The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1868-11-09
The Democrats as IN Opposition.


Carolina and the recent attempt to throw
Seymour and Blair overheard aud the fact,
which now seems TO be we'll established, that
there does exist in the ranks of the Demo-
cratic party large body oil persons who are
sensible of the folly which has marked the
course of the party during the last year or two.
seem TO furnish some foundation for the hOpo
that tue party will, dnriog the coming four
wears, II il can do nothing else, at least fur
nish the country with something like decent
opposition. We are not, as our readers know,
amongst the number of those VINO looked on
in uTmixed admiration at the Republican
performances in Congress since 1863. They
were undoubtedly marked by many follies
and absuTdities. The party in power was
guilty of some foolish legislation; of many
foolish attempts at legislation. Its leaders
said great many wild things, and for while
the control of the organization seemed to be
put up at auction, the men that said the wild
est things being treated as the highest bidders.
People who talked to it of reason or expe-
rience, of possibility or impossibility, were
denounced as traitors or idiots. So things
went on till 1867, when undoubtedly the
country was pretty well disgusted with Re-
publican rule, and bore it solely because ofthe
magnitude and Importance of the interests the
party had in its keeping, and which in no other
keeping would have been safe. With the inn
peRchment the critical point in the party for
tunes was reached. The process, properly
C0n0ucteQ, Lle country was perfectly Wiling
to submit to, bvt it was not prepared for the
scandals and excesses by which it in fact was
marked However, by good luck rather than
by good management, it came out OF 1T with
out serious damage We have no hesitation
now in saying, however, that it was saved
from utter ruin by the votes of the seven
Senators. Whether they were corrupt or
honest in their decision, it prevented the
accession of Mr.. Wade to the Presidency and
the predomnance of men like General Butler
in the councils of the Executive and probably
the nomination of Mr.. Wade at Chicago. Now,
there is no doubt whatever, in view of what
the maiorites have been at the late elections,
both State and Federal, that the happening
of either of these contingencies would have
killed the party and delivered the country
into the hands Of the Democrats. Three or
four months of the rule of Wade and Butler
might have established the reign of pure
"truth," but it would also have determined
the country to bring tina reign to close at
the earliest possible moment, and that mo-
ment would have been the 4th of March, 1869.
These are not simple speculations of our own,
nor are they things which anybody will hear
at mass meetings; but they are things which
nine ont of ten thinking Republicans will tell
you in private room. The party has been
saved, as we have said, first of all by the
result of the impeachment process, and
secondly and proximately, by the opportunity
to follow the dictates OF its sound and sober
judgment which that result afforded the
Chicago Convention.
But when one compares even the most
foolish of The Republican leaders to the wisest
of the Democratic leaders, one begins involun-
tarily to excuse the Republican vagaries. The
Democrats in Congress, to be sure, were
small; but they had nearly half the popu-
lation of the North at their back. They were
but q handful; but they, in reality, repre-
sented nearly as many voters as the maj oriCy.
lp1o 0f w0nln hQVa M
men possessing the least skill in their art
powerful and dreaded enemy. 1t could not,
of course, have given them the victory, when
heads came to be counted but IL would have
given their criticisms weight and edge; would
have made formidable breaches in the Rspub-
lican ranks out of DOORS would have held the
more reasonable and intelligent portion of the
Democratic party firm in their allegiance; and
would perhaps, only have been prevented
from driving the Republicans from power by
making them sensible of their danger and
opening their eyes to the value OF wisdom and
discretion.
AS things went, however, the Democratic
members in Congress during the past three
years have perhaps supplied the most comi-
cal and pitiable chapter in the history of legis-
lative bodies. In the first place, in their par
liamentary tactics they initiated Thaddeus
Stevens, in acting rather like prophets who
had message to deliver to stiH-necked
generation than like politicians whose bust
ness it was to win men over to their way of
thinking. One would suppose, to watch their
performances, their dilatOry notions when the
final result was perfectly clear, their bonn
bastic protests, their small parliamentary
tricks, their personal ks, their grOtesque
and absurd resolutions; th5ir persistent op
position to every thing good, bad, or indif-
ferent which the really good men OF
the Republican party advocated; their
readiness to league with the dregs OF
the Republican party In the prosecution OF
any scheme likely to embaTrass the majority,
no matter what its effect might be on the
nation at large; their wild and reckless ex-
aggerations OF the really weak points in Re-
publican rule; their OstentatiOus Indifference
to the public credit, as If the fate OF the
national debt could be anything but matter
of the deepest importance to any inhabtant oi
the country; their OstentatiOus Indifference to
the fate OF the negroes, as If the condition,
mental aud moral and physical, of four mil
lions Of persons out of population OF ten mil
lions could be a small concern to any honest
and intelligent man appointed TO legislate fol
it; their unwillingness to admit that there was
any good motive whatever at the bottom O
the prosecution of the war in which three hun
dred thou, and of their own friends and neigh
bors had laid down their lives-in short, tn,
concentration of their wits and energies during
three long years on the one petty and disrepu
table task of impeding the path of the ma
jority, task to which the feeblest wits ant
energies were, of course, equal-one woult
suppose, we say, that the sole object of thei
constituents In sending them to Congress wa
TO act as a kind of light cavalry and make tn
enemy feel uncomfortable.