Raftsman's journal. [volume] (Clearfield, Pa.) 1854-1948, 1865-11-22
What is to Become of the Democratic Party

Nothing can be more certain than that the
Democratic party did itself prodigious injury
by its conduct in the late war for the saving
OF the nation. Will that injury prove fatal
to 1t ? Has it constitution tough enough
to endure and to rally, or will it succomb
and be transmigrated into some new political
organization?
This question cannot, as yet, be positive
ly answered. The difficulty is that the vi
tally of the Democratic party is something
that has always baffied calculation. We on
ly know that 1t Is extraordinary it has
III time paSt~been prot against what ought
to have made an end of it a dozen times
over. 1t is with political parties as it is
with creatures of the animal ingdom-there
is an immense difference in their tenacity
upon life. One viii die from a scratch, and
another will manage to live though smashed
to Jelly. We can only say that the colder
blooded of them are generally the hardest
to kill
Again, there is mysterious law of adap-
tation, through which some natures, by a
gradually acquired familiarity. can come TO
bear what would once have caused immedi-
ate death. Mithridates, King of Pontus,
learned to feed on roisons. The English
writer De Quincy took eight thousand drops
OF laudanum in a dav We read lately of
lawyer who drank In single year thirty
two hundred bottles Of McMunn prepara-
ton 1t is not enough to know that every
vein Of the Democratic party is full of a
copperhead virus. the least taint of which
would destroy any other. We must make
an immense allowance for the cold, impas
sive nature Of the party, and for Its long
having been Injured to everything rank and
noxious, and after all we never can be sure
H.. NJ, Il Il
eral party, it is usually said. died of an an
ti-national spirit, specially wrought up by
the last war with England. That spirit has
been tenfold more active, in tenfold greater
| concentration, in the modern Democratic
| party during the war With The Rebellion {;
| but there Is no saying yet that 1t viii Kill IN
this case. Time only can tell
The problem would be greatly simplifed
could we know just what amount of the vir-
us is going to continue in ,he system of the
party We are without any certain index
of that. The Democrats of Maine, at their
late State Convention, in one OF their reso-
lutions characterized the late war as a
struggle for constitutional government, and
resolved TO cherish sacredly the memory
of their dead who had fallen, and honor the
living who have perilled life and fortune IN
the same great cause. The Democrats Of
Pennsylvania, at their State convention, on
the other, in their resolutions adyerted to
the struggle only as an affair oi slaughter,
debt. and disgrace The Democrats of Ken
tucky, in the late election in that State,
voted with greatest aacrity for the most no.
torious Rebel sympathizers; and if we may
believe the Louisville Journal would have
hailed with delight an opportunity to sup
port John G. Breckenridge himself. These
various manifestations make it quite impos-
! sibe to determine what the actual condition
of the party is, and what influence will get
| the control of it. At best, we can only cal
culate the probabilities
The great strait of the party now is for
new issues with the party in power, which
shall give it some little chance of popular
| favor 1t can revive none of the issues
made by the war, for these caused it a stun
ming defeat. Besides, they all belong to the
| past. Il would be sheer craziness now to
/ declare the war "a failure. 1t not much
| short of that to spend breath in denouncing
| the suspension OF habeas corpus, or the en-
actment of the conseription act, or the ennis
| sion OF legal tender. 1t did appear for a
| time to the Northen portion OF the party
! that something might be made by taking
| ground against the constitutional amend
ment abolishing slavery. But the South
| abandons slavery, and they are left In the
| H. i IL,
| not discovered this when they entered the
| late convass with running a muck against
! the amendment. But the Democrats OF
| New Jersey have always been a long way
behind the time. As long ago as General
Jackson 5 day they, took draught out OF
| Rip Van Wrinkles fiagon, and then slept
so long that their very dogs forgot them.
| They have never since got their eyes more
than half open unless the result of the elec-
ton on the 7th of November had tenden-
cy to increase their vision.
The party in the North generally has bet
ter perceptions. 1t can in some sort recog-
nize living necessity. But its natural dis
position. so far as that is concerned, remains
essentially unchanged. Were the South,
even at this day, to unite in resolution TO
hold on to slavery were it to assert that 1t
has the same right now to regulate its do
mestic institutions in its own way that Ii
had done before the war, it would be sus-
tained beyond all question, by the vast
majority of the so-called Democratic party
of the North; and as desperate an at
tempt would made to break down the anti
slavery policy of President johnson as was
I made to break down the anti-Rebellion poll
; cy of President Lincoln.
We NAV as well take it for granted thai
the Democratic party in the North will seek,
as of old, to strengthen itself by adopting
Southern principles and policies. Not only
old habits irhpel it to this, but the palpable
fact that it is too weak to stand alone. Bn'
what are Southern principles and poll
cies? What viii they be? There's the
rub. At present there seems to be gener
al disposition in the South to accept tho
principles and policies set forth by PFela 81.
dent johnson. The consciousness OF the
| C.lo,, CtataS tbat tbay have haeD com