The Plymouth weekly Democrat. (Plymouth, Ind.) 1860-1869, 1868-04-30
UNDER TIE CONSTITETION
AND OUTSIDE OF 1T.
Ed. DEMOCRAT

Ed. DEMOCRAT:
For sixty years prior to the accession Of
the republican party to power. the people
of the United States enjoyed a degree of
pr ospcrity unexampled in TIE history Of
any government Of which the present gen
GRAFTON has any knowledge The rights Of
every citizen were respected and held ga
cred; the constitution was the supreme
law alike for rulers and people, and every
attempt to override it or set at naught its
wise provisions was frowncd down with pa
triotic indignation. Economy il the al
minstration Of public affairs was the
rule 10 large standing armies 70 public
deot no excise tax to consume tie sub
stance ofthe people no military despotism !;
no exclusion Of representatives from the
national councils, no o-sufrage, and
no high prices and deprecated currency.
1t is within the memory of the laborer,
whose hair is not yet gray, that he could
purchase more of the necessarles Of life
for dollar and half ten years ago, than
he can at the present for three dollars.
The entire expenses Of the government
fer the four years prior to March l, 1861,
did not amount to so much as those Of the
war department alone for four mouths last
past, and get the republican leaders charg-
ed the last democratic administration with
being corruptly extravagant.
The republican party came into power
with pledges of economy. And yet, at a
time when the nation is grooming under a
load Of debt greater than that of any other
nation in The world. Congressman vote
themselves each FIVE thousand doiiars year.
vote away millions Of dollars year to ed
ucate the negro, and clothe and teed him,
and yet with brazen Inconsistency declare
him qualified to make laws and frame con-
stitutions for the government Of sovereign
states. The lobbies Of congress are crowd
ed with whisky, railroad, aud manufactur
ing interests. demanding subsidies and APP
preparations, and Immediately congressman
vote the amounts demanded out Of the
treasury.
Thad. Stevens, the chief leader Of the
republican party, the man who shapes its
policy and who Of al others best under
stands the motives of his party made the
bold and shameful avowal, that all the leg
islation Of congress was for the purpose
of maintaining the ascendancy of radical
ism and from his own lips came the ac-
acknowledgement that they had gone entire
~ outside of the constitution.
The alleged object of the war was the
maintenance OF the constitution, but the
party claiming all the loyalty and devo.
ton to that sacred instrument make haste
to overthrow it and trample it under
their unclean feet. Are they less
! culpable than the late rebels? Under the
/ rUIE CI TdulcaiISll VIZ udNt tfC CulOItcu
absence of representatives of ten states,
and the union dissolved by enactment of
the national Legislature, a military despot-
ism established over nearly one half OF the
union. The acceptance of degrading terms
is the door through which they are
asked to re-enter the union, and escape
from CALLING despotism. AS honorable
men it is natural that the whites of the
south should prefer every evil to their own
degradation.
We have sketched briefly what the coun-
try was under makers who conscieu.
tiously regarded their oaths and consider.
ed themselves bound by the constitution
and under those who wantonly violate their
obligations, and shamelessly boast OF pre-.
ferring the creed Of their party, to the con.
stitution Of the country. 4