The Portland daily press., 1868-01-30

- The Centrifugal Party.
There is a pleasing delusion which many
excellent men cherish. They believe the
Democratic party was once loyal and glori-
Gus party, the party Of the poor and oppress-
Ell, the gallant defender of popular rights, in
these latter days grown conservative and
cold, its youthful fire extinct, its traditions
forgotten. They mistake. The Democratic
party was always what it is now. The
warmth of generous conviction which they
found in it years ago was all their own.
When the hour Of trial came 1t carried them
where but left their party where we now
see-it.~ The Democratic party was made up
IN the beginning of men who opposed the
adoption OF the Federal constitution. After
that great instrt ment was adopted and our
struggling collection OF colonies became In
deed nation, the opponents of the constitu-
ton entrenched themselves behind every
clause which defended State rights. Cal
houns doctrine of notification and the more
recent heresy Of secession found in them will
ing disciples. The traditions of the party
nave been and are now steadiastly opposed to
The development OF national powers. The
Democrat has always been citizen OF New
York or South Carolina and never of the
United States. The history of the party is
the history of a series of Intellectual attempts
to prove that part is greater than the
whole.
vi the sincerity and ability with which the
Democratic doctrines have been promulgated
and defended, there Is 10 question. Men
who like Vallandigham suffered exile, men
who like Marcelus Emery in our own State
faced the anger Of an outraged community,
must have been sincere. These men had
profound belief that this nation was, and
ought to be, only federal alliance, and that
violent resistance to the with drawa of one OF
the States was monstrous crime They be.
lieved also that slavery was heaven-ap-
pointed institution, with which it was sacrl-
lege to meddle. The party called Democratic
has never been in any true sense dem ocratic
The great middle class of thinking, work.
ing men OF which the Liberal party In every
modern nation is composed, has always here
under one name or another, been opposed to
SAS wv utotiuCt ClhSbcs nave
always been found In the Democratic ranks
the leaders, educated, skillful demagogues, apt
to be little skeptical about the pernanency
OF the American system Of government; and
the led, an unthinking crowd, taught to vote
the regular ticket, carried away by catch
words, thoroughly permeated with the pre-
JUDGES OF the party but incapable OF forming
any conception OF the real truth which lay at
the bottom of the mass of partisan fallacies
with which they were fed.
For thereis truth at the bottom. A CEN
triiusal is as necessary as centripetal party
and the two are compliments to each other.
1t is not only necessary that the nation should
be great and powerful but also that the States
should be free and unfettered in the manage
ment of their local matters. The mistake OF
the Democratic party has been that instead
of defending the just rights of the States it
has constantly been asserting the paramount
privileges of States, proceeding even to the
absurd extreme of claiming the right through
State legislature or convention to break up
the Union formed, not by the States, but by
the people Of the United States. '"
All this time our great danger has not lain
in the direction of Capitalization. No great
capital Ike Paris or London concentrated
the intellectual and moral force OF the coun-
try. Washington was and is city of gov
ernment offices, with attendant groceries
and clothing stores and great hotels for the ac-
commodation of members of ofCongress. There
was no standing amy From this feeble
centre country was governed stretch
ing across continent, with bound
aries constantly advancing, inhabited
by population alert and intelligent, accus-
toned to combination, ready for any emer-
gency, jealous Of every interference with their
freedom. Was there, could there be, any
danger of centraiization in such country
The Democratic party thought or pretended
to think so? Many Democrats as we have
said, were undoubtedly sincere. But the
event has proved to all men who still retain
the power OF candid judgment, that the dan
ger lay In precisely the opposite direction
The danger still lies in the opposite direction
We are straining every nerve to complete the
Pacific railway in order to bind to us more
closely the remote Pacific provinces. We have
just annexed Walrussia. Is this time to re-
store power to party whose last President
could not discover any authority in the con-
stituton for the coercion of rebellious States |?
The war was an assertion of national against
local power. Emancipation was the work of
the Liberal plrty of America. Nothing is
II. ~
done during the last five years to promote the
honor and prosperity OF the nation would be
undone on the accession of Democratic ad-
nistration-except that no such accident
will happen ...... #..