Abbeville press. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1860-1869, 1868-10-02
POLICY VS.. PLATFORM.

THE DEMOCRATIC rARTY AND TIE NEGRO
STATE GovEENMEHTs-wILL CONGRESS
sIoNAL EEcoHsTErcrloS STAND, Or nE
eswErr AWAY ?-wIIAr TIE NEW YORK
WORLD SAYS.
Under the heading, "A Frank Answer
70 All lnsitious question" very significant
l";slins editorial appears in the New Yorl;
U'"la Of Tuesday last. The World is the
most prominent and influential Of the
Democratic organs at the North, and is
understood to reflect the views of those
who will shape the policy Of tho Demo
cratic party in tho event of its success in
November. The position which it has
taken differs very widely flom what very
many Southern Democrats have conceived
70 te'tho aims and publicly declared in
ecntons Of the National Democracy, md,
as faithful chronicles Of political events, we,
therefore, place the statement Of the JForN
teforc cur readers The article to Which
we refer was in rel 'y to the following par.
"graphs which APPEARED in the New York
Times, Of Wednesday last:
According to the policy thus su,horita-
lively proclaimed, it will be incumbent on
Mr. Seymour, if elected, to set a.;lc the
new governments AZ nal. and void, and
with the lielp Of the military to ;ispcrse
them and rs-estab!is!l the order Of things
which Congress abolished. This pro-
gramme involves the forciLle destruction
OF governments organized under the law,
and whose validity Congress has rccor
nizeG, the overthrow Of constitutions which
have been ratified by majority Of the
people, the Acknowledgement Of the freed
men in deiance Of existing law, and the
restoration to power Of ,ebsl leaders in spite
oi the disability imposed by tho fourteenth
amendment. X
VIII the World give It's opinion frankly
touching tie practical application Of the
l'lslr doctrine as to the dispersion Of the
Southern governments and the di.fran-
chlss'uent OF tho freednien by tho Nero
order Of Democratic President? Will i,
t2psln low 1t rcconcileS its profcssel re-
SPEC; for law, snl its acknowledgements Of
TIA. dt j1cto authority Of Tie nev" govern
'n"nts, with lis support Of candidates who
are pledged to defy anJ violently to over
throw both
10 Which ''iu>iAous question tho World
makes frank an4wer' ss follows:
1h!s strain Of remark anI request for
Information proceed upon the uuwarrante.l
assumption that General Bl.irs letter is &
part Of the Democratic platform. But
there ~ no process of fair reasoning by
Which II csa l': made to appear 50. The
Democratic National Convention adopted
It's platform before balloling for candidates
and without any expectation that Mr.. S,,-
Hnonr would be its nominee for President
or General Blair for Vice-p PRESIDENT.
Whatever candidates had been nominated
'hs'r acceptance would have bound their
personal honor to the suppot: Of the plat
form, although it might have conil,cted, in
semo RESPECTS, with their own declared
views. Governor Seymour, rot long before
the Convention met, made noteworthy
tYeocl' on the payment Of the tubIic debt
Does tho Ttsacs believe, or does ANYBODY
believe, that in nominating him the Con,
ven''on, 'ndor.ed all the views expressed in
tha; speech? On the contrary. everybody
Rdm'ls that Governor Seymour, by accept
ing The nomination, yielded whatever in
his previous views did not fully accord with
the platform. The same reasoning applies
to Ge"eral Blair. IIe is bound by pre-
c;se'y tho same obligations of persona!
honor, il there is any thing in bis Broadhead
letter inconsistent with the platform, lie
renou"ced it in accepting the nomination,
just as Mr. Seymour made similar renun-
citation if there was anything inconsistent
With The platform in his financial speech
lie candidates Of great political party
stand in representative capacity. Their
honor, which forbids tt.om to ,cco,, ,,,o
nomination Of the party unless they have
prevIou'Iy agreed with it in essentials
binds them to. sink minor differences
Whatever the Times may think of the
ethics OF such matters, it cannot be permit.
ted 10 make q different rule for the two
candidates Of tic Democratic party. Our
contemporary must either hold that the
Democratic party is pledged to all the
previous views of Mr. Seymour, or else
admit that the party is pledged to all the
views expressed by General Blair previous
to his nomination. The Times nav taks
which horn of this dilemma it pleaasmes bu,
We shall force it upon one Of them
In our opinion, the contingency con-
femplatea by General Blair in Ills. Broad-
head letter IS never likely to, ari.e... The
example OF Georgia demonstrates that
everything desirable can he accomplished
~,