The daily Gate City. [volume] (Keokuk, Iowa) 1855-1916, 1864-01-23
THE GATE CITY.
KEOKUK:
SATURDAY, JANUARY Is.
KEOKUK:
Prom the Philadelphia Prcs-]
The DenocratRo Party /.

The Don0Ct0tk0 EoESys
The history Of the Democratic party is
the history of the Union. With brief in-
terruption, it has had control Of the Gov.
eminent for City years. numbering among
its leaders the first of our statesmen, and
embodying in its policy the .isdOm OF
the country. 1t was strong because IT
appealed to the people; they trusted 1t
because it was pledged to the Union, and
long after it had quietly passed into the
control of men opposed to the Union 1t
was believed to be the bulwark OF the
Republic. 1t neverowas easy to con-
vince Democrat that his party could be
anti-national Its Southern leaders made
cruel use of the loyalty Of it's Northern
members, continually assuring them that
compromise with slavery was essential to
the Union. Who can measure the devo-
ton of the masses of The Democracy to
the idea of Union? 1t was devotion car
red to an extreme which was idolatry; it
stopped at nothing. First, the Democrats
of the North sacrificed their accepted
even the hateful fugitive-slave law
Why? Not because they hated slavery
the lees, but because they loved the Union.
Many partisan of the South 10 the free
States writhed under the disgrace of that
law, but submitted in the fond belief that
it was essential to the peace Of the Union.
Thus. the sacrifice proceeded the slave
holders begging and bullying the free
man giving aims to the supplicant, and
yielding to the tyrant. Thus gradually
the aims of the party were distorted, its
principles destroyed, its character de-
based. Every year it ceased to be less
for the Union, and became more for Sec
ton, until at last it retained nothing of
Democracy but the hollow name. Then
came the revolution.
It was a revolution Of patriotism. 1t
was the triumph of Northern independ-
ence. AT once the STAKEHOLDER took off
the mask OF loyalty, and revealed the face
of the traitor. Where then stood the
masses of Democracy? In the Republi.
can ranks. Almost as many Democrats
voted for Mr.. Lincoln as Republicans !;
and after his election, after the rebellion,
the best part Of the Democracy, in the
noblest spirit, fully sustained his admin
istration. Even OF those vino voted for
Mr.. Breckenridge were many who wisely
and loyalty abandoned the name of the
party. and chung to it's principles. If
there is any Democrat who regrets that
his party is no longer powerful and res
pected, let him blame its Southern mas
tiers let him blame the men who treated
it as they did their slaves The party
was weakened by slavery, and finally
broken up by traitors.
But no, one Of its services is forgotten.
and not one of its principles is extinct.
Its spirit has passed into another form.
All the good of the Democratic party is
now built up firmly and irremovably in
the National Union platform. All its
best men are sustaining the present Ad-
miuistration. The loyal Democrats who
are prominently before the country as
friends Of the Administration are SO many
that we shall not even attempt to name
them. They are in the Cabinet, in the
Senate, in the House Of Representatives !;
they are Generals in the army; they are
Governors of States More than this,
they are endorsed and followed By the
most liberal and intelligent of the Demo.
cratic voters-the merchants, mechanics,
farmers and soldiers-whose influence is
felt, though their names are unrecorded.
The men who s,ll cling to dead branch,
and wait for miracle to make it bios
som, abuse these loyal Democrats as apos-
tates. Apostates To what are they
false Not to the teachings of Jefferson,
not TO the example of Jackson, not to
Democratic devotion to the Union. IF
they are false to the Democracy of Jeffer-
son Davis, Breckenridge, and VaIlandig.
ham, they have made apostacy honorable;
were they true to such leaders they would
show that even fidelity can be a crime.
The Administration, in recognizing the
worth and acknowledging the rights of
loyal Democrats. has doubIy earned the
trust of all parties, and its example should
be followed by all its friends. Il is sig
nhcant of a nobler policy than America
has known for generations, that none but
Union men are known to the present
Government. 1t has never admitted the
claim of any man who appealed to it as a
Republican or as Democrat, but has
tried all BY the superior test of loyalty.
1t has united the loyalty of all parties,
and repealed factions o. every origin
That it has only received enmitv and
abuse from the organization now calling
itself Democratic is immaterial, for the
true Democracy is with it, and will re-
main with it to the end.