Year: 1871

regular out and out platform and a
regular out and out Democrat on it,
and we answered them, you remem-
Der, by the one hundred thousand
majority against them. That is when
they got the farthest away from the
Republican party. You remember
that two years ago they tried second
time. They got a Democratic plat
form and noble soldier to put on 1t
as a candidate, thinking to win some
thing by that, and he stepped upon
their platform and kicked their plants
to shivers and bade them good NOR
ming. Having tried those two schemes,
they now propose to try the third and
the third Is to make their platform as
nearly like ours as they can venture,
and take a man that is not altogether
unacquainted with the war. now
this is the third experiment., the thlrd
in kind. and even with that IL was
utterly impossible to hold their party
upon.


Fellow Citizensl The real strength
of parties, the real strength Of poll
tics, rest at last upon few simple
qualities Of human nature, that the
humblest man can judge OF as well as
- =
ties / call your attention to for an In
stant- Iffhere be one thing upon this
earth that mankind love and admire
better than another, it is a brave man
If is a man who dare to look the
devil In his face and tell him he Is
the devil, Tlaughterl who dares to tell
what he believes he ought to do, who
dares to take fate by the horns and
say Il 60 down with this truth rather
than survive with one lie,h and II the
Republican party be not that kind Of
life, and that kind Of truth, then l
don't know where to find it; and If
the Democratic party be not the ex-
trene opposite Of that truth in the
last ten wears, I don't know where
YOU will find the eonnaries. Think
for moment Of the gigantic questions
we were called to meet and handle
when we came into power and were
Young, long in the minority. We
were party OF destToyers, we were
the hook and ladder company Of the
Union, tearing down the whole fabric
Of slavery, and the Democratic party
held it up and maintained it as a ma
jOrity in power have to do; but, weak
and young, and hopeful and strong in
heart, we had hardly got into power
until this gigantic rebellion came on,
when all the old leaders Of the Demo-
cratic party confronted US, and shook
their spears in our faces, but without
O fear, without falter. without step
backward, the Republican party gath
cred its might and manhood about 1t
and plunged into the awful ehasmr
4 l. 81. WhnnUh
bloodily. on the further side Ofvietory.
[Applause. And they were not only
called upon to meet the men in arms
but we were met with tremendous
power Of prejudice. These men OF
color and four millions like them who
had been so long trsmpled down by
the prejudices Of twenty-seven NIL
lions of whites were stirred to the very
depths against them. When the Re-
publican party saw themselves con-
| fronted by that gigantic question, they
said, we will perish by the side OF
those black men, or we will triumph
doing them justice. Applause Now
il you have known any Drawer act In
history than that by which we espous-
ed the cause Of the humble and low
ly, and dared to die in trying to ele-
vate him, then know not where you
viii go in history to find it. And
when that great triumph was aehiev-
| ed, up came the keen. sharp, kuaw-
ing tooth Of prejudice and self-inter-
est TO destroy US, the theories OF PEN
dletOn, and similar theories. that told
you how to pay your debts by cheat
ing and deception, and appealing TO
| the pockets and the avarice OF the
American people. The Republican
party, weighing victory on one side
and Justice on the other, met the
prejudices eye to eye, and said to the
people, Bear the heavy burden OF
taxes, and save your honor as honest
men, and save the honor OF the Re
public, or follow these people to an
easy death and indecent burial" And
when the appeal was made to the
great American conscience, thanks
to the God OF justice and the honor OF
/ the American name, our people sprang
to the rescue, and stepped on plat
form in which there is not q single
plank left to Pendleton and repudia-
ton in any form. IApplause. Aye,
| fellow citizens, every time when we
have been confronted by this gigan-
tic question our party has bravely met
/ it, and a brave and generous people
have grasped by the hand and well
coined US, ard therefore we have
nothing to do but to move forward
evermore in the same line, and meet
all new questions in the brave spirit
that has led the party through in the
past.


lam rejoiced, fellow citizens, to SEA
| in our platform to-day, that we have
| advanced one or two steps, not in any
new departure, for that means shift
/ ing thelineof our sailing, but moving
/ forward in the prolongation Of a line
| that was laid at a Sumter, and has
run through all the glories Of the last
ten years. [Applaus.l We have seen
| grow up in states and in the nation, 8
miserable growth planted by the
Democratic party many years ago, 9
policy that leaves the whole of1clal
| business OF the country to be doled
out as political patronage, to make the
political capital Of administrations
and politicians, and we have seen the
evils Of It, and the Republican party,
thanks be to their manhood, have sci
their faces toward reform in that di'
rection, and our platform has nobly


recognize it that hereafter we are de-
termined that the duties of the State
shall be first, and the political inter.
ests of person shall be second, in al
instances, and that the State shall in


auire who can do its work, and moi
who can eat its plum pudding
lTLaughter. I am glad to see that In


trodUeed into our party. 1 am glad
rather, to see cur party moving on tc
do the first one Of the new things tina
! lie exactly in the line Of our old march


Now. fellow citizens, we have al


these stirring recollections to come
Nd and urge US forward in the greai


work we are engaged in Your sena


tor has shown you the character o.
our triumphs in the way OF nnanee
i He has shown you the possibility o.
our meeting and paying all the debit
OF the Republic, and seeing the las


dollar discharged with honor, and the
last soldier paid his last bounty anc


his last pension claims. All this Il


now before US as possibility, Ger


tainty, if we hold on to power. Re


member the utterances that are being


made across the line, yonder. Tha


man, supposed to be dead and doriec


under the wreck of crushed rebel


lion, says in his infatuatiOn that the
war is not vet over, that the cause il
not lost, and that he hopes to live K
see the republic torn assunder, and Sc


eession an accomplished fact, anC


what do the Democrats say to thes'


utterances of Jefferson Davis q? ThS