782 



UNITED STATES. 



exertions were rarely animated by even so much as 

 a hope that I should live to see my country peopled 

 bv freemen alone. The affirmance by your conven- 

 tion of the Cincinnati platform is a most conclusive 

 proof that not merely is slavery abolished, but that 

 its spirit is extinct that, despite the protests of a 

 respectable but isolated few, there remains among us 

 no party and no formidable interest which regret 

 the overthrow or desire the reestablishment of hu- 

 man bondage, whether in letter or in spirit. I am 

 thereby justified in my hope and trust that the first 

 century of American Independence will not close be- 

 fore the grand elemental truths on which its rightful- 

 ness was based by Jefferson and the Continental 

 Congress of 1776 will no longer be regarded as 

 ' glittering generalities," but will have become the 

 universally accepted and honored foundations of our 

 political fabric. 



I demand the prompt application of those princi- 

 ples to our existing condition. Having done what I 

 could for the complete emancipation of blacks, I now 

 insist on the full enfranchisement of all my white 

 countrymen. Let none say that the ban has just 

 been removed from all but a few hundred elderly 

 gentlemen, to whom eligibility to office can be of lit- 

 tle consequence. My view contemplates not the 

 hundreds proscribed, but the millions who are de- 

 nied the right to be ruled and represented by the 

 men of their unfettered choice. Proscription were 

 absurd if these did not wish to elect the very men 

 whom they are forbidden to choose. 



I have a profound regard for the people of that 

 New England wherein I was born, in whose common 

 schools I was taught. I rank no other people above 

 them in intelligence, capacity, and moral worth. 

 But, while they do many things well, and some ad- 

 mirably, there is one thing which I am sure they 

 cannot wisely or safely undertake, and that is the se- 

 lection, for States remote from and unlike their own, 

 of the persons by whom those States shall be repre- 

 sented in Congress. If they could do this to good 

 purpose, then republican institutions were unfit, and 

 aristocracy the only true political system. 



Yet what have we recently witnessed ? Zebulon 

 B. Vance, the unquestionable choice of a large ma- 

 jority of the present Legislature of North Carolina 

 a majority backed by a majority of the people who 

 voted at its election refused the seat in the Federal 

 Senate, to which he was fairly chosen, and the Legis- 

 lature thus constrained to choose another in his 

 stead or leave the State unrepresented for years. 

 The votes of New England thus deprived North 

 Carolina of the Senator of her choice, and compelled 

 her to send another in his stead another who, in 

 our late contest, was, like Vance, a rebel, and a 

 fighting rebel, but who had not served in Congress 

 before the war as Vance had, though the latter re- 

 mained faithful to the Union till after the close of 

 his term. I protest against the disfranchisement of 

 a State presumptively, of a number of States on 

 grounds so narrow and technical as this. The fact 

 that the same Senate which refused Vance his scat 

 proceeded to remove his disabilities after that seat 

 had been filled by another, only serves to place in 

 stronger light the indignity to North Carolina, and 

 the arbitrary, capricious tyranny which dictated it. 



I thank you, gentlemen, that my name is to be 

 conspicuously associated with yours in a deter- 

 mined effort to render amnesty complete and univer- 

 sal in spirit as well as in letter. Even defeat in such 

 a cause would leave no sting, while triumph would 

 rank with those victories which no blood reddens and 

 which evoke no tears but those of gratitude and joy. 



Gentlemen, your platform, which is also mine, as- 

 sures me that 'democracy is not henceforth to stand 

 for one thing and republicanisn for another, but that 

 those terms are to mean in politics, as they always 

 have meant in the dictionary, substantially one and 

 the same thing namely, equal rights, regardless of 

 creed, or clime, or color. J hail this as a genuine 

 new departure from out-worn feuds and meaningless 



contentions, in the direction of progress and reform. 

 "Whether I shall be found worthy to bear the stand- 

 ard of the great liberal movement which the Ameri- 

 can people have inaugurated is to be determined not 

 by words but by deeds. With me if I steadily ad- 

 vance, over me if I falter, its grand array moves on 

 to achieve for our country her glorious beneficent 

 destiny. I remain, gentlemen, yours, 



HORACE GREELEY. 

 To the Hon. JAMES R. DOOLITTLE, Chairman of .... 



Convention, and Messrs. F. W. SYKES, JOHN C. 



MACCABE, and others, committee. 



During the canvass an excursion was made 

 by Mr. Greeley into New Hampshire and 

 Maine, in the month of August, and another, 

 in September, across Pennsylvania and Ohio, 

 to Indianapolis and Louisville. On both oc- 

 casions a few remarks were made by him 

 at each stoppage of the railroad-train. With 

 two or three exceptions, these remarks were of 

 no political importance. 



Some Democrats, who were opposed to the 

 nomination, by the regular convention, pf any 

 other person than a well-known Democrat, 

 convened at the Maryland Institute, in Balti- 

 more, on the 9th, and maintained a form of 

 organization until after the nomination of Mr. 

 Greeley. They then resolved to issue an ad- 

 dress to the party, and to call a convention to 

 meet at Louisville, Ky., on September 3d, to 

 nominate so-called straight-out Democrats for 

 President and Vice-President. On that day a 

 convention of a respectable number assembled, 

 and was called to order by Colonel Blanton 

 Duncan, of Kentucky. James Lyons, of Vir- 

 ginia, was appointed permanent chairman. 

 The following platform was adopted : 



Whereas, A frequent recurrence to first principles, 

 and eternal vigilance against abuses, are the wisest 

 provisions for liberty, which is the source of prog- 

 ress, and fidelity to our constitutional system is the 

 only protection for either : therefore 



Resolved, That the original basis of our whole po- 

 litical structure is consent in every part thereof. 

 The people of each State voluntarily created their 

 State, and the States voluntarily formed the Union ; 

 and each State provided by its written constitution 

 for every thing a State should do for the protection 

 of life, liberty, and property, within it ; and each 

 State, jointly" with the others, provided a Federal 

 Union for foreign and inter-State relations. 



Resolved, That all governmental powers, whether 

 State or Federal, are trust powers coming from the 

 people of each State, and that they are limited to 

 the written letter of the Constitution and the laws 

 passed in the pursuance of it, which powers must be 

 exercised in the utmost good faith, the Constitution 

 itself stating in what manner they may be altered 

 and amended. 



Resolved, That the interests of labor and capital 

 should not be permitted to conflict, but should be 

 harmonized by judicious legislation. While such a 

 conflict continues, labor, which is the parent of 

 wealth, is entitled to paramount consideration. 



Resolved, That we proclaim to the world that prin- 

 ciple is to be preferred to power ; that the Demo- 

 cratic party is held together by the cohesion of 

 time-honored principles, which they will never sur- 

 render in exchange for all the offices which Presi- 

 dents can confer. The pangs of the minorities are 

 doubtless excruciating, but ^we welcome an eternal 

 minority under the banner inscribed with our prin- 

 ciples, rather than an almighty and everlasting ma- 

 jority purchased by their abandonment. 



Resolved, That, having been betrayed at Baltimore 



