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A Letter From Mr. Pendleton

A Letter From Mr. Pendleton image
Parent Issue
Day
19
Month
January
Year
1872
Copyright
Public Domain
OCR Text

The Hon. GEO. H. PJESDLETON, in responso to an invitation given hiiu by Wooster Domocrats to joiu thom in celel7;i.tii..; the recent anniversary of the battlo of Xow Orlcans, wrotu as iollows : Cixcinxati, December 30, 1871. ÜOS3VS. Eshelmen, lVristone, Baughman, Committae of Invitation. GenïJ.kmen: I regretthat I caunot accapt your invitation to bü present at the noxt annual celebration of the Nth of January. lt would havo givon 1110 groat pleasure to uioet and tako counsel of thoso who aro so woll-grouudod iu the faith ajvi prautioe af Deiuoc.rrii'.y as tho men (if Wayne Oounty, and with them to reuall the principies and example of the foun dors of our party. Two great dangers iooperil froe iustitutions undiuT the polioy of the party no-w in power. Tho spirit of cen-traliaecf military goveniment attaoks ererywhere tlie (' jnstitution, and corruption in office dostroys the civil adininistration. I do not speak merely or chiefly of special defalc.itions lui wever startling, but of the general dogradution of the standard of oifiüiu.1 integrity until tho offices in botli the oivil and military servioo scom to bo considered tho propwty of the party, to bo lUspenscd aud administered priinirüy for party aggrandizomont or personal profit. These dangeregrow out of, and are inseparable from, the present organization of the Ropubüean nráfy. Hs foundation, its philosophy, its history, and its leadors recognizo military powerand t!ie corrupting uso of money by official patronage as legitímate torces in ordinary tiivil admin istration, artel now ioore than ever are thoy brooght into activo exerc-iso. The Democratie party confronta tUis theory and denounces these practioes. Pounded apon the idea of local government, jealous of powors graoted toauthority, tught that simpücity and economy are cssential to the honesty necessary in Republian Lnstitutious, it maintiiius with more detemúaed pui-pose that the military must bo sulionlinate to tho civil authority, and that offices are a trust for the peoplc, not sp.nU for the victors. lts powerful organization enters every illage in the land, and numbrrs among its adlierent.-; neariy boo-half tho pooplo - as intelloctual, as pure, as patriatio, as unsclfióh as any of their fellow-citiiwus. ïhey aro too nuuierous to bo oowardly. They aro too patriotic to be lukewarni. Thoy are too sincere in their purpososand convietions to be drivon to du.suondcnuv by ten yearsof reteneSi They haveshown constancy in defeat as ■woll as wisdom in victory. If I understand their feolings thcy will neither disl)and their orgamaation nor fleo tho field before the oontest bommenoes. Either course, they beiieve, woirld giro undisputed sway to the present adininistration, which could then give undivided attontiuii to the desorters from its ranks. Au advancing artny, with the enrmy cither dispersed or in, flig-ht, nevor loses divisions or regiments, o even oompanies, and is generally .able to piek off or topick up treacherous or thoughtless stragglors. If there bc, as is claimed, many rroiabers of the Bopoblican party who diaapprovo the ideas which domínate tho administration of President ürant, and i re prepared to oppose liis re-election, thoy shonld doolare their purposes, organize their party, dórelo) and manifest thoir strength, and il' I may prediot the futurf', they will have 110 just eause, even t lic most sensitivo and timid among them, lor refusing to oo-operate witli the Democratie party. Wlun the .nilliorizcd convention slisill speak it will romind its adheronts that the nl'.iinate and highest parpóse OÍ its existenoe is to securo tho greatest pivspority, in its best sense, of overy hnman being in tho land ; that principies of governmont are true or untruo, as they contribute to this resuit; that parties and politics and offices aro but moans to this end ; that principies

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Subjects
Old News
Michigan Argus