, 1868-07-21

hX-Mr. ChaSeS chance OF nomination Is
at least as good as that ofany competitor.
That it should be so is a proof that the
special ideas of the Democrats are losing
all their hold, for Mr.. Chase, though
"moderate" by a iudlcinl habit of mind,
is as Republican in policy as his rival.
He was an eager supporter Of the war
and of the principle involved in the Re-
construction Acts. He is not a free ira
der, not an advocate of "inhation," not
devoted to any one of The few side issues
which may attract stray masses of voters,
and he is the answering advocate of
impartial suffrage without distinction of
race or colour. AS his nomination has
become more probable, he has s~igniied
in a letter TO a friend. which the friend
Publishes, doubtless with his consent,
that he is not DESTROYS of political life,
and if he enters it, it will be "with all
his opinions unchanged" The Demo-
Gratis, therefore, in accepting him, will
accept their rivals creed and ten years
after the death of John Brown the entire
American nation will solemnly decide
that the negro is eligible to the Presiden-
cy, the most astounding triumph of an
idea over a force recorded in modern his
tory. 1t is, we fear, too astounding a
triumph to be true but the American
politicians who know the Democracy and
hate the negro evidently do not think so.
1t may be plausihIy asked what Demo-
Gratis would gain by thus swallowing all
their strongest prejudices in one great
gulp, why they should not accept the in
evitabIe, and simply retire from the polls;
but the explanation is easy. Supposlng
Mr.. Chase to be accepted and elected,
he would of course select moderate men
but he would be compelled by party ell
Quettes to choose a Cabinet nominallY at
least Democratic, and to use his patron
age as far as he could on the Democratic
side. We say as far as he could, for if
he were elected the Republicans, whose
nominees now fill all Offices, would in
stantIy pass Mr.. Jenckes' Bill, which
they are more than half willing to pass
as it is, declaring the rank and file of the
Civil Service entitled 10 retain office dum
Sc bene geSSerint, but still there are many
coveted prizes which that Bill does not
cover. The party would seem TO win,
and in America, as else where, there are
masses of waverers who float towards
the StTOUS' u0 IOOG vi UILl6luCSS IOl
the Democrats, their discord with the
nation as 10 acknowledgements, would be
removed, and they would have time to
apply their ideas to new issues, or, as
they phrase it, ''to replank their plat
form" It must be remembered that the
difference between the two parties is very
deep, is based on distinct ideas, and is as
old as the days of Jefferson. The Re-
publicans tend always more or less to the
belief that Government can do much 10
foster the development Of the people,
that the nation is more than an aggregate
of persons, that the State is, as compar-
ed with the Republic, a subordinate
though self-existent authority, that cen
tralization is as valuable as localism, and
that authority is a just principle as well
as freedom. The Democrat, on the other
hand, desires to limit the action not of
this or that, but of any Government;
bol;eyos the individual State TO have