The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1871-05-26

end in renewed disappointments. There is
nothing like unanimity in the party upon
any one point. When one of its spofesmen
delivers an opinion, his voice is instant
ly drowned in a Wild tumult of contra
dictions. Indeed, the Democrats have been
much more indebted to dlscontented Repub-
licans latterly than to their own regular sup
porters. Senator Sumner has proved O more
useful ally to them than any one of their
recognized advisers. The reason is that they
have no ideas of their own which have the.
faintest chance of being acceptable to the
people, and therefore they are playing the
game which some people describe as wait
nothing themselves but they hope they may,
gain some advantage from the mistakes OF
their opponents. They are cropping in the
dark for policy, and eagerly clutch at the
hands of men like Senator Schurz, on the
desperate chance that they may be led by
an accident to find something which will
suit them.
The general issue upon which they fall
back, when special issues fail them, is that
the Constitution has been strained. Now,
supposing that to be the feet, which party is
responsible for 1t? In revolutionary times
all constitutions, written or unwritten, are
very likely to be severely strained, and the
faction which precipitated the strife is gene
rally held accountable for any subsequent
u
its ludiorous side to behold the Democrats,
who tried to tear the Constitution into thou
sand pieces, complaining now that the men
who preserved it are straining some of
its provisions, and that they, the Demo
Gratis, cannot bear to see it injured.
Why was not this anxiety displayed
few years ago? What would
there be left of the Constitution to day, or of
the Government which was founded on it. or
of the people who obeyed it, if the Demo-
Gratis could have had their will in 1861? 1t is
wonderful what reverence they possess for
that instrument now. They are ready to fall
down and worship it. The World, for in
stance, falls into kind of religious ecstacy
over its peculiar readings of the document
every other day, yet the World did all that it
could to assist the party which proposed to
dissolve the United States, and construct two
separate Governments out of the frag-
ments. 1t tried then to make out that this
project was in harmony with the Constitu-
ton, just as it now endeavors to prove
that the party which saved the Con-
stitution is acting in violation of its
principles. Mr.. John @, Adams, who is an
able man, and not trickster or dreamer,
appreciates the true position of the two par
ties in relation to the Constitution with per-
feet accuracy. He is too keen a man not to
see, and too candid man not to acknow-
ledge, that the secessionists alone menaced
the existence of theConstitution. 1.-The Consti-
tuition was struck down, he says in his recent
letter, 'by the assault upon Sumter, as all
constitutions must necessarily fall before the
face of the supreme arbitrament of war. 1t
can never be lifted up while war is fragrant.
The people will never resign the attitude of
hostile vigilance, which is the real signif-
canoe of the present administration, until
they know that no one of their war trophies
is longer disputed"
These are the words of thoughtful man.
having soul within him nobler than that of
any mere party hack; and they are much bet
ter entitled to attention than anything which
has recently appeared in Democratic journals
hereabouts. These two words, ''hostile vigi-
lance" in themselves express policy-and
it is a policy of which the Republicans are
proud. The Democrats have constantly
| proved the need which exists of continued
| and unwearied vigilance, and the Republi-
| cans would deserve the excavation of history,
| Notwithstanding all their past services, if
| they now allowed the enemy to recover the
| main part of what they have lost. We have
| policy to abide by, and no one who has eyes
and will use them can fail to realize its inn
| portance. Is it to the Democrats that the
country would be willing to commit the care
| of the Constitution-those very Democrats
who so recently were forcbly withheld from
utterly abolishing it? Do we ask the burglar
whom we have caught entering the window
at night to come in and guard our property
| while we return to our slumbers?
But says another Democratic journal, you
are investing the President with 'Imperial
power" we shall soon have ''no Constitution
left, ''the Empire is imminent" No one has
hitherto supposed that the Executive branch
of the Government gained much by the
''strains" put upon the Constitution. Some
people have watched the Legislative branch
with more uneasiness-but to talk of an EN-
pire being at hand is like the rawlings of men
whose minds are little disordered. The Ku-
klux BILL upon which this terrible alarm is
raised, is probably the last of all the measures
necessitated by the Democratic revolution
and it is measure which cannot
be put in force until disorders
have broken out in State, so
serious and so formidable that the Governor
of that State will be obliged to declare his
inability to suppress them. 1t is measure
for preserving social order, without which all
governments are an idle name. To found on
such bill as this the cry that you have made
the republic an empire is to the last degree
absurd. Sensible Democrats who disapprove
of the bill do not believe that it makes the
President an Emperor. Mr.. Adams says
nothing of that kind. The general result of
all this is that the Democrats dare not or can
not declare their policy, but are obliged to
fall back on vague talk about the ''Oonstitu.
tion;" while the Republicans are determined
not to allow any more armed instructions to
arise for the purpose of subverting that Con.
stitution. This is a policy good enough fol
Republicans at present, so far as purely
national politics are concerned.
THE PROSPECT OF A CORDIAL UNDER