The Portland daily press., 1866-02-01

III Vic ACd1b VI CfCly toyt@A AASA'
Madison and their contemporaries constitute
bright galaxy in the past, while in later days
such men as Andrew Jackson, Silas Wright,
Thomas n. Benton, and their compeers shed
radiance upon the natiodal pathway of no
ordinary character. And even in the ODE
cline" of this great power In the nation.
there were not wanting men true as steel
whose Democracy meant principle, and with
whom all other rights were but the subordi.
mates of Human Rights, and who, when re-
bsIlion lifted ifs bloody hand were found on
the side of their country, true to the last. and
unyielding to the seductions of ambition.
Among these were the Stantons, the Holts,
the lDixes, the Grants, and those true men
who have stood like wall of fire to stay the
mad, suicidal and treacherous attempts Of
their old party friends to subvert the Govern
ment of their country. ''-
But these men to-day receive the hatred of
the Democratic party. To the Democratic
leaders of to-day who are the worst men in
the landa Ask Democratic editor who are
the most dangerous men; ask one of these
who are the men that for five years have been
the worst foes to the country's good, and will
they name JEFF. Davis, Robert E. Lee, and
men of that stamp? Not one of them Will
they think of such men as Pike, who invoked
the tomahawk to be buried in Yankee brains
Forrest, the wretch who was guilty of the
Fort Pillow massacre, Wirz, who starved, the
Ardersonville prisoners, Winder, who was
guilty pfthe atrocities at Libby and Belle Isle
Not any of these. They will not even think
OF the wretches who swung for completely in
the assassination of the martyr President, or
of John Wilkes Booth who was simply the
hand OF the rebel Confederacy in giving direc-
ton to the fatal bullet. 80 - r, go s.,l -
Who will they think Of then, and call by
name? To them the scorst men are such as
Stanton, Halleck, Butler, Chase, Sumner.
Wilson, and others in the councils of the ma
ton or late in the field, who have borne the
brunt of the conflict through which we have
passed, and TO whom the nation is indebted
for the proud privilege it has to-day of stand
ing at all, and of standing beneath the folds of
its old but unsullied flag. a 3- s+'17 !
The men against whom they seek to invoke
popular indignation are those who have ne ..
tagged during our long struggle, while - r
whom they are seeking to please apS .nose
affiliations they are laboring to SCI ! whose
men whose hands have been cure, are the
deep in the best blood of ',a plunged elbow
in the lfe-current Off The nations heart
youthful. lie gallant, the brave, the
Rnfn of
y;afew. lpostacy of the Democratic par
this words about that. To appreciate
CO. fact which all candid, intelligent men
Il see as plainly as they can see the sun al
midday-it is necessary to look back to the
former position and attitude occupied by this
party, or the party of which the present Dem
ocratic claims to be the legitimate successor
and continuation. Formerly this party wa
the party Of the people. 1t opposed monopo-
lies and aristocracies. 1t claimed to be the
friend of the poor and the oppressed. 1t de
manded the largest extension of suffrage, and
kicked hard against the naturalization laws be,
cause they barred out the immigrants SO long
from the rights of citizenship. 1t demanded
universal education, favoring free schools, and
insisting that the child of the poorest laborel
was equally entitled with the child of the mil
nonaire to the benefits of our common schools
1t was aggressive, laying the axe at the root o
old evils no matter how hoary and moss
grown, ard striking ont into new and untrot
paths provided in them could be seen the bles
sings of progress. Such ,oas Democracy. L
was opposed to all distinctions based on wealth
race or color. 1t was anti-slavery, and it
great founder, in view of the institution o
slavery in this country, trembled when he re
fected that God is just. - 4oe ss.fafHi'
How do we find the Democracy of to-day
How has it been for the last dozen or NOR,
years? Has it not been ruled by men-stealer
and dealers in and owners of human cattle
In 1880 was it not claimed in the Charleston
Convention by the South and conceded b.
the North, that the only reliable Democrats
States were the fifteen slaue states? Didn'
the Southern states all go against Douglas Il
convention and at the polls, on the simpl
ground that they demanded that the power o
the Federal Government should be used t.
force slavery into territories then free agains
the voice of the people of such territories P
was endorsed by the people in the election o.
Abraham Lincoln, did not the reliable Dem
ocratic States" in body, raise the standard
of revolt, and for four long years seek through
blood and carnage to break down the govern
ment which had been set up at so much cost
And in this bloody work of treason did no
the leaders of the Democratic party in thu
North, and their conventions with scarcely al
exception, show all their sympathy for the rebe
cause, and against the Government which wa
trembling in the balance in its efforts to saw
its own lille? w
And now that the war is over, how do W
find this party as represented by its leader
and organs? Is its influence in favor of tn
poor and friendless? Does it seek to confirm
liberty to all men? Does 1t labor to eXten,
suffrage to the widest limits compatible witt
public safety? Does it look with kindness up
on the laborer and contend that the employ
and employer are politically the equals an
peers of each other? Does IL respect the fla
of the people and look with suspicion upo
any art designed to thwart their purposes an
will?- Does it rejoice that the idea of on
class of men having no rights which anothe
class is bound to respect, has become obsolete
and that all men, untainted by crime and un
smitten by imbecility, are equally free befor
the law? a..5 ..5 lll# Aee-laa -aisd
We need not answer these questions. TIL
true answers are patent to the smallest com
prehension. To-day we find the whole fore
of the Democratic party arrayed in oppositso,
to progress; in opposition to the rights de
clared by Thomas Jefferson to be inalienable
We find it armed and equipped, watching a
the head and foot and on all sides Of the gray
of human slavery, bent on the single purpos
of preventing the negro from rising. The
insist he is not equal to the white man, an