Delaware State reporter., 1856-08-15

For the Delaware State Reporter.
=" PIadging.n

NiEssRS. EDITORS 81 want to write a few
plain words to tho Democracy of Delaware,
andI want you to publish them. am aplain-
spoken Democrat always have been and nv
ideas of true Democratic principles are such,
that / cannot permit the article, which appear
ed in your last paper, to pass without additional
Fconnment to what you so welllgaye it., Y S's
Our system OF government is reprcsentive.
The people being the sovereign power, it is
their will which administers the government,
This is most effectualy and completely accom-
pished by the selection of men to Offices,
whose expressed and known sentiments on
governmental policy the nearest conform to the
will of the people.
The will Of the majority, when expressed by
deliberate and well-matured public opinion, is
and should be the rule of action, governing all
officers in the administration Of public affairs!
The people-the sovereign power-have the
right to be well and fully informed in advance
OF the election, of the sentiments of all political
parties, claiming the exercise of their free suf-
frage-thcir right Of sovereignty-on all ques-
tons of public policy.
The resolutions of parties are but the aggre-
gate expression of individual sentiments.
The least government, consistent with the
actual requirements of society, and the largest
grant of liberty to the personal rights of its
members, that individual responsibility may be
encouraged, cultivated and, as far as possible,
pertected-is the design of Republican form
of government, and is a principle of party faith
acknowledged to exist at the very foundation of
the Democratic party.
10 these principles, in part, propose to sub
NIT the remarks of . A Democrat"
The system Of individual pledges of candi-
dates on matters not embraced i'll their plat
form of party faith is fatal to just expression
of public opinion and therefore wrong. For it
exposes candidate to the infirmity Of making
pledges on both sides of a question, or it allows
him TO obtain the support of persons who may
be ignorant Of his having pledged himself con-
trary to their sentiments. The existence of the
Prohibitory Liquor Law in Delaware, is owing,
to the fact that three or more members Of the
last Legislature, Cullen, Woodal and Spruancc
yielded to the infnnity of making double
pledges, and thereby were elected by the votes
Of both friends and foes of prohibition.
The writer of the article alluded to has a
notion Of morals which cannot endorse, when
he says that a pledge (mcaning both indiyid-
ual and party pledges) if made, should not he
kept, unless it. should appear thereafter that it
was made in accordance with justice and the
right of the matter at issue" say, and all
honesty will endorse me, that pledge, if made,
should be kept, unless it should appear there
after that it was given wrongfully, or in the
wrong of the matter at issue: and in the event
of its appearing so TO the mind of the legislator,
rather than Uio}Ue his pledge, he should resign,
and if he should become convinced that his
constituency desire the matter at issue should
so contrary to the way he is pledged, he should
either not vote at all, or he should resign. This
is the principle which has invariably been acted
upon by the Democratic members of the.E. S.
Senate, especially IN the case of the Compro-
mise Measures in 1850 when the Legislatures
of several States instructed their Senators to
vote against those measures. | instance the
case of General Cass, not four years ago.
On this subject, the first suppoSition of GA
Democrat is an impossible hypothesis. The
idea of any candidate being elected ON an un-
conditional pledge" to repeal the Pruhihitory
Law, and the voters turning right around and
voting for prohibition by .two-thirds vote !
Admitting, however,, such a wild supposion,
| that other Issues should influence the electors
to disregard this unconditional pledge. and such
vote Should thereafter be given on the naked
ISSUE as A Democrat" supposcs, an honest
man, who aspires to the respect Of society, |
repeat, rather than violate lis pledge, should
resign. c7s
| Party resolutions are not pledges in the com
moneSt acceptation of the term. They are arti-
cles of party faith OH the political questions Of
the day, submitted to the investigation and the
scrutiny of public opinion. Respect for public
opinion demands this, and the political history
of the country has amply shown that the party
which screens its measures and its policy from
the public eye is always short-lyed and has but
an cphemeral existence The sovereignty of the
people becomes aroused and a crushing rebuke
is administered to the party which withholdS
its confidence from the public and its measures
FROM the daylight of public discussion. 1t is
the proud boast Of the Democratic party, (nnd
fervcntly hope it will always continue to be,
that it owes all the success of it's principles tC
its respect for well-matured public opinion.
cannot be made to believe that the Democratic
party is so distracted by issues, so beset by out
side factions, that it must pursue tame, TEN
PORTING policy, and frightened at its own
shadow, be afraid to hur the gauntlet to its
foes on all questions which are so thoroughly
anti Democratic as the one of prohibition.
Test this temporizing policy and contrast il
with the manly expression Of honest opinion
Take the State of Maine where this question
originated. Previous to the passage of thi,
law, Maine was a Democratic State. For years
thereafter the Democratic party, evidently afraid
to meet the issue, continued silent on the sub
ject, and the party was kept in lamentable
minority, until in June, last year, i adopted
strong anti Maine law resolutions, and the
State went Democratic. notwithstanding Tho
party there had Know Nothingism to contend
with, which swept all the rest of the Northern
States, and even run roughsh od over us III
Delaware. a
Party resolutions have this one good effect, il
will be conceded by every one. They prevent
all individual pledges, and are guarantee to
the public Of the after action of that party.
The gist of the article of "a Democrat" /
take it to be, is that the Democratic State Con-
vention should not pass a resolution opposed to
the Prohibitory Liquor Law of this State. |
say the Convention. should. give my reasons
mot threats nor ingenious parallels, which
/, have, in fact, no simitude to the question, such
as GA Democrat" strengthens his article with.
Is the question a political one? 1t is. 1t re-
lates to government. 1t involves the right Of
property. 1t infringes On the personal liberty
Of the citizen, and it affects the revenue. 1t Is
not matter in agitation, only but law in active
existence.
-,Isit political in party pariance? II is 1t
IS known OF all that there is an organized party
for the sustenanec ofsthe law, and one for its