Worcester daily spy. [volume] (Worcester [Mass.]) 1850-1888, 1871-04-21

The Boston Post is our authority for the
statement that nothing works more prejudice
TO the prospects of the great democratic party of
the country than the repeated but baseless i'm
putation of the radicals that its advent to power
will be the signal for an attempt to rescind the
constitutional amendments that are claimed as
the special fruits of the war" There is no doubt
that these imputations are preiudicial to the
prospects of the democratic party For that
reason, and because they are not baseless,
but have a solid foundation in fact, repub-
licans endeavor to keep them before the Peo-
pie as warning against the folly OF entrusting
that party with power. So long as there is
reasonable ground to believe that such a pur-
pose is cherished it is duty not TO let 1t be for
gotten or overlooked. If the charges were no.
toriously false, as the Post says, they could not
have the effect which it is admitted does attend
them. The people are not so easily deceived as
to continue to give credit to bassless charges
against a party which has as ample means of
defending itself by ayowing its real purposes
and proving its sincerity, as its opponents have
for giving currency to their accusations.
Is there not good reason for believing that the
democratic party still cherishes the purpose
which the Post in its behalf so earnestly dis
avows? That party opposed the adoption OF
these amendments with absolute unanimity
while they were pending. 1t denounced the
methods employed to secure them as irregular
and indefensible, and protested that if adopted
by such means, their obligation would be de-
MED, and their operation resisted. These senti-
ments were expressed in the most emphatic
manner by its candidate for the second national
Office, were echoed by democratic speakers and
writers everywhere, and reiterated in some of
the party platforms. Until quite recently they
were not distinctly disavowed by any influential
democratic authority, and even now, while adj
hitting that these amendments express the will
of the people, and that there are no decisive
symptoms of popular reaction against them, the
most that any democrat is willing to concede is
the grudging admission, in the words of the arti-
Gle on which we are commenting, that "they
will have to stand"
But it is only the northern democrats who 90
so far as this. The southern democratic press
is almost unanimous in the declaration that the
party must repudiate these amendments, and
unless it does so, it can command no enthusiasm
in the south. They say emphatieally that they
will never belong to aparty which accepts these
changes of the constitution as settled and final
Mr.. Blair, one of the most conspicuous repre-
sentatiyes of the party, talks in the same strain
These men form an important and Influential
element 10 the party. They are rash and FOOLS
very likely, but their rashness and folly ar
among the unfortunate and dangerous tender
cies of the party and it is as yet in no condition
to deny its responsibility for them These south
ern democrats are accustomed to have weight il
the counsels of their party; they are not un
used to dictate its policy, and their earnestnes:
and distinctness of purpose, their recklessness
and contempt for temporizing policy ARE quite
as likely TO prevail in shaping the platform of
the party as the more prudent counsels of their
northern allies. Until the party has made a
formal and authoritative declaration of submis-
sion to the will of the people, as expressed in
the latest constitutional amendments, it is not
unfair or unreasonable to judge it by its previ-
Gus record and the present sentiment of its
southern members, which are in harmony with
that record, rather than by the tardy disavowal
of its former purposes-not because they
were wrong in principle, but because they are
now believed to be impractcable-by its mouth
pieces in the north.