Daily Democrat and news. [volume] (Davenport, Iowa) 1859-1864, 1859-12-17
TRYING to Turn the Tables.

The Republican press, in every Sec
ton OF the North, is making strenuous
effort to relieve the party it represents,
from the odium of being foremost in the
slavery agitation, the consequences OF
which are now SO glaringly exhibited
before the whole country. At this time,
when that party bcholds the reaction
which is about to sweep it from exist
encc-whcn it is on the eve of reaping
the whirlwind, springlng from the wind
it has sown, its organs, by simultane-
Gus effort, attempt to fix their crimes
upon the Democratic party. BW this is
only an additional proof, that desperate
cases require desperate remedies.
Let any candid man cast a retrospect
upon the brief history Of the modern Re-
publican party, and then tell US, if sla-
very agitation is not its very life, the au
thor of it's very existence The Repub-
lican platform of 1856 recognized no ma
terial issue other than the slavery ques
ton. The leader, WIN. III. SEWARD,
distinctly admitted that his party was a
party of one idea, and that it owed its
strength to that fact. But to bring
things nearer home, and to convict the
Abolition organ in this city of the charge
made, that it too is endeay oring to falsi-
fly the record, when it attempts to relieve
its party from the responsibility of the
slavery agitation, we need only recur to
the late Gubernatorial campaign in this
State. During the entire canvass, Cen
DODGE took the ground that the qucs-
ton of slavery had nothing to do with
the issues before the people. Mr.. KIRK
WOOD, on the contrary, proclaimed that
the slavery question was the all absorbing
one, and its importance demanded the
particular attention of the voters of
Iowa. Mr.. RUscn, the Republican can
didatc for Lieutenant Governor, said that
he did not wish to speak on any OTHER
subject than the slavery question:. Yet
in the very face of these stubborn facts,
the Abolition-Republican press has the
unblushing eiirontery to point to the
Democratic party as the party which has
encouraged the agitation of the slavery
question. Who can deny with truth
that the Republican party has been and
is thoroughly abolitionized? Did that
party dare, or even dare it now, take
Mr.. Corwin's position in reference to the
Fugitive Slave Law, by declaring it to
be Constitutional, and that it should be
faithfully executed (! No! it dare not.
II it were to do SO, and thereby purge
itself OF abolitionism, it would remain
nothing more than the mere skeleton Of a
party.
But the anxiety manifested by tho
Abolition-Republican journals, and
among them the Davenport Gazette, to
secure temporary cessation of active
warfare on the slavery question, is the
fact that Its prominent men, having
gained position through the instrument
tally of the slavery agitation, and the
tide, now turning, threatening to sweep
them back to the place of beginning,
they cry out, "enough Of this agitation"
This mongrel party is quivering in its
boots, lest all its boasted triumphs may
turn into so many ignominious defeats.
The Democratic members Of Congress
are holding their abolition opponents up
to the rack, and the squirming, quib-
bling and mendacity of those who were
fearless in speaking abolitionism from
the stump, are terrible to behold
There its leaders stand, a spectacle to
the world OF the pitiful shifts to which
Boosting party can be driveu,in attempt
ing to gain or to hold on to power. They
present candidate for the speakersbip,
who is forced to evade the od;um of
having endorsed Helpers infamou.
book, by alledging that LIE was not aware
Of its contents, and "went it blind.n-
Some Of these leaders, when interroga-