American citizen. [volume] (Canton, Miss.) 1864-1890, 1872-01-27
Address Of the Missouri Democratic
State Central Committee.

Rooms OF THE DEMOCRATIC STATE CENTRAL
COMMITTEE,
ST, LOUIS, January \, 1874
TO The Democracy Of Missouri!
The occasion seems opportune for YOU
Central Committee to review, In the light OF
accomplished facts, the course pursued by
them in the political campaign of $50
When in the early part of that year this
committee resolved after careful reelection
and consultation with many eminent Demo
Gratis of undoubtcd attachment to Demo
cratic principles, and unQucstioncd patriot
ism, to abstain from the contest for State of
GERS then about to begin, they assumed re
sponsbility not clearly authorized by the
terms of the trust which you had conadcd In
their hands; but they did not take the step
without the high warrant of the approving
reclamation of nearly the entire body of the
Democratic masses. Nothing but this all
but unanimous approval could take the place
OF Il decision of State Convention, and JUS
tify your committee in the usual course pur-
sued But the discussion of the proposition
proved that the Democratic masses of Mis-
souri, had instnctiycly discovered the very
method which commended itself to the at
tcntion of your committee, and Were point
ing to it as the only swift and peaceful course
of dclivcrance of our people from the letters
of proscriptive and partisan rule that was
cstranging them from their political rights
and duties, and threatening to eNtinguish the
spirit of popular liberty. The adoption of
the method was instantly followed by the
effects which had been looked for Scarcely
had the committee formally and in unqucs-
toned good faith, proclaimed that the Dem
ocratic party would make no nominations for
Governor and the other State officers,
but would leave the contest for those
high positions entirely to the Repub-
Leans, then dissension among
our opponents, till then conducted
with little spirit and marked with no signih-
bpu 10 nj n hn Ia
BILE quarrel which produced the Liberal Re
publican schism of September, 1870, at JEFF
fersOn City, and inauguratcd the subsequent
instructive and memorable canvass. Almost
at the outset of this contest it assumed its
inevitable aspects. The Liberal Rcpub-
licans took the position Of the absent De
mocracy on the questions of the campaign,
and fought the battle against the proscrip-
tive policy that had afflicted the State, if not
with more courage and zeal, at least with
happier success than the manaclcd Democra-
cy had been able to fight it In previous con
tests. Although at first it involved only one
important, but local question, ii came to en-
brace the national questions of tariff, civil
service reform, and the right of Presidential
interference in State elections and not only
did the Liberal Republicans assert the Dem
ocratc doctrine on these sub cctS, but they
became the Jealous and effective opponents
of the dsfranchiscment which their own
party had imposed ON the peoplc-casting
aside party obligations and allegiance, and
boldly defying the vengeance of the National
Executive, to effect the restoration of free
government to the State and reinvCst one
third of the number of qualified voters of
Missouri with the sacred right of suffrage, of
which, for years, they have been unjustly
deprived Democrats could not and did not
remain Indifferent to such struggle. Their
waiver of right to contest the State offices
did not impair their coherency nor lessen their
devotion to time-honored principles. They
had made sacrifice of party pride and claims
for the purpose of cfccting great and patri-
otto purposc-thc deliycrancc of their pro
scribcd fellow-citizens from Il harsh disabli-
ty; and they felt no annoyance in seeing that
the effort of the Liberal Republicans to effect
that same object promised to be more sue
cessful than the past efforts of their own
party had been. They found, too, that this
sacrifice was not without compensation, for,
in abstaining from the contest they became
the arbiters of it. Their reservation of the
power to contest the elections for members
of Congress and the Legislature, and for the
local officers, secured the compactness of
their organization against all dispensing in
i1uenccs; and the marked difference of spirit
between the contending parties, and the EX
ccutivc interference in favor of the regular
ticket, showed them how to use this reserved
power in the cause of free principles and CON
stitutional government. They gave the ben |
Gift of their large vote to the liberal minority,
and secured the election of its State ticket /
by decisive majority of more than forty |.
thousand votes.
The result of the election was little less /.
than a revolution of the State government. |
A number of our fellow citizens, variously cs- /
timatcd at fifty to hundred thousand, who /
had been Invested of their suifragcs, were re-
cnfranchised Il system of registration that |
had been the prolific cause of fraud, favor /
1hpIi
counties that had been deprived of repre- .
scntatiOn, or had been misrcprescnted in the .
Legislature by persons not chosen by their .
people, were readmitted to their constitu-
tOnal right a majority of Democrats and .
Liberal Republicans were chosen to the Leg
stature a large majority of the counties of
the State were transferred from the control
of the proscriptive party to the hands of
Democratic and Liberal Republican local of
ticers ; and the party that had governed the
State for years with rigor Of rule uneX-
amplcd in its history, was suddenly shorn of
nearly all its power.
The State government which was chosen
with the assistance Of Democratic votes has
fulfilled all the reasonable expectations on
which those votes were cast. 1t has given
us a just and economical administration of
the affairs of the commonwealth, which has
recognized its Indebtedness to the element
that elected it by calling into the public ser
vice full proportion of patriotic Democrats
whose high character did not exempt them
from virtual ostracism during the rule of the
proscriptive party demanded other qualih-
cations for publ- duties and hOnors than the
simple one of a demonstrativc loyalty and
changed society, disordcrcd and disquietcd
by the painful and compulsory agencies de
Nised to maintain the power of a minority,
into healthful body polite reposing con
tcntedly in the consciousness of sclf-gOvern-
ment. When we contrast the present state of
things with the wanton and wicked waste of
the lands and funds that were the patrimOnv
of our common schools; the great frauds
that marked the sale of the railroads; the
payment of the militia and the settlement
of war accounts with the Federal govern
ments; and the excitement and consterna-
tion that attended the rigorous enforcement
of the test oath, under previous admins
tration, we feel that the patriotic Democra-
cy of Missouri can never feel too proud of
the part they took in the achievement of the
great change.
The great task which the Democrats of
Missouri and of the whole Union have de
voted themselves is the restoration of con
stitutional immunitics and liberties to those
from whom they have been wrongfully taken
away by party which is the first in the his
tory of the country to assume the privilege
of setting aside the Constitutions and the
simple logic of this task will not permit
them, even if they were disposed TO connect
t..
personal right whatever 1t is a signal refuta-
ion of the false imputatiOns made by our OPP
ponents on this subject, that while their ut ,
ter overthrow in the last State election has .
deprived colored suffrage of the official pro- !
lection of party which assumed to be its
exclusive custodian, and placed the rights
Of the new voters at the mercy of the De {
nocracy, nothing has occurred to imply that =
hese rights are less safe than they were un- ;
der the rule of the overthrow party. This
Tact will suggest to thoughtful minds that
he dominant national party may not pos I
scss that monopoly of patriotic virtues i
which il is accustomed to claim for itself,
and that when it shall be overthrow in a ,
great national contest, as it was in the local :
contest in our State in 1870, an unimpaired i
Union, an unimpaired Federal authority, an a
public faith, and an undimn- !
shed measure Of personal franchises will / i
be found TO have survived the imagined ca
amity.
The Democracy of Missouri have found !