Democratic Sentinel, Volume 4, Number 21, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 2 July 1880 — THE DEMOCRACY. [ARTICLE]

THE DEMOCRACY.

Proceedings of the National Convention. Tho National Convention of the Democratic party, called for tho purpose of nominating candidates for President and Vico President of the United States, convened in Music Hall, in tho city of Cincinnati, on Tuesday, June 22. Bcnator Barnum, of Connecticut, at 12:40 p. m., called the convention to order, and, without any preliminary remarks, announced that prayer would be offered by tire Rev. C. W. Wendte, of the Unitarian Church. Bcnator Barnum then announced that he had been unanimously requested by tho National Committee to nominate the Hon. George Hoadloy, o t Ohio, for temporary' Chairman, This being approved by the convention, tho chair appointed William L. Bcott and J. D. McEnery as a committee to conduct Mr. Hoadley to the stand. As Mr. Hoadley ascended the platform ho was greeted with hearty applause. He spoke as follows : Mb. Chairman ani> Gentlemen or the National Executive Committee: I obey this call to the chair of tills con vontion with grateful acknowledgment of tho confidence reposed in mo. It shall be my sedulous care to prove worthy of your nomination. Fellow delegates, follow Democrats, tracks for your welcome, your generous welcome, my best response to which will la*, and my only adequate response can be, the strictest partiality in the exercise of the power during tho brief jssriod it is committed to me. I shall make mistakes. I trust you will forgive them. lam sure you will, as soon as I satisfy you that, although as a delegate I am the zealous friend, even the partisan, of my favorite candidate, as your officer 1 shall know neither friend nor foe of any candidate, but discharge my duty with absolute fairness and fidelity of purpose. Of tills yon have my pledge. Gentlemen of the Convention, our fathers, distrusting popular choice, established in each State an E’ectoral College, to whose unpledged action they sought to intrust tho election of tho Chief Magistrate of the republic. Their children, taught by experience, have wisely modified tho constitutional scheme by an unwritten amendment which combines the advantages of the electoral system with the direct popular vote, while it preserves to each State its just weight of influence upon tho result. Conventions of delegates, chosen by tho people of two or more parties, have already presented candidates for popular acceptance at the coming election, and another great college of electors is now a»sembl( din tills hall. The office you now ill), though not defined by law, Is of transcendent legal consequence. I need not say that in this assembly it will uot be doubted that you are not delegates from Congressional districts, but representatives of those indestructible units of our indestructiblo Union, the (States. Custom has defined your duties. They are to construct a platform and to nominate candidates. You are not, however, called together to create a creed, but to apply a known principle to present public affairs. The Democratic principle does uot date its birth from your assembling, and will not per 1 sii with tho success or defeat of the candidates you nominate. It is eternal—a divine lire burning in the hearts of men. It quickens the thought of the statesman, nerves tho arm of tho soldier, and doubles the energies of tho toiler. It is found in the Unman precept, “ Siturn criijw tribuere,” and in (lie self-evident truth of the American patriot, that all men are created equal. It is the unrelenting foe of despotism and of Communism, whether open or sought to tic hidden under the disguise of paternal governments. Its beneficent office in political affairs is to secure to every man the utmost possible lilierty of action consistent witli equal liberty tv every other. Yours is not, therefore, the office of invention, but of promulgation; not to discover, but to declare and to apply the Democratic principle to the changing affairs of human society, and that this principle may have living force in public concerns you will nominate candidates whose e’eeti' u will insure its full fruition during the next Presidential term. These duties no Democrat doubts that you will worthily perform.

