Ashtabula weekly telegraph. [volume] (Ashtabula, Ohio) 1853-1873, 1871-06-03
The Political Contest for 1872.

ihV Ou'lIc nlotOig anu hCtlOH VI VIC
Democratic party, since the war, indi-
Gates that whenever, be the time longer
or shorter, that party again gets into
power, it will, as nearly as may be, re-
store the old order OF things, as they ex-
isted before the war. That war was
waged by the Democratic party for the
purpose Of not only perpetuating slavery
in the states in which it then existed,
out of extending it into the other states
and territories Of the Union, making it,
in fact, the chief corner stone aud prin-
cipal feature Of our institutions. The
Democratic party, though waging the
most iiendishly bloody war on record,
failed in the accomplishment of their
object. Nay more, as a war necessity,
on the part of the government against
whom they fought, the accursed nsttu-
tuition for which they fought, was itself
annihilated.
Now, had the Democratic party, or
either wing thereof, those in the South.
who took active part III the prosecution
of the war, or those in the North who
hissed them on, and gave them all the
encouragement in their power, accepted
the situation, and gone vigorously " to
work to repair the damage which had
been done to both themselves and the
country by their folly and wickedness,
all would have been well. Acknowledge
ing its past errors, and adopting a liberal,
patriotic and progressive policy for its
future guidance, it might with some
degree of propriety have asked of ;he
people restoration to power within the
first decade, even after its mad attempt
to break up the government. But it has
not pursued that course. On the con.
trary, every effort for a peaceable and
equitable reconstruction has been oppos-
ed at every step by both wings of that
party, and the country is, to-day, not
only in an unsettled condition, but al
most upon the eve of another outbreak
from a portion, if not the whole, of that
same Democratic party. Members Of
that party at the South are both secretly
and openly numbering and driving from
their midst those who differ from them
in political opinion, and their acts are
applauded by their brethren IN the north,
while both wings openly declare that all
the acts of Congress, in regard 20 the
late rebels and the late slaves, are uu-
constitutional and illegal, and that on
the Democratic party again coming into
power they shall be repealed.
A late issue of the Mobile Register--
high democratic autlority-in speaking
of the political issues tor 1872 in refer.
ring to the reconstruction acts saws
"And what does the Southern Dcmocra-
cy demand as to them ? Nothing more
than the National Democracy has al
read conceded in the New York Conven-
ton of 1868, when, in its platform, it
declared these reconstruction measures
unconstitutional andreoolutiOnary, null
and UOtd."
This is what the Southern Democracy
"demands" of the Northern Democracy,
and it is what the Northern Democracy
will concede and aid the Southern De
nocracy in attempting to accomplish.
In alluding to this subject the New York
Independent says:
eve have only just come to under
stand that the war between slavery and
barbarism. on the one hand, and liberty,
and civilization, on the other, is not yet
fought out. Beaten in the open field.
the rebellion yet lives in the lawle'sness
of Southern scoundrellsm. Beaten by
ballots and beaten by bullets, it shows,
like other venomous creatures, a wonder
ful tenacity of life. Liberty is not yet
established at the South. Freedom of
speech, freedom of the press, freedom of
political action, are yet hardly known
there. If the Democratic party were to
come into power tomorrow, the whole
work of reconstruction would be undone;
tie franchise would be taken from the
negroes, and under some form or other
slavery or its equivalent would be re-
stored Let us remember one thing
The lost cause is not an abandoned one.
When the rebellion fights us again, it
will 5e with the arms, the ships, the
forts and the presuige of the Govern
ment itself. Wien we vote at the next
Presidential election, we vote face to
face and ballot to ballot with the rebel
lion. The battle Of next year will be
more decisive than the taking of New
Orleans and Vicksburg and Richmond
together.