210 



CONNECTICUT. 



enrolled among the honored sons of the republic ; 

 and it is 



Resolved, That the candidates nominated by this 

 convention deserve the unanimous and enthusiastic 

 support of the citizens of Connecticut. 



The Democratic-Liberal Convention, pur- 

 suant to a call issued by their State Committee 

 on August 15th, was held at Hartford on Sep- 

 tember 6th. The names presented in the ticket 

 were as follows : For Governor, Eichard D. 

 Hubbard, of Hartford ; for Lieutenant-Govern- 

 or, Francis B. Loomis, of New London ; for 

 Secretary of State, Dwight Morris, of Bridge- 

 port ; for Treasurer, Edwin A. Buck, of Wind- 

 ham ; for Controller, Charles C. Hubbard, of 

 Middletown. 



The nomination of presidential electors was 

 made. The ticket was as follows : At large 

 Charles R. Ingersoll, of New Haven, and "Wil- 

 liam B. Franklin, of Hartford. By districts 

 first, John S. Dobson, of Vernon ; second, Geo. 

 E. Elliot, of Clinton ; third, Charles Osgood, of 

 Norwich ; fourth, George Taylor, of New Mil- 

 ford. 



Unusual interest and importance was at- 

 tached by this convention to the platform. Its 

 reading was frequently interrupted by noisy 

 applause, and a great demonstration was made 

 in its favor at the conclusion. It was adopted 

 unanimously, and was as follows : 



Resolved, That we cordially approve of the nomi- 

 nations, by the Democratic National Convention, of 

 Samuel J. Tilden for President, and Thomas A. 

 Hendricks for Vice-PresidentStatesmen in whose 

 purity of character, and ability to discharge the 

 duties of the highest positions in our Government, 

 the people may implicitly confide. 



Resolved, That in the platform adopted by the late 

 Democratic National Convention, and in the views 

 expressed by Governors Tilden and Hendricks in 

 their letters of acceptance, we recognize the prin- 

 ciples which are necessary for the preservation of 

 our free institutions, and essential to bring back the 

 administration of the Government to honest and 

 economical service. 



Resolved, That a political party continued in power 

 for a long period of time becomes arrogant, selfish, 

 and corrupt; and that recent official investigations 

 have proved that sixteen years of power in the Fed- 

 eral Government by the Eepublican party have 

 brought steadily-increasing impurities into the pub- 

 lic service ; and combinations to deplete the public 

 Treasury have grown so powerful, and their partisan 

 influences so strong, that the Republican party is 

 unable to reform existing abuses. That party hav- 

 ing utterly failed to redeem its promises of reform 

 within its own ranks, so earnestly made four years 

 ago, and the abuses becoming day by day more gen- 

 eral and alarming, a complete change of parties in 

 the administration of public affairs is essential to 

 secure a radical reform in the civil service, where 

 demoralization has become a scandal and reproach 

 to our free institutions. But now the chief actors in 

 scenes of national shame seek to shift responsibility 

 upon the heavily-burdened shoulders of a retiring 

 President, and ask that they may be continued in 

 power for the sake of self-reformation. All history 

 teaches that reformation does not begin with coii- 

 tinued reward. 



Resolved, That while one great cause of the pros- 

 tration of business, with its resulting ruin of capable 

 business-men and the idleness and suffering of tens 

 of thousands of laborers, may be found in the un- 

 paralleled official corruption and extravagance of 



the Republican party, and its accompanying un- 

 bearable taxation by the Federal Government of 

 more than $4,000,000,000 during the past eleven 

 years, we nevertheless find the Administration and 

 the entire Eepublican party in Congress earnestly 

 opposing the retrenchment and the economic policy 

 of the Democratic party. 



Resolved, That the Democratic-Liberal party of 

 Connecticut, which has controlled the administra- 

 tion of the State for four years, to the satisfaction 

 of the people, demands : 



1. That there shall be rigid economy in the public 

 expenditures ; and we thank the Lower House of 

 Congress for its zealous work, by which retrench- 

 ment to the amount of $30,000,000 in this fiscal year 

 was accomplished, over the combined opposition of 

 the Republican minority in the House, the Senate, 

 the President, and the entire Administration. 



2. That every dishonest incumbent of public 

 office, and every official who tolerates and does not 

 sternly oppose corrupt practices in the civil service, 

 shall be removed : and that none except competent, 

 honest, and faithful officers shall be intrusted with 

 public duties. 



3. That the military shall be subordinate to the 

 civil authority ; and that the array of Federal bayo- 

 nets around the polls, when peaceable citizens are 

 voting, shall cease. The Federal Government has 

 no right to send its standing army into a State to 

 interfere with its local affairs, except vhen called 

 upon, under the provisions of the Constitution, l>y 

 the Governor or Legislature; and the recent order 

 of the War Department, by direction of the Presi- 

 dent, to place Federal soldiers under the control of 

 United States marshals around the polls in the 

 Southern States, when no disturbance has occurred 

 or occasion transpired for their presence, and EO 

 State authority has constitutionally called for them, 

 is an outrage upon the people, and a violation of the 

 principles of our Government. Its menace is, that a 

 Federal Administration desiring to perpetuate its 

 power may do so by silencing the sovereignty cf 

 the ballot by the use of the sword. 



4. That there shull be a wiser policy in regard to 

 our system of taxation ; that our commerce, now 

 nearly extinct, shall be relieved from ruinous re- 

 strictions, and fresh life infused into the important 

 interests dependent upon it, thus strengthening the 

 revenue, sustaining the national credit, and giving 

 employment, to many thousands of deserving la- 

 borers who are idle and suffering. 



5. That the interference of the Federal Govern- 

 ment to control the elections shall cease ; that the 

 Government shall not impose revengeful acts upon 

 any section of our common country for such a poli- 

 cy is at war with the principles of our Government, 

 and tends to paralyze all business interests. In the 

 language of the enlightened statesman, Samuel J. 

 Tilden, it is the duty of every good citizen and gov- 

 ernmental authority to establish "cordial fraternity 

 and good-will among citizens, of whatever race or 

 color, who are now united in one destiny of a com- 

 mon self-government." 



6. That there shall be a return to specie payments, 

 by the most speedy and practical methods ; and wo 

 have entire confidence that under the wise states- 

 manship and large business experience of Samuel J. 

 Tilden and the counselors he will bring about him, 

 such a result will be surely effected without shock 

 or detriment to any industrial, commercial, or finan- 

 cial interest of the country. The charge that t>;e 

 Democratic party is incapable of dealing efficiently 

 with this problem, comes with ill grace from a paity 

 that is responsible for all the currency shams of the 

 last ten years, and with unlimited powers has utterly 

 failed during all that period to make the money of 

 the people as good as the money of the bond- 

 holders. 



Resolved, That four yenrs of economical Demo- 

 cratic administration in Connecticut have left the 