But you are called to tlioir discharge this day under circumstances of no common moment—circumstances which, limy God in His mercy grant, shall in the history of our republic never recur. Four years ago the Democratic party, in convention assembled at St. Bonis, announced to the country Its platform, and nominated as its candidates two of the foremost statesmen of the nation. Both lt , 1 "ow tlioy are worthy of the most entluisiHendricks were elected President and Vice President of the United States—elected as fairly as was George Washington or James Monroe. That they were not inaugurated; that the Chief Magistrate of this nation Jias lor more than three years been one whom the people and electors rejected, Is a living monument seen now of all men, and to lie remembered in all generations, of the fraud nl the Republican party, of its infidelity to republican principles, of its willingness to sacrifice the right of popular election, that vital principle of republics, rather than lax its hold upon power, and of tho loyalty of the Democratic party, even to the forms of law, of the confidence that tlie will of the people must finally prevail, abiding in which it patiently waits for the full fruition of its hopes until March 4, 1881, hut no longer—no longer, unless defeated at tho polls. If tieaton fairly, wo shall submit and again wait, but, If again successful, no cunning device of dishonest arbitration shall deprive us of our rights. Tho Democratic party will never again appear before a tribunal falsely called of justice—a tribunal deaf to the appeal of testimony, lmt not blind to the beckoning lingers of fraud. But,, though wo failed to inaugurate our candidate, our cause was not, even for the moment, wholly lost, -Retributive justice visited without delay the immediate author of this infamy. The courts of Florida bad thwarted tho conspirators who proposed tho theft of its State Government, and the stern refusal of the Democratic House of Representatives to appropriate a man or a dollar to continue the subjugation of South Carolina and Louisiana soon forced the oppressor to relax his grasp. No trace now remained of the carpet-bag governments of tho South, except the $170,000,000 increase in tho public debt, which they contrived in tho seven years of misgovern men t to heap upon its impoverished people. Yes, another trace remained. Louisiana, entitled by the constitution to two Senators, is represented by one. The seat of the other is filled by a delegate from a band of villains, never recognized as a Government, and long since disposed of—some to fatten upon the Federal treasury, and some to eat the bread of exile. The years that have passed since the theft of the Presidency have been years of plenteous harvest. The labor of the husbandman has reaped a rich reward. Tho earth lias been “ tickled with the hoe and has laughed with a harvest.” The benison of tho Most High lias been upon us, and the opportunities offered by His gracious favor, wisely employed in the economies of two successive Democratic Congresses, have made possible that partial measure of resumed payment of tlie national floating debt, and that equalization of values called by the Republican party the “ resumption of specie payments.” But the new prosperities awakened by foreign demand and the abundant domestic products were given to tho American people from a higher source than any agency of the Republican party. .No soldiers kept the peace of the corn-fields; no Returning Boards canvassed the wheat sheaves ; no Supervisors or Deputy Marshals assisted at the gathering into the garners, and no Electoral Commission gave Its blessing to the harvest. They were the fruits of labor, the gracious ?ifls to the laborer of Him who is the largest beneactor In Bociety, the high priest ifi the Democratic hierarchy. We have been spared one great danger since the Bth day of June, 1880. It has been certain that the usurper will not be immediately followed by the monarch, but the third term is postponed, not averted, and the real danger Is not in the third term bo much as in the Republican party, which makes the third term possible. Bonaparte did not crown himsolf Emperor until Bonapartism had corrupted France. When more than three-llfths of any political party invoke a “ savior of society,” that party is already so poisoned with imperialism that it has become itself a menace to the republic far more formidable than any mischief it professes to fear, or any danger it was organized to repel. The remedy, gentlemen, for this and all other Ills of state Is In eternal vigilance. This Is at once the price and the protector of liberty. This vigilance, already newly quickened among the people from whom you come, continued hero