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Franklin Repository: July 03, 1867 Go To Page : 1 | 2 |

The Ticket and the Platform
(Column 1)

Summary: The editors report that the Republican State Convention, held last Wednesday in Williamsport, was quite successful, and offer their support for Henry W. Williams, the party's nominee for the state supreme court. The editors, however, lament the convention's failure to address the need for constitutional reform in the party platform.

Full Text of Article:

We give elsewhere in this week's issue a full account of the proceedings in the Republican State Convention, held at Williamsport on last Wednesday. They appear to have been marked with unusual unanimity, and, so far as we are able to judge, are heartily approved by the entire party throughout the State. The candidate chosen is Hon. Henry W. Williams, at present Judge of the District Court of Allegheny county, which position he has filled for two consecutive terms with credit to himself and to the satisfaction of his district. We know nothing of him personally, but from the concurrent testimony of political friend and foe, we accept him as a candidate unexceptional in point of character, eminently qualified as a jurist for the high position, and positively reliable as a truly loyal and worthy gentleman. The Pittsburg Post, the leading Democratic journal of the West, says of him:--"The nomination of Hon. Henry W. Williams as a candidate for Judge of the Supreme Court is a good one. He was the best man named among the candidates before the Republican Convention, and possesses legal and moral qualifications for the responsible position to which he has been nominated." When a man of opposite political belief can extract such praise from such a journal, he must have positive virtues and qualities to recommend him, that vituperation and abuse could not well conceal from public view.

The platform, so far as it goes, faithfully reflects the views of the Republican party of Pennsylvania. We had earnestly hoped that the Convention would declare itself in favor of constitutional reform. We thought we saw a great necessity for such a declaration, and still believe that the good we aim is attainable only in this way. Such a declaration would have entirely relieved the party of the odium that was engendered by a faithless legislature, and which, without a positive disavowal and disapprovement, must operate to some extent against our success as a party. As it is, we have a dead weight to carry that might easily have been thrown aside and made a stumbling block for our opponents, they with characteristic political knavery having contented themselves with denouncing the sins of other men and cloaking their own. Then again we were anxious that the party should be brought up to the high level on which our friends in other States have planted their colors. We wanted a clear, distinct utterance from the convention on the subject of impartial suffrage. This was denied us, and we sincerely regret it. Still, however, there is enough in the platform to cheer and encourage the friends of freedom and loyalty everywhere. There is nothing equivocal or unmeaning in it. It requires no interpreter. It is plain, positive, direct and frank on every question that is named, and, will commend itself to every impartial mind. With the candidate and platform we are satisfied, and shall labor earnestly and zealously for their complete triumph, in the hope that their success will be the precursor of the ultimate adoption, of what we considered to be important, if not necessary, conditions in the present campaign. All hands to the ropes!