Raftsman's journal. [volume] (Clearfield, Pa.) 1854-1948, 1867-08-14
Chained to a CORPSE,

|
Democratic German paper, the Stats Ze,
tung, delivered in the Convention at Alban,
was not only an admirable statement of tn,
propriety of manhood suffrage, but it wa
an illustration of skilful party tactics. L
| took exactly the position which the Demo
cratic party as sagacious organization
should have taken at the end of the war
The logic is simple. Slavery. upon which
| as special Issue, parties rested being gone
the true policy was to abandon all the OLD
preIudlces and measures founded upon it,
and to accept the situation. With the tall
or slavery, and in the situation of the coun.
try, 1t was evident that the colored man
would be politically an equal citizen Sla-
very being gone there was no reason for in
sistlng upon keeping him disfranchised, and
could the managers of the Democratic party
have been sagacious enough to perceive it,
there was chance of restoring tie old party
under new name.
AS 1t Is, the Democratic party is an organ
izatIon OF opposition upon principle which
wholly reverses the course of reconstruction,
repudlates the theory of the war, and leaves
every great national question unsettled.
The Democratic policy is to treat the States
exactly as if nothing had happened but a
riot; 1t 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 craftsmanship which omits all the
facts. 1t is folly which finds no signifi
canoe in the terrible words spoken to king:
Sire, 1t is revolution And until the
mind OF the country is utterly confused no
such party can hope for restoration to DOW
er, except by some chance of an alliance
with a vote at the South unfriendly to the
Government and the Union.
SO long as this is the course of the Dem
Ocratlc party, so long as its organs sneer at
loyalty and applaud treason by inuendo, so
long as men who honestly gave time, money,
personal service, and uncompromising devo-
tion to the country during the war perceive
IN those papers, with distaste and disgust,
the sympathy with the utterly un- American
spirit which has SO long ruled the society of
the. South, just so long they will suspect
and spurn the Democi attic party. Every
where, as in the New York Convention, it
appeals and panders to hostility of lace
which can lead to nothing but evil when the
subjectsof it are equal citizens. Even Dem
ocrats of character and position serve an
imaginary public which demands the sacrii-
hce OF liberty or justice or, knowing their
constituents, they stultify themselves by
yielding to an ignoble prejudice Could
they once cast this kind of subserviency
aside we could hope for a sudden restoration
of universal prosperity.
As it is, however, the better men are in
fear of the worst. The demagogues, who
have no object but personal advantage at all
hazards, would instantly expose to the in
dignation of ignorance man who took high
ground and sought to plant the party upon
1t. And from this springs one of the chief
perils of our politics. For when the intelli-
gent and catholic consciously defer to the
dlctation of the ignorant and passionate the
Government becomes essentially base in it
self and humiliating to every honorable cit
zen. Nothing is more certain than the In
innate relation between morals and politics.
As the sense of moral law dies out of the
mind of legislators the State approaches an
archy. Yet, if legislation is to be dictated
by the worst part of the population aud by
the worst feelings, how long can we hope
that morality will linger in politics
Now. there is this essential difference be-
tween the two great parties in this country,
the one has the inspiration of the moral SEN
timent and the other has not. We do not
mean that all Republicans 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
If the Democratic party is to drag its best
men down to wretched policy. This is
Unavoidable, but it is undeniable Thus
he democratic policy for generation may
have been interpreted by its wisest and sin
,erest men as merely State-rights, while
he Democratic rallying- cry has been, ''Down
With the niggerl" On the other hand, the
'eproach necessarily urged against the Re-
publican party by the most acrimonious
Democratic journals, is that it was really led
~ the extreme radicals. But surely. even
t this should lead to the cry of up with
he niggerl" which is the more inviting of
he two cries to an intelligent and generous
nan? Is society, in this country, likely to
De more benefited hy a feeling and policy
hat degrade or that elevate any class in the
So long as the Democratic party cling to
he old issues they are chained to CORPSE,
md they have no secret charm to make the
Try bones live. ve.-Harper's Weekly.