The Connecticut Democracy

Hautfokd, Fob. ld, lh ü. 4. E. Burr, Esq. DkarSik: I t;vko occasion through you, ns clmiriuan of the late Domoorutii Convention of this State, to say a wort in regard to the nomiiiation whioh Uu convontion bas been pleased to conforupon me. The honor, I need not say, eame to mo wholly unsolicited ; I nmy also add wholly uinvi.shed. I have 110 itcli for office. This, however, hall not preven! me from aceupting. Only let me a;ldthai íis I havo not solicitad the nomination, so I shiill not Uy any of the too coinmon arts ;md prácticos of tho times solicit ap election, and this not becauae I ain careIess of the political result or disdain the honor. Very far trom it. But bocause such prácticos are against all niy habits of lifo in the first place, and in the . noxt agaïnat all my convictioiis of propriety It' eleoted, thcrefore, it must be by tho voluntary und unbuught suifrages of my fellow citizens. Such must be my position and course iu tho ooining canvass. II may be this will bo uiy vceaknosx as a candidkte. Be it so ! It cannot ohangs my determination. I accept also tho principies of liberal and conservativo Domocracy expressed in the platform of the convention. The resolufions, in the main, touch the living issues of the day, and are wise and statosmanlike. Unless I deceive mysolf, the great oxigency of tho times is not alone the adoption of just principies of government in politics - of this thero is surely noed enough and more than enough - but what is of still moro consequence, if possible, a purifioation of the moráis of politics. These - bad enough tobugin with, and nono too good at tho best - have become tainted with n inheritance of ovils cojisoquont on the late civil war, evils whioh havo become terribly aggravated by tho wantonness and shameless corruption of the long-continued and irrosponsiblo supremacy of a singlo party in power. ' These evils porvade the whole body politie, fiom the petty muuicipalities to tho aumuute of the State. Legislation, which should oxpress the beat morality aad wisdom of tho oost men in the Stato, lias fallón too largely into unclcan hands and becomo pervorted to tho uses of personal iijjgnuulizoment, knavish rings, and hirod and corrupt combinations in the lobby. The civil adimnistrittion of the government is full of iraud, bribory ind peonlation. It has como toboalmost putnd. Witness tho recent devolopmonts in New York, both in the State and foderal service. And finally tlio judicial do.lartmcnt - usually the last fortress to fall, and fovtunatt'ly iu our own 8tate still cloan and above reproach - ha not esCiiped the goneral contagión. Thoso imeftohmenta are harsh, I know. I shall H'. glad if they are undóserved. Whore low is tho reniedy for these evils? I answer : In a general burying, in a general grave, of all tlead issues and surviving prejudiee?, and in a league of good men against every form of corruption, both at the polls, where it infecís and festor?, and in whero it ncpotisos, takes gifts, and steals. By the larger spread of popular education, without whioh universal suffrago will become a deadly curse, and will prove hero, as it has alroady proved in Franco twice over, a breedor of anarchy aud rapiñe in tho first placo, and then as a reioedy for these of military rulü and Bonapartisin. By a curtailinent of the usurped powers of the general goveninient. It will be found as a general thing that free govyrninents are corrupt in the direct ratio of size and centralizatiou, while the liberties of the pcople decroase in a corrospunding ratio. And as involvod in this - tho restitution of the Statos - those smaller and moro primitivo democracias establiáhod by the fathers as barriors against centralisiti - of their just constitutional rights of self-government, freod from overy form of disfranchisement forpolitical offences, and so, by consequence, from plundering carpet-baggers in offico, as wcll as from Federal interence at the polls, uo matter whether in the shape of official patronage, or Oustom-house stoalings, or Federal soldiery. 3y a reformatiou of our excessive discrimnating and inquisitorial systein of taxaion, so that they shall better promoto ,he economies of the revenue and the inlustries of tht' pooplo, and shall not hereifter t ;nd to convert the tax-payer into a perjurer or a cheat. And in connection with this, by a resumption of specie jaynients - abolishing that falso pretence, ui irrodeemable paper currency - -the deay to do wh.ich is uot only a duty postloned without cause, and a shamo to our public credit, but tends to dobauch the uorals of trade and commerce. Finally, )y a systfim of purgation and civil-urvice reform, in its most comprehensivo sense, embracing tho most caustic remedios of prevention, discovery, and punishment. In a word, by scourging eut of he places of public trust the Tweeds and jluijmys of fraud and roobcry, and every other devil of evil-doiu which posse88es the body politie. The way out should be, as in the case of Tweod, with huo and cry into the criminal courts, and not with plaudits and haneyed comruendations into the embraces of tho Chief Executive. Let parties and p&rtisans perish, if neod bo - but let the republic live ! With these few words of plain speaking I accept the nomination conferred, and commit niy name to the fortunes of the canvass. I ani, very respoctfnlly, your obedient servant,