The Hancock Jeffersonian. [volume] (Findlay, Ohio) 1857-1870, 1868-07-17
The Democratic PLATFORM:

1ne hepuDifcan party, 10 Tue eA-
tent of its power, has been guilty OF
the crime of not putting that portion
of the Southern people who prayed
and fought for the Union in our late
struggle under the feet of those who
cursed 1t and fought to overthrow it.
That is the gist Of the offense for
which it is arraigned, DETAINED, be-
labored and befonled, in the platform
yesterday adopted by the Democratic
National Convention and herewith
presented to our readers. "Though
you paint an inch thick, to this com.
plexion YOU come at last The
shareholders revolted and tried TO
break up the Union the Republicans
broke their power by destroying
Slavery, and th4s re-estahlished the
Union. All the talk of arbitrary ar
rests, suspension OF habeas corpus.
overthrow of trial by jury, DC, &c,
amounts to just tins: We might have
saved Slavery and sacrificed the
Union; we sacrificed Slavery and
saved the Union; hence we are hated
and pelted with trailing accusations
by the Rebels and Rebel sympathiz-
ers who ratified and cheered counsel
or Murphy's platform yesterday in
Tammany Hall. -
Hypocrisy is the tribute Vice pays
to Virtue" A few years ago, these
gentlemen were denouncing our
Emancipation and Negro Arming as
our giant usurpations. A few years
before that, Coercion" was our
great crime; we had destroyed the
Constitution by refusing to let the
Slave Power overthrow it. When
we struck back at Slavery, that was
our objectionable sin; now, they
have not a word to say against Abo-
lihon; they dare not even demon
strate openly against negro suffrage
and squarely assert their baseless
dogma that "This is a White Mans
Government they are constrained
by prudence to rail against the bug
bear Of "Negro Supremacy And
their flight from the field wEcreon
they first confronted US is not yet ar
rested. .-se-.fs1.-- .-.-.- --5- -..z
This Platform ostentatiously beats
the air. IT denounoes military rule,
when the department commanders
are quietly turning over their author
ity to the Governors and Legislatures
chosen by the people, and announc-
ing their power at an end. 1t calls
for the withdrawal of the Freedmen's
Bureau, when Congress has provided,
or is providing, for the closing OF
that Bureau In each State 80 soon as
its machinery of loyal self-govern-
ment shall have been put fairly in
motion. The platform seems anx-
ious to atone, by the vehemence
wherewith it denounces whatever has
passed or is passing away, for its
cowardly equiyocations and slhter-
fuges.
..Shall the Southern blacks, en-
franchised by Congress, be disfran-
chished? Is the c0iored minority OF
our people to be recognized as en-
titled to a voice in the Government
which they, like the rest of US, must
support and obeyi Are the Recon
struction acts, and the State Govern
ments based upon them, to be treated
as nullities, in case the Democrats
elect their President next FallP Are
the whites of the South to be upheld
in subverting those governments, and
establishing exclusive white rule in
their stead ?" These are the para.
mount questions Of the hour. Has
the Democratic Convention answered
them in the affirmative or the mega
tive? Read and Judge! The plain
intent is to have them understood in
opposite senses, according to the bias
Of the reader. We have no doubt
that, if the Democrats triumph, the
new State Governments will be sub
yerted and the blacks disfranchlsed
but many will hold the opposite view
and the Convention meant to satisfy
each side and be In posltlon 10 cnea
either. q
On the subject of Finance ant
: Currency, the Convention is NOR
explicit. True, its demand of"On,
Currency for currency for the Gov
ernment and the people" &c, wa
meant to be, and will be, understoo'
in two exactly opposite senses: hal
the Democracy agreeing with US, tina
such a currency is to be rightfully
4 benefcently secured only by re
4 sumption OF specie payment, Will
s tbe other half will read it as sanction
inc the Pendleton scheme Of payin
the National creditors in greenback
and embarking on a shoreless ocea
l. OF currency inhation and deoasemen
So far, the platform is only apartisa
K dodge, and not particularly smal
lone. But look at this;