NEW YORK. 



557 



ruption and extravagance recently brought to light 

 iu the management of the municipal affairs of the 

 city of New York, and denounce as unworthy our 

 countenance or toleration all who are responsible 

 therefor. We pledge our best efforts to prevent a 

 repetition of such abuses, and will look with satis- 

 faction upon the the punishment of all upon whom 

 guilt can be fixed. We appeal to the record and the 

 facts to prove that the deplorable condition of affairs 

 existing in New York was inaugurated and fastened 

 upon the city by a system of irresponsible govern- 

 ment instituted by the Eepublican party, and con- 

 tinued by them through many years, under which 

 the growth of extravagance, peculation, and fraud, 

 was inevitable ; and we demand on the part of our 

 next Legislature such further reforms in the city 

 charter as shall eradicate the legislation through 

 which such frauds were possible, and secure, among 

 other things : 1. An early opportunity for the people 

 of the city to choose new municipal officers ; 2. On 

 the part of the mayor, more complete control of and 

 consequently more complete responsibility for the 

 subordinate departments of the administration ; 3. 

 The liability of the Mayor of New York, with all 

 mayors of cities, to be removed by the Governor, in 

 the same manner as sheriffs of counties are now re- 

 movable, upon proof before him of malfeasance in 

 office or neglect of duty. 



Resolved, That experience has shown the necessity 

 of restraining and defining, by constitutional enact- 

 ment, the power of towns, counties, and municipali- 

 ties, to create debt and to tax the property of citizens. 



Resolved^ That while ready and determined to purge 

 local administration of abuses, we must not lose 

 sight of the duty of correcting the confessed and all- 

 pervading corruption of the Federal Government. 

 Congress and the Executive, in consummating their 

 scheme of centralization, openly disregarded consti- 

 tutional obligation, tampered with the judiciary, and 

 so manipulated the system of expenditure, debt, and 

 paper-money, as to demoralize public sentiment and 

 to corrupt social and business life as well as nearly 

 all the channels of political administration. And the 

 profligacies in the custom-house, the internal rev- 

 enue boards, in the Army and Navy, and in the 

 highest walks of office, as well as in municipalities, 

 are the ripe fruits of this system ; and we call the 

 attention of the people to the fact that this corrupt 

 power triumphed in and controlled the recent Kepub- 

 lican Convention at Syracuse. 



Resolved, That as registry laws, so far from pre- 

 venting frauds in election, have proved to be shields 

 under cover of which they can more easily be con- 

 summated, we demand that some other safeguards 

 be provided against a fraudulent repetition of votes, 

 and a dishonest canvass of the ballots crimes which 

 are treason to representative government ; and that 

 we approve of the passage of the constitutional 

 amendment now pending, making bribery a ground 

 of challenge to the elector, and denying the suffrage 

 alike to him that receives and him that offers a cor- 

 rupt inducement. 



Resolved, That the Democracy of the State, to sus- 

 tain their confident claim on the suffrages of the 

 people, point to the results of their administration, 

 during the brief term that the power and responsi- 

 bility of legislation have been in their hands. They 

 have rescued the canals from the ruin to Avhich a 

 reckless and improvident system of repair contracts 

 had exposed them. They have restored them to the 

 highest efficiency and at the same time reduced the 

 expenses and lowered the tolls, with such practical 

 benefit to revenue and commerce as to extort from 

 our political adversaries, who at first denounced this 

 statesmanlike policy, a reluctant approval. They 

 have cut off an immense mass of special legislation, 

 and reduced materially the volume of taxation. 

 They challenge a comparison between these results 

 and the twenty years of accumulated misrule, waste, 

 and corruption of their adversaries. 



Resolved, That the freest exchange of commodities 

 between this and every other country, as between 

 various districts of our own land, ia of the greatest 

 benefit, both to the buyers and to the sellers. That 

 the Government should lay no tax or tariff upon im- 



Eorts, except for revenue purposes ; that revenue, to 

 e justly levied, should be moderate in amount and 

 fairly based upon the value of the property taxed ; 

 that raw materials^and unfinished articles cannot be 

 especially taxed without an unjust burden being laid 

 upon our domestic manufactures, so as to prevent 

 them from competing fairly with those of other 

 countries. That our present tariff violates every 

 principle of political economy. It is complicated, in 

 its provision, requiring an enormous body of officials 

 for its collection, and thus debauching our politics 

 by throwing into party contests a large element of 

 persons subservient to the selfish aggrandizement of 

 the appointing power. It has driven our manufac- 

 tures, though the most skilful in the world, from all 

 foreign markets, by enhancing the cost of the mate- 

 rials they use. Many of its duties are so high as to 

 encourage smuggling, and so complicated as to en- 

 trap the honest importer. That, in the present cir- 

 cumstances of the country, ample revenue for the 

 payment of interest and large instalments of the 

 principal of the debt, and for the ordinary expenses 

 of the Government, can be had without laying any 

 tariff whatever upon necessary articles, such as iron, 

 coal, clothing, medicines, and all materials used in 

 the mechanic arts. 



Resolved, That in John T. Hoffman the Democracy 

 claim a worthy successor of the great Democratic 

 leaders, Clinton, Tompkins, Wright, Marcy, and 

 Seymour. Kegarding himself as the servant of the 

 whole constituency, he has placed himself above all 

 subserviency to localities. He has by his vetoes 

 protected the Treasury, and saved millions of money 

 tor the people. He has persistently resisted that 

 species of local and personal legislation upon which 

 the lobby thrives, and which perverts our system of 

 equal laws. In his administration of the pardoning 

 power, while sensible to the appeal of justice and 

 mercy, he haa been true to the requirement of his 

 office to see that the laws are faithfully executed. 

 He has asserted and maintained the civic rights of all 

 citizens, no matter of what race or creed. And he 

 has borne himself in his high office with such integ- 

 rity, courage, and devotion to duty, as to command 

 the confidence and gratitude not only of his political 

 supporters but of the mass of the intelligent and 

 appreciative citizens' of the State. 



jResolved, That, now that apprehensions are ex- 

 pressed that the religious and civil equality of citi- 

 zens is menaced, we renew the pledge of our fidelity 

 to the great Democratic doctrine : equal and exact 

 justice to all men, of whatever creed or nationality, 

 and special favors to none. 



The ticket put in nomination was as follows : 

 For Secretary of State, Diedrich Willers, Jr. ; 

 for Comptroller, Asher P. Nichols; for At- 

 torney-General, Marshall B. Ohamplain; for 

 Treasurer, Wheeler H. Bristol ; for State En- 

 gineer and Surveyor, Van Rensselaer Eich- 

 mond ; for Canal Commissioner, George W. 

 Chapman ; and for Inspector of State-prisons, 

 David B. McNeil. 



The election occurred on the 7th of Novem- 

 ber, and resulted in the victory of the Eepub- 

 lican ticket. The total vote for Secretary of 

 State was 757,151, of which Mr. Scribner re- 

 ceived 387,119; Mr. Willers, 368,212; and 

 Charles C. Leigh, the anti-dramshop candidate, 

 1,820 ; which makes the majority of Scrib- 

 ner over Willers 18,907. In the city of New 

 York the total vote cast was 137,463, of which 



