Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1869-07-06
Tbe Two Parties.

The Missouri Republican, a Demo-
cratic paper, lately contained an article
or imperialism" taking its text princi-
pally from Mr.. Stephens letter to Judge
Nicholas, a genuine copy OF which has
been published in the Constitutiondtisf
We would judge from the tone of the
Republicans leader, that it represents
the opinion OF General Blair and that
class of Democrats. The aim of the ar
ticle is, we think, to show that though
the country is drifting frightfully to the
leeward of correct principles OF govern
ment, there is no instant danger OF En-
pire. 1t treats Mr.. Stephens and those
who coincide with him as pessimists-
men who invariably take gloomy views,
and wanting the sanguine temperament,
are prone to behold the blackness OF dark,
ness. in spite of many glimmerings OF
light which,the optimist finds no difficulty
in discerning. Now, the fact is,
General Blair and the war Dem.
ocrats. men who thought to hold
the Union together by force of
arms, and who now see the dismal result
of their effort, are exceedingly slow to
come to an acknowledgment of their
egregious error. They fairly founder in
it, and, of course, become victims OF re-
peated failures. 1t would be terrible
thing for them to confess that they had
been duped into the commission OF a
grave blunder when they played into the
hands ofthe Republican leaders of 1860
'6l, and so they strive to form a party
based upon a profession of constitutional
liberty, coupled with vindication of the
riphtfulness Of the war against the South.
This can never be done. The elements
will not mix. There have been, from the
beginning, but two grand parties in this
country. The one leads to centralism
and monarchy; the other to mainten-
ance of the Federal Republic. There
is no halfway house, no middle-ground
between these two antagonisms. such
warnings and utterances as those OF Mr..
Stephens may be, and no doubt are, I'M
seemly and distasteful to the war Demo-
Gratis; but this is the necessary sequence
of want of candor, or rigid Difference
to human pride, which urges General
Blair and many OF his class to stand out
against the acknowledgment that they
were deceived, and, being deceived, COM
mitted blunder which is well nigh, if
not absolutely irretrievable. Every hour
almost is proof of this mistake; every
advance in despotic power by the Gov
eminent is equal to demonstration.
But still they essay that vain and bar.
rem thing of attempting to concentrate
the results of the civil war, which but
for their cooperation would have never
been. There is no remedy for disease
until its cause is understood, and it is
treated accordingly. We are firmly i'm
pressed with the idea that Mr.. Stephens
has ascertained the cause and suggested
the proper remedy. That his enuucia-
ton of the cause will occasion disquiet,
even to the War Democracy, cannot be
denied that his remedy is the one that
promises health we deem equally indis-
putable. For our part, we think his
labor will bear but little fruit in this per.
verse generation, and it is made all the
more vain by the unintentional, but still
efficient, cooperation of War Democrats
with the consolidation party.
Though Mr.. Stephens ptteranoes may
not have their Just influence now, or
even 10 the remote future, they will at
least clothe him with immortal honor as
one who was among the last Of the intel
lectual giants who olung. almost with
despair, to the glorious responsibilities
of a dying Republic. augusta Consti'
nationalist.