Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1868-09-23
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SCHU YLER GOLF A X
Democratic Consistency.

that they are faithful TO the great principles Of
their founders, but especially do they assert
themselves to be the true opponents of free
dom and equality, and the strong bulwark,
which, when all else fails, is to maintain Re
publican principles inviolate. They claim
the radical Republicans to be the party of an
hour, eager and INSCRIPTIONS, seeking only
aggrandizement, careless OF the traditions of
the fathers and unmindful of human right
and the perpetuity of human freedom. In
spite of their record they have the impudent
holiness to declare that they, and they only,
are consistent with themselves, consistent
with their former professions and deeds.
Made up Of the most heterogeneous material,
the blatant rebel, the northern copperhead,
and the most ignorant of the foreign element
among US, they maintain that among them
only is genuine conservatism, that high
sounding term which keeps true to the colors
the honest portion of their party,-bu
above all, consistency to be found.
The party that makes this claim profess to
revere the name of jefferson it is a general
" received fact that he once proclaimed all
and practice of the party he founded sustain
him now?
Andrew jackson emphatically declared
that the Union must be preserved. Truly
the Democratic party, during the last eight
years have been consistent with the teach
ings of that great expounder of their faith.
Hard money had ever been sounding war
cry of the Democracy, and one of their most
eminent leaders proudly bore the name Of
Old Bullion indicative of the immutable
principles, not only of himself but of the
party he represented. In 1862, when the
cruel exigences of civil war, brought on by
the Democratic party, compelled the gov
ernment to make it's first issue of greenbacks,
Mr. Pendleton declared that the measure was
unconstitutional, null and void. He insisted
that no power earth should avail to fasten
such currency upon the people of the
United States. No charity for government
struggling, not for power. but for bare ex-
istence, could induce the Democratic party
to aid in such an act. To-day this consistent
Democrat stands before the world cham
pion Of the party that would flood the coun-
try with certificates of Indebtedness and
would make currency now sound, because
sustained by vast majority of an able and
honest people, of no more value than the
assignats of the French Revolution.
In 1851. Governor Seymour in a formal
message to the Legislature of New York
said
. The burdens and misfortunes of this war
- belong to us; it is ungenerous to shift any
- portion of them upon others who are not a
part of us. These foreign creditors of ours
are strangers who lent us their money
= when we wanted it, upon no security but
= our word of honor
q The saving proposed by not paying in
= coin is small and temporary, while the dis
= honor is lasting and the pecuniary loss
consequent upon this dishonor will be in
=. the end enormous
Contrast this with the platform on which
he now stands candidate for the Presi-
dency- Then the Democracy despaired Of
being able again to unite with their south
ern allies, and it would have been impolitic
to urge wholesale dishonesty upon the Leg
slature Of State. Now with reviving
hopes of success, general reputation and
national bankruptcy are urged more openly.
Seymour and Pendleton are the acknowledged
representatives of their party east and west
They differ to-day only in that the one has
the craftiness of an old, astute politician ::
the other is controlled more by the fiery
ardor of youth, not yet trained to dissimula-
ton even for temporary advantage
r
airy, As war measure, to promulgate the
amnesty, and afterward the reconstruction
proclamations, in the hope of dividing the
enemy, the clamor that arose from Demo-
Gratis north and south was appalling
The government was becoming a military
despotism in which the people had no voice.
Yet when peace had been established, when
all the prominent rebels were in our power
and such measures were no longer demand
ed by the unsparing necessity of war, the
general amnesty of Andrew Johnson going
far beyond the provisions deemed warranta-
bic by his predecessor, was hailed as the act
of a statesman. 1t restored a large number
Of voters to the party SO sorely in need the
danger of despotism no longer imminent
or to be feared
Before the late election in Maine their
leading newspapers promised large gains
they acknowledged openly and generally
that the result there would be accepted as in
dcative of the current in November
Despite the earnest efforts of g Young
Greenbacks," aided by chosen cohorts of the
faithful the figures demonstrate clear Re
publican triumph, and all promises are for
gotten. Some of the more daring attempt tc
gain consolation from the result; thei
attempts sound very like the dispatches o
their old allies when they were wont to fir
the Southern heart after such victories a,
Shiloh
Wade Hampton and his co-laborers tax
the stump and proclaim the equality @
whites and blacks. On the heels of thi
sonorous generality Democratic majorit
in the Legislature of Georgia, without dis
cussion, without even an allegation Of fraud
ulent votes or returns, deliberately expe
their colored associates These men wer,
elected as lawfully as the Democratic major
ity. They were kicked out in violation O
right and decency, to crafty the old Dem
cratic spite, always arrogant and now refu
sing to be even plausible.
With such past staring them in the face
haunted as they must be by the ghosts of s,
many dead doctrines ruthleesly slain, the,