Western Reserve chronicle. [volume] (Warren, Ohio) 1855-1921, 1866-11-21
Remarkable Change of Front.
The Chicago Times Repudiates An.
drew OhnSOn- and Comes ont for
Universal Suffrage.
From the Chicago Times Of November 12.l
SHALL THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY DIE Or
LIyEf

From the Chicago Times of November H.
SHALL THB DEMOCRATIC PARTY DIE OR
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The present is a crisis in the Democrat
ic party which has nc precedent in its his
tory, as it is a crisis in the progress of the
country which is also without precedent.
Never before has the Democratic party
encountered events so seriously affecting
its future vitality as now. Not that it be-
beholds itself diminished in the magni-
tude of its numbers,-for it is numerical
" stronger than it has ever been before
but that, having been beaten on q great
national issue, as to which it believed it.
self TO be wholly right and the oppo-
sition wholly wrong, and still so be-
lieves, it must nevertheless abandon that
issue-for the decision of it is fnal-and
either sit down in helpless and decaying
inactivity, or strike boldly out upon a
new line, selected with peculiar reverence.
not to things as we would have them, but
to things as they actually are, and in pur-
suing which line it shall cease to be a
hold back or conservative" party, and
become, what it was in its 2almy days, q
progressive and an aggressive party
These are the alternatives.
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 10 float On
the sea of public contempt into which it
ONE time since entered. and from which
no power can rescue it? Is not the late
defeat attributable more largely to this
administration than to all other
combined? What is there IN its compost
ton to command popularconhdence2 Who.
belonging to it, is entitled, by reason of
his Rnteeedents or of his craftsmanship. to
the confidence or the respect of the Dem
oera;ic party? Certainly it is not An
drew johnson, nor Within II. Seward,
nor Edwin NJ. Stanton. True, this ad-
mlnistration had a right policy, and the
Democratic party, in overlooking the chief
men comprising il, and thinking only of
the rightfulness of the policy, displayed a
patriotism whose purity was never ex-
celled but the policy having failed. land
having failed, too, through feebleness and
folly and ofenses against public propriety
of the administrator .-why should not
the Democratic party abandon the dead
body, longer adherence to which is death
only to itself?
What next? Can the Democratic par
ty succeed until the negro question shall
be gotten out of the way? It cannot.
What next? Is not negro suffrage newt
able. and is not the quickest way to get
the negro question out OF the way to at
once concede the suffrage, making issue
only on the degee to which it shall be con-
We know that many Democrats
have not reached this advanced view OF
the case, ana that such still feel inclined
to revolt at the proposition ofnegro suffrage
in any degree; but let us tell them that 1t
is always wise to accept the inevitable
when the inevitable comes. Negro suf-
frage, we say, is inevitable, and whether It
shall be universal depends upon the
promptness or otherwise with which the
Democratic party shall act with reference TO
to it. The South will speedily yield qualih-
ed negro suffrage upon the motion Of the
Democratic party; because, if for no 9th
er reason, she will so3n see, fshe does not
see, that if she do not yield it, she
will ultimately be compelled to accept
universal negro Suffrage.
Qualified negro suffrage yielded by the
Southland by this we mean impartial
suffrage, or suffrage dependent upon the
intelligence of the man, Irrespective of
color, as is noir the rule IN Massachusetts,
THE NEGRO QUESTION WILL HAVE BEEN
DISPOSED OF, AND THE OCCUPATIONS OF 4
REPUBLICAN 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
disposition Of which is so essential to
the pablo prosperity. 1t will be upon
these questions that the Democratic party
will triumph, and il will be by this tri-
that constitutional government and
our federal system viii be preserved.
If the South be wise, it will not wait on
this suffrage question, even for the motion
of the Democratic party. If it be wise. 1t
will lose no time in putting in motion the
machinery by which it will at
the same time save itself from humiliation,
preserve its W self respect, rid the o'rn-
try of the most vexatious question that
distracted any country, kill the worst
political party that ever existed on the
globe, and put the Union in the way OF
speedy restoration. The machinery con-
sists, of cour:e, in conventions to revise
the State Constitutions.