control
It's action, just as mans constitution-his
temperament-controls his actisn We can
not get away from our nature; neither can
party get away from its constitutional ele-
ments, and from that constitution which it
has from the character Of the men who com
pose 1t. Who are the men that compose the
Democratic party? In the first place, who
are the men that control the party in the
North? They are the men who opposed the
war. who opposed the putting down of the
rebellion; they are the men whose sympathies
were with the South in the struggle. aud
many of them going further than mere sym
pathy, giving actual aid and comfort to the
enemy; but not all. believe that many of
the rank and file of that party are right. l
believe that the great mass of the people of
all parties are honest at heart; but we Judge
OF all men by their actions, and hold them
responsible for what they do. When we pro-
posed, during the war, to borrow money
for the purpose of putting down the rebellion,
we were told by Democratic politicians in In
diana, that the Government had no right to
issue greenback or legal tender notes; that
the law authorizing the issue of bonds was
unconstitutional; that the people should not
lend their money to the Government, or, as a
Democratic orator said at Indianapolis, that
they had better go and throw their money |
into White River than invest it in the pur-
chase of Government bonds; that they never
would get it back, and alter doing all they
could to destroy the confidence Of the people
IN the Government, and TO prejudice them
against the prosecution of the war, they
o.ii Iehb Jhelr money 10 the government,
their sons went into the army, the war was
fought out, and the rebellion put down.


Who compose the Southern wing of the
Democratic party? They are the actual rebels.
" ho are the Democratic leaders in the South
W Tho are the men who went to New York and
took part in the convention that nominated
Seymour and Blair? They were the rebel
Generals who commanded the armies; the
men who were members of the Rebel Con-
gress, first at Montgomery. and then at Rich
mond; they were the rebel Governors of
States; they were the een who went to Eng
land, and TO France and Austrin, to engage
foreign assistance-to get them to interfere
in behalf of the rebels--tO induce them TO ad
vance money upon Confederate bonds or cot
ton bonds. General Hampton, one of the
boldest of the Southern leaders, says it was al
his instance that the declaration was put into
.he platform of that convention that the re-
laws were null and void; that it
was at his instance that the most Objectionable
md terrible part of that platform was made.
These are the men who compose the Demo
,ratic party North and South; and as the
character OF the men, so will be the character
If their action. 1t necessarily results.