rules of the House of Representatives in similar cases.

Rule 8. No member shall speak more than once upon the same question, nor longer than five minutes, unless by leave of the Convention; except that delegates presenting the name of a candidate shall be allowed ten minutes in presenting the name of such candidate.

Rule 9. The rules of the House of Representatives shall be the rules of this Convention, so far as they are applicable, and not inconsistent with the foregoing rules.

Rule 10. A Republican National Committee shall be appointed, to consist of one member from each State, Territory and District represented in this Convention. The roll shall be called, and the delegation from each State, Territory and District shall name, through their chairman, a person to act as a member of such committee.

Which were adopted.

The Committee on Credentials then made report. The majority of tHe committee reported through John T. Ensor, of Maryland, in favor of admitting the Haralson delegation from Alabama; the minority, through Charles N. HarRis, of Nevada, in favor of the Spencer delegation. The minority report was rejected—yeas 354, nays 375, and the majority report then adopted. The Bowen delegation from the District of Columbia were seated, and the Conover delegation from Florida.

Resolutions.

Joseph R. Hawley, Chairman of the Committee,* reported the following:

"When, in the economy of Providence, this land was to be purged of human slavery, and when the strength of government of the people, by the people, and for the people, was to be demonstrated, the Republican party came into power. Its deeds have passed into history, and we look back to them with pride. Incited by their memories to high aims for the good of our country and mankind, and looking to the future with unfaltering courage, hope and purpose, we, the representatives of the party in National Convention assembled, make the following declarations of principles:

I. The United States of America is a Nation,

* The committee consisted of the following persons: Arkansas—C. C. Waters; Arizona—R. C. McCormick; California—Chas. F. Reed; Connecticut—Jos. R. Hawley; Colorado—James B. Belford; Dakota—Andrew McHench; Delaware—Eli R. Sharp: Georgia— Henry M. Turner; Illinois—C. B. Farwell; Indiana— R. W.Thompson; Iowa—Hiram Price; Idaho—Austin Savage; Kansas—J.. D. Thatcher; Kentucky—James Speed; Louisiana—Henry Demoss; Maine—Nelson Dingley, jr.; Maryland—L. H. Steiner; Massachusetts—Edward L. Pierce; Michigan—H, P. Baldwin; Minnesota—J. E. Wakefield; Mississippi—C. W. Clarke; Missouri—R. T. Van Horn; Montana—W. F. Sanders; New Mexico—%. B. Axtell; Nebraska—A. R. Pinney; Nevada—]. P. Jones; New Hampshire—Chas. Burns; New Jersey—Frederick A. Potts; New York—Chas. E. Smith; North Carolina—P. C. Badger; Ohio—Edward Cowles; Oregon—H. K. Hines; Pennsylvania —H. W. Oliver; Rhode Island— Chas. Nourse; South Carolina—!). H. Chamberlain; Texas—-E. J. Davis; Tennessee—A. A. Freeman; Utah—J.- B. McKean; Vermont—G. H. Bigelow; Virginia—Wm. Miller; West Virginia—J. W. Davis; Wisconsin—Gen. Jas. H. Howe; Washington—Elwood Evans; Wyoming—-Wm. Hinton.'

not a league. By the combined workings of the National and State Governments, under their respective constitutions, the rights of eveiy citizen are secured, at home and abroad, and the common welfare promoted.

2. The Republican party has preserved these Governments to the hundredth anniversary of the Nation's birth, and they are now embodiments of the great truths spoken at its cradle—" that all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights, among which are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness; that for the attainment of these ends Governments have been instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed." Until these truths are cheerfully obeyed, or, if need be, vigorously enforced, the work of the Republican party is unfinished.

