The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1867-04-19
THE NEW YORK PREss.
EDITORIAL OPINIONS OF THE LEADING JOURNALS
UPON CURRENT ToPICs-COMPmED EVERY
DAY FOR THE EVENING TELEGRAPH.
Copperheads Alive again.


FSorn 0e Times.
The snake Of the anti-war Democracy is
uncoiling itself and airing its fangs under the
sivifying influences of the Connecticut vic
lory.
The demonstrations that are occurring in
ohio, Indiana and the "Border States" are
not wholly devoid of utility They are
timely reminder of the elements which,
during the war, controlled the Democratic
Party for evil and occasioned its loss of pub
lie confidence. An attempt has been made to
keen them out of sight and to represent the
Democracy as a harmless and grievously
maligned organization. The Connecticut
managers adroitly contrived to present this
view, and the leading organ of the party in
this city has endeavored to sustain it. Taken
at their word, the Democrats of these parts
are now gentle as lambs and as moderate in
their purposes as the most conservative could
desire A missive from Vallandigham the
other day marred the harmony of these
sounds and now we have reports of a Demo-
cratic Convention in Cincinnati, and of another
in Tennessee, to disprove the current profess
sions of the Worid'S Democracy.
The story in this latitude is, that the issues
which divided the Douglas from the Breclin-
ridge Democracy ended with the war, and
that henceforward the party must be united
on a conservative Union basis Against this
pleasant version of the case the Democrats whe
have gathered in Cincinnati from Ohio, In
DIANA Iowa, and elsewhere in the West, in
dignantly protest. They have no wish to fight
their battle under false cOlors, and not much
respect for those who do. They continue to
interpret Democratic principles precisely as
they have been interpreted by the Charleston
Mercury, and on that ground they arraign the
past and present policy of the Union party.
They reiterate the doctrine of State sove-
reignty in the sense that implies the right of
secession; they glorify the Indiana conspira-
tors and all who tried to embarrass the North
in the interest of the Rebellion; and they look
wistfully forward to the time when unrecOn-
structed Rebels shall regain power to cO-ope
rate with the Copperhead Democracy. At
Nashville the pretense of conservatism as dis
tinguished from Democracy has been more
skilfully preserved. But that the term was
prOstituted, and that under the guise of con-
servatism COpperheadism was rampant, is
evident from the brief dispatches that have
been published. There can be no misap-
pretending a gathering where the South is
eulogized at the cost of the North, or where
the gallant fellows who upheld the cause
of the Union are stigmatized as abolition
thieves"
We do not attach any degree of importance
to these sayings and doings, whether at Gin
cinnati or Nashville. Ohio is in no immediate
danger of falling into the hands of the Cop
perheads; and though the contest in Tennessee
promises to be hot and angry, we do not be-
lieve that the sympathizers with rebellion are
likely to gain the mastery. Small as is our
love for Mr.. Brownlow, we should deplore as a
calamity the transfer of the authority he now
exercises to the Copperhead section of the
Democracy. The displays to which we allude,
however, though of themselves unimportant,
are not without certain suggestiveness, in
view of the mask which the adversaries of the
Union party have elsewhere assumed.