BUFFALO N.Y., October 7, 1882.

DEAR SIR: I beg to acknowledge the receipt of your letter informing me of my nomination for Governor by the Democratic State Convention, lately held at the city of Syracuse.

I accept the nomination thus tendered to me, and trust that, while I am gratefully sensible of the honor conferred, I am also properly impressed with the responsibilities which it invites. The platform of principles adopted by the convention meets with my hearty approval. The doctrines therein enunciated are so distinctly and explicitly stated that their amplification seems scarcely necessary. If elected to the office for which I have been nominated, I shall endeavor to impress them upon my administration and make them the policy of the State.

Our citizens for the most part attach themselves to one or the other of the great political parties; and, under ordinary circumstances, they support the nominees of the party to which they profess fealty.

It is quite apparent that under such circumstances the primary election or caucus should be surrounded by such safeguards as will secure absolutely free and uncontrolled action.

Here the people themselves are supposed to speak; here they put their hands to the machinery of government, and in this place should be found the manifestations of the popular will.

When by fraud, intimidation, or any other questionable practice the voice of the people is here smothered, a direct blow is aimed at a most precious right, and one which the law should be swift to protect.

If the primary election is uncontaminated and fairly conducted, those there chosen to represent the people will go forth with the impress of the people's will upon them, and the benefits and purposes of a truly representative government will be attained.

Public officers are the servants and agents of the people to execute laws which the people have made, and within the limits of a constitution which they have established.

Hence the interference of officials of any degree, and whether State or Federal, for the purpose of thwarting or controlling the popular wish, should not be tolerated.

Subordinates in public place should be selected and retained for their efficiency, and not because they may be used to accomplish partisan ends. The people have a right to demand, here, as in cases of private employment, that their money be paid to those who will render the best service in return, and that the appointment to, and tenure of, such places should depend upon ability and merit. If the clerks and assistants in public departments were paid the same compensation and required to do the same amount of work as those employed in prudently conducted private establishments, the anxiety to hold these public places would be much diminished, and, it seems to me, the cause of civil service reform materially aided.

The system of levying assessments, for partisan purposes, on those holding office or place, cannot be too strongly condemned. Through the thin disguise of voluntary contributions, this is seen to be naked extortion, reducing the compensation which should be honestly earned and swelling a fund used to debauch the people and defeat the popular will.

I am unalterably opposed to the interference by the Legislature with the government of municipalities. I believe in the intelligence of the people when left to an honest freedom in their choice, and that when the citizens of any section of the State have determined upon the details of a local government, they should be left in the undisturbed enjoyment of the same. The doctrine of home rule, as I understand it, lies at the foundation of republican institutions, and cannot be too strongly insisted upon.

Corporations are created by the law for certain defined purposes, and are restricted in their operations by specific limitations. Acting within their legitimate sphere they should be protected; but when by combination, or by the exercise of unwarranted power, they oppress the people, the same authority which created should restrain them and protect the rights of the citizen. The law lately passed for the purpose of adjusting the relations between the people and corporations should be executed in good faith, with an honest design to effectuate its objects and with a due regard for the interests involved.

The laboring classes constitute the main part of our population. They should be protected in their efforts peaceably to assert their rights when endangered by aggregated capital, and all statutes on this subject should recognize the care of the State for honest toil, and be framed with a view of, improving the condition of the workingman.

We have so lately had a demonstration of the value of our citizen soldiery in time of peril, that it seem to me no argument is necessary to prove that it should be maintained in a state of efficiency,. so that its usefulness shall not be impaired.

Certain amendments to the constitution of our State, involving the management of our canals, are to be passed upon at the coming election. This subject affects divers interests, and, of course, gives rise to opposite opinions. It is in the hands of the sovereign people for final settlement; and as the question is thus removed from State legislation, any statement of my opinion in regard to it, at this time, would, I think, be out of place. I am confident that the people will intelligently examine the merits of the subject, and determine where the preponderance of interest lies.

The expenditure of money to influence the action of the people at the polls, or to secure legislation, is calculated to excite the gravest concern. When this pernicious agency is successfully employed, a representative form of government becomes a sham, and laws passed under its baleful influence cease to protect, but are made the means by which the rights of the people are sacrificed and the public treasury despoiled. It is useless and foolish to shut our eyes to the fact that this evil exists among us, and the party which leads in an honest effort to return to better and purer methods will receive the confidence of our citizens and secure their support. It is willful blindness not to see that the people care but little for party obligations when they are invoked, to countenance and sustain fraudulent and corrupt practices. And it is well, for our country and for the purification of politics, that the people, at times fully roused to danger, remind their leaders that party methods should be something more than a means used to answer the purposes of those who profit by political occupation.

The importance of wise statesmanship in the management of public affairs cannot, I think, be overestimated. I am convinced, however, that the perplexities and the mystery often surrounding the administration of State concerns grow, in a great measure, out of an attempt to serve partisan ends rather than the welfare of the citizen.

We may, I think, reduce to quite simple elements the duty which public servants owe, by constantly bearing in mind that they are put in place to protect the rights of the people, to answer their needs as they arise, and to expend, for their benefit, the money drawn from them by taxation.

I am profoundly conscious that the management of the divers interests of a great State is not an easy matter, but I believe, if undertaken in the proper spirit, all its real difficulties will yield to watchfulness and care.

Yours respectfully,
GROVER CLEVELAND