DELAWARE. 



235 



people's money shall be required to render frequent, 

 clean, and precise exhibits of all receipts and dis- 

 bursements, to the end that those interested may 

 ascertain at all times, and easily, what disposition is 

 made of the*funds committed to their custody ; and 

 that the determination manifested by our public ser- 



vants to hide from the people the financial condition 

 of our State and the counties is a standing insult to 

 their intelligence, and a sign of conscious incompe- 

 tence, or guilt, on the part of those servants, well 

 calculated to arouse the fears and incite the vigi- 

 lance of the people. 



Resolved, That the conferring of office upon men 

 for mere party service, who are devoid of integrity 

 and capacity, as is constantly done in this State, is a 

 reckless and dangerous perversion of the spirit of 

 popular government, and deserving the severest rep- 

 robation of every good citizen. 



Resolved, That, as a practical people, we believe 

 that constitutions are made for man, and not man for 

 constitutions and laws, and we owe no tribute of 

 veneration to old institutions, except in so far as the 

 same may be adapted to present wants ; and that we 

 favor a policy adjusted in all things in harmony with 

 the requirements of the times, and which tends to 

 promote the moral and material advancement of the 

 Commonwealth. 



Resolved, That we invite our fellow-citizens, who 

 favor an honest, progressive, and economical rule,^ to 

 lay aside all mere partisan prejudices, and unite with 

 us in rescuing our noble Commonwealth from the 

 corrupt and incompetent hands into which she has 

 fallen, and in placing her side by side with the first 

 and foremost in the nation in character and prosper- 

 ity, in civilization and patriotism. 



Resolved, That the principle of representation ac- 

 cording to population lies at the basis of all popular 

 governments and we recognize the inequality of 

 representation in the representative branch of the 

 Legislature of this State under the present system, 

 and affirm our desire that this question shall be es- 

 tablished on a fair and equal basis whenever in our 

 power to do so. 



Resolved, That we affirm our continued devotion 

 to the policy of "protection to American industry" 

 as indispensable to the prosperity of the nation ; that 

 the whole history of the country demonstrates its 

 benefits, and the ruinous effect of "free trade" upon 

 all our national interests ; and that the unexpected 

 facility with which we have been enabled to sur- 

 mount the enormous financial difficulties, growing 

 out of the war, is largely due to the policy so wisely 

 restored at the beginning of the struggle. 



The Democratic Convention, for the appoint- 

 ment of delegates to the National Convention 

 at Baltimore, was held at Dover, on the llth 

 of June. The resolutions adopted were as fol- 

 lows: 



1. That President Grant has committed treason 

 against the liberties of the American people. 



2. That the Democratic party stands now, as 

 heretofore, on the principles of the Declaration of 

 Independence and the Constitution of the United 

 States, and alone desires to regulate its actions 

 thereby. 



3. That we pledge ourselves to leave no honorable 

 means untried to elevate to the chief magistracy of 

 the republic a true exponent of Democratic princi- 

 ples. 



That the so-called thirteenth, fourteenth, and fif- 

 teenth amendments to the Constitution of the United 

 States were not proposed to the States, and were not 

 ratified by the States, in the just and true sense of 

 the Constitution, and were not ratified by the full 

 and fair consent of the people of three-fourths of the 

 States, but were foully gotten up, and their ratifica- 

 tion forced upon eleven of the States, by pains, pen- 

 alties, and military power, and the State of Delaware 



having rejected them, as a sovereign State, is not 

 morally bound by them. 



Another convention was held in August, 

 in which an attempt was made to secure an 

 acceptance of the nominations for President 

 and Vice-President made at Baltimore, but 

 without success. The following resolutions 

 were warmly discussed, and finally laid on the 

 table : 



Resolved, That in accepting the nomination of 

 Horace Greeley.and B. Gratz Brown by the Balti- 

 more Convention for President and Vice-President, 

 thus placing themselves in harmony, in reference to 

 candidates, with the national Democracy , they neither 

 change nor modify their views heretofore enunci- 

 ated by the party in this State, on any question now 

 or hereafter likely to come before the people of the 

 country. 



Resolved, While we hold that the government of 

 the country was formed by our fathers in the inter- 

 est of the white race, and ought to be under the con- 

 trol of white men alone, we will not hinder or mo- 

 lest the colored race in the exercise of the elective 

 franchise so long as it is conferred upon them by the 

 forms of law ; nevertheless, we hereby declare our 

 purpose to preserve our party in this State unsullied 

 by political affiliation with negroes, and will neither 

 admit them into our organization, nor solicit their suf- 

 frages for our party or as candidates. 



The following was offered as a substitute, 

 and also tabled : 



Resolved, That the Democracy of Delaware are in 

 accord with the Democracy of the nation, and will 

 unite heartily with it in securing the election of its 

 standard-bearers, Horace Greeley, of New York, and 

 B. Gratz Brown, of Missouri, on the platform adopted 

 by the National Convention at Baltimore. 



A second Republican Convention was held 

 on the 10th of September, which, after nomi- 

 nating presidential electors, and naming James 

 R. Lofland as candidate for member of Con- 

 gress, adopted tbe following platform : 



Resolved, That we proclaim our adhesion to the 

 Kepublican party, and accept, as the declaration of its 

 principles, the platform of the Philadelphia Conven- 

 tion. 



Resolved, That the Administration of Ulysses S. 

 Grant has been a most triumphant vindication of 

 the wisdom that prompted his selection; that his 

 success in the conduct of the civil affairs of the na- 

 tion has not been less marked than his military 

 skill displayed in the suppression of the rebellion, 

 and that, whether as General or President, he is en- 

 titled to the admiration and gratitude of the Ameri- 

 can people. 



Resolved, That Henry Wilson is a notable exam- 

 ple of the capacity and tendency of republican in- 

 stitutions to dignify mankind ; humble in his birth, 

 without fortune or friends, from the shoemaker of 

 Natick, he has raised himself by industry and pa- 

 tient toil to the elevation of Senator and future Vice- 

 President of the United States. Constant in his de- 

 votion to his country, unwearied in his efforts to ad- 

 vance the public interests in all the terms of his 

 public life, and especially by his arduous labors as 

 the chairman of the Military Committee of the Sen- 

 ate, he has earned a title to be associated with Ulys- 

 ses S. Grant in the government of a free and grate- 

 ful people. 



Resolved, That we congratulate our fellow-citizens 

 of the late Democratic party upon their acceptance 

 of the true principles of republican government ; 

 that, in the recantation of their errors, we have their 

 complete recognition of the truth of all our teach- 

 ings, and, though their conversion has been some- 



