The Charleston daily news. [volume] (Charleston, S.C.) 1865-1873, 1868-07-17
CHI A R L E S TON.
FRIDAY MORNING, JULY II, 1868.
The Republican swindle.

The Republican swfndle.
The Republican party was gigantic
swindle from the beginning, and is now
nuisance that ought to be abated. We well
remember the strongest argument it used
to address TO the Northern mind some twenty
three years sgo-the argumsatuu od 'np'd-
iam-meanest of al! appeals to the popular
mind. The Republicans of that day would
have vainly paraded their some thousand
and one facts in regard to slavery" had
they not added that those proud and bloody
shareholders tci furnished the country
nearly all the Presidents, Vice-Presidents,
foreign Ministers, Generals, &C., &C., and
had msde the Northern masses only their
hewers of wood and drawers Of water.
The Republicans were loud in their procla-
nations of philanthropy, and acknowledg-
ments of the '.nigher law" but the wolf
was concealed beneath the sleeps clothing;
they relied upon sectional prejudice, not
fraternal love; Whist they hated was the
power, not the guilt of slavery. The whole
movement, we repeat, was Q swindle from
the beginning.
The Republican party was secret socl-
ETY. of Wings; its leaders were men devoted
t6 the principle Of protection. Defeated
before the people when this principle was
ayowed, they presented other issues, retain
ing, but concealing, their design to discr N.
mate, by tariffs and other modes of legis-
lation, between the rival sections Of the
country. While they denounced the system
of labor at the South, they intended to
make that very system bear the expenses of
the government Accordingly, they had no
sooner obtained power than the mask was
thrown of. Mr.. L1scoLH, when on his way
to the White House, made speech atpPitts-
burg, in which he advocated protective
tarff-announcing himself as in favor of
adequate protection being extended to the
coal and iron Of Pennsylvania and the corn
of Illinois. Yet in the famous Republican
platform adopted at Philadelphia, June Is,
1856, not s. word nor hint had been uttered
in regard to this nefarious discrimination
between the two sections. Onthe contrary,
it was promised, that adequate provision
should be made for the protection OF the
life, liberty and property Of every citizen,
and for the preservation Of the constitu-
tional rights Of lie nsalle
The Republican party were willing to
give any security demanded by the South,
if they were only invested with power. In
1858, Mr.. LINCOLN, who was then candi-
date for the United States Senate, said ?
81 do not now, nor ever did, stand in favor
..of the unconditional repeal Of the fugitive
s.slave law. / do not now, nor ever did,
ssstand pledged against the admission OF
aany more slave States into the Union; do
..not stand pledged against the admission Of
so new State into the Union with such
ssconstitution as the people Of that State
.may see ft to make. / d. not stand to-
.day pledged to the abolition of slavery in
sthe District of Columbia. I do not stand
spledged to the prohibition of the slave
..trade between the different States" Now,
what was all this but an avowal that oil his
fulminations against slavery were merely
polite devices for the attainment. of power
In the light of such facts, the eulogies e1-
pended upon the "sreat emanc;patOr" are
simply ridiculous. In the words of Helen
in the Huuchback,
ssThe spider comes Of the same family
That in his meshv fortress spends his LITE.
Unless you pull him down aud scare him from
Nor were these the sentiments Of Mr..
LINCOLN only. For among the resolutions
adopted by the Convention OF Chicago, which
nominated him for the Presidency, occursthe
following: "4. That tne maintenance invio-
s.late of the rights of the States, and especi-
.ally the right of each State to order and
sscontrel its own domestic institutions, ac-
..cording to its own judgment exclusively,
ssis essential to the balance of powers on
(which the perfection aud endurance of our
"political fabric depends; and we denoance
.the lawless invasion by armed force of the
s'soil of any State OF Territory, no matter
sunder what prete1t. as among the gravest
"of crimes" Thus the Republicans bid for
power in 1860 was guarantee Of slavery,
a denuuciation OF the invasion of States
which they were preparing to overrun with
FIRE and sword, and even brand of infamy
upon the memory ofold JOHN Brown, whom
they were about to canonize !as o martyr
and confessor of their faith.
Finally, when it b;came apparent that
the South could no. be caioled into the sup
port of an in;micai aad urprincipled party,
the leaders of thst party resolved to break
the power of the South by precipitating q
onaict between the two sections. To them,
most of oil and first of oil, is due the fright
full expenditure of blood and treasure which
49, zh,,or r,oro bovo wifueaapd For