American citizen. [volume] (Butler, Butler County, Pa.) 1863-1872, 1867-10-16
RecoiIing Complim ent.

The Post quotes from the New York
Herald, with emphati c approyal,the fol-
lowing statement {:
"There is not single great soldier of
the country there never was Corps
Commander in the army of the Potomac,
who was not Democrat before the war.
Whether this is true or not-and we
are not going to debate that poiDt--it is
very extraordinary statement to be
made by one Democratic paper and to be
indorsed by another. The Chicago Con-
ention, representing the Democratic
party, eclared at very late period of
the war, that it was a tailmre. During
all stages Of the war, the Democratic
party, as such, stood opposed to its pros
ecution, denouucing in the most une-
quivocal terms tcemode in which it was
carried on, and the ends it aimed to ac'
complish. Party lines were run, and
party measures adopted, with the single
purpose of breaking down the admins.
tration OF Mr.. LINcoN, because of he
persisteney in maintaining the contest
till its ends were accomplished. The
verbal fattery of the Democra tic papers.
coming in at this late day, is poor cata>
plasm for the bitter reflections on the
Generals and the war, in which the
same papers INDUCED, while the war was
in progress.
But this is not the aspecisin which we
proposed to consider the above statement
AS specific statement, it aecords with
what we have scores of times declared in
general terms, that the Democratic party
was dsert.sedon patriotic grounds by large
numbers of the best and ablest men when
the war broke out The admission Of
this now made by the Post, proves also
another thing, viz: that a higher grade
of patriotism ruled among those who went
out of the party to fight for the Union
than among those who staid in it ts
grumble about the war, to resist the calls
for soldiers, to proclaim, on the very eve of
triumph, that the war was failure, aud
to nominate the biggest failure that there
had been in the war as their candidate
for the Presidency. This is legitimately
implied in the above commentator of
the Generals which might az well have
been extended to distinguished civilians
aud to people of all professions, ranks
aud classes so far as to say that they tcerc
Democrats before the war. The more
these are exhalted in praise the severer
is the reflection on the lot they left be-
hind them
But this is not all The cream Of the
joke, so to speak, remains to be noticed.
1t is this, that these men, distinguished
for their patriotism, who broke embaris>
sing party ties and shook off Democratic
associations for the sake of the Union
those who were Democrats before the
war; are not Democrats after the war
A large majority of them are acting with
the Republican party, and deems them>
selves now acting from patriotism rather
than party motives, as much as they did
while the war was raging Exceptional
cases, wc admit, but the general state
ment that we make is true. Mr.. John
son is a specsmon brick of a very small
pile.
They cere Democrats befor the war
Sorrowul consolation in such retro spects
Those who boast of their former associ>
ates shonld initiate their patriotic virtues
that made the separation Necessary. Re.
publcans honor these mon, not for what
they were before the war, but for what
the were in the war and for what they
are now-for their principles, and not Tor
their associations with a party that they
abandoned with disgust.-PHs. CONNER,
ctdk