Ashtabula weekly telegraph. [volume] (Ashtabula, Ohio) 1853-1873, 1869-10-09
The Party of Rebellion.

The intellect of the Democratic party
has generally been concentrated in its
worst men. Before the war the leaders
were Southern politicians, who possessed
great self-will, vehemence OF manner and
q greater mental acuteness than any Of
their Northern colleagues. They defend
ed absurd paradoxeS, bat did it brilliant
ly. They reasoned without being reason
able. But the war did not greatly
change the character of the men who
hold the Democracy in hand, and the
principles of Democratic conduct have
always been essentially the same The
infamy of its bad ends eliminated in the
rebellion, but the intamy of its bad
means still survives. For eight years
copperhead Democrats have assaicd the
Republicans for not giving peace aud
prosperity to the country, and for not
paying the debts which, il justly placed,
would every penny Of them 60 20 tho ac-
count of the Democratic party. Tho
c~nntry will surely pay for these bur
dens, but We submit that il is not bccom
ing the Democrats to whom they rightly
belong TO abuse an administration, which
is faithfully endea"oring to extricato
tho nation from the pcrplextics in
which Democratic treason involved US.
The present leaders evnco the only
Democratic principle, which has ever
been permanent, and that is to obtain
power without scrupling ut measures
The party has from the first acted on the
"rule or ruin" policy. A careless glance
at the chief incidents of Democratic his
tory will establish to the satisfaction OF
any candid man, that the Democracy has
been from the first q destructive party.
From the first day of its life, it has ex-
hibited a strong sectional character 1t
was the patron of slavery and slave
holders. Jefferson, Democrat, wrote
the Kentucky resolutions of '9S, and
Madison, q Democrat, framed those of
Virginia. In these was first announced
the heresy of notification, and the de-
claration that the Constitution is only a
compact between States, and in these
Democratic measures the principle of
secession had its origin.
1t was in strict adherence therefore TO
the destructive principles Of the Demo
cratic party, that the South beea me false
to the country. Throughout the war
Democratic leaders at the north were
faithful to the same creed in upholling
tho revolving States, and since the WI r
ended they have been equally faithful to
it by doing all in their power to embar-
rass the national government. The New
York mob of 1868, was the natural out
growth of Democratic teachings, and so
are the terrorism and outrage which
q, h., ,,, al;
Piles of '9S led men irrcsistibly to these
things. South Carolina in pursuance OF
the Democratic theory would have gone
over to destruction of 1892, if the right
eous firmnecs of Andrew Jackson had
not blocked the way. She understood
that other Democratic States would tSl-
low her lead, aud tho movement ceased
only when il became evideutto the South
and the Democrats north, that it was
possible to say in the Union and yet
manage the general government to theii
liking. This they virtually did unit
1861, when put out OF power, with little
prospect of ever regaining il, the party
put into execution the principles and III
tentions it had endorsed from the first.
Such are tho workings of Democratic
faith, book of rebellion from beginning
to end. The party sides with the enc
mics of the country when out OF power
and as often as beaten in national con
test, addresses itself to the worst elc
ments and worst passions Of the bod,
polite. If the American people choos
TO organize anarchy and invoke disrur
tion, they can do it by olcvating Til
destructive party TO power. Tho mos
dangerous class at the South is alice
with the Democracy of the North, and
the results Of what we have achieved 4
put the question of national dissolution
at rest, are to DO more than tleetin,
possession, national power and destrut
tive Democracy must bc kept torevO
apart.