The Hancock Jeffersonian. [volume] (Findlay, Ohio) 1857-1870, 1866-11-23

The present Is q crisis In The Dom |
ocratic party which has no precedent
in its history, as it is o crisis in the
progress oil the country which Is al
so without precedent Never before
has the Democratic party encounter.
ed events so seriouslyistiecting its
future vitality as how Not that it
beholtls itself-,limiaislle ed in. .the.mag-
.aitude Of its numbcrs--ior it is nu.
Imcrically stronger than it has ever
been beiore--but that having been
beaten on great national issue, as
to which IL believed itself to be
wholly right and the opposition
wholly wrong, and still so believes,
1t must nevertheless abandon that Is
sue-for the decision of tits final
and either sit down IN helpless and
dccaying inactivity, or strike boldly
out npon 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 he hold
back or conservative" party, and
become what it was in its palmy
days, a 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 IL some time
since entered, and from which no
power can rescue il? Is not the late
defeat Attributable more largely to
this Administrator than to all other
causes combined? What is there in
its composition to command popular
coniidence2 Who, belonging to it,
is entitled, 10y reason of his antece-
dents or of his craftsmanship, to the
confidence or the respect of the Dem
ocratic party? Certainly is not An.
drew johnson, nor VIM. ii. Seward,
nor Edwin NJ. Stanton. True, this
Administration had right policy,
and the Democratic party, in over
looking the clief men comprising IL,
and thinking only of the rightful'
ness of the policy, displayed pat
riotism whose purity was never ex-
ceIled; but the policy having failed
and having failed, too, through the
feebleness and folly and ofenses
against public propriety of the Ad
ministration--why should not the
Democratic party abandon the dead
body, longer adherence to which i:
death also to itself? o.
What next? Can the Democratic
party succeed until the Negro ques
tion shall be gotten out of the way
1t cannot What next? Is not Ne
gro suffrage inevitable, and is moi
the quickest way to get the Negro
question ont of the way to at once
concedc the suffrage, making issue
only on the degree to which 1t shall
he conceded2 2 We know that many
Democrats have not reached this ad
vanced view of the case, and that
such still feel greatly inclined to re
volt at the proposition of Negro suf
frage in any degree; but let us tel
them that it is always wise to accep
\ s'so tuc,tvaOio vhN" ttv iucviraDf'
comes. Negro suffrage, we say, II
inevitable, and whether it shall b'
qualified or universal depends upor
the promptness or otherwise will
the Democratic party shall move witl
reference to it. The South will speed
lily yield qualified negro suffrage up
> on the motion of the Democratic par
lty; because, il for no other reason
she will soon see, IL she does not al
ready see, that if she do not yield it
she will ultimately be compelled t
accept universal negro suffrage.
Qualified negro suffrage yieldet
by the Southland by this we meal
impartial suffrage, or suffrage de
pendent upon the intelligence of tn
man, irrespective OF color, ms is nov
the rule in Massachusetts--the uegr,
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 hav
to stand upon; and the country cal
once more turn to those matelia
questions of public policy, the righ
disposition of which is so esscDtia
to the public prosperity. 1t will b
upon these questions that the Demo
cratic party will triumph, and it vii
, he by this triumph that Constitution
. al Government and our Federal sys
tenn will be preserved. ..H
: II the South he wise, 1t will no
wait, on this suffrage question, eve
t for the motion of the Democrati
party. If it be wise, it will lose n
time in putting in motion the neces
sary machinery by which 1t will a
: the same time save itself from hu
: initiation, preserve its own self.re
spect, rid the country of the mos
vexatious question that ever distract
ed any country, kill the worst politi
cal party that ever existed on tn
, globe, and put the Union in the wa.
? OF speedy restoration. This ma
chinery consists, Of course, in con
yentions to revise the State constitu
tlons.-Chicago Times. .-....e
The Additional Bounty.