Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1868-1875, 1871-11-29
THE PAST AND Fr1rrnr

The following from that staupch Demo-
cratic journal, the New York Weeklv Ne,cs,
which contributed perhaps more than any
other one paper to the overthrow of the
Tammany clique in the recent election, has
the ring of tine true metal:
We have no fears for the future of the
Democratic party. Co-existent with the
Constitution, it has ever been its chief de-
lender and support, and so long as our
Free Institutions shall survive under that
hanowed charter, so long will the Demo
cratic party endure. Born of the popular
will and controlled by the popular sympa-
thies, it has always been the peoples party,
and so long as the people shall be free, so
long will their party exist.
Its enemies point to the result Of the re-
cent election in New York as proof Of the
correctness of their sinister predictions.
But no one honestly believes that that cleo
ton was, in any particular, a triumph of
Radicalism, except that through the acct
dents and exigencies of the campaign a Rad
ical State ticket was elected and Radical
Legislature chosen. The vote shows that
both of these untoward results were brought
about, not by an increase of Radical voters
in the State, but by the hard necessity
which forced many thousands of Democrats
either to vote against Democratic candi-
dates, or not TO vote at all, in order to
rescue their party from the domination Of
corrupt and nn principled leaders.
The returns of the election show that
the Radical vote, swollen though it was by
the votes of thousands of willing Demo-
Gratis, besides those who were tricked by the
Committee Of Seventy into voting the Radi-
cal ticket in this city, still falls far below
that of Grant, and even Woodford's. And
the truth is that the Democratic party is, at
this day, stronger in New York city and
State, than it ever was before, and the vote
Of New York is certain for the Presidential
candidate next year, if some wonderful and
mysterious change shall not be meanwhile
wrought in the prejudices and opinions of
the people.
Every well-informed person knows that
the judgment pronounced by the people of
New York at the late election was not a
judgment against the Democratic party, or
the principles of that party, nor in favor of
Grant and Radicalism, but a condemnation
of Tammany Hall and the corrupt admin
istration of our Municipal Govern
ment. And Tammany Hall was over
thrown, not because it was a Democratic
association, but because it had ceased TO be
such, and had become undemocratic, and a
mere machine for registering the edicts of a
clique which cared nothing for the prin-
ciples of the Democracy nor for the popular
will, and was as autocratic as any Emperor.
Its chieftains were no longer Democrats,
except in pretense, and the Government of
this city was administered by them, not
for the good of the people, but for their own
| ACKNOWLEDGEMENT and enrichment. For this
they were defeated, and overthrown for
their treason to their party and its prin-
ciples, and not because they were Demo-
Gratis.
Not only does the popular vote show that
there has been no decadence of the Demo-
cratic strength in New York, but all
around us are signs of the new spirit which
animates the party, and inspires those who
are recognizing it for victory. And long
before the spring shall have opened, they
viii be in the field and ready for the fight.