and hereafter is sure to bring victory to the Democratic principles and the Democratic candidates—a victory so full of hope for the republic that even ttie “ melancholy days of Novembor ” shall be radiant with joy, and on the wings of the stormy winds of March shall be wafted blessings. , Mr. Biedler, of New York, offered a resolution that tho rules of the last Democratic National Convention be the rules of this body until otherwise ordered. Adopted. Mr. Martin, of Delaware, offered a resolution that the roll of States be called for appointment of members of the Committees on Permanent Organization, Credentials, and Besolutious. Mr. Weed, of New York, asked Martin to give way for a motion for a resolution to refer credentials to the Committee on Credentials. This Mr. Martin refused to do, and his resolution was unanimously adopted. - The Clerk proceeded with the call with the following result: Alabama—William E. Clerk, on Permanent Organization ; William H. Barnes, on Resolutions ; Joseph F. Johnson, on Credentials. Arkansas—Credentials, Jas. M. Hudson; Per mauent Organization, Dr. Davidson; Resolutions, M. T. Emery. ?’ California—Organization, Thomas F. Thomj> son ; Credentials, W. H. Frost; Resolution*. Everett H. Mattox. Colorado—Organization, John T. Humphreys; Credentials, O. Balyer; Resolutions, C. 8. Thomas. -, > Copnecticut—Organization, Owen Bk King ; Credentials, Ralph Wheeler ; Resolutions, David A. Wells. , : Delaware—Organization, *Hon. E. Martin; Resolutions, George H. Bix; Credentials, A. B Robinson. Florida—Organization,' P. C.. Rinear: Credentials, E. M. L. Engle; Resolutions, Ebon T. Howell. ... Illinois—Credentials, Perry H. Smith; Organization, Charles Dunham; Resolutions, Melville W. Fuller,

Indiana—Organization, Hon. Joseph E. McDonald ; Credentials, Hon, William E. Niblack ; Resolutions, Hon. John R. Coffroth. lowa—Resolutions, John D. Irish ; Credentials, Thomas J. Potter ; Organization, E. D. Fenn. Kansas —Organization, Gen. George C. Rogers ; Credentials, Edward Carroll; Resolutions, John R. Goodwin. Kentucky—Organization, William Lindsey; Credentials, J. W. Hay; Resolutions, Henry Watterson. Louisiana—Credentials, F. Mealey ; Resolutions, D. A. Burke ; Organization, W. McCranie. Maine —Organization, Bimon 8. Brown ; Resolutions, Archibald M. Nichols; Credentials, Arthur Z. Wall. Maryland—Organization, Wilmot Johnson ; Credentials, B. Victor Bowman; Resolutions, Chafes J. M. Gwynn, Massachusetts Organization, John P. Swiney ; Credentials, the Hon. John K. Tarbox ; Resolutions, the Hon. Charles Levi Woodbury. Michigan—Resolutions, Dr. Foster Pratt; Organization, Byron 8. Stout; Credentials, Isaac E. Messtnore. Minnesota—Organization, R. H. Taylor; Resolutions, E. Barksdale ; Credentials, blank. Missouri—Credentials, W. B. Steele ; Organization. Gibbon OanipbeC ; Resolutions, Joseph Pulcher. Nebraska —Credentials, J. W. Pollock; Organization, J. Sterling Morton; Resolutions, George L. Miller. Nevada—Credentials, Mat Canavan; Organization, George Storey; Resolutions, A. C. Ellis. New Hampshire—Credentials, Hon. Hosea W. Parker; Organization, I. W. Drees; Resolutions, Hon. Harvey Bingham. New Jersey—Credentials, Lawrence Phell; Organization, Rufus Blodget; Resolutions, C. Meyer Zurick. When New York was reached in the call, and upon the clerk’s commencing to announce the names sent up to the desk, John Kelly arose amid a Hhowcr of hisses, mingled with yells, and cries of “Bit down,” etc. The Chair—'The Bergeant-at-Arms will preserve order. The chair cannot recognize anyone but a delegate. New York—Permanent Organization, John Fox; Committee on Resolutions, Rufus W. Peckham; Comnuttco on Credentials, 8. M. Weed. The Chair—The Secretary will call the next State.. Mr. Haskins, of New York—Mr. Chairman—[Cries of “Sit down!” “ Sit down!”] The Chair—The Scrgcant-<at-Arms will preserve order. Gentlemen claiming to bo delegates must be heard first. Mr. Haskins—Mr. Chairman, I want—[Cries of “Sit down!” “Put hint out,” and “Order, order.”] , Tlie Chair —North Carolina will be called next. North Carolina—Organization, J. 8. Henderson ; Credentials, John Howard ; Platform, A. M. Wardell. Ohio—Organization, W. E. Hayno ; Credentials, It. S. Shields ; Resolutions, J. Kinney. Oregon—Credentials, A. Nuonncr; Organization, F. B. Hogan ; Resolutions, John Meyer. Pehhsylvania—Organization, James P. Riley; Resolutions, Louis C. Cassidy ; Credentials, W. H. Sowdon. Rhode Island—Organization, John Q. Dempsey ; Resolutions, N. Hanslike ; Credentials, W. M. Foston. South Carolina —Credentials, T. Devil; Organization, F. W. Dawson ; Resolutions, T. G. Barker. Tennessee—Organization, W.