The Forest Republican. [volume] (Tionesta, Pa.) 1869-1952, 1871-08-01

i - 10y ENhaN Va NAlt ANCbtl NtuI AUu
another (the ffteenth) prohibiting the
States from excluding any one from
the right of suffrage on account OF
race color or previous condition Of
servitude.
These three amendments having all
been duly ratified in the method point
ed out by the Constitution, are now a
component part of that instrument.
Their adoption stands as the grandest
peaceful achievement Of ancient or
modern times. No party ever before
undertook so great task and its ac-
complishment, in so short space of
time, is work of which the Republi.
can party may we'll feel proud.
To secure the complete protection of
these emanoipated and enfranchised
people is now one Of the unquestioned
duties of the nation; and no party is
so fit to be entrusted with that duty as
the party which has done the prelimi-
nary work. The party which has hith-
to continuously resisted the policy
thus established, is not the one, now,
to carry it out.
During the war for suppressing the
Rebellion, and in carrying out the
great measures which have flowed from
it,the Democratic party has continuous.
ly been in the opposition. 1t opposed
the adoption of stringent measures to
put down the Rebellion: the leyvinp
of troops to suppress it; the borrow.
ing of money to pay the cost of the
war; the Emancipation Proclamation
of President Lincoln the adoption of
all the amendments to the Constitu-
ton; the reconstruction measures by
which the revolted States were brought
back into the Union; and generally,
every measure necessary to the success
ful restoration of peace.
AT present, too, it is opposed to the
means necessary for raising revenue 90
pay the interest on the public debt,
and secure its steady reduction; is in
favor of a seni.repudiation of that
debt by paying it in deprecated cur
rency, if paid at all is watching for
an opportunity to annul the new
amendments to the Constitution and
is generally committed to any policy
which will remit the country to its
condition prior to 1860.
1t may be urged, here, that the Dem
cratic party of this State, in the ninth
resolution of the platform adopted by
its late State Convention, has &C.
quiesced in the adoption of the amend.
mcnts of the Constitution we have re.
ferred to, and cannot be now charged
with hostility to them. We answer
that the ac1uiescence expressed in that
resolution has not, itself, been acqui-
esced in by the rank and file of the
party. Over one-third of the Cor ven
tlon voted strenuously against it, and
the action of the Convention has since
been repudiated by many leading men
and journals of the party. Besides,
whatever acquiescence has been given,
sullenly and not heartily-as matter
of policy, spring from party necessity,
and not from conviction of its pro.
priety. Wherever vote has been
honestly given, or voice sincerely rails.
ed for this "new departure" it may
very properly be regarded as an ex-
torted confession that the Republican
party has all along been right in what
the Democratic party has steadily op-
posed and this confessed, what need
is there, or can there be, for the fur
ther existence of the Democratic par
ty.
When Gen. Grant came into office,
In 1869, he announced his determine
tlon to secure the honest and faithful
collection of the revenue, the steady
reduction of the public debt, and such
an abatement in taxation as was con-.
sistent with this policy. In the space
OF little over two years this determine
tion, faithfully adhered to, has result
ed in paying off $2S0,00O, 900 of the
public debt, and in the abolition of
nearly all the taxes imposed under
previous laws.
In addition to this he has, by his
wise and firm foreign policy, succeeded
in setting all our outstanding difficult
ties with Great Britain, in q manner
alike honorable and advantageous to
us as a people. The treaty, lately rat
itied by both nations, which removes
all causes of quarrel, and establishes
peace and amity between them, has
commanded the admiration of the civ
ilized world, and placed the United
States in the foremost rank among the
nations OF the earth. This result is
one of which every American may
justly feel proud.
To continue the Republican party
in power is to continue the policy be-
gun, both in State and Nation, of
maintaining the public credit, paying
off our debt, reducing taxation, set.
tling international difficulties without
bloodshed, and sustaining the great
principles involved in the measures
necessarily growing out of the war.
To restore the Democratic party to
power is to destroy the public credit,
pave the way for repudiation, bring in
the old tide of corruption, mismanage-
ment and extravaganza and open np
anew all the questions involved in the
reconstruction Of the Southern States,
now settled upon an honorable basis. |
For present proof of this we refer