Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1868-11-19
The D.mosr..y Of General Grant.

Since General Grant has been elected
by 30 Immense a majority, il is Justify
asserted by the Democratic journals that
he is and always has been real Demo
crat. Undoubtedly he is, aud that is
his first radical difference with the
Democratic party. General Grant is a
Democrat, and the Democratic party is,
and has been for generation, the ms
trument of an aristOcracy. For what is
it to be Democrat in the true sense of
the word? Certainly it is not TO do what
Ring urdains. Bpt that is what Democ.
racy has been for many a year. Phe
policy Of the party was Just what the
slave-master thought the interests Of
slavery required. The great measures OF
the party during the twenty years before
the war were the annexation of Texas
and the repeal of the Missouri Compro
mise, while every minor measure was
tested by its degree seryice to the same
great end Of the supremacy of slavery in
the government. This system was the
denial and outrage ofevery human right;
but the party existed and struggled for
no other end, and still called itself Dem
ocratic. To he Democrat was to apollo
gize for slavery, and defend il; to sneer
at part of the population as of an infe-
rior race TO be abused At pleasure, and
consequently TO stuitify the moral sense,
to sophisticate and prevarieste, and to
struggle -endIessly- With every generous
human instinct. with religion and civil
This was to b. q Democrat, II made
no difference that there was plea that
it was = subject upon which nothing
could be done, and therefore upon which
Il Al. l.
there was an iEeessant talk about State
powers, and original compromises. The
one fact that was steadily clear through
all the obscurity and ;copfusion was that
q Democrat was q man who supported
the practical assertion that some men
had no rights which OTHER men were
bound 70 respect. And it was this trag-
icai absurdity which has been driving
the best men out of the Democratic par
ty for twenty years. The old and true
Democratic paper in this city is the
Evening Post. How long since it has
been technically a Denocratic paper?-l
In the true sense of Democracy, or re-
speet for equal rights. who are and al
ways have been stancher Democrats
than its editors, Mr, Bryant, Mr.. God.
win, and Mr.. NordoH? But what have
they had TO do, what could they have to
do. with Democracy which drew
its inspiration from Calhoun, With his
doctrine Of slavery as the only sure foun-
dation of free government; which fol-
lowed q dozen years ago the leadership
of Hammond and his associates, sneer-I
ing at free laborers IS mqd-siils; and
which accepted in this last election the
dictatorship of Wade Hampton and
D41,a ho hnr Ao lrtx< Ns,
with the blood of loyal citizens-of For,
rest fresh from Fort Pillow, and Semmes
from the Alabama?
To be true Democrat is to reject with
scorn every distinctive principle tn; t
the Democratic party has professed for q
generation, and TO disown all its ac-
knowledged chiefs from Calhoun to Sey-
mour. To be true Democrat is to be-
fieve in the equal rights of men, not of
States, and to organize that faith in law;
IL is, to reject the resolutions of '9S, and
20 acknowledge the necessary subordi-
nation of the States to the Union; it is
to oppose every kind of hostility of race,
of interest, and dissection in the country;
1t is to- insist upon an economical and
honest administration Of government
1t is psbe neither bully to the weakest
Of foreifft states nor q sycophant to the
stropeesabut reasonable, firm, and self
respecting with sll; it is to foster to the
utmost free schools and churches; to de-.
snand absolute freedom of speech and
action every where in the land; to keep
the national honor unstained; it is, above
all, to see that justice is expediency, and
that the maintenance of the equal rights
of men Is identical with true policy
This is Democracy, or the practical as
sertion Of the rights of man. This lei
exactly what the |. democrats Der who voted 3
vreeiseiy what General Grant coepts.-l
n he be Q Democrat Eoratio Seymour Ia
rot. The Democfsts Of to-day will find
small comfort In General Grant until
they renounce what Is now known rs
Democracy Harper's Weekly.
Wanted five hundred new subseribsrs.