American citizen. [volume] (Butler, Butler County, Pa.) 1863-1872, 1867-08-14
Chained to a Corpse,

| Albany was not cnly an aumlfaDle SJdJe~
ment of the propriety of manhood sutf>
rage. but it was an illustration of skill
full party tactics. 1t took exactly the
position which the Democratic party as a
sagacious organization should have taken
at the end Of the war. The logic is sim
pie. Slavery, upon which, as a special
ISSUE parties rested, being gone, the true
policy was to abandon all the old preju
dices ond measures founded upon it, and
to accept the situation. With the fall
of slavery aud in the situation of the
country, it was evident that the colored
man would be politically an equal citizen.
Slavery oeing gone there was no reason
for insisting upon keeping him disfran>
chised; and could the managers of the
Democratic party have been sagacious
enough to perceive it, there was chance
o! restoring the old party under new
name.
As it is, the Democratic party is an or
ganization Of opposition upon principle
which wholly reverses the course of ree
construction, repudiates the theory of
the war, and leaves every great national
question unsettled. The Democratic
policy is tn treat the States exactly as if
nothing had happened but riot it has
been suppressed, and that is the end Of
it. Nothing more puerile can be con
ceived than such view of the situation
1t is a craftsmanship which omits all the
facts. 1t is a folly which finds no signi-
iicance in the terrible words spoken to a
king; "SIre, it is a revolut ion." And
until the mind of the country is utterly
confused no such party can hope for res
toration to power, except by some chance
Of an alliance with vote at the South
unfriendly to the Government and the
Union.
SO long as this is the course of the
Democratic party 50 long as lis organs
sneer at loyalty and applaud treason by
innuendo; so long as men who honestly
gave time, money, personal service. and
uncompi omising devotion to the coun'
try curing the war perceive in those pa
pers, with dist1ste and disgust, the sym.
pathy with the utterly un- American
spirit which has 50 long ruled the So
ciety Of the South, just so long they
will suspect and spurn the Democratic
party. Everywhere, as in the New
York Convention, il appeals and panders
to a hostility Of race which can lead to
nothing but evil when the subjects of it
are equal citizens. Even Democrats o.
character and position serve an imagi-
nary public which demands the sacrifice
Of liberty or justice or knowing their
constituents, they stultify themselves by
yielding to an ignoble prejudice. Could
they ence cast this kind of subserviency
aside we could hope for sudden restJ-
ration Of universal prosperity.
As it is, however, the better men are
in fear of the worst. The demagogues,
who have no object but personal advan-
tage at all hazards, would instantly ex-
pose to the Indignation Of ignorance u
man who took high ground aud sought
to plant the party upon it. And from
.his springs one of the chief perils OF
our politics. For when the intelligent
and catholic conscientiously defer to the
dictation of the ignorant and passionate
the Government becomes cssentlly base
in itself and humiliating to every hon
orable citizen. Nothing is certain than
the intimate relation between morals and
! politics. As the sense of moral law
dies out of the mind of Legislators the
state approaches anarchy. Yet, if legis
lation is to be dictated by the worst part
Of the population and by the worst feel.
ings, how long can we hope that morals
ty will linger iu politics !
Now, there is this essential difference
between the two great parties in this
country, the one has the inspiration Of
the moral sentiment and the other has
not. We do not mean that all Ropub,
licans are good men, or all Democrats
bad men but we do mean, as we have
said before, that the tendency of the
Republican party is to lift its worst
members up to its best principles, while
that of the Democratic party is to drag
its best men down to a wretched policy.
| This is unavoidable, but it is uudenia>
ble. Thus the Democratic policy for a
generation may have been interpreted
| by its wisest and sincerest men as mere.
| ly State rights, while the Democratic
rallying cry has been, Down with the
nigger!" On the other hand, the re-
proach incessantly urged against the Re-
publican party by the most acrimonious
Democratic journals is that it was really
led by the extreme radicals But sure>
ly, even if this should lead to the cry of
Up with the niger p which is the
more inviting of the two cries to an in
telligent and generous man !? Is society,
in this country, likely to be more. bene>
fitted by feeling and policy that de-
grade or that elevate any class in the
community? =
So long as the Democratic party cling
to the old issues they are chained to a
corpse. and they have no secret charm
to make the dry bones live.-Ne,o Kors
Weekly. i
| a vnun man yout fur a phii.1al~