Year: 1876

he may De, clearly committed on this


question-not Only by his expressed


opinions, but also by his public life and


conduct


will not further anticipate the ac


ton OF this honorable body, except to


say that the firm support, OH the part


of the nominees, of all the recent


amendments 10 the National Constitu-


ton, and the support and maintenance


of all other principles involved in the


war for the preservation of the Union,


must also be regarded as the prerequi-


sites for the high offices of President


and Vice President of the United


States. With this accomplished, it will


be the highest duty and should be the


greatest pleasure for all in authority


to extend the warm hand of fellowship


to all good citizens of this Union, and


as rapidly as possible to forgive and to
forget the recent past, and to do every
act to make US satisfied to be and re-


main in fact, as we are i'm name. one


people, one country.


1t is fit and proper, citizens of Gin
cinnati, that the Republican National
Convention. in this Centennial year,
should be held in your city and under
your auspices, as you, quite as fully as
any other locality, represent in your
selves the industry, the enterprise, tine
sublimity, and the grandeur of our
country's growth and greatness.


The speech of Gov. Morgan was fire.
quently interrupted by applause, the
allusion to the achievements of the
Republican party, to the financial
principles of the party, and the deter
mination to remain true to its promises
made in the past. Having concluded,
lie nominated the Hon. Theodore II.
d. Pomeroy, of New York, as tempo
rary Chairman, and appointed Gov.
Baldwin, of Michigan, and Gov. Van
Zandt, of Rhode Island, to escort him
to the chair.


SPEECH OF THE TEMPORARY CHAIRMAN
Mr.. Pomeroy was brought on the
stage by his escort, and began an elo-
| quent address in words like the follow
ing:


| GENTLEMEN OF THE CONVENTION:
thank you most heartily for the COM
| pliment conferred by calling me to pre-
side over the temporary organization
of this Convention.


| have been SO long wItndrawn from
| practical participation in political af-
fairs, that it is i'm obedience to custom,
rather than inclination, that l occupy
even a few moments of your time in
the consideration of the political stu
alton, and of the principles so long and
so SUCCESSFULLY entrusted to the keeping
| of the Republican party. Events have
chased each other so rapidly from the
Inauguration of Abraham Lincoln to
the closing year of the administration
of President Grant, fraught with such
fundamental changes in the whole
theory and practice of government,
that the consideration of them in the
briefest manner is precluded upon an
occasion such as this. Brief as may be
considered the existence of the Repub-
lican party, none other in the history
of the Nation has, for so long u con-
secutive period, controlled its govern
ment without encounteing popular
defeat, and still, Notwithstanding pop
ular paleness of political ascendency
long continued by any party, it is in



nate the coming President of the Uni
ted States. Our folly may concede
what the wisdom of the opposition
cannot achieve, our defeat at the polls |
in November, but such defeat can come |
from no other source. We are not met |
here as contending factions within the |
party to test under various leaderships |
our relative strength, but as represen-
tatives occupying a high responsibility |
to extract from the crucible of conflict |
ing opinions that type of American
craftsmanship which shall be occupied |
as the worthy embodiment of the prin-
ciples of the party. Men as well as
measurs are to be weighed In the bal
ance during the coming canvass, and
neither must be found wanting, to Sc
cure success The Republican party
can not continue to live by reason of
its splendid achievement of the past,
nor the Democratic party expect to be
returned to power upon its glittering
promises to reform in future. The for
mer has but to present men represen-
tative of its principles; the latter must
discover both men and principles. In
former days, when party ties were
firIner; when the immediate pressure
of impending National calamities
hedged Us about, and compelled party
fidelity; the platform carried along the
man, whoever he might be. Party ties
are looser now, and no platform is
buoyant enough to float an unworthy |
candidate. The necessity of the con-
tinuance of the administrative policy
of the Republican party, while not SO
apparent in immediate results, is as
commanding respecting future conse-
quences as at any time in its history.
We are told that it has accomplished
its mission, and, therefore, has no
longer claim to live. Well, if it has,
and the time for its dissolution has
come. it can die triumphantly, exclaim-
ing, with the Apostle of old, 81 have
fought good fight, l have kept the
faith" 1t has fulfilled the mission of
its birth in neutralizing the disastrous
effects of the repeal of the Missouri
Compromise; in saving to freedom the
great Territories of the Northwest, and
in bringing California into the sister.
hood of States, undetiled by slavery,
and adorned like bride in the glitter
of her golden promise. 1t fulfilled the
mission of its youth by accepting the
''irrepressible conflict" and it was a
mission worth living for 70 have saved
n nationality like ours; to have freed
four million slave and raised them to
the dignity of American citizenship,
and to have re constructed the Federal
Constitution so as to place the liber
critics of the citizen and the credit
of the Nation upon foundations strong
enough TO endure anything, except the
imbecility of the Democratic Admins
tration. The mission of the manhood
of the Republican party, our mission
of today, is to establish on sure found
| ations, and make secure for the COM
ing ages, the fruits of the war, debt
| and taxation through which the pres
| ent has been achieved.


The benefits to be derived to the in
6ividual citizen from the 18th and 18th
| Constitutional Amendments are to be
secured through such appropriate leg
islatior as Congress may devise. L ask
the freedmen if they are ready to ac-
cept the Democrats party as the
source of power from which is to flow
the appropriate legislation to give effect
to those amendments. | ask candid
public if the only anarchy that exists
| in the South to-day, is not the anarchy
caused by the opposition of the Demo
cratic party, as such, to the principles
sdopted in the work of reconstruction.
and now q part of the fundamental
lay of the land. The Democratic par
tv claims to accept the situation re-
specting the sacredness of the national
debt and the inviolability of the ma