The daily Gate City. [volume] (Keokuk, Iowa) 1855-1916, 1866-06-07
REPUBLICAN CONVENTION.

REPUBLICAN CONVENTION.
MASS CONVENTION of the REPUBLICANS Of
La County. will be held at Charleston on WED
NEsDAY JUNE 18th, 1865, for the purpose of appoint
ing Delegates to the State Congressional and Judicial
Conventions.
All who opposed to Traitors ruling the Country
and to surrenderrg the Government into the hands o
ReAes, invited to attend and participate In ths
meeting.
By order OF the Lee County Republican Central Com.
mittee JMp pyCK,
May 1sth, 1865. Chairman.
THE PERPETUATION OF PARTIES.
Our country differs in its political history
from England. Parties here have scarce
lived through two decades. In 1850 English
parties got the names which now they bear.
That was when England was divided into fu-
rlous parties by the maladministration OF
CHARLES SECOND The party of fanatical con-
venticlers in Scotland who would make no
concessions to Kingly administration, and
who were the rustcs Of the Western lowlands
were called Wings. The English court party
fastened the name upon the country party
which opposed the usurpatons Of the STuARrs
and showed disposition to treat Protestant
noncorforinists with toleration. In the bogs
of Ireland was at the same time gathered
Irish outlaws, jealous for Poperv and haters
of republicanism. The English Wings re-
torted upon the court party lwno refused to
concur in excluding JAMES, afterwards the
Second, q Catholic Prince, from the English
thronel by calling them Tories" Those
nicknames have endured through two centu-
a!es, and are worn as titles of honor By the
parties to which they were at first given in de-
rision. Nor, says the English historian, do
they seem nearer their end than when they were
first invented. 1t is the substratum of prin-
ciple that has maintained their separate exis-
tence. The external machinery of each has
repeatedly worn away. In times Of profound
political peace and in times Of great public
danger the party lines have almost disappear
el aud the tEo opposing clements seemed TO
have blended into one. But the progress of
events has developed new issues, calling
again the parties into active life and antago-
nism, aud showing that they had but rested,
not dissolved There is a distinct spirit
which is the life of each. Their history is
full Of instruction. At the restoration of
CHARLES THE SECOND the strife of faction had
become lest II TIE general JOY al tue estab-
lishment of monarchy. Into his counse! was
admitted the most eminent men Of the nation
without regard to former distinctions. Pres
al Il,
party to his administration. But when CHARLES
began to display hatinseparable characteristic
Of the SruAgTs, disposition to defy popular
right and override the Constitution, the par
ties again assumed determined shape and the
centes. became bitter. liz absoutlsn OF
JAMES FIRST made Republicanisin sufficiently
strong under his successor to overthrow the
throne aud establish the protectorate. The
ascendancy Of the Puritans over the Cavaliers
was supreme and severe. Under the restora.
ton regime their positions were reversed and
Cavaliers repaid Purtans for their severity in
full. Violent administration in a government
to which the people are parties always defeats
.;self The yicleuce O. tie koyaiists, Joined
to the NAL administration of CHARLES brought
the country party out from under the odum
which covered it when CHARLES had been
welcomed back to Whitehall. Tie Tory con-
seryative adherents of the crown were losing
a strength which the Whig liberalsts were
constantly gaining. Three years of the tyr
amy Of JAMES THE SECOND made the Wings
strong enough to drive him into exile and in.
augurate Wing administration under
WILLIAM, of Orange.
~ ale aware that Iaonarchical government
cannot furnish binding precedent for De
mocracles. Republican action should not be
estopped by the stare decisis Of despotism
There was in all history no precedent for Tn
ion success in the late rebellion. There was
no historical guide pointing out sure way
for our administration. 1t would have beer
dangerous to have refused to act or to follow
leadership on that account. But the spring:
of lnman action continue the same. The
passions controlling the masses, in their eb-
bings and howings, follow general laws. The
people are parties to the English government
oui nHo"tSuSc VI NOulo iCaA
US to assert that if an English administration
should grossly ride down popular right and
seek to subyert popular liberties, the English
people would, with q strong hand, stay the
tide {. royal usurpations. We find our as
sumption proved by English history. We ap-
prehend that the Anglo Americans and the
Anglo Saxons are sufficiently allied in char.
acter to make the history of parties IN Eng
land though not precedent, yet source
from which we can gather knowledge which
will serve us for the wisdom of experience.
fact then, gathered from that source, and
corroborated as general principle by uni
versal history, is it, that Wings and Tories
Liberals and Conservatives have repeatedly
lost power in England by too great violence
in administration. We know that persecu
ti"n does not extirrate even heresies, bu'
strengthens them rather; and that it con6rml
religious truth. We know that the vanquish
ed in eny contest are soured and made dis
eonten.ed by cruel treatment; that whipped
rebels are brought usually to their allegianc,
most efectaally BY leniency. But thy ssss
beNwhiRpsd. Lsnisncy to rebels stu tost
-