Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1871-06-02
The New Democratic Departure

Tho New Democratic Departure
A GOOD deal is said in a good many quar-
,e-s about the New Departure" OF the
democracy. That great, inharmonious, IN
successful party, having heretofore widely de-
,arted from Truth, Liberty, Patriotism, Hon
es.v and other laudable virtues, and having
for a series of years suffered the penalty OF
/ is fl!ly and wiekedness, is now, we are told,
4 to depart afresh-this time from folly to WIS
dom, from rebellion to loyalty, from much
wrong doing to all Righteousness. Now TINS
would be good deal Of a journey. What
are the signs of it, and what Is it likely to
amount to? The new departure Is assumed
to be coming, to be in fact already inaugural
ed, from the fact that John Quincy Adams
Of Massachusetts,. who has heretofore given
the democracy a good deal Of pretty good ad-
vice to which they have paid no attention Is
party, has recently been giving them some
more. in a published letter, in which he
urges acceptance Of the situation and aban-
doDment Of most Of the distinctive doctrines
Of the democracy II the past. 4 stronger
and more significant sign is the submission to
an Ohio democratic convention by Clement
L. VaIandigham. Of a series Of resolutions
which seem to endorse the constitutional
amendments. and which really have quite
renpblican twang to them. If Yailandigham,
Of all men. can accept universal suffrage and
equality Of civil rights for the negro, Why
ask the friends Of the new departure, cannot
all the democrats do the same ?-They can
and will. The republicans have triumphed
on these issues-so shall We've are all
right once more-hurrah So shout the
Boston Post and some other northern demo-
cratic papers Of the more liberal stripe
But the trouble with the case is, that II
the new departure were sincere, i would be
in effect a coming on to republican ground.
And if republican doctrine and practice Is
what is wanted, the people will still choose
to keep in power the tried exponents thereof
instead of some new converts, whose SINGER
itv Is open to suspicion. The endorsement
Of the XIII. XIV and XVIII amendments IN
Mr.. Yallandgham : platform, has, however
a slightly fshy aspect. Instead Of referring
TO the recent amendments as part Of the or
rauic law Of the nation. to he enforced by its
entire power, if necessary, they are very
gingerlv referred to as d" the three several
amendments de facto recently declared adopt
ed =" they are "acquiesced' in " as no
longer issues before the country and their
enforcement by national authority is violently
opposed. notwithstanding the fact thst seve-
raj states have been either unable or unwlA-
ing TO give them effect. To - acquiesce IN
the amendments while they cannot be re-
moved from TIRE constitution, and at the same
time insist that they shall be suffered to be
come dead letters unless states choose to en-
force them. Is acquiescence with a ven
geanee Vauandigham d" acquieseed when
the national arm was laid heavily upon him
so also rebellion " acquiesced " when Grant
drove It to It's last ditch and So, likewise
did the democracy - acquiesce IN coercion
to save the Union AID emancipation to de-
stroy slavery. They " acQuiesoe only III
that which they lnnot prevent.
But even such quasi endorsement as Is
given IN the Dayton resolutions, finds any
thing but hearty assent, in the bunker wing
of the democracy The Cincinnati In
g1nesr. one Of the most influential democratic
papers Of the great west, says that those re-
s1lu,ions eyince . desire to sail with the
wind. and as near tie water as possible with
out getting wet" And it adds that d" the
democracy everywhere believe that the con
stisuti3n was altered by fraud and force, and
do not intend to b. mealy-mouthed in their
expression of the outrage"
The St. Loui. Republican l. ungl acioas
enough to remind {. Val " that " he has sur
vived his time. and that the sooner he sub
sides the sooner will he have recognized tie
prevalence Of a conservatism in politics
which has KEEP; him in private life since an
esrlv period Of the war for the Union.
More powerful aid better representatives of
the democratic party than Adams and Val
landighan. are the Louisville LedgG. the
Memphis Appeal, the Montgomery Ma''
and the many other democratic papers,
which enumerate e. the constitutional amend
ments. the reconstruction laws, the Civil
Rights bill and the Freedman's Bureau bill
as among the " despotic enactments Of Con-
gress, against which the people must
throw themselves into the breach and all
Of which agree with Alexander Il. Stephens,
that the thirteenth and fourteenth amend
ments are gross usurpatioDs of power
and not valid and rightful parts OF the
constitution These are the men which
have controlled every recent national demo-
cratic convention, and which viii control
the next one; and till they show some signs
of caving. the less said about the new de-
parture by the democrats, the better.
The French have taken Paris at last, and