3. The permanent pacification of the Southern section of the Union and the complete protection of all its citizens in the free enjoyment of all their rights, is $. duty to which the Republican party stands sacredly pledged. The power to provide for the enforcement of the principles embodied in the recent constitutional amendments, is vested by those amendments in the Congress of the United States, and we declare it to be the solemn obligation of the legislative and executive departments of the Government to put into immediate and vigorous exercise all their constitutional powers for removing any just causes of discontent on the part of any class, and for securing to every American citizen complete liberty and exact equality in the exercise of all civil, political and public rights. To this end we imperatively demand a Congress and a Chief Executive whose courage and fidelity to these duties shall not falter until these results are placed beyond dispute or recall.

4. In the first act of Congress signed by President Grant, the National Government assumed to remove any doubts of its purpose to discharge all just obligations to the public creditors, and "solemnly pledged its faith to make provision at the earliest practicable period for the redemption of the United States notes in coin." Commercial prosperity, public morals and National credit demand that this promise be fulfilled by a continuous and steady progress to specie payment.

5. Under the Constitution the President and heads of departments are to make nominations for office; the Senate is to advise and consent to appointments, and the House of Representatives is to accuse and prosecute faithless officers. The best interest of the public service demands that these distinctions be respected; that Senators and Representatives who may be judges and accusers should not dictate appointments to office. The invariable rule in appointments should have reference to the honesty, fidelity and capacity of the appointees, giving to the party in power those places where harmony and vigor of adminstration require its policy to be represented, but permitting all others to be filled by persons selected with sole reference to the efficiency of the public service, and the right of all citizens to share in the honor of rendering faithful service to the county

6. We rejoice in the quickened conscience of the people concerning political affairs, and will hold all public officers to a rigid responsibility, and engage that the prosecution and punishment of all who betray official trusts shall be swift, thorough and unsparing.

7. The public school system of the several States is the bulwark of the American Republic, and with a view to its security and permanence we recommend an amendment to the Constitution of the United States forbidding the application of any public funds or property for the benefit of any schools or institutions under sectarian control.

8. The revenue necessary for current expenditures and the obligations of the public debt must be largely derived from duties upon importations, which, so far as possible, should be adjusted to promote the interests of American labor and advance the prosperity of the whole country.

9. We reaffirm our opposition to further grants of the public lands to corporations and monopolies, and demand that the National domain be devoted to free homes for the people.

10. It is the imperative duty of the Government so to modify existing treaties with European Governments, that the same protection shall be afforded to the adopted American citizen that is given to the native born; and that all necessary laws should be passed to protect emigrants in the absence of power in the States for that purpose.

n. It is the immediate duty of Congress to fully investigate the effect of the immigration and importation of Mongolians upon the moral and material interests of the country.

12. The Republican party recognizes with approval the substantial advances recently made towards the establishment of equal rights for women by the many important amendments effected by Republican Legislatures in the laws which concern the personal and property relations of wives, mothers, and widows, and by the appointment and election of women to the superintendence of education, charities and other public trusts. The honest demands of this class of citizens for additional rights, privileges and immunities should be treated with respectful consideration.

13. The Constitution confers upon Congress sovereign power over the Territories of the United States for their government, and in the exercise of this power it is the right and duty of Congress to prohibit and extirpate, in the Territories, that relic of barbarism—polygamy; and we demand such legislation as shall secure this end and the supremacy of American institutions in all the Territories.

14. The pledges which the Nation has given to her soldiers and sailors must be fulfilled, and a grateful people will always hold those who imperiled their lives for the country's preservation, in the kindest'remembrance.

15. We sincerely deprecate all sectional feeling and tendencies. We therefore "note with deep solicitude that the Democratic party counts, as its chief hope of success, upon the electoral vote of a united South, secured through the efforts of those who were recently arrayed against the Nation; and we invoke the earnest attention of the country to the grave truth that a success thus achieved would reopen sectional strife and imperil National honor and human rights.

