Muscatine weekly journal. [volume] (Muscatine, Iowa) 185?-1890, 1862-05-23

! Mr. EDIToR.-The editorial in this NOR
ing's JOURNAL, entitled "the Democra,
l. Party" is a curious production. Its wea
o points stick out so prominently that Cal
d not resist the temptation to reply, cspeciall,
9 as you solicit a little light on the subject yo
discuss.
5 "We should like to enquire" say you
g "what there is in the past history of the Den
t ocratic party that will make this free Mort
any the better for its re organzation?" Th
enquiry you answer in the same paragraph
You say that at the commencement of Frank
: lin Pierce's administration, ''as nation, w
) were then at the very summit of prosperity
The citizens of every State were bound tc
gether as one man, and the Star -Spangle
Banner hOated oyer rich, happy and pros
porous land, united by interest and affection
Even so. But was it not the Democrat
party, and that party alone, which had place,
our nation "at the very summit Of prosper
ity?" And do you not know that from tn
day Gifts birth to the present moment, tn
nation which was so erich, happy and pros
perous' when Pierce was inaugurated, ha
been full of contention, strife and rebellion
Your party was organized for the expires:
purpose of waging an unconstitutional war
the country, and it has persevere3 in thai
warfare until ambitious politicians in The
South, have pursuaded the masses of the peo
pie of the South into the belief and not with
out some cause, that the elevation of your
party to power, would be the signal fol
the destruction of their Constitutional
rights. 5srrea-f u-gefr 11suf
When the conservative men of the South
| - ,,s
ticans and save the country, importuned your
party to yield even an abstraction, they were
| answered with the shout, "no more conces-
| sions-no more compromise. DO you ask
"was it Republicanisn, or, if you please, Alb
olitlonism, that set the ball in motion?' Let
me answer in the language of the lamented
Douglas, whose praises your party never
cease to sing. ''ln the Committee Of thirteen,
few days ago, every member from the South
including those from the cotton States, Mess.
Toombs and Davis,) expressed their readiness
to accept the proposition from my venerable
liend from kentucky (Mr. Crittenden) as a
final settlement of the controversy, if intended
and sustained by the Republican members.
Hence the sole responsibility of our disagree
ment, and the only difficulty in the way of an
amcable adjustment is with the Republican
party ..-.
1t will be one of the missions of the Demo-
cratic party, when re-organized, to tell the
people who it was ''set the ball Ia motion" to
the tune of one thousand millions of dollars.
The invectives you heap upon the Demo
cratic party will intimidate no one. There
has been no time since the formation Of the
government when SO great necessity existed
for po. orful conservative party, based on
well known democratic principles, as now.--
The radicals in Congress and out of it are
doing all in their power to complete the, dem
clifton Of the government. They wage war
upon tAe Constitution because that instru-
ment is Democratic. They fight our Gen
erals who are fighting the battles of our
country because they are democrats. Sum-
ner, with his nulllfying doctrine of State sui
eide, Trumbull with his unconstitutional
universal contiscation act, Stevens with his
wholesale confscation bill, and score of
other lesser negro measures, all directed to-
wards forciug upon the country a permanent
dissolution of the Union, require the voice of
the democracy to stay their waves before
they overwhelm and engulph US in one COM
mon ruin.
At the extra session of Congress it was
unanimously resolved. "That this war is not
waged on our part in any sp:rlt of oppression,
nor for any purpose of conquest or subjuga-
ton, nor purpose of overthrowing or interfer
ing with the rights o. established institutions
of these States, but to defend and maintain
the SUPREMACY Of the constitution and to pre-
Serve the Union with all the dignity, equality
and rights of the several States unimpared;
and that as soon as these objects are accom-
plished the war ought to cease" The Re
publican party having abandoned these
wholesome declarations, it becomes the mis-
sion of the Democratic party to stand by, up
hold and religiously maintain them, assuring
the Unonists Of the South, those glorious
heroes struggling for their government, that
these sentiments shall be observed in letter
and spirit.
The sixth resolution of the Chicago plat
form declares, THAT the people justly view
with alarm the reckless extravaganza which
pervades every department of the Federal
government; that a return to rigid economy
and accountability is indispensable to arrest
the system of plunder of the public treasury
by favored partisans; while the present start
ling developments of fraud and corruption at
the Federal metropolis show that an entire
change of administration is imperatively de-
manded." Well the chat &c was made, and
your party was in power barely one year,
when Mr.. Dawes, Massachusetts, member
of Congress, declared in a speech in the
House, that " in the first year Of Republican
administration, which came into power upon
professions of retrenchment and reform,
there is indubitable evidence abroad in the
land that somebody has plundered the public
treasury, we'll nigh, in that single year, as
much as the entire current yearly erpenss of
the government during the administration
vAich the people hurled from poaoer because
of its corruption"
Now, Mr. Editor. if your party has stolen
a. much in one year as it cost the Demo-
cratic party to carry on the Government for
that length Of time, is there not need for the
re organization of that party, and greater need
still of the Government being placed under
its control?
1t would be presuming too much upon
your kindness to occupy more space in your
columns, though it would be an easy matter
to cover one side of your paper with good
and valid reasons why the Democratic party
should be re-organized and re-instated in
power. ButI desist, merely reminding you
that the old sterreotyped phrase that "all
| Democrats are secessionists" often used
in your columns--is pretty well "play ed
out" The Democratic party will be re-or
ganized the conservative element in the
country will be found rallying under its ban
| lner-secessionism and aboitionism will both
90 out of power, and the "Star-Spanged
Banner" will once again ''hoat over rich,
happy and prosperous land, united by inter
est and and affection" CO."
| May ID.
sG~The political campaign has opened il
| diana Il Sanator Rri uft Is readu for a VIC