Republican National Conventions since the War of the Rebellion
have been embarrassed by another influence, which I hope will
disappear. In many of the Southern States the Democratic
Party consists almost entirely of whites who have possessed
themselves of the forces of government by criminal processes,
which have been a reproach not only to this country, but to
civilization itself. The Republicans, however numerous, and
although having a majority of lawful voters in most of these
States, have been excluded from political power. They have
however, of course, had their full proportionate representation
in the National Convention of the Republican Party. Their
delegates have too often been persons who had no hope for
political advancement in their own States, and without the
ambition to commend themselves to public favor by honorable
public service, of which that hope is the parent. They have
been, therefore, frequently either National office-holders
who may reasonably be supposed to be under the influence
of the existing Administration, or likely to be governed
by a hope of receiving a National office as a reward for
their action in the convention; or persons who can be influenced
in their actions by money.
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