The Cambria freeman. [volume] (Ebensburg, Pa.) 1867-1938, 1871-11-18

A Mastery Inactivity Advocated rs tn
Policy OF the Democracy.
GFrom the st. Louis Republican.


1872 that took place prior to the slections
in California and Maine. has been followed
by more careful reflection on the whole
subject. and one startling result of this re-
consideration is q suggestion Of the question
whether there ought to be a Democratic
nomination at all. The idea is startling. be-
cause it is without precedent in our nation
! al politics, and is profoundly interesting as
| furnishing precedent Itself. The present
theory of party politics is that in important
| contests both parties must place tickets in
the field. even although one of them goes
through the formslity with the consciousness
that it's ticket will be certainly defeated.
| The new theory, on the contrary. assumes the
| possible existence Of conditions in which it
is better for one party not to make nomi-
| nation at all, but leave the field to its sntago-
nists, in the almost absolute certainty that
| its anita gonists will then divide and present
two tickets. While, however. there is no
national precedent for such course, the ex
| pertinent is not an untried one; the eam-
| paigu of last fall in Missouri furnished a
| thorough example of the new idea, and it is
| the very bene6cent and generally satisfac-
| tory results of that example that have sug
| gested repetition of it on q national scale
| in the Presidential contest of next year. 1t
! is asked, "Why should not an experiment
| that proved so successful E breaking the
| power of Radicalism in Missouri be employ
| ed to break the power of Radicalism in the
| Union /? Why should not the whole couu-
! try find deliverance from party that is es-
sentially proscriptive, oppressive, unconsti-
tutional, and violent in its policy and prac~
| tice in the same effective way in which
single State found such dsliverance?" The
result of the Missouri election of 1870 was
not indeed Democratic victory, but it was
| iplw Radical Of an1 ha abolition
of disfranchisemsnt, the subsistence of sni>
/ mosities, the restoration of concord and good
| will among the people, and the revival Of
| a cheerful interest in public affairs and in
| local enterprises which followed that defeat,
| are consequences which vindicate the wisdom
| of the experiment in Missouri, and, at least,
| suggest its repetition in larger field. The
contradictory and difcordant nature of the
several State platforms. both Democratic and
| Republican, that have been presented to us
within the last few months, show that both
parties have lost their reckoning, and are
beating about somewhat wildly. The con-
stitutional amendments and the legislation of
| Congress since the war have eliminated
several very important subjects of difference
! and dispute from our national policies, and
| the result is q vacuum which confuses both
parties. The only common conviction in
| the Republican party is that it ought to be
| kept ir power. to give US such partisan leg
| isation as it has given Us in the last six
years and the pre-emnent conviction in the
! Democratic party-to which all questions of
tariff, finance, annexation, and foreign relA>
tions are subordinate-is that the Republi-
can party ought to be overthrown and
gentler policy substituted for the reign of
force Which it has given us. The Virginia
| Conservatives in their late State Convention
declined to adopt the usual resolutions. and
contented themselves with proclaiming as
their sole platform opposition to Radical
ISM" The fact expresses u common Demo
cratic instinct, and expresses, too, a feeling
which all the liberal and rejecting element
of the Republican party shares. But how
| 10 this opposition to be successful? How is
the Republican party to be displaced 2 How
! is such consummation to be effected in the
teeth Of the rigorous. semi military laws
which 1t has devised expressly, to enable it
| to carry elections and protect itself from de
! feat q? How is the administration party to
| be beaten in 1872, when the peopls half be-
! lieye that it will not submit to defeat and
will uphold President Grant in any measure
he may take to avoid it2 Or, even if we
could have perfectly free election in all the
! States, without executive interference, and
| with the certainty that tie party in power
| would cheerfully submit to the result, what
| assurance have the Democrats that they can
carry the country with any nominee of their
party. In the face of the defeats they have
recently encountered in California. Pennsyl-
vania, and Ohio2 These are the questions
which the advocates Of the no nomination
policy ask themselves and even it they are
not conclusive of tie merits of that policy
they are weishty. and deserve to be thought,
| fully pondcred. 1t is urged. with much rea-
| hat he cOuptrv ran i'll Afford opot har
| four years of Radical rule. with the Union
maintained in its present abnormal, unre-
| stored condition, Ku Klux disorders and Ku>
| Klux laws continued, Executive interference
| persisted in and the process of Capitalization
made complete; and that if these things are
! to be arrested at all the Radical party must
| be unseateG at Washington, just as it was
unseated in Missouri, by the Democrats ab>
staining from Presidential nomination and
| leaving the nomination of a ticket which
they may support to the liberal element of
the other party. Even if the Democrats
| could hope to nominate Presidential ticket
aud elect it, with Groesback, or Hancock. or
Hendricks, or Chase. or any one else at the
head. would not the victory, it is asked, be
empty and barren2 Would not the Radi-
| cal Congress tie the hands of the Democrats
ic President, and give US the history Of the
Andrew johnson administration over again ?
On the other hand, with Grant aud the ad-
ministration party overwhelmingly defeated
as McClurg was defeated 10 Missouri, liber-
al and patriotic Republican made President,
and a majority of Democrats and liberals
chosen to Congress. would not the result,
though materially different from full Dem
ocratic triumph, be an inestimabs improves
ment on the present order of things 1t
would, it is true, involve concessions which
the national Democracy would find it hard
to make; but would not the happy deliver
ance of the harrasssd Southern States, and
their restoration to the co equality and dig
nifty they are now debarred from being a suf>
ficient compensation for these concessions
And would not the real restoration of the
Union which followed the triumph of the
new party be its perpetual gratitude and