Year: 1872

: achievements, striving to palliate ol
h justify these wrongs and abuses, to stifit
I: ths moral sense of the people. and tc
: drive them, by tyranical party disci-
; pline, not only to submit TO this for the
present, but to perpetuate il; that the
: political power of the country should be
preserved in the hands of those who
. possessed it. He who calmly and inn
partially surveyed this spectacle, could


not fail TO be deeply alarmed not only at
2 the wrongs that were being and had
/ been perpetuated to the subjugation of
2 the popular spirit, which, if it did not
rise up against them, the question might
/ well have been asked, have the Ameri-


can people become so utterly Indifferent
TO their true interests-to their national


harmony-to the purity of their politi-


cal life-to the integrity of their free in
b stitutions-to the very honor of the


American name-that they should per-


nit themselves to be driven like a flock


of sheep by those who assume to lord it


over them? That question has now
: found an answer. No; the virtue,


the spirit of independence, the love


of liberty, the republican pride of the


American people are not dead yet, nor do


they mean that it shall die. That an
sweT Is given in thunder tones by tine


convention of American freemen here


assembled. Indeed, those who months
ago first raised their voices did so with
an abiding faith that their appeals


could not remain without a response;


but the volume of that response has now


far exceeded their anticipatiOns. The


crust of narrow preiudices, of selfish par
/ tizanship, which but yesterday seemed to
I stop every free pulsation of the popular
heart, is suddenly burst asunder. The
patriotic citizen rises above the partizan.
/ We begin to breathe again as freemen.
/ We dare again to call things by their
/ right names. We have once more cOur-
7 age to break through the deceptions
with which the popular mind has been
/ befogged. We feel once more that our


convictions of right and wrong are our
own, and that our votes belong to the


country; and thus we defiantly set our
sense of duty against the arrogance
of power, like a bugle blast of
/ doomsday. The summons is resounding


north and southeast and west. The
I conscience of the people, which seemed
| dead, has arisen from every point of the
compass. The hosts are flocking to-
! gether, and here we are, let me hope,


with fearless determination to do our
whole duty to our country. 1t would


seem to-day as if nothing could with


stand a movement so iTresistibly inspiT-
ing-indeed, the breath of victory is in


the very air which surrounds us, and


that victory will not escape from our


grasp, if we are true to our mission and


duty You must bear with me if in this |


hour of enthusiasm, when our hearts |
are big with proud presentments, l ad-


dress to you word of sobeTness. We
have a grand opportunity before US
grand and full of promise. We can
crush the corruption in our public con- |
Germs; we can give the Republic pure |
and honest government; we can revive !
the authority of the laws; we can re- |
store to full vigor the constitutional |
safeguard of our liberties; We can /
infuse higher moral spirit into


our political life; we can re-animate in
the hearts of the whole people, in every
section of the land, a fraternal and


proud national feeling. We can do all
this, but we can do it only by throwing


behind US the selfish spirit of political
trash; we must obey the purest and
loftiest inspiration of the popular up
rising which sent US here. A great Op-
portunity it is, great as the noblest am
bition might desire; but equally great,
nay, to my mind, fearful is the respon-
sibility it brings with it. An oppOrtu-
nifty like this, momentous period in
the history of a nation, an uprising of
the people such as We behold, will not
occur every day nor every year, for it
must spring from the spontaneous i'm
pulse of the popular mind. You disap-
point the high expectations brought
forth by that spontaneous impulse, and
you have not only lost great oppOr-
tunity, but you have struck
blow at the confidence the peO-
pie have in themselves, and for a
long time popular reform movements
will not rise under the weight of dis
credit which you will leave tonight
upon them. Is it possible that such
should be the result? 1t is possible, if
we do not rise to the full hight of duty.
1t is possible, il, instead of following the
grand popular impulse, we attempt to
control and use this movement by the
old tricks Of political trade, or fritter
away our zeal in small chickering's and
mean, selfish aspirations. We have
come together to give shape, point and
practical productive force TO this great
upheaval Of the popular conscience. 1t
is our business to lay down certain pin
ciples and propositions of policy, and we



people men for the highest offices of the
republic, who, if elected, are to carry
those principles and propositions into
living reality. As our platform, we
shall be wise enough to Keep in mind
those things which therepublie standsi in
most immediate need of. The very fact
of our having come together is proof of
our substantial agreement. Let us only
do what we promise to the people; be
honest and straightforward, and not at
tempt to cheat those whom we ask to
follow our lead by deceitful representa-
tions as to the men whom we shall pre-
sent for high executive offices Of the
government. Let us, | entreat you, not
lose sight of the fact that great re-
forms, the overthrow of inyeterate
abuses and the establishment of better
order of things are not accomplished by
new promises and declarations, but
require the wise and energetic action of
statesmen. If this be truly a reform
and it be not merely on
paper, it must be embodied in the
men we entrust with the power to in
fuse the spirit of reform into our politi-
cal actions. If You want TO know how
reforms are not executed look at those
now i'm power. You will hardly excel
them in the profusion of high
sounding professions, and you will
never excel them in the art how not
to do it. Reform must become the
office in the hands of those who either do
not understand it, or do not care for 1t.
If you mean reform, entrust the work
to none hut those who understand and
honestly do care, and care more for it j
than their own personal ends. Pardon
,fc nfv,k ]
with freedom and ffankness. I have
not, assure you, come here for the pur- I
pose of urging the claims or advancing !
the interest of any one man against all
Others. / have come here with a sim (
cere and ardent devotion to a cause, and /
TO use my best endeavors TO have that
cause put under the care of men who !
are devoted to it with equal sincerity, I
and who possess those qualities of mind /
and heart which will make it safe in
their keeping. / earnestly deprecate (
the cry we have heard so frequently, ;
"anybody to beat Grant, There is |
more wanted than to beat {
Grant; not anybody who might by h,
cheap popularity, or by astute bargains [
and combination, or by all the tricks !
of political wire-pulling, manage [
to scrape together votes enough
to be elected President. We don't
want another, but we want better {
President than we now have; we do not {
want mere change Of persons in the ad-
of the government, we (
want the overthrow of pernicious sys- ]
tenn; we want the eradication of fla |
grant abuses; we want the infusion Of a I
loftier moral spirit into our political or '
ganism; we want government which |
the best people of the country will be {
proud Of Not any body can accomplish ]
that; and, therefore, away with the cry
anybody to beat Grant pa cry too paltry,
too unworthy of the great enterprise in
which we are engaged. l do not strug-
gle for the mere punishment of an OPP ]
pOnent, or a temporary lease of power.