Year: 1868

The following is the reply of Speaker Colfax
to the committee announcing his nomination
by the Chicago Convention - ''.. s"+.


WASHINGTON, May 80, 1868


Hon. j. r. M,cley, President Of the National


Union Republican Committee q: ... y -, .-.-,


DEAR SIR THE platform adopted by the
patriotic Convention over which you presided,
and the resolutions which so happily supple
mcnt it, so entirely agree with my views as TO
Just national policy, that my thanks are due
TO the delegates as much for this clear and aus
picious declaration Of principles as for the
nomination with which have been honored,
and which gratefully accept. When great
rebellion, which imperilcd the national exist
ence, was at last Overthrown, the duty of all
others dcvolying on those entrusted with the
responsibilities of legislation, evidently was to
require that the revolted States should be read
mitted in participation of the government a.
gainst which they had erred, only on such d
basis as to increase and fortity, not to weaken
or endanger, the strength and power of the ma
ton Certainly no one ought to have claimed
that they should be readmitted under such a
rule that there organization as States could
ever again be used, as at the opening OF the
war; to defy the national authority or TO de-
stroy the national unity. This principle has
been the polc-star of those who have inflexi-
bly, insisted on the Congressional policy your
Convention so cordially endorsed. Bafficd by
Executive opposition and by persistent rcfu-
sails to accept any plan Of reconstruction prof
fered by Congress, justice and public safety at
last combined 10 teach us that by only an en-
largcmcnt of the suffrage in those states could
the desired end be attained, and that it was
even more safe 10 give the ballot to those who
loved the Union than TO those who had sought
Intellectually to destroy it. The assured sue
cess of this legislation is being written on the
adainant of history, and will be our triumph
ant vindication. More clearly, too, than ever
before does the nation now recognize that the
greatest glory of republic is that it throws
the shield of its protection over the humblest
and weakest of its people, and vindicates the
rights of the poor and the powerless as faith
fully rs those of the rich and the powerful. /
rejoice, too, in this connection, to find in your
platform the frank and fearless avowal that
naturaliZed citizens must be protected abroad
at every hazard, as though they were native
born our whole people are foreign or descend
ants of foreigners our fathers established by
arms their right to be called a nation it re-
mains for Us to establish the right to welcome
to our shores all who are willing, by oaths OF
allegiance, to become American citizens per-
Detual allegiance as claimed abroad, is only
another name for perpetual bondage, and would
make all slaves to the soil where first they saw
the light Our national cemeteries prove how
faithfully these oaths of fidelity have been seal
ed in the life-blood of thousands upon thou
sands. Should we not, then, be faithless to the
dead, if we did not protect their living bretll-
ren in the full enjoyment of that nationality
for which, side by side with the native born,
our soldiers of foreign birth laid down their
lives? 1t was fitting, too, that the reprepresen-
.tatives of party which had proved so true to
the national duty in time Of war, should speak
so clearly in time of peace, for the maintenance
untarnshed of the national honor, the national
credit and good faith as regards its debt-the
cost of our national existence.


| do not need to extend this reply by
further comment Oh platte which
has elicted such hearty approval through
out the land the debt of gratitude it
acknowledges to the brave men who
saved the Union from destruction the
frank approval of amnesty bassed on re-
pentance and loyalty the demand for
the most rigid economy in the govern
ment the sympathy of the party OF
Liberty With all throughout the world
who long for the liberty We here enjoy,
and the recognition of the sublime prfn
ciples of the Declarat:es of lndeFend
eRce. aEe worthy Of the 5orgauazatieR en