16. We charge the Democratic party with being the same in character and spirit as when it sympathized with treason; with making its control of the House of Representatives the triumph and opportunity of the Nation's recent foes; with reasserting and applauding in the National Capitol the sentiments of unrepentant rebellion; with sending Union soldiers to the rear, and promoting Confederate soldiers to the front; with deliberately proposing to repudiate the plighted faith of the Government; with being equally false and imbecile upon the overshadowing financial questions; with thwarting the ends of justice by its partisan mismanagements and obstruction of investigation; with proving itself, through the period of its ascendency in the Lower House of Congress, utterly incompetent to administer the Government; and we warn the country against trusting a party thus alike unworthy, recreant and incapable.

17. The National Administration merits commendation for its honorable work in the management of domestic and foreign affairs, and President Grant deserves the continued hearty gratitude of the American people for his patriotism and his eminent services, in war and in peace.

18. We present as our candidates for President and Vice-President of the United States two distinguished statesmen, of eminent ability and character, and conspicuously fitted for those high offices, and we confidently appeal to the American people to intrust the administration of their public affairs to Rutherford B. Hayes and William A. Wheeler.

[The last resolution was adopted after the nominations were made, on motion of Mr. Smith, of New York.]

Upon the reading of the resolutions,

Edward L. Pierce, of Massachusetts, moved to strike out the eleventh resolution; which, after debate, was disagreed to—yeas 215, nays 532.

Edmund J. Davis, of Texas, moved to strike out the fourth resolution and substitute for it the following:

Resolved, That it is the duty of Congress to provide for carrying out the act known as the Resumption Act of Congress, to the end that the resumption of specie payments may not be longer delayed.

Which, after a brief debate, was disagreed to on a viva voce vote.

The resolutions were then adopted without a division.

NOMINATION OF CANDIDATES.

Nominations were then made for President of the United States:

By Connecticut—Marshall Jewell.

By Indiana—Oliver P. Morton.

By Kentucky—Benjamin H. Bristow.

By Maine—James G. Blaine.

By New York—Roscoe Conkling.

By Ohio—Rutherford B. Hayes.

By Pennsylvania—John F. Hartranft.

After the speeches in favor of these nominees, the Convention adjourned till to-morrow at 10 o'clock.

June 16—Seven ballots were then taken with the following result:

ist 2d 3d 4th 5th 6th 7th

Hayes 61 64 67 68 104 113 384

Blaine 285 296 293 292 286 308 351

Morton 125 120 113 108 95 85

Bristow 113 114 121 126 114 in 21

Conkling 99 93 90 84 82 81

Hartranft 58 63 08 71 69 50

Jewell 11 (withdrawn.)

Wm. A. Wheeler ».. 3322 2 2 ...

Ellihu B. Washburne. ...113 3 5

Whole No. of votes 754 754 755 754 755 755 75°"

Necessary to a choice 378 378 378 378 378 378 379

On motion of Mr. Frye of Maine, Governor Hayes was unanimously declared the nominee of the Convention.

Messrs. William A. Wheeler of New York, Stewart L. Woodford of New York, MarShall Jewell of Connecticut, Frederick T. Frelinghuysen of New Jersey, and Joseph R. Hawley of Connecticut, were nominated for Vice-President; but before the roll-call was completed, it being apparent that William A. Wheeler had received a majority of the votes cast, other candidates were by consent withdrawn, and he was unanimously declared the nominee of the Convention.

After the transaction of some unimportant business, the Convention adjourned sine die.

Note—On the second ballot for a candidate for President, four delegates from Pennsylvania rose to a question of privilege, and demanded that under the rules of the Convention they had the right to record their votes independently of a majority of the delegation. The Chair held, that under the Sixth Rule of the Convention, which was the paramount law on the subject, they had this right. The ruling was appealed from, and after discussion, sustained, on a vote by States— yeas 395, nays 354.

Got. Hayes's Letter of Acceptance.

