Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1869-11-25

anu III A4AE aatsAiA- vi OIL AISC SCfSAh
ments this fact is constantly evident
/ Men, for Instance, are naturally conser-
vative. or inereduious and timid; or they
are naturally progressive, inclined ts
believe that the new is the true, and
that not 10 go forward is 10 90 backward.
/ Here we have the germs of the Tory
party and the Opposition; the party that
would hold fast and the party that would
cut loose. The strife, indeed, often de-
generates into mere battle of the ins
and the outs, but the traditional prin-
Iclples and tendencies remain. Therefore
I is is Il great error TO suppose that, in our
political situation, when the Fifteenth
Amendment is adopted, parties will be
/ wholly reconstructed upon new issues.
The history of each party, its traditions,
/ the character of its leaders and of its
supporters, will always be vital elements
( in any augury OF its prospects.
! There is loud cry upon the Demo-
cratic party from some of its organs not
Ito race with dead horses, and even Mr..
! Vallandigham exhOrts il to cut loose
! from ali settled issues and obsolute ques-
tions. But this cry has been heard ever
since the war ended, and where has that
party dismounted from de0d horse or
confessed any question 10 be obsolete +?
! If any question might be considered
! finally il was, settled that the,colored citi-
zeusmust be made politically equal. But
almost without exception every Demo-
cratic convention of the autumn declar-
ed against that equality, and the DEM
ocratic party of New York voted against
/ it. While this was the action of the
party, its leaders were unchanged. 1t
nominated General Rosecfans in Ohio,
| but his letter declining the summons
showed that he was not in accord with
the party because he was not politically
hide-bouhd, and it took its natural can
didate, Mr. Pendleton. In Pennsylva-
mia the hope of sloughing off dead issues
and leaders by nominating General
! Hancock was bafffed, and Mr.. Packer
an ;original Copperhead, was selected.
Tin Massachusetts alone, where there
was no hope OF success, n mau of new
ideas was put forward in Mr.. John
/ Quincy Adams. In New York the same
old leaders, with the same old cries,
marshaled the old forces and directed
the old assault upon equal rights and
the defenses against legislative and cleo
toral corruption.
Theparty remains the same, raises the old
cries and follows the old leaders, because
! it is composed of substantially the same
elements. 1t is not the intelligent and
well-meaning Democrats who control
the party policy. 1t is the ignorance
and prejudice which are beneath them.
| The waves toss the boat.-it is not the
| boat that governs the waves. There is
4 not a Democratic leader in America for
generation who has dared to say" equal
rights.n How many of them who dare
not pander to the Roman Catholic ele-
ment of the party? What Democratic
chief in the State of New York would
venture to insist that Roman Catholic
shall keep their hands off the public
school system?
4 When it is asked why the Democratic
marty does not throw over the old issues
and the old leaders, the answer is that
the one task that Hercules could not
perform was to cast offsthe fatal robe
To strip off the robe was TO kill himself
The strength of the Republican party
lies in the great. mass of intelligent
thrifty, patriotic citizen. The strength
of the Democratic party lies in the
multitude of ignorant citizens. The
Democratic policy for a generation has
been the necessary result of that fact
1t was an ignominious and cruel policy
But while this is still the fact, and until
the party demands another kind of poll
X
frank acceptance of new issues and &
preference of men? Suppose the Legis
lature in this State restores the city o.
New York TO its own control, as the
phrase is, what then2 The work viii
: begin with the abolition of the Police
Commission and the Regiestry law. vii
that couarse diminish fraud and force e
the poils2 Will it incite good citizen:
to vote? Is it conceivable that any
of the great objects of government will
be more certainly secured Is it not
evident that an election in the city viii
then he mere fraud withous even the
preteRse of check And is that the
celebrated I" self-government" of the
city?
And why should a party composed oi
such elements as we have described re-
nounce old issues and old leaders when
it has just succeeded by clinging to
them? They areagreeable to the party
), When the Fifteenth Amendment is
adopted, therefore, there will remain
two political organizations, and they
will be judged according to their career
and tendency. The Democratic party
has not now, and will not have then,
any great financial policy, nor any re-
i. cord of affairs upon which TO appeal &c
|
have the satisfactory adRlipistEfti N o
General Grant, the steady reduction o
the debt, thepopular confidence Away;
inspired by aschief and Cabinet who are
not technically politicians, and the con.
/ scienciousness of the support OF the
+, better sentiment of the country. These
are positive, not negative, advantages
Democratic declomation does not affect
them. There is no Republican disaffec
tion, nor will there be any until the
Democratic party takes position which
neither its character, precedents, nor
managers show to be probable or posi-.
BILE. [-Harper's Weekly.
7 Washinstons of the Fourth Generation
I llG. 4. It's Harper's Ferry Correspondence o
5 of the Chicago Tribune.I
: Lewis Washington is great grand
e nephew Of George Washington, descend
D ed from Charles Washington, who set,
tied west of the Blue Ridge many years