The state rights democrat. [volume] (Albany, Linn County, Oregon) 1865-1900, 1867-01-12
SHALL THE DEMOCRATIC PAR
TY DIE OR LIYE2

The present is crisis in tho democratic
party which has no precedent ip its histo-
ry, as it is 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-
holds itself diminished in the magnitude OF
its numbers,--for it is numerically strong
er than it has ever been before, ,--but that
having been beaten on great national is
sue as to which it believed itself to be
wholly right and tho opposition wholly
wrong, and still so believes, it must new
ertheless abandon that issue-for the de-
cision of it is fnal--and either sit down
in helpless and decaying inactivity, or
strike boldly out upon a new line, select
ed 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 become, what
it was in its palmy days, a progressive
and an aggressive party. These are the
alternatives.
1t will not sit down in helpless and de-
caying inactivity.
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 TO float on
the sea ofpublic contempt iptowhich it some
timetimcs entered, aud from which no pow
er can rescue itl- Is not the late defeat al
tributable more largely to this administra-
ton than to ell other causes combined
What is there in its competition to com.
maud popular confidence? Who belong
ing 20 it, is entitled by reason of his ante
cedents or of his craftsmanship, to the
confidence or the respect Of the Democrat
ic party? Certainly it is not Andrew j Ohm
son, nor William IL. Seward, nor Edwin
NJ Stanton. True, this administration
had right policy, and the Democratic
party, in overlooking the chief men COM
prising it, and thinking only Of the right
fulPess of the policy, displayed patriot
ism whose purity was never excelled; but
the policy having iled,--apd having
failed, too, through the feeblencss, and
folly apd offences against public propriety
of the Administrations why should not
the Democratic party cut loose from the
dead body, longer adherence to which is
death also to itself!
What nextg Can the Democratic par
ty succeed until the negro questions shall
be cotton out of thy wayg 1t cannot.
What nexty Is not negro suffrage ine-
yitable, and is not the quickest way to
get question out of the way to at once
conccde the suffrage, making issae only
on the degree to which it shall be conce-
dedy We know that many Democrats
have not reached this advanced Wow of
the case, and that such still feel greatly
inclined to revolt at the proposition of ne.
gro suffrage in any degrees, but let US tell
them that it is always wise 10 accept the
the inevitable when il comes Negro suf.
frage, We say, is inevitable, and whether il
shall be qualified or universal depends
upon the pronptness or otherwise with
which the Democratic party shall move
Yith reference to it. The South will
speedily yield qualified negro suffrage up
on the motion of the Democratic party;
because, if for no other reason, she will
soon see if she does not already see, that
if she do not yield it, she will ultimately
be compelled to accept universal negro
suffrage.
Qualified negro suffrage yielded by the
South and by this we mean IMPARTIAL
SUFFRAGE, or suffrage dependent upon
the intelligence of the man, irrespective
of color, as is nolc the rule an Mdssdchu-
setts,--the negro question will have been
disposed Of, and the occupation of the
northern Republican Radical party will be
gone forever. Not one inch of ground
will it have to stand upon; and the coun-
try once more turn to those material
questions Of public policy the right dispo-
sition of which is so essential to the pub
lie prosperity, It will be upon these
questions that the Democratic party will
triumph, and it will be by this triumph
that constitutional government and our
federal system will 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, it will lose no time in putting in
motion the necessary machinery by which
it will at the same Zine save itself from
hupiliation, preserve its own self-respect,
rid the country of the most yexatious
question that eyer distracted any country,
kill the worst political party that ever ex-
listed on the globe, and put the Union IN
the way of speedy restoration. This ma
chinery coD5ists, of course, in conventions
to revise the State constitutions Chi
cago Tines.