Preble County Democrat. [volume] (Eaton, Ohio) 1857-1859, 1857-07-16
A TlMELY ARTICLE.

We commend the following article
from the S~teubenville Union to the calm
consideration of our readers. The signs
of the Times are not to be mistaken
The Black Republican press is busily
engaged in the most Ubiquitous schemes
of clearing the present administration
of our State government from the re-
sponsibility of the recent frauds in our
finances. It seeks to throw the whole
odium upon the Democratic party adop-
ting the most adroit means of screening
their own black republican friends from
the public indignation. But when such
searching Investigations as the one be-
low rip up their Vaccinations, they are
not likely to delude the people although
they may succeed in deceiving them
selves;
Is THE BLACK REPUBLICAN ADMIN
IsTRATIoN A FAILURE? The strongest
efforts are now being made by the re-
publican press of this State to shift the
responsibility of the late enormous de-
falcation upon the shoulders of Mr..
Breslin, and thus place the Democratic
party upon the defensive. Unfortunate
ly for them, however, their design in
this matter is too obvious to deceive any
one. 1t is the present black republican
Administration that stands a~rraigned at
the bar of public opinion for condem-
nation or acquittal, as the facts shall
warrant. Has the administration of
Salmon p. Chase been a failure or not ?
Has the cry of "Retrenchment and Re-
form,"-with which the republican par
ty entered upon the late campaign been
used but to gull the unsuspecting into
a support of their men and measures ?
to deplete the public treasury, and fill
the pockets of demagogues from the hard
earnings of the laboring man? Has
the republican party been guilty of be,
traying the confidence of the people by
a wilful misrepresentation of facts, by
dishonest protestations and promises,
barren of all practical and beneficial re-
suits? These are the questions which
are to be decided to-day by the delibe-
rate judgment of the masses of the peo-
pie. If guilty let the condemnation of
that party be sealed at the ensuing cleo
ton; if innocent let them be acquitted.
This trial is one that involves conside-
~rations of the utmost Importance to the
permanent prosperity of the great State
of Ohio. Let all partizan feeling and
prejudice be cast aside. With cool, de-
liberate judgments, and honest purpo-
ses let the task be undertaken; and let
them decide from the record.
The principal planks, in the rcpubli-
can platform of 1855, it will be remem
bered, were anti Nebraska, and retrench-
ment in the State expenditures. Upon
the platform Gov. Chase, VIM. Gibson
and the ''fearless and bold" Tom Ford,
stumped the State, side by side, d~enoun-
cling the Democratic State officers as a
band of "thieUes and im6eciIes," and ask
ing the people to place the government
into their care, that abuses might be
corrected, dishonesty rebuked, and eve
rything involving the interests of the
State be watched over with sleepless
fidelity and vigilancel 1t was granted,
and a black republican Legislature was
sent to the capital to aid them in their
Reforms. I1oo hundred and eight NOR
tai days were consumed by that sage bo-
dy, in their deliberations, and thous-
ands of dollars of the peoples hard ear
ming expended. What did they accom-
We might search the record in
vain for a single measure that has the
most remote bearing in favor of restoring
peace in Kansas. All its acts were of
a most in1ammatory character, and their
"anti-Nebraska" promises proved to be
q miserable humbug.
But Retrenchment and Reform"
what did they accomplish in this? The
party had increased the pay
its members to four dollars a day,
and were loudly denounced in conse-
q~uence. But the Black Republican
Legislature sat for two hundred and eight
days and never made an effort to reduce
it! 1t is true they paid off thirty dol
lars of the State debt; deprived the chH-
of Ohio of one great means of i'm
provement by aoithholdiny the annual
appropriations for the Common School
Libraries; but what else have they ac-
complished? Positively nothing
They have not reduced the taxes of the
one iota-but on the contrary at
the close of the administration of this
''Retrenchment and Reform" party, we
find the burthen of our taxes increased,
and the State Treasury actually robbed
ohaF a million Of dollars by GIBSON
and his confedcrates!
Such is the brief review of what has
been accomplished by the Black Re
publican Administration during the past
two years. For its correctness we ap-
peal TO the record. And now, with such
antecedents as these this same Repub-
lican party, with its platform narrowed
down to a reasonable opposition to a
legal decision of the highest judicial
tribunal in the land, presents itself be-
fore the people, asking to be installed
n power once more!
We have faith in the virtue of the
of the people; and we believe
that their decision in this matter, fairly
given, will, at the coming election for
ever consign this party to its political
grave.
R My son." said an i~ndulgent