It gives force and form to those maxims and principles of civil liberty for which the martyrs of freedom have struggled through ages. It declares the right of the people

"to be secure in their persons, houses, and papers against unreasonable searches and seizures. That Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion or the free exercise thereof, or abridging the freedom of speech or of the press, or the right of the people to petition for redress of grievances. It secures the right of a speedy and public trial by an impartial jury."

No man can rightly enter upon the duties of the Presidential office, unless he is not only willing to carry out the wishes of the people expressed in a constitutional way, but is also prepared to stand up for the rights of minorities. He must be ready to uphold the free exercise of religion. He must denounce measures which would wrong personal or home rights, or the religious conscience of the humblest citizen of the land. He must maintain, without distinction of creed or nationality, all the privileges of American citizenship.

The experience of every public man who has been faithful to his trust teaches him that no one can do the duties of the office of President, unless he is ready not only to undergo the falsehoods and abuse of the bad, but to suffer from the censure of the good who are misled by prejudices and misrepresentations. There are no attractions in such positions, which deceive my judgment, when I say that a great change is going on in the public mind. The mass of the Republican party are more thoughtful, temperate and just than they were during the excitements

which attended the progress and close of the civil war. As the energy of the Democratic party springs from their devotion to their cause and not to their candidates, I may with propriety speak of the fact that never in the political history of our country has the action of any like body been hailed with such universal and wide-spread enthusiasm as that which has been shown in relation to the position of the National Democratic Convention. With this the candidates had nothing to do. Had any others of those named been selected, this spirit would have been, perhaps, more marked. The zeal and energy of the conservative masses spring from a desire to make a change of political policy, and from the confidence that they can carry out their purpose.

In this faith they are strengthened by the co-operation of the great body of those who served in the Union army and navy during the war. Having given nearly sixteen thousand commissions to the officers of that army, I know their views and wishes. They demand the Union for which they fought. The largest meeting of these gallant soldiers which ever assembled was held in New York, and indorsed the action of the National Convention. In words instinct with meaning, they called upon the Government to stop in its policy of hate, discord, and disunion, and in terms of fervid eloquence they demanded the restoration of the rights and liberties of the American people.

When there is such accord between those who proved themselves brave and self-sacrificing in war, and those who are thoughtful and patriotic in coun

cil, I can not doubt we shallga in a political triumph which will restore our Union, bring back peace and prosperity to our land, and will give us once more the blessings of a wise, economical, and honest gov

ernment.

I am, gentlemen, truly yours, &c.,

HORATIO SEYMOUR.

To Gen. G. W. Morgan, and others, Committee,

&c., &c.

CHAPTER XXVI.

THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY AND HORATIO SEYMOUR.

SINCE the commencement of our Government, there have been substantially but two parties in the country. No matter what name the opposition to the Democratic party has assumed, the tendencies it has exhibited have always been in one direction, which was their desire for a centralized government, and a distrust, latent or recognized, of the unchecked will of the people. Hamilton advocated effective institutions, and rather doubted the ability of the people, without checks and balances, to govern themselves. And so did all the parties which succeeded the Federal in our history; whatever name they have assumed, they always favored a strong central Government, and the necessary crippling of local freedom.

The party of Jefferson, on the other hand, have ever held that the people should be trusted; that that government was best which governed least; that there was a soul of good in all popular movements; that the true political theory was not to attempt to train human nature in certain fixed ways -to put bandages round the growing limbs of the nation-but to recognize the essential good that exists in humanity, and which, if given free course, would

justify the work of its Maker. In short, on this con tinent we have had the old strife between authority and liberty. Hence, whenever by any accident the authority party have got into power, we have faller upon an era of high tariffs, lavish expenditures, vio lations more or less open of the traditions and of the organic law of the country, limiting the central authority. Its alien and sedition laws; its national banks; its encroachments upon the liberty of the individual; its impatience of all those wise provisions of our Constitution, which limit the powers of the General Government;-all these characteristics mark the Republican party, as they did the old Federal party.

Much astonishment has been expressed that after the war the Democratic party did not go to pieces. The vitality of that party lies in the fact that notwithstanding its mistakes, and occasional fits of forgetfulness of its own high mission, it has, after all, been true to the conception of its founder, Thomas Jefferson, and his faith in the doctrine of local selfgovernment and individual rights. In the excitement and tempest of the war, the American people put every available weapon into the hands of the central Government, to put down the rebellion; and the Democratic party, true to its mission, true to the idea which gave it vitality, boldly braved the full fury of the popular tempest, in order to preserve inviolate the liberties of the people. No man, or set of men, should be trusted with unlimited power. The history of all nations shows that unchecked power is always abused; and hence, when Mr. Lincoln and his cabinet were