The Democratic press. [volume] (Ravenna, O. [Ohio]) 1868-1901, 1869-07-15

t101lC dii0 Ss1ItStift y ieAAl1Oksns " t-Se-~i
proves the death-dealing columns OF
this same "red handed Longstreet
were hurled back, reeling and discom-
fited on the bloody field of Gettys-
burg, was exiled by the President,
with the easy acqMescence of the
General of the Army, to the dreary
wilds of Dakotah, simply and solely
because he dared to be Democrat.
1t is Democracy, not treason-it is po-
litical opinion. not hostility to the
government, which excites the malice
of the President and Congress, The
Republicans were more determined,
from the beginning to the end Of the
war, to put down. the Democratic
party than they were to crush out the
rebellion. Hence it is, that when a
man like Longstreet crawls to the
feet of the President, who has made
himself the willing instrument of Re-
publican vengeance. his sins become
white as wool, and he is taken into
full communion with the "loval !"
brotherhood: while the Democrat
who has periled his life and limb
against that same rebellion, is coolly
"whistled down. the wind as some
thing unworthy and disreputable.
But to come back to more general
consideration I repeat, we occupy
no new ground upon these great aud
again unsettled issues. The Demo-
cratic party stands to-day in the same
breach where Hampden, fell and Sid
ney suffered. So striking is the par
allel, that what is known in history as
the .sGrand Remonstrance, might be
appropriately read from this stand to-
day as the platform ofprinciples to be
adopted by this Convention. AS a
scathing Indictment of public delin-
quent, its crushing collocation1 of
wrongs and abuses-its long catalogue
of usurpations and violations of the
constitutional rights of the people
would as aptly describe the policy of
the Republican party in this country,
as it did in its day most numerically
expose the tyranny and perfidy OF
Charles 1 and his ministers.
In the light of constitutional truth,
is there any difference, as an exertion
of mere arbitrary power between
forced loans, of subsidies, by royal
nsnrpation, against the lawful author
ity of the commons, and the forced
Inauguration of negro suffrage and
negro citizenship, by federal usurpa-
ton, upon an unwilling people, and
against sovereign and independent
States of Union which can only ex-
ist by virtue of the Constitution thus
violated and set aside? Is it either
consistent or honest to anathematiZe
foreign, while we approve and sancti-
fly native despotism?
! Is there any difference between the
the laws which disfranchised English
men and drove them into exile, the
very ancestors of our present tyrants
Tor noneomformity with the creed and
ritual of the established church in the
18th century, ,and the infamous partisan
edicts, miscalled lars of Congress
DISTINGUISHING thousands and tens OF
thousands of free-born white Ameri.
can citizens for noh-conforming to
Republican creed, and refusing toyot(
] the Republican ticket? sf. ~
Is there any difference in the levy
of English ship-money, in its Unequal,
ity and oppressiveness, and which ha:
been rendered immortal by the noble
resistance of a. single man, and o2tl
special tari1 and Fevenue Jaws, now SC
4 funequafss 5 and unjust1y pressing upon
the great labor and producing inter.
ests of the country? ~" tf@ijz - !
Is there any difference; in motivt
or corrupting influence, between {
royal mandate to the Court of Kings
Bench, demanding a prejudgment O
law against a political prisoner, ail6
an act of Congress furnishing in ad.
vance refractory judges of the su
preme judicial tribunal of the land
for an unfavorable opinion on a polit
! ical question, by an indirect but po
/ tential deprivation of the judicial er
mine, against the spirit and letter O.
the Constitution ..-...s.,.. 40.
Is tyranny to be defined by longi.
tude or latitude? Is it only matter
of climate or of race? Are mani
rights to be trampled in the dust witt
impunity, because it is done by
4 party gz-
! .'-righteous in words,
| In deeds Cain2'' ta ssi6s 8
or because an arrogant and usurpin.
, majority so wills it, even though it b
j done through the forms of an act o
| Congress - lt1s''s
I No, gentlemen of the Convention
it is no dissimilarity in the process o
aggression, no difference in mer
forms or institutions, which can jus
tify Radical despotism here, and at tn
same time condemn the tyranny of
Stuart or Guelf, simply because tn
emblem of their power is sceptr
instead of Republican coat of arms
on the great seal of the government
!, Gentlemen, upon these great issue
of constitutional liberty and fire
/ government now SO strangely pre-
) sented to a people intended to be tn
freest on earth, there is needed no foI
, NAL pledge of faith on the part of tn
American Democracy. The Who'll
/ history of the party is sssolem
/ league and covenant" with the peopl
: to abide by and sustain the Constitu
! ton as it is-to restrict federal powe
Z within the prescribed limits of il
| proper orbitin our constitutional sys
r tem-and to maintain the rights of a
and every State in the Union again:
J the heretical and growing power {
f Capitalization, which is the great oil
f ject of our political foes. In the Ian
guage of the. great defender of sti
: Constitution, the Democratic part
A will cling to it ''as the shipwreckc
; mariner clings to the last plank whe
: darkness and the tempest close aroun
e him. This consolidation of politics
: power in the government is the .twil
I heresy of secession, and the impenl
s ing danger which lies before us. Con
Y solidation and accession are two ho
S tile forces growing out of the vel
II inertia of a well-balanced governmel
f like ours. Tie political pendulum,
4 in its rebound from secession, is '
i brating with equal danger in the ol
e posite extreme; and this congestic
d of power, thus sought to be accon
+ plished in the federative theory of OF
IL government, is just as hostile to Il
@ life of the Constitution as any attem
j. at a.atotal separation of its powers.
i Great and molnentous as are the que
~ tions of suffrage and finance, they b
d come dwarfed by the side of this ne
b danger, this threatened rupture of Il
! fundamental principles, the vital Q
it ganic life of the government. Lett
: man say these are vain and idle feal
l. This question stands clearly indicat'
II, in the future by every manifestatit