Columbus, O., July 8, 1876. To the Hons. Edward Mcpherson, Wm. A. Howard, Jos. H. Rainey, and others. Committee of the National Republican Convention), Gentlemen: In reply to your official communication of June 17, by which I am informed of my nomination for the office of President of the United States by the Republican National Convention at Cincinnati, I accept the nomination with gratitude, hoping that, under Providence, I shall be able, if elected, to execute the duties of the high office as a trust for the benefit of all the people. I do not deem it necessary to enter upon any extended examination of the declaration of principles made by the Convention. The resolutions are in accord with my views, and I heartily concur in the principles they announce. In several of the resolutions, however, questions are considered which are of such importance that I deem it proper to briefly express my convictions in regard to them. The fifth resolution adopted by the Convention is of paramour** interest. More than forty years ago a system of making appointments to office grew up, based upon the maxim "to the victors belong the spoils." The old rule, the true rule, that honesty, capacity and fidelity constitute the only real qualification for office, and that there is no other claim, gave place to the idea that party services were to be chiefly considered. All parties in practice have

adopted this system. It has been essentially modified since its first introduction. It has not, however, been improved. At first the President, either directly or through the heads of department, made all the appointments, but gradually the appointing power, in many cases, passed into the control of members of Congress. The offices in these cases have become not merely rewards for party services, but rewards for services to party leaders. This system destroys the independence of the separate departments of the Government. "It tends directly to extravagance and official incapacity." It is a temptation to dishonesty; it hinders and impairs that careful supervision and strict accountability by which alone faithful and efficient public service can be secured; it obstructs the prompt removal and sure punishment of the unworthy; in every way it degrades the civil service and the character of the Government. It is felt, I am confident, by a large majority of the members of Congress, to be an intolerable burden and an unwarrantable hindrance to the proper discharge of their legitimate duties. It ought to be abolished. The reform should be thorough, radical, and complete. Vv^e should return to the principles and practice of the founders of the Government — supplying by legislation, when needed, that which was formerly the established custom. They neither expected nor desired from the public officers any partisan service. They meant that public officers should give their whole service to the Government and to the people. They meant that the officer should be secure in his tenure as long as his personal character remained untarnished and the performance of his duties satisfactory. If elected, I shall conduct the administration of the Government upon these principles, and all constitutional powers vested in the Executive will be employed to establish this reform. The declaration of principles by the Cincinnati Convention makes no announcement in favor of a single Presidential term. I do not assume to add to that declaration, but believing that the restoration of the civil service to the system established by Washington and followed by the early Presidents can be best accomplished by an Executive who is under no temptation to use the patronage of his office to promote his own reelection, I desire to perform wThat I regard as a duty in stating now my inflexible purpose, if elected, not to be a candidate for election to a second term.

On the currency question I have frequently expressed my views in public, and I stand by my record on this subject. I regard all the laws of the United States relating to the payment of the public indebtedness, the legal tender notes included, as constituting a pledge and moral obligation of the Government, which must in good faith be kept. It is my conviction that the feeling of uncertainty inseparable from an irredeemable paper currency, with its fluctuations of va^ue, is one of the great obstacles to a revival of confidence and business, and to a return of prosperity. That uncertainty can be ended in but one way— the resumption of specie payments. But the longer the instability of our money system is permitted to continue, the greater will be the injury inflicted upon our economical interests and all classes of society. If elected, I shall approve every appropriate measure to accomplish the desired end; and shall oppose any step backward. The resolution with respect to the public school system is one which should receive the hearty support of the American people. Agitation upon this subject is to be apprehended, until, by constitutional amendment the schools are placed beyond all danger of sectarian control or interference. The Republican party is pledged to secure such an amendment.

