The Tiffin tribune. (Tiffin, Ohio) 1868-1887, 1869-08-27


R peculiar political situation an whic
the Democratic party is now placed
: and / desire to say that wish tha
: that party might be just as good
true, pure and worthy party as posi-
BILE. / do not rejoice when the Dem
ocratic party acts badly and is foun,
1 unworthy. wish they might be s,
/, true and SO worthy that it would max
: but little difference to the cOuntr
: which of the two PARTIES should comt
into power. 1 wish that party wer,
so patriotic in all its doctrines ant
: aspirations that it might exert a ben
: efcIal and salutary influence on tho
policy and conduct Of the Republican
, party, so that if we went astray OF
took up any false doctrines, or in any
way became untrue to the people
the Democratic party might chastise
US by taking our place and serving
f the State more worthily than we had
done.
1 am grieved to see the Democrats
in this campaign taking positions SO
revolutionary that, in my opinion, ii
would be vast calamity to the coun-
try should they get into power Be
lieving this, l desire to call your at
tention to their attitude at the present
time.
"THE NEW DEPARTURE.
In the first place, fellow-citizens,
the Democratic party attempted in
this campaign to take what they call
ed a "new departure Their old
leaders have been meeting with a
series of terrible and crushing de-
feats, and the thoughtful men of the
party saw that a change in the line of
march was their only hope. From
1860 and onward, every step the De-
mocracy has taken in the old line of
march has led to defeat Last sum-
mer | know that the wisest men in
that party felt, and did not hesitate
to say that it was absolutely impossi-
bic for them TO succeed unless they
changed their line of march. And
an attempt was made in the New
York Convention last year to move
in new direction, and try the chances
Of success by tie nomination of Sal
mon p. Chase in which purpose they
came very near succeeding. The pur-
pose was at that time to wash from the
Democratic party the stains which the
rebellion left upon it. They had
been sunk repeatedly under the odium
of the rebellion and their hostility to
the war.
In view of their known sympathy
with the rebellion; their known hos
tility to our party in putting down the
rebellion their stout resistance to
every measure to overthrow slavery
and build up freedom in this country,
the most thoughtful and philosOphic
men in the party said, ave must wash
away these stains we must forsake
the old party, must strike off on new
course, and let the dead past bury its
dead And they came very nearly
taking up this new line Of march in
their attempt to nominate Salmon p
Chase; but they failed to make that
nomination, and of course they failed
in the election, as they had been do
ing fer eight years.
This season the Democracy Of Ohio,
smarting under accumulated defeats
suffered at our hands during the last
decade, resolved that they would in
deed take "new departure" When
they met in Columbus on the 9TH of
July last, Notwithstanding a large
part of the Convention favored the
nomination of Mr.. Pendleton, and |
another large portion favored the
nomination of Judge Ranney, and |
other we'll known leaders of the old |
school, yet so deeply was the party
penetrated with the conviction that
on the old line and with the old lead
ers nothing but defeat awaited them,
that a majority of the Convention |
broke the slate, turned their back up
on their old leaders, and in the hope |
of washing away the stains of the
past nominated a distinguished Union |
General of the late war, whom they
believed to be personally disaffected |
toward the President of the United |
States and toward the Republican |
party.
This was a great revolution in the
Democratic party. This was not only |
a revolution, but it was an acknowl- !
edgement that defeat lay in the old di-
rection, and that their only hope was
in a new line OF march with a new
leader.
Here the speaker shows the incon-
sistency of the nomination of Rose
Grams, and the impossibility of his ac-
cepting such a nomination from such |
a party. As Rosecrans is not to be
a Democratic martyr, we omit this
part of the speech.
GEORGE H. PENDLETON.
The nomination of General Rose
Grams was an enormous confession, the
full significance of which can only be
understood when we look at the man
and his career in contrast with the
career of Mr.. Pendleton, whom they
have now nominated.
In Mr.. Pendletou they have man
who made it point Of honor to do
to help forward this war;
Who from the beginning to the end
of his Congressional career has left
record wherein is not written one line
that indicates his sympathy with the
Union cause as against armed rebell- !
ion. He is the leader of the old
proper leader in this
l suppose it is not reasonable to ex-
pect such conversion as Saul of Tar
sus experienced on his way to Damas.
Gus. We can notexpect such a change
all at once in a political party
Thong h the Democracy tried 10 take
up "a new line of departure, so far
as the choice Of candidate was con-
cerned, they did not complete the
work of making platform to suit
They did, however, omit the talk
about war. They did not say word
against the draft, not one word about
q Lincoln hirelings," not one word
about "the hellish crusade against the
South. They left all that off, to
make it possible that Union General
might be their leader.
But in all other respects, substanti-
ally the old doctrines are retained in
their platform. Instead of attacking