392 



ILLINOIS. 



reconciled, and it was finally deemed best to 

 let them go over until the adjourned session. 



The Republican State Convention met at 

 Springfield on the 20th of September, for the 

 purpose of nominating a member of Congress 

 at large, and declaring the sentiments of the 

 party on the prominent political issues of the 

 day. General John L. Beveridge was nomi- 

 nated by a very large majority for a member 

 of Congress, and the following resolutions were 

 unanimously adopted by the convention : 



Resolved, That the party which preserved the 

 Union from dismemberment, abolishing slavery and 

 establishing the civil and political equality of men 

 before the law, is entitled to the thanks of patriots, 

 the confidence of the nation, and the gratitude of 

 mankind, and, while the measures by which these 

 noble results were rightfully accomplished must be 

 sacredly maintained, the time has come when the 

 enmities engendered by the war should yield to the 

 friendship of peace. 



Resolved, _That the continuance of the political 

 disabilities imposed for participation in the rebellion 

 longer than the safety of the republic requires, not 

 only tends to perpetuate feelings of unkindness among 

 the people, but it is incompatible with that principle 

 of political equality which lies at the basis of the 

 Eepublican creed ; and the members of the House of 

 ^Representatives from this State deserve the thanks 

 of its people for their unanimous support of the bill 

 for the general removal of political disabilities which 

 passed that body at its recent session by a vote of 

 three-fourths of its members. 



Resolved, That, as it will be necessary and desirable 

 to obtain from duties on imports a large portion of 

 the revenue needed to defray the expenses of the 

 Government, to pay interest on the national debt 

 and the principal as it matures, such duties should 

 be so adjusted as not to prejudice, but promote the 

 interests of every section and branch of industry as 

 far as may be possible. 



Resolved, That the large surplus remaining in the 

 national Treasury after the payment of all the ex- 

 penses of the Government, including the interest on 

 its public debt, calls for a still further reduction of 

 the public burdens ; and in effecting that reduction 

 regard should be had to relief from that species of 

 taxation which, while it adds but slightly to the rev- 

 enue of the country, taxes heavily its labor and pro- 

 ductive interests ; and we heartily approve the bills 

 repealing the duty on coal and salt, which have al- 

 ready passed the House of Representatives. 



Resolved, That we refer with pride and admiration 

 to the eminently wise, patriotic, honest, and economi- 

 cal administration of President Grant, and we confi- 

 dently commend it to the approbation of the entire 

 country. 



Resolved, That we congratulate the Administration 

 of the General Government on the reduction of taxes 

 and the public debt at the same time ; a result which 

 could only have been accomplished by an honest and 

 efficient collection and disbursement of the public 

 revenues ; that we indorse and approve the general 

 policy of the national Administration and of our State 

 government in the conduct of public affairs ; and that 

 the Eepublican party j without any new departures, 

 is equal to the correcting of existing abuses, and the 

 perfecting of needed reforms, and its mission will 

 not have ended till they are accomplished. 



Resolved, That the recent exposures of frauds in 

 the government of the city of New York } unparal- 

 leled in the history of civilized communities, prove 

 that it is as unsafe to trust the Democratic party with 

 the practical administration of public affairs as it 

 would be to follow their political principles ; and the 

 recent elections in California and Maine show that 

 the American people are generally of this opinion. 



Several speeches were made in the corven- 

 tion, Senator Trumbull and Governor Palme? 

 being among the speakers in favor of civil 

 service and revenue reform, and general am- 

 nesty for political offenders. 



The delegates of the Democratic party as- 

 sembled at Springfield, on the 4th of October, 

 and nominated S. S. Hayes, of Cook County, 

 for Congressman at large. The following plat- 

 form was adopted : 



Whereas, The Democracy of this State, reposing 

 their trust, under Providence, upon the patriotism 

 and intelligence of the American people, have at all 

 times in good faith endeavored to uphold, preserve, 

 and maintain the great work of the republican fa- 

 thers, the American Union, and the Constitution of 

 the United States ; and 



Whereas, Amid the general, open, and startling 

 corruptions which, in the highest places of patron- 

 age and power under the Government, now threaten 

 the complete subversion of our republican frame- 

 work, a recurrence to first principles, according to 

 the advice of Jefferson, is rendered more than ever 

 necessary: therefore 



Resolved, That the Democratic party of this State 

 hereby reaffirms its entire faith in the wisdom and 

 efficacy of the great fundamental truths of govern- 

 ment as held and applied to the working of our na- 

 tional and State systems of government by Thomas 

 Jefferson, the illustrious founder of the Democratic 

 party ; and that the Democratic party having main- 

 tained the same great principles for upward of three- 

 quarters of a century, while it managed the affairs of 

 the Government, advancing the progress and pre- 

 serving the rights of the whole people, it has now no 

 new principles to put forward or advocate. 



Resolved, That the manifest necessity for a decla- 

 ration of pur adherence to these truths now is the 

 more obvious, as the danger to the liberty of the 

 people is the more imminent. The wilful and open 

 disregard by General Grant of the political inde- 

 pendence and equality of the respective States, and 

 the violent military methods to which his adrninstra- 

 tion has resorted to destroy their freedom; the call- 

 ing in of the military under the command of United 

 States officers, as in Louisiana and other States, 

 against the will of the people ; the breaking down by 

 Congress of the only safeguard of personal liberty 

 the writ of habeas corpus in the States ; the destroy- 

 ing of all freedom of State and individual action, and, 

 in certain cases, vesting the whole power of the Gen- 

 eral Government in the President, to be exercised at 

 his pleasure within the States, in utter disregard of 

 all State authority manifest a rising spirit of des- 

 potism and a centralization of power in the hands of 

 a single chief, which leaves nothing unaccomplished 

 to make his will absolute, his rule perpetual, and the 

 masses of the people slaves. 



Resolved, That the General Government is, as it 

 ought to be, a Government of limited powers ; that 

 these powers are prescribed in and enumerated by 

 the Constitution of the United States ; that accord- 

 ing to the letter of that instrument it is expressly 

 declared that all powers not conferred upon the 

 Congress and Government of the United States are 

 reserved to the States respectively or to the people ; 

 that this distinction in the spheres of action as- 

 signed to the General and State Governments is im- 

 portant to the harmonious cooperation of both, to 

 the preservation of local independence, to the uni- 

 versal diffusion of political validity, to the preven- 

 tion of military despotism, the security of individual 

 rights, and the perpetuity of our free institutions ; 

 but that the usurpations of the present Administra- 

 tion directly involve the destruction of all these re- 

 publican guarantees. 



Resolved, That the Democratic party of the State 



