Year: 1868

repudiated, or even seriously quib


bled about, their obligations to thos


who in the hour Of need gave to th


country their money. / conceive j


to be an insult to this noble and gen


erous nation when propositions ar


broachsd in this country to saw,
money by arbitrarily setting asid


the original understanding unde


which the national creditor confidet
his means to the Republic, and this
too, at the time when the Republi,


was q beggar, and when it seemed
very uncertain whether or not every
dollar staked upon the success of th'
national cause would be a total loss
Shall We permit the national creditors
70 say; 1--WE won our stake upon
the success, but we lost our stake
upon the honesty of the American
people p Whenever anybody tells
you that he has discovered some
technical point which would make II
legally possible for US to drive q
sharp bargain with those who helped
US 10 our distress, reply to him that
this Republic can not afford to have
it understood throughout the world
that its word is not as good as ita
band. or svsn that its bond ID not ss
good as other peoples bonds. Tell
him that the honor and credit of the
American people are worth more
than hundreds millions, aye, worth
more to the patriot in self respect, to
the Government in reputation, in
auenee and power, to The BUSINESS
interests Of tie country in hard cash.
Therefore, ressnting the insult which
by such propositions has been offered
to the American people, the National
Republican Convention declares that
the mere suggestion of repudiation,
open or covert, is national crime;
it pledges itself that the national
creditors shall have every 'fartHing he
is entitled to accordin to the origi-
nal understanding, and lY this de
elafation and plsdge We mean to
stand.


The third salient point of our polit-
ical creed is the tollowing' While
we strive TO secure peace and har-
.aony to the country by building up
out of the ruins lett by the rehelliOn
new structures upon tie basis of inn
partial justice and eaualrights while
We guarantee their dues to all those
who helped rs on in the great strHg-
gle-while we most warmly com
mend the soldiers and sailors who
won our victories, and the widows
and orphans of our gallant dead to
the gratitude of the natlo.l-while wf
invite foreign immigration to share
our fortunes, and to help develop ouI
greatness, and pledge ourselves to
use the whole power OF the republic
to make the rights of American clti-
zenship respected in every part OF
the world-we offer immunity and
forgiveness to all our enemies On one
condition only" That they respect
the rights Of oHr friends. They
shall, like the rest Of rs, have their
full share In the government Of thig
country, provided only they will not
use their power for the oppression al
others. Thus we demonstrate that
our policy with regard to the late re-
bells is dictated by stern duty, and
not by any feeling Of vindictiveness
that it means reconciliation and nQ1
snbjugation. As soon as the late
rebels are a. willing as we, the Amer
ican people will become one grea,
brotherhood in wkich every violation
of individual rights will be resented
as a crime against the rights of all.


Finally, our political creed declares
that we shall hail with gladness every
effort toward making the great prin-
ciples embodied in the declaration OF
independence aliving reality on every
inch of American soil, thus pledginG
ourselves that the Republican party
will continue to be what it always
has been, the champion of human
rights and OF enlightened progress.


The platform has been received by
the friends of liberty throughout the
land with almost undivided satisfac
ton except as to one paragraph, and
there is some point TO the objections
raised. The paragraph alluded to i:
the following; "The guarantee by
Congress of equal suffrage to al
loyal men at the South was demands,
by every consideration of public
safety, of gratitude and of justice
and must be maintained while th,
question Of suffrage in all the loya
States properly belongs to the peopl


of those States"


INVALID OBJECTIONS.


That objections should be made b,
our opponents who want no sucl
guarantee, is natural enough, for Il
them considerations of ,,ublic safety
| of gratitude and of justice, are alik
Indifferent. But the paragraph i


found fault with also by men who ar
not hostile to its spirit. "Way,' j
is asked, "why apply one rule to tn


South, and another to the lOys
States 2" Is not this inconsistent


A different wording of the resolution


would have obviated this question
If instead Of "the South" the ex
preston were used, ''the State


whose governments had been de
stroyed by the rebellion, and were t


be reconstructed and if instead o
"tAe loyal States" it read, 9Th
States whose relations to the Nations
Government had remained undis


turbed," il would at once become al
parent that the difference in the con
dition of the two classes of State


was such as to authorize an exercis
lof power over one class, which wOul'


have been Of questionable constitl


tionality if applied to the other.


i But this is mere matter of form
| More significant is another ebjectiO
made by some OF the truest friend
! of our cause Why did not the Cor
! vention expressly urge the introduG
ton of impartial suffrage all over th


Union2 Simply because the majorit
of the convention, and, believe thu


the Republican party was, and is nt


prepared to agree upon any plan b'
yond leaving the matter to the az
] ton of the people of the loyal State
tl Without hesitation. l confess that