The resolution of the Convention on the subject of the permanent pacification of the country, and the complete protection of all its citizens in the free enjoyment of all their constitutional rights, is timely and of great importance. The condition of the Southern States attracts the attention and commands the sympathy of the people of the whole Union. In their progressive recovery from, the effects of the war, their first necessity is an intelligent and honest administration of government which will protect all classes of citizens in their political and private rights. What the South most needs is "peace," and peace depends upon the supremacy of the law. There can be no enduring peace if the constitutional rights of any portion of the people are habitually disregarded. A division of political parties resting merely upon sectional lines is always unfortunate and may be disastrous. The welfare of the South, alike with that of every other part of this country, depends upon the attractions it can offer to labor and immigration, and to capital. But laborers will not go, and capital will not be ventured where the Constitution and the laws are set at defiance, and distraction, apprehension, and alarm take the place of peace-loving, and law-abiding social life. All parts of the Constitution are sacred and must be sacredly observed—the parts that are new no less than the parts that are old. The moral and national prosperity of the Southern States can be most effectually advanced by a hearty and generous recognition of the rights of all, by all—a recognition without reserve or exception. With such a recognition fully accorded it will be practicable to promote, by the influence of all legitimate agencies of the General Government, the efforts of the people of those States to obtain for themselves the blessings of honest and capable local government. If elected, I shall consider it not only my duty, but it will be my ardent desire to labor for the attainment of this end.

Let me assure my countrymen of the Southern States that if I shall be charged with the duty of organizing an administration, it will be one which will regard and cherish their truest interests—the interests of the white and of the colored people both, and equally; and which will put forth its best efforts in behalf of a civil policy which will wipe out forever the distinction between North and South in our common country. With a civil service organized upon a system which will secure purity, experience, efficiency, and economy, a strict regard for the public welfare solely in appointments, and the speedy, thorough, and unsparing prosecution and punishment of all public officers who betray official trusts; with a sound currency; with education unsectarian and free to all; with simplicity and frugality in public and

private affairs, and with a fraternal spirit of harmony pervading the people of all sections and classes, we may reasonably hope that the second century of our existence as a nation will, by the blessing of God, be preeminent as an era of good feeling and a period of progress, prosperity, and happiness. Very respectfully, your fellowcitizen, R. B. Hayes.

3Ir. Wheeler's Acceptance.

Malone, July 15, 1876. Hon. Edward McPherson, and others, of the Committee of the Republican National Convention:

Gentlemen:—I received, on the 6th inst, your communication advising me that I had been unanimously nominated by the National Convention of the Republican party, held at Cincinnati on the 14th ult., for the office of Vice-President of the United States; and requesting my acceptance of the same, and asking my attention to the summary of Republican doctrines contained in the platform adopted by the Convention.

A nomination made with such unanimity implies a confidence on the part of the Convention which inspires my profound gratitude. It is accepted with a sense of the responsibility which may follow. If elected, I shall endeavor to perform the duties of the office in the fear of the Supreme Ruler, and in the interest of the whole country.

To the summary of doctrines enunciated by the Convention I give my cordial assent. The Republican party has intrenched in the organic law of our land the doctrine that liberty is the supreme, unchangeable law for every foot of American soil. It is the mission.of that party to give full effect to this principle by "securing to every American citizen complete liberty and exact equality in the exercise of all civil, political and public rights." This will be accomplished only when the American citizen, without regard to color, shall wear this panoply of citizenship as fully and as securely in the canebrakes of Louisiana as on the banks of the St. Lawrence.

Upon the question of our Southern relations, my views were recently expressed as a member of the Committee of the United States House of Representatives upon Southern Affairs. Those views remain unchanged, and were thus expressed:

