The Cairo daily bulletin. (Cairo, Ill.) 1870-1872, 1871-11-26

men as q privileged and dominant class.
sui, II was eminently successful, and con-
Quoted the country with unprecedented
rapidly to climax Of prosperity and pow
eH. Still, the democratic party might
have maints ned its usccndcncy but for the
lack OF O competent leader. Its first pro-
gramme closed in the second act OF our a.
tional history, II new programme became
necessary to engage its encrges and am
btion. That programme was wanting.
The race Of statesmen had been succeeded
by race of trimming politicians, incap-
able to conceive or discreetly to execute n
wise and far-reaching system of policy.
The necessity of progress as the condition
TO party discipline, success and prestige
was condition unknown TO their philOs-
ophy. So too, the lesson that DISC intent
discussion and disafection are the evil pro-
geny Of inactive parties as well a. idle
camps. or course, the part Of these pre-
tenders was but a stereotype and rehearsal
of the iminemorial record of their legion
ary prototypes. For them rpot 10 Aaye
been busy bustling aud meddling-de-
clamatory, short-sighted and laundering
-prodigal ofpromlses and protcstations OF
self-sacrIlicing devotion, would have been
for them not to be themselves. They were
all these. The story Of their shifting cx-
pedients and time-serving devices is writ
ten in the disappontments and disasters
which pointed them. Superiority was of
fensive, candor di.tasieful TO them, both
TO be treated as n crime and punished by
o.tracism from the party hence, abler men
than themselves, when not discredited by
them, were bauished from its fold Theirs
was the region OF tIe demagogues They
ate of the forbidden fruit and enticed their
followers to do otherwise. They unsealed
the fountain Of bitter waters and strife,
and hatred deluged the land. The slavery
question was opened by the repeal of the
Missouri compromise and the substitution
Of the Kansas-N ebraeka act. Thus slave
~ and freedom, slave labor and free abor,
were brought face to face us mortal COM
batants. This was the gauntlet Of battle
which all the great statesmen then passed
and passing away had warned against
Jefferson deprecated it with gloomy fore
bodings. Clay had sought to avert it BY
trying to lead the people of Kentucky to
initiate by example scheme Of gradual
emancipation. Alas, however, the DEM
ocratic party was placed in false posi-
tion. Its pr.testat'or as body availed
nothing. 1t was made responsible for the
removal Of legal barrier to the spread of
slavery. Opportunity thus and now tempt
ing, the opponents of that party, melted
and led by exiles from its ranks, caught
the step of fprogress lost by it, and pressing
into their service the literature, and, in
large part, the schools and churches of the
country as auIiliaries, directed their ad-
vance to the ultimAtum of universal free
dom.
The position Of the democratic party
was exposed to many Disadvantages. 1t
deprived them of the external sympathy
always accorded by an enlightened age as
the due of liberal party. 1t isolated
them as a reactionary element opposing
the march and order of civilization. 1t
put them OF the defense Tor undoing what
had been wisely and well done 1t left to
them no other part than to hold fast to
the past and to resist the inevitable. In
conformity with their Interpretation of
the federal polity, they claimed for the
white man the right 20 make freedom or
slavery the law of the new territories.
They Insisted that slavery as municipal
institution of individual states was extra
tional authority. They pleaded the ler-
seripta as the character and limitation of
their authority. They predicted and
alternative to obedience to the constitu-
tion. The republicans, on the other hand,
taking their stand upon the Declaration
of Independence, argued that all men, alb
stractly, are created free and equal, and
that they she I'D, in fact, be so; that this
was a law, universal and peremptory, ad-
mitting of no lawful exceptions. Tho con-
| test was long and dubious, but eventually,
nature and natures law-the higher law
| asserted its supremacy, and finished by the
sword what had been begun by polemics
Slavery fell here, sharing the fate that
had overtaken it in France and England,
| and thus history repeated itself Consid-
erng the disparity of the opposing forces,
the result could hardly have been other
wise, nor the logical sequence of tho adap-
tation of the national constitutions to the
new order of things.
The third act of the public history ac-
complished; what is the duty devolved
by it upon the democratic party? Is it
to ignore tho stupendous fact, the noise OF
which still fills the world? Is it to 90
backward to slavery? Is it to stand
sullen and cautiously abje,t? Or is it
| to hasten forward to the goal Of freedom
| To state the question is to answer it.
| There is but one rational course for
us to pursue; that IL, to actively and cner-
| getically give our influence and
cooperation for the purpose Of develop
ing and consolidating the new order OF
things in harmony with the constitution
ms it is. This is the dictate Of proprie-
ty and patriotism. Any other course
would be as scnseoss as criminal, must
aggravate the sliconso of usurpation, the
evils of misrule, must be u unjust 10
| the black man as unworthy of the white
man. No other course is ~ aIl tocrable
or admissible,
This settled, the next question is, what
policy may be made most eifcctuaI to thi-
end by the democracy? Should it be Il
dictatoral and leading one ora secondary
and concliatory one? This, MS II practi
cal question, must be decided in The
light of existing circumstances. If our
power as party was unbrokcn; # il
was equal to tho new task devolved,
should unhcsitatingly say, apply 1t dl'
rectly under democratic auspices to the
performance Of it. l would, in that case
do so, because, then, our trust would be 1T
ourselves and we would be free t
choose own instruments and means
But as the case ia otherwisei MS we ur,
but minority party, our course, to be
etectual, must be different. We must strive
to accomplish by the aid of the liberia
republicans what We are unable to efiec
by ourselves. We must encourage anC
support the incipient revolt of the liberia