The Wheeling daily register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1864-1878, 1870-11-02
The Duty of Democrats.

Amid all the reJoiclngs OIL the De
mocracy of West Virginia over the
splendid victory so recently won, it be-
hooves them to give some thought to
the grave responsibilities with which
our party has been entrusted by the peo-
pie of the State, And, first OF ALL there
must be moderation even in our JOY.
The duty of guiding the affairs of the
State so as to secure public prosperity
is, at no time, an easy task, or one IN
attended by anxiety and care. That
our State has not been as prosperous as
we could wish, renders it doubly neces-
sarv that care be taken not only to
lift the wheels out of the ruts in which
they have been running, but to put them
in better track.
Believing that the proscriptive course
pursued by the Radicals has inflicted
great injury on the State and
been one of the causes for wrestling the
power from Radical hands, it will not
do for Democrats to think Of adopting
any measures of retaliation or Of exer-
cising the slightest spirit Of prescription
in turn. We must treat our Radical
brethren as they should have treated us,
not with the same measure they have
melted to us during the past seven years.
With us, no party necessity can suggest
the disfrapchisement Of single voter,
for the largest expression of the will OF
the whole people has in it no terror for
the Democratic party in West Virginia.
We not only recognize the duty of lib
crafty and magnanimity, but we can
afford to deal fairly, literally and justly
toward all classes of people in the State.
In the interior and southern counties
where the hand of prescription was
heaviest and more oppressive than else
where, the men who have been the I'M
mediate instruments of oppression will
suffer no other penalty than to sink
quietly out of notice and resume the
obscurity out Of which they emerged
by accident. The Radical party through
out the State need entertain no fears Of
any discriminative legislation at the
hands of the Democracy, or OF the
establishment of any two rules of po-
litical and civil right. We shall give
to them the same rights and privileges
we claim for ourselves-no more and
no less.
The men of the Democratic party
must begin to think also about how the
interests of the State can be fostered;
its lands peopled, cultivated and devel-
oped; internal improvements pushed
forward; and provision made for the
payment of the public debt, and all
without making the burdens Of the peo-
pie any heavier than now, or rather, if
possible, making the taxes less. The
opportunities of the Radicals have been
better than ours will be- They have
had at their disposal considerable sums
of money which were not raised by tax
alton, and they have STAYED off from
year to year, until it is well-nigh impos-
slble to defer it any longer, the adjust
ment of the public debt and the adop-
ton of measures for its liquidation.
These things will now devolve upon a
Democratic administration. The Radi-
Gals have enjoyed and squandered the
kernel, and now they give us the shell.
We mention these things thus early,
in order that our friends may, in the
midst of their rejoicing, think also OF
the duties and responsibilities which
are the attendants of the victory we
have won, and begin soon to address
themselves to the consideration Of how
those duties shall be discharged and
those responsibilities met.