The daily Gate City. [volume] (Keokuk, Iowa) 1855-1916, 1856-04-16
Kepublicanislna and ssDemocracy.s
From the Boston Atlas

Republicanisn and 'sDemocracy."
/ From the Boston Atlas
There are those who suppose that the Re-
publican party can be extinguished by
coarse and opprobrious nickname. There
are those who believe, Cor profess to beieve,)
that rs 1T is necessarily dangerous in its char
acter, the good sense of the public will prove
fatal to its perpetuity. There are those who
despse and would crush it, not because they
believe it to be bad, but simply because they
believe it to be good. There are those who
have lived without reflection, and are still
incapable of the exertion which it implies,
who persist in thinking that the Republican
party was originated without cause, and
merely by accident, and who expect dav by
day to see it dissolve like the fabric of a
vision. There are those who live only in
the present. The past teaches them no les
son, and they kindly leave the care of the
future to Divine Providence. With men like
these II is perhaps useless TO reason. Sue
! cess, immediate, brilliant, and lucrative. is
| the only standard by which they Judge any
movement. They will continue TO sheer. to
libel, TO nickname, and to SANDER the Re-
! publican party, until it has become estab-
llshed In the State. With every victory,
their respect for it will marvellousIy increase;
and when it has Gas it will have,) at its dis
posal the power and the patronage of the
government, we care not to count how many
of these who now profess to despise it will
be found calling upon the immortal gods TO
witness that they have been for it from the
beginning, have always sustained its princi-
pies, and have always predicted its success
The election of Mr.. Banks staggered these
gentlemen immensely the election of, a Re-
publican President would make them the sub
lects OF a conversion swifter than that of the
Apostle Paul.
That the Republican party will make itself
felt, and powerfully felt, in the approaching
PRESIDENTIAL election, no one, qualified TO
Judge OF political affairs, will be likely to
deny. Putting the slave States out of the
question, 1t is already quite strong as ever
the wing party was In Its palmlest days. 1t
controls great States by great maiorities its
power in the House of Representatives is
now beyond dispute; and, more than all, it
has hold upon the affections of the people
which time and circumstance cannot weaken.
IL is now the only party really alive in the
United States. The Democracy are its only
antagonists. They, indeed, seem to live, and
10 move, and to have being. Yet nobody
out Of their own ranks can fail TO see that
they are nothing but embodied tradition
cratic party will meyer rally after the next
| election. Certainly it ought not to. 1t is
acting under false name; it is doing bust
ness upon false pretences; ii is the veriest
cheat and deusion In the world. Its heart
is IN the past. 1t can do nothing but appeal
to precedent and patter phrases, which meant
something when they were first uttered.
more bigoted, stupidity conservative, bitterly
aristocratic party never existed. 1t used to
talk of freedom of thought and action, OF
the progress of humanity, of the rights Of
the people. Now, it chatters only of the
power OF the government, the sacredness of
enacted wrong, of the danger Of doing right
Beaten by the people, it retreats to the SEN
ate, the most aristocratic body in the coun-
try. Voted down by Congress, it relies up
J on Presidential vetoes. Fearful Of the
slightest expression of popular feeling, it is
always ready to appeal to the military power
Of the State. Afraid of free speech, it finds
high treason IN the bold and manly avowal
OF opinion. In short, it is intoerant perse-
, cutting and tyrannous. 1t is behind the time
, by half II century, and is doomed to death
by laws, the operation Of which can BY no
possibility be avoided. The institutions of
lthe United States were framed to limit the
2 existence of just such parties, and until
those institutions are radically changed, no
party essentially aristocratic can hope for
prosperity, or even for life.
Yet it follows, just as certainly, that there
must be in the United States party, in the
, highest sense Of the word, democratic
party which shall see clearly that the great
) objects of good government are the
protection Of the weak against the strong,
! the mitigation OF human suffering, the de-
{ velopment of all the resources of our ma
tnHtn uttn nf x,al.t I'D -.
encouragement of industry and enterprise.
: and the defence Of that generous and intel
lgent policy which alone can prevent the
wonderful chances of this century and of
= TINS country from being worse than wasted.
/ we must have party which shall appreciate
ana care Tor all the interests of the country
Tor the commerce which whitens every sea,
. for the agriculture which makes green eyery
hill and valley, for the manufactures which
> build up great cities, feed large populations,
and add every hour to the wealth of the ma.
ton. We must have party which acknowl-
edges man as man, under whatever oppres-
sion ne may be suffering, however lowly may
be his lot. We must have live party, not
r welded to the lies and legends Of the past,
put working well IN the present, and hope
ful OF the future. We must have party
J worthy OF this intelligent and powerful peo-
! pie.
Such a political organization is . necessi-
ty OF the times, and it will come just as sure
ly ms the sunrise. We do not know by what
name 1t will be called, but we think we discern
IN the Republican party its germ, destined
to be developed, and expanded far beyond
the calculations of short sighted spectators.
That party has made beginning of which
1t need not be ashamed. 1t has not been
AFRAID to grapple with the great practical
question OF the day, and to range itself on
the side OF right and liberty. This indicates
thought and conscience and the presence of