American citizen. [volume] (Butler, Butler County, Pa.) 1863-1872, 1867-11-20

| Woulu noH uiSnouOr the NATION ana out
rage of justice under the name of cons
cilation and heavenly goodwill
Yet the chief Democratic argument is
al appeal to hatred. Itexpends its force
and eloquence in defsming the negro -.
Its highest strain is that this is white
mans government, which is true as a
matter of fact, since of thirty millions
of people only four are colored But it
is wholly untrue as an argument for the
exclusion OF colored men from the sufS
frage for there has never been time in
the history of the country when they
have not voted in some of the States
BY incessant denunciations of /" nigger
equality" as we'll as by the most con.
temptible falsehoods, the Democratic par
ty tries to infame the hostility of race.
While in the city of New York and else>
where in the North there is no degree of
bestiality into which white human be>
ing can sink so low that he is not still
good enough voter and an intelligent
fellow citizen, yet the colored man every
where is of necessity of an inferior race,
semi civilized, barbarian, ignorant, and
degraded. The staple of Democratic
speeches is ridicule of the negro, or sol.
emn effort to prove his total incapacity
for intelligent citizenship. Now we ask
for single evidence of that incapacity
as class which is not equally true Of
the foreign born voters of the city of
New York as a class. And we ask any
man who wishes the speedy return of
peace and prosperity to the country
whether he trusts the craftsmanship of q
party which systematically excites hos.
tility between the Irish-born and the col.
ored population. 1t is the old tactics OF
the slaveholding oligarchy, which always
fostered the mutual jealousy of the poor
whites and the slaves.
The Democratic party also claims to
be peculiarly conservative. Couserva-
tive of what? OF the great poinciples
OF liberty, of equality before the laws, of
equal defense Of rights, of governments
of all the people? BY no means. 1t is
merely conservative of the traditions of
caste and slavery, which the country has
Outgrown; of class supremacy, of class
legislation, of unequal laws, of govern
ments from which half Of the people are
arbitrarily excluded. OF what is the
Democratic party conservative? Is it of
the Constitution !? One of its chief CAM
didates for the Presidency, Mr.. Horatio
Seymour, attacks the Senate as unjustiy
constituted. Is it of the national good
faith and fame? The other of its Press
idential candidates, Mr.. Pendleton, de-
mands reputation. 1t will not be de-
MED that the most intelligent and highly
civilized parts of the country are polili
cally Republican and the most ignorant
sections Democratic. In the city of New
York it can not be disputed that the
parts which are the least enlightened give
the heaviest Democratic majorities Now
is ignorance truly conservative Does
any body who is competent to pronounce
suppose that the political majority in the
city of New York represents as real
conservatism as the majority in the State
of Iowa or Massachusetts, ?
We repeat that the policy of the Dem.
ocratic party in the present situation of
the country is foun ded upon bitter hos
tility to part of the population, and
upon disregard of the principles of the
Constitution and of public honor. 1t is
consel lvative in no other sense whatever
than that of the old Tory conservatism
in England which protested that to abol>
ish the death penalty for stealing a leg
of mutton was to sweep away the bul,
warks of the Constitution. Its whole
course is series of tactics for getting
into power. There is no evidence any
where of serious desire to deal fairly
with the pressing questions of the coun-
try. The only thing every where evil
dent is that it has changed no opinions,
that it holds as strongly as ever to the
spirit of the Virginia and Kentucky res
olutions of '98 that it honors and trusts
most the men who were the most sub
servient to the domination Of slavery in
:he government; and that it wholly and
contemptuously denies that government
should rest upon the expressed consent of
the governed Should it return to pow
er we must expect every question settled
by the war to be reopened. We must
anticipate repudiatior and a commercial
convulsion such as no country ever ex
perienced. We must be prepared for a
policy toward the freedmen upon which
the civilized world would cry shame
The success of the Democratic party
would be the restoration of the rebellion
to power -Harper's Weekiy.