The Waynesburg Republican. [volume] (Waynesburg, Pa.) 1867-18??, 1868-03-11
WHAT BECOMEs OF DEMOCRATIC
PRINCIPLEs.

DGtltS ilho 4NcN ihauii'sHiS anu 1i'''
anna, it may seem thatthe war for right
principles il a battle never won, But
those who watch the constant change
and advance in the principles on
which such small and uniform major
tiles decide, will see that the battle for
the truth is always winning. The
stream remains at the same hight, but
its waters are never again the same.
The vote does not greatly vary, hht
the principles and questions on which
it is cast constantly change. And this
change, during the past ten years, will
be found to consist in the fact that the
Republican party has done everything
il set out to do, constantly advancing
to new achievements, and constantly
winning for its course the approval Of
the country, while the Democratic par
| ty vainly opposed every successful
measure and abandoned its opposition
only when overwhelmed with defeat.
The odds and losses in the last battles
Of the war were not greatly different
from those in the first. But the
grand popularity Of the five years
struggle was that after nearly every
battle the Rebels retired and the
Union armies advanced.
1t is SO in our political contests.
The Democracy could not be eypected
to graeely meet in convention, and
open their resolutions by admitting
that they abandon their previous posi-
tions. But year byyear theydo aban-
don their own positions Of the previ-
Gus year, aid very frequently adopt in
their stead platform which would
have been as Radical year or two
earlier. 1t is by this constant pro-
cess of accepting the situation" forced
upon them by the Republican party.
and toning their platforms to adapt
them to the victorious march Of Re-
publican principles, that Democrats
are able to keep Just about so close in
the rear of the Republican march, and
to maintain their formidable minori-
ties or local maijorities. They deride
our music, but are compelled to fall in.
to line and march to it. Thus, prior
to 1860, the gist of Democracy was al
Endorsement of the rightNf Secession
as expressed in the Virginia and Ken
lucky resolutions Of 1898, and Of TIN
constitutional equality of the right t.
own slaves with the right to own an
other property. There is not shret
of either ofthese principles now left il
any Democratic platform, North o
, South, in the country. On the con
trary, the Republican doctrine tina
slavery was wrong and ought not b
be extended into the Territories, AM
the subsequent expansion of this trutl
/ into the doctrine that having rebelled
! it must be abolished by military fore
are silently accepted by the Democrat
,, ic party. No Republican measure We
assailcd by the Democrats more vehe
, montly than the Legal Tender act, bu
f.. now they want the whole Government
/ debt converted into legal tenders, ]
. 1862, they denied that State gov
ernment could be destroyed by its re
bellion, But now they accept til
, State governments created by Gat Q
, Andrew johnson, and only deny tha
5 Congress could cuporScde them. ]
|. 1868, they proclaimed that if the black
4 should vote, it would lead to universs
e miscegenation. All the blacks in tn
South have voted, yet there is proba
= bly, lsss miscegenation there than eve
! before, and now leading apostles {
: the Democratic party, like Senate
Doolittle. and leading presses, lik
n The N. Y. World and Chicago Tim,
have advocated negro suffrage, eithe
: universal or partial. In 1861, 1876.
G and 1868, the Democratic party pre-
d dicted that the Morrill, Tariff woul
v destroy the country; hut in 1865 an
4 1865, they tacilly assented to the pre-
s priety Of increasing it. When tn
3 State Bank circulation was taxed OF
h of existence, they faved at this os q
$ "audacious invasion of the rights {
e the States and individuals" but no,
: the most quernlous Democrat raises n
r voice in favor ofreturning to the Stat
3 Bank system. The Democrats oppos
ed the the draft for men to carry 0
y the war SO persistently and fercely tbs
it required fifty thousand troops to /
| withdrawn from our armies to enforc
a the measure in New York and Indian:
/, They opposed volunteering, and thei
), leading orators and presses denounce,
y the troops as "hireling mercenaries,
| and demanded that "no more me
e should be sacrificed in Lincoln
: slaughter pens" Grant was denounc
: ed as butcher, and Sherman as a lu
}. natic. Yet.they now vaunt the ser
i vices of the Democratic party in sup
: pressing the Rebellion, thereby reced
: ing from their position THAT the wa
t was wrong. Their last National plat
| form declared that the war for tn
/ Union was failure. 1t is singula
] comment on Democratic principle
o that as no National Democratic Con
e vention has met since, this dec!aratio
Y is still theleading plank in the Ma
t tional Democratic platform. The.
/ will soon meet and adopt as a substi
!, tute that the laws Of Congress for re
n construction are a failure The,
n boast themselves prominently the de
< tenders of the Constitution, yet thei
8 leading policy is the taxation of til
4 National debt, which the Suprem
a