Year: 1876




Gentlemen: I have the honor to &C
knowledge the receipt Of your com
munication, in which you have for,
mally notified me OF my nomiua.
tion By the National Democratic
Convention at st. Louis as their
candidate for the office of Vice Pres
ident Of the United States. 1t Is a
nOmiE alton which I neither expect
ed nor desired. and yet / recognize
and appreciate the high honor done
me b. the convention. The choice
of such a body, and pronounced
with such unusual uuanimity, and
accompanied with so generous an
expression of esteem and conf
dence, ought to outweigh merely
personal desires aud preferences OF
my own. Is is with this feeling,
and l trust also from a deep sense
of public duty, that / row accept
the nomination and shall abide the
judgement of my countrymen. 1t
would have been impossible for me
to accept the nomination If l could
not heartily endorse the platform
of the convention. am gratified,
therefore, to be able unequivocally
to declare that | agree in the prin-
ciples, approve the policies and
sympathize with the purposes enun-
ciated in that platform.


The Institutions of our country
have been sorely tried by she ext
gences of civil war, and since the
peace, by a selfish and corrupt man
agement of public affairs, which
has shamed US before civilized man
kind. BY unwise and partial legis
lation every industry and interest
of the people have been made to
suffer, and in the Executive De
partments of the Government, dis
honesty, rapacity and venality have
debauched the public service. Men
known 20 be unworthy have been
promoted, whilst others have been
degraded for fidelity to official duty.
Public Office has been made the
means of private profit, and the
country has been offended to see a
class of men, who boast the friend
ship of the sworn protectors Of the
State, amassing fortunes by de
frauding the public Treasury, and
by corrupting the servants of the
people. In such a crisis of the
country, l rejoice that the conven-
tion at ST. Louis has so nobly raised
the standard of reform. Nothing
can be well with US or our affairs,
until the public conscience, shocked
by the enormous evils and abuses
which prevail, shall have demanded
and compelled an unsparing refOr
nation of our National administra-
tion in its head and in its members.
In such a reformation, the removal
of single officer, even the Presi
dent, is comparatively trihing mat
ter, if the system which he repre-
sent and which has fostered him,
as he fostered it, is suffered to re
main. The President alone must
be made the scapegOat for the enor-
mites of the system which infects
the public service and threatens the
destruction of our institutions. ln
some respects / hold that the pres
ent Executive has been the victim.
rather than the author, Of that vic
ious system. Congressional and
party leaders have been stronger
than the President. No one man
could have created it, and the re
moval of no one man can amend it.
It is thoroughly corrupt and must
be swept remorselessly away by the
selection Of a government composed
of elements entirely new and pledg
ed to radical reform. The first
work of reform must evidently be
the restoration of the normal oper-
alton of the Constitution of the
United States with all its amend
ments. The necessities of war can
not be pleaded in a time Of peace.
The right of local self government
as guaranteed by the Constitution
must be everywhere restored, and
the centralized, almost personal
imperialism, which has been prac-
tised, must be done away, or the
first principles of the Republic will
be lost.


,ur financial system of expedi-
ents must be reformed. Gold and
silver ale the real standards of val
ues. and our national currency will
not be a perfect medium of ex-
change until it shall be convertible
at the pleasure of the holder. AS l
have heretofore said, no one desires
a return to specie payments more
earnestly than ] do; but / do not
believe it will or can be reached in
harmony with the interests Of the
people by artificial measures for the
contraction of the currency, any
more than / believe that wealth or
permanent prosperity can be ere
ated by an imitation of the currency.
The laws of finance cannot be disre
garded with impunity. The finan-
cial policy of the Government, if in
deed it deserves the name of policy
at all, has heen in disregard ofthose
laws, and therefore has disturbed
the commercial and business conf
dence as well as hindered a return
to specie payments.


One feature of that policy
was the resumption clause of
of the act of 1875, which has em
barrassed the country by the antic-
ipatIon of a compulsory resumption
for which no preparation has been
made, and without any assurance
that it would be practicable. The
repeal of that clause is necessary,
that the natural operation of finan-
cial laws may be restored, and that
the business of the country NAV he
relieved from its disturbing and de
pressing influence, and that return
TO specie payments may be facilita
ted by the substitution Of a wiser
and more prudent legislation, anC


which shall mainly rely on a judic
ious system of public economy anC


official retrenchments, and, above


all, in the promotion of prosperity
in all the industries OF the people.


do not understand the repeal o


the resumption clause of the act o
! 1875 to be a backward step in on


return to specie payments, but th'
! recovery OF q false step; and al


though the repeal may for g tim