DELAWARE. 



205 



ends, and the benefit of financial rings and corpora- 

 tions. We, therefore, demand, in the name of the 

 people, the immediate calling in of all United States 

 bonds and payment of them, principal and interest, 

 either in gold or silver coin, or in legal tender green- 

 back paper money of the United States every dollar 

 of such issue to be protected and receivable at par 

 with other lawful money, never to be converted into 

 bonds of any rate or class, and no more bonds of any 

 rate or class to be issued. We fully approve the reso- 

 lutions recently before Congress, that all currency, 

 whether metallic or paper, necessary for the use of the 

 people, should be issued and its value controlled by 

 the Government, and when so issued be full legal ten- 

 der for all debts, public or private. The public lands 

 shall be reserved for actual settlers. 



Military rule means despotism. We therefore pro- 

 test against drilling and equipping more men for such 

 service than are necessary for the navy-yards, and the 

 protection of the frontier. 



The ballot should be the expression of a free will. 

 We oppose all attempts to deny its exercise on account 

 of poverty, making a property qualification the test of 

 one's right to vote, or limiting its action by the pres- 

 ent system of tax-receipt requirement, which may be, 

 and often is, used unjustly to favor party power. 



We advocate such modification of the laws of this 

 State that power will no longer be given whereby an 

 unfortunate debtor can be stripped of every means of 

 self-support, and in no case snail the homestead of 

 a family, to the extent of $700, be liable to sale for 

 debt. 



The Democratic Convention for the selection 

 of delegates to the Cincinnati National Conven- 

 tion assembled at Dover, on the 25th of May. 



A Democratic State Convention which as- 

 sembled at Dover, August 24th, renominated 

 E. L. Martin for Congress, and adopted a plat- 

 form ratifying the nominations made at Cin- 

 cinnati, and containing clauses on State affairs, 

 declaring as follows : 



That the rapid reduction of the public debt in this 

 State, and the maintenance of her credit with a low 

 rate of taxation, are attributable to wise and economical 

 administration of the State government, which entitles 

 the Democratic party to the continued confidence and 

 support of the people. 



That experience demonstrates that the continuance 

 of the government of the State of Delaware in the 

 hands of the Democratic party is absolutely necessary 

 to the proper administration of her own internal af- 

 fairs, State and county, and the protection of the 

 rights and liberties of the people against the efforts of 

 the leaders of the Republican party to encroach upon 

 the same. 



That they denounce the appointment of Federal 

 supervisors of elections in this State as an unauthor- 

 ized assumption of power, and the result of a deliber- 

 ate conspiracy on the part of the leaders _ of the Re- 

 publican party to intimidate the sworn officers of the 

 law in the performance of their official duty, and to 

 destroy the freedom of the ballot. That they utterly 

 denounce the efforts made by the Republican party to 

 awaken sectional animosity and strife, by their speak- 

 ers and press, for the purpose of retaining power at 

 the expense of national peace and prosperity, thus 

 showing that they prefer a sectional victory to the 

 harmony of the whole nation. 



The Republican Convention, which met at 

 Dover, September 2d, nominated John W. 

 Houston as candidate for Representative $ in 

 Congress, and adopted a platform containing 

 the following clauses : 



Touching matters pertaining to our State govern- 

 ment, we declare 



1. That representation on the basis of population is 

 in consonance with true republican principles, and 

 should be given. 



2. That the State should be divided into senatorial 

 and representative districts, and the Senators and 

 Representatives should be elected in such districts by 

 the people thereof, and that the counties should be di- 

 vided into districts, and the Levy Courtmen elected 

 therefrom by the people thereof. 



3. We favor the election of all county officers di- 

 rectly by the people thereof, and the reduction of the 

 pay of such officers to a reasonable compensation for 

 the services rendered. 



4. Believing that neither public virtue nor intelli- 

 gence has any connection with the soil, we are heartily 

 opposed to freehold qualification for public office. 



5. That a more liberal exemption law should be 

 enacted, applicable to all debts hereafter contracted, 

 and that in any such system all debts due for wages, 

 for the current year, shall be wholly exempt from at- 

 tachment or execution process; 



6. The present assessment laws were conceived more 

 in the interests of the Democratic party than of the 

 people, and largely at the expense of the tax-payers. 

 Their administration by the Levy Courts of the sev- 

 eral counties is in derogation of the rights of freemen, 

 is unjust, partisan, and dishonest. 



Y. That we may urge upon the Republican party of 

 this State, and all persons having at heart its success, 

 to give to the State Central Committee their full and 

 hearty support in its efforts to place Delaware in the 

 line of Republican States. 



The returns of the November election gave 

 a majority for the Hancock and English elec- 

 tors of 1*039, out of a total vote of 29,444; 

 the Weaver electors receiving 129 ballots; and 

 a majority for the Democratic candidate for 

 Congressman over the Republican of 692 out 

 of a total vote of 29,356, of which the Green- 

 back candidate received 51. The Republican 

 candidates for State Senator, Representatives, 

 and local officers were elected in New Castle 

 County, and the Democratic candidates in the 

 other two counties. Judge Houston gave no- 

 tice that he would dispute the seat of Mr. 

 Martin, in the national House of Representa- 

 tives, on the ground that some nine thousand 

 votes which had been thrown and counted for 

 the Democratic nominee were illegal, and that 

 about the same number of citizens who pos- 

 sessed a constitutional right to the franchise, 

 and who would have given him their suffrages, 

 were prevented, through the irregularities of 

 the registration, from voting. The object was 

 to invite a Congressional inquiry into the sup- 

 posed disfranchisement of the negro, worked 

 by the assessment laws of the State. He sub- 

 sequently withdrew his objections to the seat- 

 ing of Martin. 



The census returns show the population of 

 the State to be 146,654, an increase of 21,039 

 since 1870 ; the male population numbers 74,- 

 153, the female 72,501 ; of the total, 137,182 

 are of native birth, and only 8,723 of foreign ; 

 the whole population is divided into 120,198 

 whites and 26,456 of negro extraction. The 

 city of Wilmington contains 42,499 inhabitants, 

 against 30,841 in 1870 ; the whole county of 

 New Castle 77,746, against 63,51 5; Kent Coun- 

 ty, 32,877, against 29,804; and Sussex County 

 36,031, against 31,696. 



