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160 directed by our first Constitution to meet here and select Senators for the State. The present occasion that epoch of just a Century and a year ago, when arms yielded to the law; when the rule of the soldier was superseded by the rule of the Statesman; when George Washington sheathed his sword and surrendered his Commission to the Continental Congress in this chamber resigning the power of Commander in-chief of the Armies of America to become a private Citizen of Virginia. Then the Arts of peace succeeded the rough ways of War; then the rule of reason followed the rule of force. Now the people of Maryland have appointed us to vote for Grover Cleveland, of New York, for President of the United States and Thomas A. Hendricks of Indiana as Vice President. In conjunction with electors appointed by twenty states we will this day elect them to these high Offices. It seems to me that this selection of these two Citizens is second only in importance and significance to the surrender of his Commission by Washington in 1783. For twenty four years the government of the Union had been founded on force and not on the will of the people. During all that time it has been administered by a party by right of conquest, and not by right of consent. During all that time one section has claimed to be master, and the other section has been treated as unworthy of trust. During all that time one party has insisted that it alone was patriotic, and has ostracised the other party as destitute of civic virtue. he election held here today and throughout the United States, is the repudiation of those false ideas and false claims. It is an assertion by all the people of all the States of the equal rights of States, of Citizens and of parties, and of the right of the people to change the party in administration and replace it with its opponents. It is a declaration by all the people of the equal patriotism and equal virtue of all the States, and that hereafter there shall be no disfranchisement of Sections, of races, nor of opinions. The election of Cleveland and Hendricks means all this and more. It means that there shall be a reform in methods and a restoration of the principles of the Constitution in all the departments of the government. It means that the corruptions that have grown out of civil broil and been fostered by irresponsible administration shall be utterly and entirely eradicated. That the government shall be controlled by the whole people and not by the party of a Section, and that parties shall be directed for the common weal and not for private gain, and that they shall be administered by the public will and not by corrupt managers and manipulators for their own ends. That the ballot box shall be preserved pure and inviolable, and its decisions be respected and enforced whether the majority be one million or one. This election, as I appreciate it, also means and is intended to declare that there is such a thing as a public conscience, which, though long dormant, is now vigorous and active, and |
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Proceedings of the Electors of President and Vice-President of the United States in Maryland, 1789-1980
| Volume 208, Page 186 View pdf image (33K) |
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