Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1871-05-12
Tbe Democratic Address.

We csuIel iron SPECIAL " aslllgiJL
despatch 20 O. leading democratic PAPER IL
New England. the other day, o statement
Of the substance O.. the address. then CON
Melted land Issued IN day or two after by
the Democrats n Congress, . the people of
the United State. Tbs told us that the
addres- 81. calls upon all good men - protect
e. the rights Of all. irrespective Of color o-
status. and sglareig commits the asmocrai-
.s1 partv 10 an acceptance OF The CoHStitu-
q. mon as AZ n0u stasls, laeiudiHg III fslr-
.. tenth. fourteenth, ea0 fifteenth aHeHa-
nerts. and recognizing the new order Of
q. thing- as practically and desIra5iy irrevar-
sihe'
Now the position thus indicated would be
quite AZ advanced one for the Democracy 20
assume. 1t would indicate that the demo
craft had really learned the lesson of the
war. and were truly accepting the situation.
I, would be platform on which. il con-
scientiouslv and heartily adopted north and
soath. the democrats would stand az excel
lent chance Of carrying the next presidential
election.
The address has since appeared and has
been scattered broadcast and II ID more an
swers the above description Of 1t, than if it
had been written before the way. i by no
means commits the democratic party TO the
thirteenth. and fourteenth and fifteenth
amendments Il recognizes Ire exist
ence Of the fourteenth amendment.
simpiv 20 denounce the recent act
70 enforce IL. a. intended 70 overthrow
the STATE governments and make slaves of
the people. The sirners, indeed, beg their
feHow-citizens il all parts Of the Union DOT
t. violate any right secured by the Ccrsti
tion or by any of It's amendment But The
addrezs very carefully refrains from saying
whether the Fourteenth and Fifteenth amend
1nents are really valid.
The address IL absolutely empty and silent
on the suhiec; Of universal Suffrage. Whether
voting ls a right Of c1lored citizens under
the Consutution-which considering the past
attitude Of the democratic party and the pres
entatti.ade Of the Southern democrats.is the
main question: carefully omits 70 state.
1t has plenty OF denunciation Of the re-
publican PARTY. even taking 1t 70 task for the
war, which everybody knows wac begun 10y
those eminent republicans jefferson DAVIS
Robert Toambs. james NJ Mason, Lewis 7.
Wigfall. and their associates, and f5r the
debt made necessary n order to suppress the
republican rebellion but It has no denun-
ciation Of Ku-k luz outrages. As mas been
well said The democratic party, as SUCH
has not indeed declared fo- the ku-kluz
but the Ku-klux Is composed Of democrats,
and it crimes are pooh-poohed and denied by
democrats and whenever there Il pros
pect OF democratic success the hu-kiuz out
rsses are doubled.
On the whole it Il uot easy q fancy
more e3ntemptibly feeble manifesto than
that with which the democratic campaign has .
opened lts main significance consists IN .
what /. omits 70 state And the omissions
are important because they show that the
southern democrats still control the party,
o. they have always done. The northern .
democrats would ike platform Ike that III .
dicated IN the prediction Of what the ad- .
dress was 70 be. IRON which We have quoted .
They undoubtedly intended that the address, +
which If accepted as II effect the platform
for the coming campaign, should take the
advanced position indicated. and were so
sure they could carry the point that they
announced it in advance as already carried;
but they reckoned without their host. They
found thai the southerners would have none
Of such sentiments. and with characteristic
subservisncy u their longtime masters, the
northerners curle6, and their declaration Of
principles comes forth the tame and emascu-
lated thing it is.
The conclusion Is plain one. The de-
mocracy Of the land do not d" accept the
new order OF things as practically and desi-
rabiy irreyerible." They propose 10 reverse
it if they can. and we are willing 70 q into
the next election with them on that issue.