‘H. Carroll; Credentials, T. M. Jones; Resolutions, John A. McKinney. Texas Organization, Thomas M. Jack; Resolutions, John Ireland; Credentials, B. H. Bassett. Vermont —Organization, D. M. Reddington ; Resolutions, G. S. Waterman; Credentials, J. H.-Williams. Virginia—Credentials, Wm. L. Royal; OrgmjzHtipn, William Terry ; Resolutions, James West Virginia—Organization, B. F. Harlowo ; Credentials, W. L. Wilson ; Resolutions, J. fl. Good. Wisconsin Organization, Earl C. Finch ; Resolutions, Thomas R. Hudd; Credentials, Jos. Rankin. Tlie Chair—Gentlemen of the convention, I have been requested to announce that commit-tec-rooms are prepared in the rear of this hall for the meeting of the three committees just selected, and they are requested to meet for the purpose of organisation and such other business as they may choose to transact immediately after the adjournment of this convention. Mr. Watterson—Mi - . Chairman, I hold in my hand an application from the delegates of Territories, asking for recognition and scats in this convention, which I desire to have referred to tho Committee on Permanent Organization, with the request of the convention that it be favorably considered. The Chairman—lt is so referred, unless there is objection. Mr. Pulitzer, of Missouri—No, no, no. I protest. The Chairman —What, protest against a reference V Mr. Pulitzer —Not against the reference, hut against the balance of the motion. Mr. Watterson—l move that it be referred ■without, the expression of tho convention, since there is no objection. The Chairman—So referred, unless there be objection. Mr. Jacobs, of New York—l move that the convention do now adjourn. Tho mo'ion was withdrawn temporarily, and the chair announced the meeting of committees. The Chairman —Tho motion to adjourn is withdrawn. The delegate from Connecticut, Mr. David A. Wells, has the floor. The'following resolution is offered by David A. Wells, of Connecticut: Resolved , That a committee of one delegate from each State, to lie selected by the delegation thereof, lie appointed to report resolutions in relation to the platform of the Democratic party, and be referred to said committee witho: t debate. The Chairman —So much of this as provides for a committee has already been acted upon, and is out of order. Mr. Wells—l will strike that part out. The Chair—The delegate from Connecticut offers the following resolution : That all resolutions in relation to the platform of the Democratic party be referred to the Committee on Resolutions without debate. Mr. Preston, of Kentucky—l move you that the convention now adjourn. The Chair—Let ub dispose of this resolution. Mr. Preston—l withdraw the motion. The Chair—lt is moved and seconded that the resolution offered by the delegate from Connecticut be adopted. The resolution was adopted. Mr. Jacobs then renewed his motion to adjourn till Wednesday at 10 a. m., and it was carried.

Second Day, The convention reassembled and was called to order at 10:40 a. m., Wednesday, June 23. After liraver, by Chas. W. Taylor, of Covington, Ky., Mr. Young, of Georgia, Chairman of the Committee on Credentials, submitted his report. In the Massachusetts case it unanimously recommended the admission of both contestnnts, and that the two delegations united cast the vote of the State. The sitting members from Pennsylvania were reported as entitled to their seats. There was great cheering when the clause was read declaring that the committee had. with singular unanimity, decided in favor of the sitting members from New York, and against the admission of Tammany. Delegate Carroll, of Kansas, submitted a minority report recommending the seating of fifty anti-Tammanyites and twenty Tammanyites. Tho case of the former was argued by George W. Miller, of Albany ; Amasa J. Parker, of Albany; Gov. Hubbard, of Texas, and F. L. Westbrook, of Now York, John R. Fellows, of New York city. Rufus W. Peckham, of Albany, and Gen. Young, of Georgia, spoke in behalf of the majority report. John Kelly was invited -by the Chairman to take the stand and present his view of the case, but it was announced that he was not present. A motion to substitute the minority for the majority report was voted down by yeas to 457 nays. The majority report was then adopted by a nearly unanimous viva-voOO vote. Mr. Martin, of Delaware, Chairman of the Committee on Permanent Organization, moved that the report of his committee be adopted. Agreed to, and the chair named Senator McDonald, of Indiana; Senator Butler, of South Carolina, and Thomas O’Conner, of Tennessee, as a committee to conduct ex-Gov. Stevenson to the chair. Senator Stevenson assumed the gavel, and addressed the convention at considerable length. Mr. Breckinridge, of Kentucky, moved that' the convention proceed to the business of nominating a President.