"We of the North delude ourselves in expecting that the masses of the South, so far behind in many of the attributes of enlightened improvement and civilization, are, in the brief period of ten or fifteen years, to be transformed into our model Northern communities. That can cnly come through a long course of patient waiting, to which no one can now set certain bounds. Theie will be a good deal of unavoidable friction, which will call for forbearance, and which will have to be relieved by the temperate, fostering care of the government. One of the most potent, if not indispensable agencies in this direction, will be the devising of some system to aid in the education of the masses. The fact that there are whole counties in Louisiana in which there is not a solitary school-house, is full of suggestion. We compelled these people to remain in the Union, and now duty and interest demand that we leave no just means untried to make them good, loyal citizens. How to diminish the friction, how to stimulate the elevation of this portion of our country, are problems addressing themselves to our best and wisest statesmanship. The foundation for these efforts must be laid in satisfying the Southern people that they are to have equal, exact justice accorded to them. Give them, to the fullest extent, every blessing which the government confers upon the most favored—give them no just cause for complaint, and then hold them, by every necessary means, to an exact, rigid observance of all their duties and obligations under the Constitution and its amendments to secure to all within their borders manhood and citizenship, with, every right thereto belonging."

TV e just obligations to public creditors, created whev the government was in the throes of threatened dissolution, and as an indispensable condition of its salvation—guaranteed by the lives and blood of thousands of its brave defenders—are to be kept with religious faith, as are all the pledges subsidiary thereto and confirmatory thereof.

In my judgment the pledge of Congress of January 14, 1875, for the redemption of the notes of the United States in coin is the plighted faith of the nation, and national honor, simple honesty, and justice to the people whose permanent welfare and prosperity are dependent upon true money, as the basis of their pecuniary transactions, all demand the scrupulous observance of this pledge, and it is the duty of Congress to supplement it with such legislation as shall be necessary for its strict fulfillment.

In our system of government intelligence must give safety and value to the ballot. Hence the common schools of the land should be preserved in all their vigor; while, in accordance with the spirit of the Constitution, they and all their en

dowments should be secured by every possible and proper guaranty against every form of sectarian influence or control.

There should be the strictest economy in the expenditures of the government consistent with its effective administration, and all unnecessary offices should be abolished. Offices should be conferred only upon the basis of high character and particular fitness, and should be administered only as public trusts, and not for private advantage.

The foregoing are chief among the cardinal principles of the Republican party, and to carry them into full, practical effect, is the work it now has in hand. To the completion of its great mission we address ourselves in hope and confidence, cheered and stimulated by the recollection of its past achievements; remembering that, under God, it is to that party we are indebted in this centennial year of our existence for a preserved, unbroken Union; for the fact that there is no master or slave throughout our broad domains, and that emancipated millions look upon the ensign of the Republic as the symbol of the fulfilled declaration that all men are created free and equal, and the guaranty of their own equality, under the law, with the most highly favored citizen of the land.

To the intelligence and conscience of all who desire good government, good will, good money and universal prosperity, the Republican party, not unmindful of the imperfection and short-comings of human organizations, yet with the honest purpose of its masses promptly to retrieve all errors and to summarily punish all offenders against the laws of the country, confidently submits its claims for the continued support of the American people.

Respectfully,

William A. Wheeler.

Call for the Convention.

The National Democratic Committee, to whom is delegated the power of fixing the time and place of holding the National Democratic Convention of 1876, have appointed Tuesday, the 27th day of June next, noon, as the time, and selected St. Louis as the place, of holding such Convention. Each State will be entitled to a representation equal to double the number of its Senators and Representatives in the Congress of the United States, and the Territory of Colorado, whose admission in July as a State will give it a vote in the next electoral college, is also invited to send delegates to the Convention. Democratic, Conservative and other citizens of the United States, irrespective of past political associations, desiring to cooperate with the Democratic party

in its present efforts and objects, are cordially invited to join in sending delegates to the National Convention. Cooperation is desired from all persons who would change an administration that has suffered the public credit to become and remain inferior to other and less-favored nations; has permitted commerce to be taken away by foreign powers; has stifled trade by unjust, unequal and pernicious legislation; has imposed unusual taxation and rendered it most troublesome; has changed growing prosperity to widespread suffering and want; has squandered the public moneys recklessly and defiantly, and shamefully used the power that should have been swift to punish crime, to protect it.

For these and other reasons the National Democratic party deem the public danger imminent, and earnestly desirous of securing to our