Clearfield Republican. [volume] (Clearfield, Pa.) 1851-1937, 1861-09-04
From the Luzcrno Union!
The Democratic Party and the Country.

|
Tho old issues that divided the Whig'
and the Democratic parties, as national
organizations, have presty much become
obsolete, and the whole tendency Of par
ties for years past has been towards radi-.
calsm, or erhaps we should say, uiirais0t,
upon sectional questions-every day mar"
rowing down the differences that formers
ly divided conservatism, till of late, those
who formerly differed most earnestly
have found themselves acting together
upon an entirely new political basis
| Four months ago found US in a new pos
ition, because it found Tie country launch
ed out upon the untried and untrodden
pathway Of civil war. The Democratic
party had long predicted that such would
be the result Of a persistence in slavery ag-
itation by the two sections of the country
had proclaimed it from the rostrum,
from the press, and in fact, through ev~
cry avenue 10y which it could reach the
public conscience, but its admoEitions
wele unheeded and the shock came at
last like thunderbolt. True. still to its
instincts, when the shock came. the
! Democratic party Of the north rallied to
the support of the government gov
crnment that ,0aS then and is now pros
scribiug Democrats for opinions sake
not that they loved the administration,
but because they loved their country and
! the Constitution.
/ Flushed with political success and in
| latuated with the idea of sectional subju,
CATION, the party Of the administration
would tolerate no difference of political
sentiment OF action. They inaugurated Il
reign Of terror and promulgated the su
premacy of mob law wherever the actions
Of the administration were questioned by
the press, by public meetings or by indi-
vidual opinion. A determination was
eyinced to accomplish by violence, If
necessary, what political action never had
accomplished, the destruction OF the Der.
ocratic Parry of this country. For II time
the timid faltered, but those whose con-
science told them that the Democratic
party was tight, and who haG the bO.dness
10 stand by their convictions still stood
firm, appealing with all the eloquerce of
patriotism and of national history to the
traditions and doctrines of their fathers
fo the rectitude of their purposes and the
correctness Of their doctrines.
Four months have rolled away and be.
hold what change. Democrats now
k,,ow thut they were right, as their history
has been right heretofore. Every step
mat mas been taken ny Tire Dt,,ts ~ Na-
tional Administration since this war COM
= menced has but revealed the incompetent
cy or criminal corruption of those who
have the deslinies # the country in
charge. Millions of dollars voted by Il
generous and loyal people for the support
"a. az
Gu Spectators and political robbers,
while the soldiers Of the Union, for whose
comfort and efficiency this money was vo.
ted, have been forced to subsist on bad
food and fight in rags. The merest polit-
cal hacks, who never saw militia mus
and had 10 idea OF service on the field,
have been made commanders Of tens ol
thousands of gallant men, over the head
of the tried generals Of the Republic, on
ly TO march them into The jaws OF des
, truction and leave them there, while they
, saved their worthless carcasses by timely
retreats and the superiority of fast horses
over human locomotion. Hundreds o
, millions squonde.ed, thousands Of gallant
| lives lost-widows ana orphans multiple
cd-commerce DESTROYED, industry para
8 lyzcd, laboring men 10y the thousands
" turned out Of employment and then
families starvng,every int OF the country
4 prostrated and the Union dismembered-
- such are the fruits of the last tour months
+ ofthe present non compromising civil wal
/ administration Of this government. AnC
then how dark and gloomy the future :
Who can prophecy or tell with certaint!
e where these things shall end?
q Such being the case, we ask in all pat
I riotic candor, i, not the country satisfied
- that there is =. necessity for the Demo
g cratic party? With all this accumulation
l. of disasters, is there not need for the con
5 servative counsels and administrative eN
= perience of that party that carried th'
i country trumphantly through the last
- war with Enghnd-the war with MeXicc
c and in fact through all the great trlou
II lations OF the government since its organ
izaIion until this present time Ih'
heart of eyely honest man tells him, yes
h TAe great conscience OF the country Ia
k respouLled to this sentiment like on
Il great throe of distress for the last thre
It weeks-that after all we have fors 'ke1
:. the gods Of our fathers, and plunged hea
II foremost from the rock Of our safely int
- the pillows Of discomfort and disaster. o.
5 How shall we recover? IS row the ques
, tion-the anxious question Of every patri
n otic citizen in the land. We answer onl
i 10y unceasing effort, and by the strictes
IS pre- ervation Of our Democratic organH1
Is iion and discipline; and now is the tim
to commence. The administration part
must be arrested in It's blind and reckles
re career this very fall. So far as State ad
i ministratons can be controlled it must b
Of done-legislatures must be elected with
N view-for instance in PennsylN ania-t
O. exposing the robbery and corruption an
'e Of bringing the guilty to punishment
Y, Every department Of government that ca
ID be reached must be filed with honest vi
fy swerving Democrats, and thus gradual
le we may acquire power to take the din
cultes Of the country into safer hands an
,o bring about an honorable and lastlr
~ peace-a peace that shall perpetuate IL
~ Union and re establish the governmen
" 1t may be too late, but it is worth the tri
u the people are with US. Democrats, o.