The New Orleans crescent. [volume] (New Orleans, La.) 1866-1869, 1868-06-16
ACCOMPLISHED FACTS AND THE POLICY
AND PARTY OF THE FUTURE,


the war was ended, to carry affairs back I,
where they where before they underwent tn
solvent and effacing forces of that grea
cataclysm. 1t is argued that more harm
would result from attempting the blinC
reversal of the existing order of things in
backward direction, than from attempting {
blind reversal of the existing order of things
IN a forward direction and it is alleged OIL
behalf of Gen. Grant that he demand.
peace, not in the sense of the cessation Of
war, the suppression of rebellion, the substi
tuition of civil for military rule alone, but
also IN the sense of preventing the revival Of
political controversy about fundamental
rights and institutions, which has been prac.
tically decided in the form of accomplished
facts, and which cannot be revived without
grave danger to the quiet and order essential
to the public welfare. This plea is inge-
NOUS but superficial; and when considered as
an elecboneering device in the interest of the
radical faction which, for three years, has
been the sum of all dangers to quiet and
order and Of all impediments to the public
welfare, it is at once imprudently and alb
surdly fallacious. 1t nevertheless has whole
| some significance, as a submission, in words
at least, to the protest Of public opinion
against the chronic agitations and the pro-
toundly disturbing and understandable
policies of the politicians now in power, and
who have nominated Grant on platform of
vague generalites and gross incongruities.
for the sole purpose of perpetuating their ac-
tendency.
The charge against the Democratic party,
as this party is now composed, that it is fight
ing, or intends to fight, on dead issues. is not
only false but impossible. As well might a
general think of forming an army, and going
into battle, with the skeletons and ghosts of
the graveyard, as for political leaders to
seek the elements of party organization and
success in dead issues. 1t would be simplv
suicidal for the Democratic party to propose
to unsettle questions settled by the war. or
by logical and inevitable consequences of the
war.
No party can exist for to-day and for the
impending future, and yet plant itself on
policies founded in the conditions of a per- .
ished epoch. A live party must stand on live
issues, or not stand at all. 1t must have
practical relevancy to palpable facts and pal
plating interests of the hour, and to momen-
tous exigencies of the time at hand, or its ex-
lstenee Will be "as idle as a painted ship
upon painted ocean" When interroeated
as to the reason of its being it must refer to
realities, not to distractions, for a sufficient
answer. Parties, like individuals, must be
subdued to what they work in, and their
lives, like individual life, must be externally
fashioned according to their environments.
Hence it is that the present Democratic party.
as an organization possessing life and instinct |
with future, cannot be the Democratic party |
OF 1906, of 1860, or even of 1864 1t is not |
given to men, acting separately or collec-
lively, to remount the current of their wears.
and to set back in proportionate measure the
clock OF time. Heaven, in its mercy, forbids
hem to recall the past, while inviting them
to embark with brave and hopeful hearts on
The unfathomable sea of the future.
For reasons less general than those above
adverted to, it would be suicidal for the Dem
ocratic party to set itself against established
results of the war. There is no chance for
he success of this party unless it is SUD-
ported by the majority of the Northern peo-
pie; and this support it cannot expect to OBJ
ain If it attempts to cancel the arbitraments
u war which was sustained to a victorious
conclusion, either actively or passively, either
openly or implicitly, by the entire North. 1t
Ollows from this proposition that an indis-
,ensable condition of Democratic victory at
ne approaching presidential election. is to
am adequate accessions of votes from men
Who have heretofore been adherents of the
republican party. Such being its position
nd its need, there is only one practicable
ath before it, and that is plainly to be seen.
Nothing could be more convincing of the
nature of the charge that the
Democratic party is party of dangerous re-
ction, desperately bent on resurecting bu-
led issues, than the respectful and earnest
manner in which leading opponents of Demo-
ratio opinion have considered the suggestion
Mr.. Chase for presidential nomination
y the party
The mere entertainment of such sugges-
on implies acceptance of the altered condi-
ons Of the country resulting from the war,
nd oblivion of the questions which the war
as invoked to settle. Should Mr.. Chase be
ominated by the New York convention, this
ititude of the petty respecting the past and
he actual situation would be clear beyond
enisl by the most captious and skeptical
ut whether his nomination, considered in
ther aspects, would be judicious, is another
latter. The Democratic party, in order to
e victorious, must make good its claims to be
le party of the future; and this it cannot be
ithout addressing itself boldly and strenu-
1sly to the supreme purpose of reforming
le manifold mischiefs which radical policy I
as inflicted upon the country, and averting 3
brood of perils springing from the same !
olicy. To agree with Mr.. Chase as to the !
'tual situation to be accepted, the Democrats !
ould have to consent to the possession of
lfrage by Southern negroes; but, in the way |