Orleans independent standard. [volume] (Irasburgh, Vt.) 1856-1871, 1866-11-30
Shall the Democratic Party Die or
Live!


its numbers-for it is numerically
stronger than it has ever been before
but that having been beaten on a
great national issue, as to which it
believed itself to be wholly right and
the opposition wholly wrong, and still
so believes, it must nevertheless aban-
don that iSsue-for the decision of it
is fnal-and either sit down in hope
less and decaying inactivity, or strike
boldly out upon new line, selected
with peculiar reference, not to things
as we would have them, but to things
as they actually are, and in pursuing
which line it shall cease to be a hold
back or conservative" party, and be
come what it was in its palmy days,
progressive and aggressive party.
These are the alternatives.
1t will not sit down in helpless and
decaying inactivity.
What, then, shall the new line be :?
In the first place, must we not cut
loose from the administration of An
drew Johnson, and leave that hybrid
concern to float on the sea of public
contempt into which it sometime since
entered, and from which no power
can rescue it? Is not the late defeat
attributable more largely to this ad-
ministration than to all other causes
combined? What is there in its
composition to command popular con-
tidence? Who, belonging to it, is
entitled, by reason of his antecedents
or of his craftsmanship, to the conf
dence or the respect of the democrat
ic party? Certainly it is not Andrew
johnson, nor VIM. H. Seward, non
Edwin NJ. Stanton. True, this ad.
ministration had right policy, and
the democratic party, in overlooking
the chief men comprising it, and think
ing only OF the rightfulness of the poll
cy, displayed a patriotism whose puri
ty was never eXcelled; but the policy
having failed-and having failed, too
through the feebIeness and folly anC
offenses against public propriety o
the administratiOn-why should moi
the democratic party abandon the
dead body. Longer adherence tC
which is death also to itself?
What next? Can the democratic
party succeed until the negro question
Shall be gotten out Of the way? Il
cannot. What next? Is not negro
suffrage inevitable, and is not the
quickest way to get the negro ques
ton out of the way to at once concedt
the suffrage, making issue only on the
degree to which it shall be conceded
We know that many democrats have
not reached this advanced view of the
case, and that such still feel greatly
inclined to revolt at the proposition
OF negro suffrage in any degree but
let US tell them that it is always wise
TO accept tho inevitable when the in
evltable comes. Negro suffrage, VT
say, is inevitable, and whether it shall
be qualified or universal depends up
on the promptness or otherwise witt
which the democratic party shall
move with reference to it. The Soutl
will speedily yield qualified negro
suffrage upon the motion of the demo
cratic party; because, if for no other
reason, she will soon see, if she does
not already see, that if she does not
yield it, she will ultimately he com
PEELED to accept universal negro SUI
frage.
Qualified negro suffrage yielded by
the Southland by this we mean i'm
partial suffrage, or suffrage dependent
upon the intelligence of the man, ire
spective Of color, as is now the rule
III MISUNDERSTANDING negro question
will have been disposed of, and the
occupation Of the northern radical
party will be gone forever. Not one
inch OF ground will it have to stand
upon; and the country can once more
turn to those material questions OF
public policy, the right disposition OF
which Is so essential to the public
prosperity. 1t will be upon these
questions that the democratic party
will triumph, and it will be by this
triumph that constitutional govern
ment and our federal system will be
pressed.
If the South be wise, it will not
wait, on this suffrage question, even
for the motion Of the democratic par
ty. If it be wise, it will lose no time
IN putting in motion the necessary
machinery by which it will at the
same time save itself from humilia-
ton, preserve its own selfrespect. rid
the country Of the most vexatious
question that ever distracted any
country, kill the worst political party
that ever existed on the globe, and
put the Union in the way of speedy
restoration. This machinery consists.
OF course, in conventions to revise the
State constitutions.-Chicago Times.
EFFECT OF THE COURSE OF THE CHICAGO
TIMES ON THE DEMOCRACY.
By Telegraph to the Tribune.
CHICAGO, Nov. 13.-The attempt
OF the Chicago Times to commit the
democracy of the northwest, of which
it has hitherto been the organ. to ne
gro suffrage, is meeting with strong
resistance by the rank and file. al
though the leaders sustain the paper
In its course. The agitation promis-
es to be one of the most bitter ever
known in democratic history.
ABOUT PRICEs.-There was a very
general decline in prices in the New
York wholesale market, all descrip-
tons, last week, but retailers, with
their uSual aversion to ,,orI1;ncc Jo,,