Year: 1874




given in Philadelphia


PHILADELPHIA, Dec. 2, 1874.


GENTLEMEN: am honored by your in
vitation 10 the dinner OF Democrats to-
morrow evening at the Continental Hotel.
and beg you TO believe that nothing pre-
vents me from attending but an imperative
duty which calls Tue elsewhere.


think can understand how sincerely
you all rejoice over the great political
events of the last two months. Ii YOU
wish TO know what my feelings are |
must decline TO tell simply because | can
not do justice to the subject. Democracy
which is the common sense and common
honesty Of the nation organized for public
purposes-wss supposed by its enemies
to be eflectually killed. Ii was but natur-
al tina. the heart of every patriot should
burn within him when he saw ii rising
again, facing the oppressor with a front
as determined as ever, and dcnOuncing
corruption In high places with the same
mighty voice which in former times went
over the land likes the tones Of trumpet.
But let us not merely congratulate our
selves upon the recent past. Think moth
ing done until the work is finishad The
victories of this year will put only one
House of the Federal Congress into our
hands, and we must wait year 10 realize
even that. Our perfect independence must
be achieved in 1876 by a struggle which
will prove that we are worthy TO be de-
scended from the men who proclaimed the
rights of the States and the liberties Of the
people a hundred years earlier. II we fail
we must sink into a servitude even more
degrading than that which We have endur-
ed for the last dozen years. If we succeed,
then will this puissant nation, like the
awaking Samson, "Shake her invincible
locks" and start the new century under
auspices so grand that nothing can arrest
her free career.


We must bear II always in mind that the
triumph of Democratic principles means
the restoration of constitutional govern
ment on basis which will give absolute
security TO the rights of men against the
niiqhts of men. The broken walls of the
Constitution are to be built up anew and
made too strong to be thrown down again
by the ruffians of the 'higher law Our
opponents themselves will become recon-
ciled to the principles OF American liberty
when they pass into the minority and find
the magnanimous Democracy taking every
possible precaution TO guard them in their
weakness against the oppression which
they inflicted upon us in the days of their
power. Peace will come, too, sectional
strife will be ended, and the public rob-
bers who now swarm over the Southern
States will cease their nafarious occupation
when we revoke the license which the zap
propriate legislation" of the last nine years
has given them.


But we cannot reasonably hope to ac-
complish the object of our mission with
out much labor and faithful exertion after
the machinery of the Government shall be
put into Our hands. Fifteen years, domi-
nation by an anti-eonstitutional party has
utterly demoralized every branch of the
public service. These corruptions have
become so numerous and so diversified,
have sent down their top roots so deeply,
have been practisel so openly. and have
become. in a certain sense, so respectable,
that for many of them a mere change OF
administration will not speedily furnish
remedy. But the abuses may be ended by
the impus0n of the same moral force
which carries their authors out of public
life. When Hercules undertook the task
of cleansing the Augean stable he did not
use the fork or the shovel, but turned the
current OF a river upon IL and so swept all
its filth TO the sea. The stream of
public opinion If rightly directed
will in like manner aid a Democratic
! Administration. This hydraulic method
of reform being necessary. the freedom
of the press and the untrammeled right
of the people TO speak their sentiments
every thing that lets the water on-shoulJ
be seduOusly encouraged and securely
guarded. SO may il c,mc to pass in due
\ time that we will remember the days OF
the gag law, the practice of kidnapping
I freemen, and the murder of innocent peo-
pie by military commission as we remem
ber the years Of mildew and potato rot and
cholera 10 only shudder at them and try
to prevent their recurrence.


IL should close here You might misun-
derstand me. have not the least idea
that we ought to unsettle any thing which
has been fixed and determined, or take
! from any human being right vested In
him by existing laws. We propose no
counter revolution. While we mean TO be
! Just. we are determined also TO be liberal
In the broadcst sense of the word The
faith of the Government. no matter by
whom pledged, Is irrevocable. The whole
civilized world knows that the public credit
Is safer with us than with our opponents.
and this is shown by the fact that since
the November elections American securi-
ties have risen in every market We sub
NIT To the amendments Of the Constitution.
though they were carried by fraud and
force. and the two last were intended to
take away our Inheritance of self-govern-
ment and give il to another race Jf men
without right and without ability TO hold
IL or to use il. But we will execute the
whole instrument. amendments and all. In
a way that will save the rights OF the hon
est white man as well as the abolitionist
and the negro.


Another thing large and most re-
spectacle body of men who. until lately,
acted with the Republican party. voted
I for our candidates last month. We are
not to forget how much we owe them.
\ The debt can be paid by showing that we
deserve their confidence i'm our modera-
I ton and fairness towards all classes of the
people.


I am faithfully yours, &C., J. ;. BLACK.