, 1872-02-15
golitieat.r
A Word Of Advice.


There is q story Of Scotchman, who
caught crawling by night towards hen
coop or sheep-fold, was hailed by the
proprietor with, "Whaur are We ganging,
Sawney 2" He instantly replied, "Bock
agen."
Now, if we were permitted to give ad-
vice to the Democratic party, which
seems no little 7pnxzledE 8 to what it
ought to do with itself, We should tell it
in the words of the quickwitted Scot to
go "bock agen." By this we mean that
We should counsel it not to enter upon
any ''new departures, for these have
been its ruin, nor to look about for alli-
ances with its ancient enemies, which
could be no more than o hollow and
transient truce, but to overhaul its reck-
oning, as Captain Cutie says-correct
the errors it has already made, and re-
trace its way as fast as it can to its orig
inal post.
In former times when the Erening Post
represented it, the principles of the
Democratic party accorded fully with its
name. Its creed was, in every sense of
the word, democratic creed, and its
representative men--in this State, at
least-were men who sincerely believed
in its tenets and honestly endeavored to
give them practical effect. The Tracys,
the Wrights, the Hoffmans and the
Flaggs, who then directed its destinies,
were not simply incorruptible in their
public and private relations, but thor
oughly devoted to the general good, and
as patriotic and disinterested in their
political enterprises as they were jealous
and infexible. The party became, in
consequence, the popular party of the
nation, which, for quarter ofa century
or more, commanded the almost univer-
sal confidence which it deserved.
Its main doctrine then was the equal
ity and sanctity of human rights, which
it proposed to secure by the limitation
of the powers Of government to the i'm
partial protection of these rights, JUS
tice to all-equal and exact justice, as
jefferson expressed twas its end or
animating purpose. and local self-gov-
ernment-state independence in the To-
cal sphere--werethe means by which that
end was to be attained. Man was re-
garded as greater than his institutions,
and the development of true self-cen-
tered manhood, by the remission of ev-
cry person to his native energies. as the
fundamental object of the political Or
ganization.
But the very strength of the Demo-
cratic party drew to its folds many men
who had not a particle Of sympathy with
its noble and benefcent spirit. First,
the Shareholders, who soon made States
rights, or the means, superior to human
rights or the end and, second, the trad
ing politicians, who speculated upon its
popularity and turned its successes, not
to public advantage but to private gain.
Out of the first alliance grew the war,
with all its disasters, and out of the sec
ond, the schemes of plunder and fraud
that eliminated in the ascendancy of
such vile creatures as recently disgraced
New York. Democracy, which had once
meant the elevations and progress of the
masses of the people, came to mean the
dictation of narrow oligarchy at the
South, and the nameless venalities Of
the vulgar pot-house brawlers and bull
lies at the North. Toombs,. and Rhett
represented its theoretical pretensions
on one side, and Tweed and his infam-
GUS crew, its practical workings on the
other. Secession or political dissolu-
ton, and corruption, or social dissolu-
ton were the upshot of its unnatural
and vicious complexities with nullifiers,
Know Nothings, and adventures of all
sorts, which had followed as an inevita-
BILE result upon its abandonment of its
earlier and better impulses. 1t has gone
to pieces because it betrayed the gener-
GUS principles and aspirations which
not only gave it name, but life, honor
and triumph. When the soul fed. the
body fell prey to the worms and creep
inr things that are born of rottenness
and decay.
For this reason, we say that if it would
again become power in the land it
must sever at once. unequivocally and
forever, its connection with the Bour-
bonism that has survived the rebellion,
and with the Tweedism whose unsavory
stencil has so recently turned the nos
trils af the civilized world. Thus purg-
ed, it must not look for new vigor to
factions, combinations and conspiraoies,
but to recurrence of its ancient insp,r=
atoms. 1t must put itself squarly before
the people on ground that will justify
its name-on the grounds Of positive.
consistent, and unyIelding principle
with such notifications only as the
changed circumstances Of the times de-
mand. ..
1. In the frst place, it must assert.
rs the essential truth of the democratic