746 



UNITED STATES. 



by oath of allegiance, 4o become American citizens. 

 Perpetual allegiance, as claimed abroad, is only an- 

 other name for perpetual bondage, and would make 

 all slaves to the soil where first they saw the light. 

 Our national cemeteries prove how faithfully these 

 oaths o^f fidelity to their adopted land have been 

 sealed in the life-blood of thousands upon thou- 

 sands. 



Should we not. then, be faithless to the dead if we 

 did not protect tneir living brethren in the full en- 

 joyment of that nationality for which, side by side 

 with the native-born, our soldiers of foreign birth 

 laid down their lives ? 



It was fitting, too, that the representatives of a 

 party which had proved so true to national duty in 

 time of war should speak so clearly in time of peace 

 for the maintenance, untarnished, of national honor, 

 national credit, and good faith as regards its debt, 

 the cost of our national existence. 



I do not need to extend this reply by further com- 

 ment on a platform which has elicted such hearty ap- 

 proval throughout the land. 



The debt of gratitude it acknowledges to the brave 

 men who saved the Union from destruction the 

 frank approval of amnesty based on repentance and 

 loyalty the demand for the most thorough economy 

 and honesty in the Government the sympathy of 

 the party of liberty with all throughout the world 

 who long for the liberty we here enjoy, and the rec- 

 ognition of the sublime principles of the Declaration 

 of Independence, are worthy of the organization on 

 whose banners they are to be written in the coming 

 contest. Its past record cannot be blotted out or for- 

 gotten. If there had been no Bepublican party, 

 slaverv would to-day cast its baleful shadow over the 

 republic. If there had been no Eepublican party, a 

 free press and free speech would be as unknown, 

 from the Potomac to the Eio Grande, as ten years 

 ago. If the Eepublican party could have been strick- 

 en from existence when the banner of rebellion was 

 unfurled, and when the response of "no coercion" 

 was heard at the North, we would have had no na- 

 tion to-day. But for the Eepublican party daring to 

 risk the odium of tax and draft laws, our flag could 

 not have been kept flying in the field till the long- 

 hoped-for victory came. "Without a Eepublican 

 party, the civil rights bill, the guarantee of equality 

 under the law to the humble and defenceless, as well 

 as to the strong, would not be to-day upon our na- 

 tional statute-book. 



With such inspirations from the past, and follow- 

 ing the example of the founders of the Eepublic who 

 called the victorious General of the Eevolution to 

 preside over the land his triumphs had saved from 

 its enemies, I cannot doubt that our labors will be 

 crowned with success ; and, it will be a success that 

 shall bring restored hopes, confidence, prosperity, 

 and progress, South as well as North, West as well 

 as East; and, above all, the blessings, under Provi- 

 dence, of national concord and peace. 



Very truly, yours, SCHUYLEE COLFAX. 



On June 24th, a number of eminent gentle- 

 men of New York addressed a letter to Presi- 

 dent Johnson, asking if he would allow his 

 name to be presented to the Democratic Con- 

 vention as a candidate for the office of Presi- 

 dent. On July 2d the President replied at 

 some length, and in conclusion said : 



I am now, however, as I have ever been, in the 

 hands of the people, and at their disposal. My 

 struggle for the Union and the integrity of the Gov- 

 ernment began long ago. Conscious of having hon- 

 estly discharged my duty, and satisfied that the con- 

 test in which I have been compelled to engage will 

 in the end, at least, inure to the benefit, and, indeed, 

 safety of constitutional liberty and human rights, I 

 can well afford, I think, to look calmly on the pres- 

 ent, and await patiently the verdict of the future. 



While I know that the struggle for the rights of the 

 people and for deference to the Constitution is not 

 yet over, yet believing that, with the late palpable 

 failure to do violence to that great instrument and 

 the Executive Office, the worst that faction can for 

 the present do has been accomplished, I would only, 

 in concluding this brief statement of my views and 

 feelings,_ express the hope that, in the selection by the 

 convention of a candidate for the presidency, whose 

 duty it will be, if elected, to preserve, protect, and 

 defend the Constitution, and to execute the laws 

 made in pursuance of its provisions, the public good, 

 and leading and well-defined principles, will not be 

 sacrificed to the mere purpose of party ascendency. 



The following letter also attracted consid- 

 erable attention and brought the writer prom- 

 inently forward as a candidate for the vice- 

 presidency by a nomination of the Democratic 

 Convention : 



WASHINGTON, Tuesday, June 30, 1858. 

 Colonel James 0. Broadhead : 



DEAR COLONEL : In reply to your inquiries, I beg 

 leave to say that I leave to you to determine, on con- 

 sultation with my friends from Missouri, whether my 

 name shall be presented to the Democratic Conven- 

 tion, and to submit the following, as what I consider 

 the real and only issue in this contest. 



The reconstruction policy of the radicals will be 

 complete before the next election; the States, so 

 long excluded, will have been admitted ; negro suf- 

 frage established, and the carpet-baggers installed in 

 their seats in both branches of Congress. There is 

 no possibility of changing the political character, of 

 the Senate, even if the Democrats should elect their 

 President and a majority of the popular branch of 

 Congress. We cannot, therefore, undo the Eadical 

 plan of reconstruction by congressional action ; the 

 Senate will continue a bar to" its repeal. Must we 

 submit to it ? How can it be overthrown ? It can 

 only be overthrown by the authority of the Execu- 

 tive, who is sworn to maintain the Constitution, and 

 who will fail to do his duty if he allows the Constitu- 

 tion to perish under a series of congressional enact- 

 ments, which are in palpable violation of its funda- 

 mental principles. 



If the President, elected bv the Democracy, en- 

 forces or permits others to enforce these reconstruct" 

 tion _ acts, the radicals, by the accession of twenty 

 spurious Senators and fifty Eepresentatives, will con- 

 trol both branches of Congress, and his administra- 

 tion will be as powerless as the present one of Mr. 

 Johnson. 



There is but one way to restore the Government 

 and the Constitution, and that is for the President- 

 elect to declare these acts null and void, compel the 

 army to undo its usurpations at the South, disperse the 

 carpet-bag State Governments, allow the white people 

 to recognize their own governments and elect Sena- 

 tors and Eepresentatives. The House of Eepresenta- 

 tives will contain a majority of Democrats from the 

 North, and they will admit the Eepresentatives elect- 

 ed by the white people of the South, and with the 

 cooperation of the President it will not be difficult to 

 compel the Senate to submit once more to the ob- 

 ligations of the Constitution. It will not able to 

 withstand the public judgment, if distinctly invoked 

 and clearly expressed, on this fundamental issue, and 

 it is the sure way to avoid all future strife to put this 

 issue plainly to the country. 



I repeat that this is the real and only question 

 which we should allow to control us : Shall we sub- 

 mit to the usurpations by which the Government has 

 been overthrown, or shall we exert ourselves for its 

 full and complete restoration ? It is idle to talk of 

 bonds, greenbacks, gold, the public faith and the 

 public credit. What can a Democratic President do 

 in regard to any of these, with a Congress in both 

 branches controlled by the carpet-baggers and their 