Mr. Preston, of Kentucky, moved to allow each person placing a nominee before the convention to have ten minutes for the purpose.

This was adopted, and Breckinridge’s motion as amended was also adopted. The call of States was then ordered for the nomination of a candidate for the Presidency. CALIFORNIA—FIELD. The first State called which responded was California. John E. McElrath took the stand to present the name of Justice S. J. Field for the Presidency. Mr. McElrath said : Mn. President : We have met on this occasion, an occasion to be forever memorable in the annals of the Democratic party, for the purpose of nominating the next President of these United States. And why is it, let me ask, is this vast hall filled with representatives of the people from all ihe States 7 Is tt not that we may, by our actions this day, preserve for ourselves and our children, and transmit to a distant posterity, the priceless heritage of liberty? 'J his it is that has called us together. We are intensified in our purpose to accomplish the ends I have sv:ggested because we are justified in believing that the policy of the Republican party will, if continued, ultimately subvert the prlucijiles upon which our Government was founded, under which it haS grown great and prosperous, and by the maintenance of which it can alone continue in its career of liberty and advancement. To achieve there results, we must continue in the pathway of the father.! who formed the republic. Wo want an indestructible union composed of indestructible States. We want the General Government to exercise only the powers that have been expressly delegated to it, and such others as by a fair construction of the constitution are necessarily incident to those expressly delegated. W'ithin its proper sphere we want it honestly administered. We shall never again suffer the Legislature of a sovereign State to be invaded and the members arrested by military despotism. We would not have our Congressmen implicated in corrupt schemes, nor would we wish to elevate men to high positions who have been removed from public office for the reform and purification of the civil service. We want purity, judicial purity, in the Executive Department of the country. It has been said, that westward the star of empire takes its course, and now from beyond the far West comes that great country that lays between the summit of the Rocky mountains and the calm waters of the Pacific, a ■ country that a Democratic admihistration added to the Union, and presents one of her beet sons to this convention as a candidate for the highest office on earth. New England nurtured hts infancy, and California developed his manhood. Delegates of Connecticut, he is the son of your own soil. Californians, ho is your Justinian. Vir--ginians—sons of the Old Dominion; gent'emen' of the suffering South—he threw around you tlie protecting shield of your country’s constitution. Removing to California at a time when that great State was in its early infancy, he gave to her salutary and beneficent laws. To him the poor man of the Pacific slope owes the protection from forced sale of the roof that shelters his family, and the miner the protection of his pick from the rapacity of his credi-. tor. He has Bhaped the laws of those great Territories in the West that are yet to become radiant stars in the galaxy of States. He is not only the founder of States, but also the preserver of States. Appointed to the Supreme Court of the United States as a Democrat, at the time when the country was in the desperate throes of civil war, he holds a commission from President Lincoln as an evidence of his devotion to tho Union. On thatiiench he has been as pure and upright as Lord Hale. He has expounded the laws with the logic of Marshall and with a stylo superior to that, of Brougham. Ho has protected tlie lawyer in his profession and the minister of religion in his holy calling. Finally, Mr. President, he imbibed his principles from the teachings of that great apostle of Democracy who Bleeps at Moutice’.io, and ho promulgates them with the energy and fearlessness of the hero, the patriot, and the sago of the Hermitage. If nominated by this convention ho will sweep over California like the irresistible northers that come from the snowy mountains. I have the honor to nominate for President of tlie United States the Hon. Stephen J. Field, of California. He is a man without fear and without reproach, a Corinthian column in the temple of Democracy ; one wllo, if elected, will wipe out the onlystain upon tho banner of Democracy.