UNITED STATES. 



Y47 



allies ? He will be powerless to stop the supplies by 

 which idle negroes are organized into political clubs 

 by which an army is maintained to protect these 

 vagabonds in their outrages upon the ballot. These, 

 and all things like these, eat up the revenues and re- 

 sources of the Government and destroy its credit, 

 make the difference between gold and greenbacks. 

 We must restore the Constitution before we can 

 restore the finances, and to do this we must have a 

 President who will execute the will of the people by 

 trampling into dust the usurpations of Congress, 

 known as the Keconstruction Acts. I wish to stand 

 before the convention upon this issue, but it is one 

 which embraces every thing else that is of value in 

 its large and comprehensive results. It is the one 

 thing that includes all that is worth a contest, and 

 without it there is nothing that gives dignity, honor, 

 and value to the struggle. 



Your friend, FRANK P. BLAIR. 



The National Democratic Convention assem- 

 bled in New York on Saturday, July 4th, and 

 organized temporarily by the appointment of 

 Henry S. Palmer, of "Wisconsin, chairman. 

 The respective committees on credentials, or- 

 ganization, and platform were appointed, and 

 the convention adjourned to Monday, the 6th. 

 Every State was represented by a full list of 

 Delegates. 



On the 4th, the Soldiers and Sailors' Con- 

 vention also assembled in New York, and or- 

 ganized by the appointment of Major-General 

 William B. Franklin as president. At the 

 meeting on the 6th the following were adopted : 



Whereas, A mutual interchange of views between 

 the members of this convention and delegates to the 

 National Democratic Convention has fully confirmed 

 us in our previously entertained opinion of the purity 

 and the patriotism of that body, and fully justifies 

 the belief that, in the election of candidates and in 

 the construction of a platform, the convention will 

 be governed by the spirit of the address adopted by 

 this body on the 6th inst. ; therefore, relying upon 

 this belief, 



He-solved, That we will support its nominees for 

 President and Vice-President of the United States, 

 and that on our return home we will induce our late 

 comrades in arms to unite with us in yielding to 

 them an earnest support. 



After which, through a committee, the pre- 

 amble and resolution, with an address, were 

 laid before the Democratic convention and or- 

 dered to be spread on its minutes. 



The National Democratic Convention again 

 assembled on Monday, the 6th, and organized 

 by the selection of Horatio Seymour, of New 

 York, as permanent president", and one vice- 

 president and secretary from each State in the 

 Union. 



At the session on the third day, the follow- 

 ing resolutions were reported, and adopted as 

 the platform of the convention : 



The Democratic party, in National Convention as- 

 sembled, reposing its trust in the intelligence, patri- 

 otism, and discriminating justice of the people, stand- 

 ing upon the Constitution as the foundation and 

 limitation of the powers of the Government and 

 the guarantee of the liberties of the citizen, and rec- 

 ognizing the questions of slavery and secession as 

 ' having been settled for all time to come by the war 

 or the voluntary action of the Southern States in con- 

 stitutional conventions assembled, and never to be 

 renewed or reagitated, do with the return of peace 

 demand 



1. Immediate restoration of all the States to their 

 rights in the Union under the Constitution, and of 

 civil government to the American people. 



2. Amnesty for all past political offences, and the 

 regulation of the elective franchise in their States by 

 their citizens. 



3. Payment of the public debt of the United States 

 as rapidly as practicable, all money drawn from the 

 people by taxation, except so much as is requisite for 

 the necessities of the government economically ad- 

 ministered, being honestly applied to such payment ; 

 and, where the obligations oi the Government do not 

 expressly state upon their face or the law under 

 which they were issued does not provide that they 

 shall be paid in coin, they ought in right and in jus- 

 tice be paid in the lawful money of the United States. 



4. Equal taxation of every species of property, ac- 

 cording to its real value, including Government bonds 

 and other public securities. 



5. One currency for the Government and the peo- 

 ple, the laborer and the officeholder, the pensioner 

 and the soldier, the producer and the bondholder. 



6. Economy in the administration of the Govern- 

 ment, the reduction of the standing army and navy, 

 the abolition of the Freedmen's Bureau, and all po- 

 litical instrumentalities designed to secure negro 

 supremacy, simplification of the system and discon- 

 tinuance of inquisitorial modes of assessing and col- 

 lecting internal revenue, so that the burden of tax- 

 ation may be equalized and lessened, the credit of 

 the Government increased, and the currency made 

 good. The repeal of all enactments for calling the 

 State militia into the national forces in time of peace, 

 and a tariff for revenue upon foreign imports and 

 such equal taxation under the internal revenue laws 

 as will afford incidental protection to domestic manu- 

 factures, and as will, without impairing the revenue, 

 impose the least burden upon and best promote and 

 encourage the great industrial interests of the country. 



V. Reiorm of abuses in administration, the expul- 

 sion of corrupt men from office, the abrogation of 

 useless offices, the restoration of rightful authority to 

 and the independence of the executive and judicial 

 departments of the Government, and the subordina- 

 tion of the military to the civil power, to the end that 

 the usurpations of Congress and the despotism of 

 the sword may cease. 



8. Equal rights and protection for naturalized and 

 native-born citizens at nome and abroad, the associa- 

 tion of America^ nationality which shall command 

 the respect of foreign powers and furnish an example 

 and encouragement to people struggling for national 

 integrity, constitutional liberty, and individual rights, 

 and the maintenance of the rights of naturalized citi- 

 zens against the absolute doctrine of immutable alle- 

 giance ? and the claims of foreign powers to punish 

 them for alleged crimes committed beyond their ju- 

 risdiction. 



In demanding these measures and reforms we ar- 

 raign the radical party for its disregard of right and 

 the unparalleled oppression and tyranny which have 

 marked its career. After the most solemn and unani- 

 mous pledge of both Houses of Congress to prosecute 

 the war exclusively for the maintenance of the gov- 

 ernment and the preservation of the Union under the 

 Constitution, it has repeatedly violated that most sa- 

 cred pledge, under which alone was rallied that noble 

 volunteer army which carried our flag to victory. In- 

 stead of restoring the Union, it has, so far as lay in 

 its power, dissolved it, and subjected ten States in 

 time of profound peace to military despotism and ne- 

 gro supremacy ; it has nullified there the right of 

 trial by jury ; it has abolished the habeas corpus 

 the most sacred writ of liberty ; it has overthrown 

 the freedom of speech and of the press ; it has substi- 

 tuted arbitrary seizures and arrests ^ and military 

 trials and secret star-chamber inquisitions for the 

 constitutional tribunals ; it has disregarded, in times 

 of peace, the right of the people to be free from 

 searches and seizures ; it has entered the post and 



