Des Arc weekly citizen., 1868-11-24
From the Chicago Times. THEDEi0CRATIC MINORITY.
What Is Our Duty to the Party md tsse People.

ma tsne A'eOpfe.
 No man is SO wise as to be above the uses of good advice. The representa- tives of the Democratic party that have been elected 10 Congress and to the several State Legislatures are not sup posed to be citizens in whom wisdom and statesmaDship have reached the mo- more-beyond state of perfectness.
 In the next Congress, as in the pres ent and in the two preceding, the Dem ocratic representatives will stand in the minority. The same will be the case in the Legislature of Illinois. and in all of the Northern Legislatures but one or two.
 It is said, with truth, that party can fight better in opposition to, than in support of, an existing administration. But it is not always observable that the representative men of parties do fight better so. The Democratic represents tives have not always done so. They have not done so at any time since they fell into the minority i'll the Thirty eighth Congress.
 They have been impelled too gener- ally by,one idea-the idea of opposing everything which the dominant party favored, and apparently for no better reason than because the dominant party favored it. "Can any good thing come out of Nszareth?" they have asked and, without taking the trouble to ex- anime whether the thing be good or bad, they have voted "No." No party in the world ever won popular sympa- thy on that unreasoning monosyllable None ever deserved to. Indiscriminate hostility to, and denunciation of, any thing and everything that somebody else may propose, without candid and honest examination of it's merits, never failed to gain for an individual the de. testation of the majority among his ac- quaintances. Such person is always without influence. It is the same with parties and their representatives.
 The exceeding meagerness of the Democratic minority in the present Congress may have afforded some ex- cuse for the wholly negative course oi Democratic Congressman. They could not gain recognition for any positive influence, because no question was likely to arise on which they might possess q ''balance of power" Two thirds of both houses, thoroughly or. ganized and directed as a unit by the behest of King Caucus. could do and undo, in the pleasure of an arbitrary will, regardless of reason, of law, and of everything else. In this situation it seemed useless for the minority to say anything. Itwould have been bet ter, sometimes, if they had not said anything.
 But, in the next Congress, the excuse of extreme meagerness in the minority will not exist. The Democratic Rcp- resentatives will comprise more than one-third of the lower House. The number will not be sufficient to inau- gurate and carry out any positive meas ure of legislation but it will be enough to constitute a power that will com mand the respect of the majority, and win the confidence and approval of the country against any very wtong act that the majority may do, provided it be made to deserve them.
 To that end, it is suggested that Dem- ocratic representatives shall hencefor- ward abandon the policy which, while proposing nothing, opposes everything that any other body proposes, and gives no honest reason for anything. What further use is there to fight in direc- ton where further defeat must be cer- tain and inevitable? Why, for exam pie, seek to prevent the execution oi the Radical reconstruction" act? Why talk about State rights. or Federal in tervention? Why stand back and hurl the epithet unconstitutional at meas ures and doctrines which the people have already passed upon and ap- proved? Is this the business of states men? Is this the way to win popular favor?
 The Democratic minority should go forward not backward. It should not stand still. It should examine all ques- tions that arise, not ill the light of past events, or of existing prejudices; but with thoughtful and earnest considers tions of the future. It should labor not so much to undo wrong, as to es- tablish right not so much to pull down fa.sehood, as to raise up truth. IL should prove it's own honest purpose to do right by approving of whatever is right, though it be proposed by foe, as earnestly as if it had been proposed by friend. IL should prove it's faith by its works. It should demonstrate its possession of political wisdom by earnest examination, by serious reason and by positive argument: and not commit the folly of further indulgence in mere negative denunciation. Ii should establish it's claim to popular confidence by deserving it.
 If the Democratic minority shall pur. sue such course, it will be the party in the majority within two years, ai surely as time shall continue. If il shall not do 60, nothing is surer than i that its leaGers-every man Of them will be thrown overheard by the peo. pic. There must be either new game or new deal. The Democratic minor. ities in Congress and in the State Leg. isatures eau and will determine " which it shall be.
 CRANE.
 A correspondent of the New York