The evening Argus. [volume] (Rock Island, Ill.) 1861-1871, 1866-11-13
Shall the Democratic Party Die or Live I

The present is crisis in the democratic
party which has no precedent in Its history,
rs i. is a crisis in the progress OF the country
which is also without precedent Never be-
fore has the democratic party encountered
events so seriously affecting its future vitali-
ty IS now. Not that it bsholds itself dimin
ished in the magnitude of it's NUMBERS
it is numerically stronger than it has ever
beon before,-but that, having been bsaten
on q great national issue, as to which 1t be-
lieyed itself TO be wholly right and the oppo-
sition wholly wrong, and still so believes, it
must nevertheless abandon that issue-for
the decision of it is fnai-and either sit
down in helpless and decaying inactivity, or
strike boldly out upon a new line, selected
with peculiar reference, not to things as we
would have them, but to things as they &C.
tually are, and in pursuing which line it
shall cease to be a hold back or ''eonserVA-
tive" party, and become, whas 1t was in its
palmy days, a progressive and an aggressive
paoty. These ere the altern ativee.
1t will not sit down In helpless and decay
ing inactivity. S &4 #gfs
What, then, shall the new line be? In
the first place, must we not cut loose from
the administration of Andrew Johnson, and
leave that hybrid concern to float on the sea
of public contempt into which it some time
since entered, and from, which no power can
TesCub II Is AOS iut idtb ueiehl StlflDukdDiS
more largely to this administration than TO
all othsr causes combined? What is there
in its composition to command popular conf
denee9 Who, belonging TO 1t. Is entitled by
reason of his an .ecsdenss or of his statesman
ship, to the confidence or the respect OF the
democratic party? Certainly it is not An
drew johnson, nor William H. Seward, nor
Edwin NJ. Stanton. True, this adninistra-
tion had right policy, and the democratic
party, in overlooking the chief men compris-
ing it, and thinking only of the rightfulnsss
OF tho policy, displayed a patriotism whose
purity was never exoelled; but the policy
having failed, and having failed, too, thro'
the fsebleness and folly and offences against
public propriety of the adminissration,-wh
should not the democratic party abandon the
dead body, longer adherence to which is
death also to itself?
What next? Can the democratic party
succeed until the negro question shall be got
ten out of the way? 1t cannot Whas next
Is not negro suffrage inevitable. and is not the
quickest way to get the negro question out Of
the way to at once concede the suffrage, max
ing issue only on the degree TO which it shall
be conceded? We know that many demo
Gratis have not reached this advanced view of
the case, and that such still feel greatly in
olined to revolt at the proposition Of negro suf-
frags in any degree but let tell them that
it is always wise to accept the inevitable when
the inevitable comes. Negro suffrage,we say,
is in svitable, and whether it shall be quail
fed or universal depends upon the prompt
ness or otherwise with which the democratic
party shall move with reference to il. The
south will speedily yield qualified negro suf-
frage upon the motion of the democratic par
ty; because, if for no other reason, she will
soon see, if she does not already see, that il
nhn r,oll - Oh Ill nk~I~r
compelled TO accept universal suffrage.
Qualified negro suffrage yielded by the
southland by this we mean IMPARTIAL sur
FRAGE, or suffrage dependent upon the intslli-
genoe Of the man. irrespective of color.
is nor the rule IN ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS NEGRO
QUESTION WILL HAVE BEEN DISPOSED OF, AND Tns
OCCUPATION OF THE NORTHERN REPUBLICAN RA pICAL
PARTY WILL BE GONE FOREVER. Not one inch of
ground will it have to stand upon and the coun-
try can once more turn to those material uaes-
tons Of public policy the right disposition of
which is so essential to the public prosperty.-
It will be upon these questions that the demo-
cratic party will triumph, and it viii be by this
triumph that constitutional government and our
federal system viii be preserved
If the south be wise, it viii not watt on this
suffrage question, even for the motion of the
democratic party. lit be wise it will lose no
time in putting in motion the neecssary maehin-
cry by which it will at the same time save itself
from humiliation preserve its own self-respect,
rad the country of the most vexatious Question
TINT ever distracted any country, kill the worst
political party that ever existed the globe, and
put the Union in the way of speedy restoration.
This machinery consists, of course, In conven-
tions to revise the state constitutions Chicago
Times. q