616 



PENNSYLVANIA. 



last named. The influence which he had shown 

 during these elections was so great that on May 

 17th lie was chosen President of the Home 

 Eule party in the place of Mr. Shaw. As the 

 law advisers of the Irish Government con- 

 ceived that Mr. Parnell and some other leaders 

 of the Land League had hrought themselves 

 by the incendiary speeches within the grasp of 

 the law, an information for seditious conspiracy 

 was applied for by the Crown against Mr. Par- 

 nell, some other Home Rule members of Par- 

 liament, and several of the officials of the Land 

 League. The state trial began on December 

 28, 1880, and it ended on January 25, 1881, in 

 a non- agreement of the jury. On December 

 27th, Mr. Parnell had been reflected as the 

 leader of the Irish Parliamentary party. 



PENNSYLVANIA. The State Convention 

 of the Republican party of Pennsylvania was 

 held at Harrisburg on the 4th of February. 

 It was called thus early for the apparent pur- 

 pose of opening a vigorous campaign for the 

 nomination of General Grant for the Presi- 

 dency, his candidacy being favored by those 

 prominent in the councils of the party in this 

 State. The acknowledged leader of this fac- 

 tion was Senator J. D. Cameron, but there was 

 also a strong element of the party which pre- 

 ferred Senator Blaine, of Maine, as the Presi- 

 dential candidate. The contest in the Conven- 

 tion was opened by the following resolution 

 offered by the Hon. John Cessna in the interest 

 of the Grant movement and a united delega- 

 tion : 



Resolved, That a committee of nine members be ap- 

 pointed to report, subject to the approval of the Con- 

 vention, a list of delegates and alternates to the Na- 

 tional Convention and a list of Presidential electors, 

 after consulting with the delegates from the different 

 Congressional districts. 



The following was immediately offered as an 

 amendment in the Blaine interest : 



Resolved, That a committee of one from each Con- 

 gressional district be selected by the delegates from 

 each Congressional district, whose duty it will be to 

 report to the committee the names of four delegates- 

 at-large to the National Convention and two electors- 

 at-large ; that it shall also be the duty of the Conven- 

 tion to report also a list of the district delegates to the 

 National Convention, who are to be chosen by the dele- 

 gates from the respective districts, including in their 

 report the names of those persons who have already 

 been chosen as delegates from their respective districts 

 by the action of the people therein. 



After some discussion the amendment was 

 lost by a vote of 100 yeas and 150 nays, and 

 the Cessna resolution was agreed to. The fol- 

 lowing was then offered : 



Resolved, That the delegates elected to the Republi- 

 can National Convention from this State are hereby 

 instructed to support General U. S. Grant for the 

 Presidential nomination, and to vote as a unit on that 

 and all questions that may come before the Conven- 

 tion. 



This produced considerable excitement, and 

 the following was proposed on the other side : 



Resolved, That, while we pledge ourselves to sup- 

 port the nomination of the Republican party, we see 



no good reason for abandoning the position taken by 

 the party in our own and other States in 1876 of op- 

 position to a third Presidential term, and we hereby 

 indorse and reaffirm the resolutions passed by our own 

 State Convention, held in this city in 187(5, upon this 

 question. 



After a warm debate the latter was with- 

 drawn, and a motion made to substitute the 

 name of James G. Blaine for that of General 

 Grant in the former. This was defeated by a 

 vote of 95 to 154, and separate votes were 

 taken on the two clauses of the original reso- 

 lution. That instructing the delegates to sup- 

 port General Grant was agreed to by a vote of 

 133 to 113, and the clause in favor of the unit 

 rule was adopted by a viva voce vote. The fol- 

 lowing is the platform adopted: 



Resolved, 1. That rejoicing, as we do, over the 

 steady growth of the national prosperity, which began 

 in 1876 with the change of the balance of trade in our 

 favor, and over the successful resumption and main- 

 tenance of specie payments, we may reasonably claim 

 the financial soundness and prosperity of the country 

 as the natural result of the financial policy we, as a 

 party, have sustained. 



2. The resumption of specie payments having been 

 accomplished, at the time appointed by law, and the 

 finances of the country being in a thoroughly healthy 

 condition, we regard it as unwise to engage in any 

 new attempts at financial legislation. The country is 

 prosperous under our financial system as it is, and we 

 know of no good reason why that system should be 

 now disturbed. 



3. The persistent efforts of the free-traders to de- 

 stroy our tariffj piecemeal, by legislation to repeal the 

 duties on special articles, admonish us of the neces- 

 sity of adhering more strongly than ever to the tariff 

 policy of the past twenty years, which has built up 

 our grand system of manufactures, fostered the reve- 

 nues of the Government, and promoted our national 

 prosperity. The business of the country will not bear 

 this tinkering of the tariff; and if any revision of 

 that tariff is to be made at all, it should be done 

 through a commission of capable men, after a patient 

 and thorough hearing of all parties to the interests in- 

 volved. 



4. We object most decidedly to all attempts to enact 

 a new tariff' through the agency of commercial treaties. 

 A treaty framed, negotiated, discussed, and ratified in 

 secret, is not a proper method of regulating the reve- 

 nues of the Government. 



5. In view of recent events in Congress and in the 

 Southern States, and latterly in the State of Maine, 

 we deem this a fitting opportunity to reaffirm our ad- 

 herence to the following principles, viz. : 



(1.) The union of the States with equal rights in- 

 destructible by any constitutional means. 



(2.) Protection to the person, liberty, and property 

 of the citizens of the United States, in each and every 

 portion of our common country, wherever he may 

 choose to move, demanding of him only obedience to 

 the laws and proper respect for the rights of others. 



(3.) Strict integrity in fulfilling all our obligations, 

 State or national. 



(4. ) The perfect security of free thought, free speech, 

 and a free press, and of equal rights and privileges to 

 all men, everywhere, irrespective of nationality, color, 

 or religion. 



(5.) A pure and free ballot, thoroughly protected, so 

 that every man entitled to cast a vote may do so, just 

 once, at each election, without fear of molestation, 

 moral or physical, on account of his political faith, 

 nativity, or the hue of his skin. 



(6.) Honesty in elections. The people having the 

 virtue and the patriotism to govern themselves, our 

 Government must depend for its stability upon honest 

 elections. Until a man is considered infamous who 



