New Orleans Republican., 1872-05-07
FALSE PRETBNsBS.

One of the conceits that the Democracy
is laboring under, and Of which it should
be cured, is this, that the vote which was
cast against General Grant in 1868 can
be counted upon as a solid and substan-
tial strength Of its own. Whenever a sug-
gestion is made that the Democracy had
better retire and give place to some or
ganization in which the people have con-
fdence, the response is sure to. be made
that the Democracy only lacked a few
votes four years ago Of succeeding. and
that if four hundred thousand converts
can be made, this Republican majority can
be overcome, and the Democracy secured
Of triumph. We can not disband our
army of three millions Of men, saws the
Mobile Register, Gin favor Of another Or
ganization that only numbers q few hun
dred thousand adherents. This is as
sumed to be complete and overwhelming
answer. 1t is nothing of the sort. In the
first place, the predicate is wrong. The
three million Of men who supported Mr..
Seymour in 1868 were not all Democrats.
but rather a mixture Of all sorts Of men.
Neither were the three millions and odd
men who voted for General Grant all Re
pubhcans, but rather a combination of
people who proposed to subordinate their
political opinions to one great end, which
was the settlement of the reconstruction
laws and the ratification Of the amend
ments to the constitution. Thousands of
men voted for Seymour, not as a Dem
ocrat, but as the representative Of the
white race against the colored.
As between Mcclellan and Lincoln the
contest turned upon the conduct Of the
war, and not upon the prejudices that
rallied the friends of the Union to the sup
port Of General Grant. Both Of the cam
paigns Immediately preceding the impend-
ing contest were agitated by different
issues than those that now prevail, and
surely the Democracy does not intend to
claim that the same men who stood with it
in 1864, and those who stood with it in 1868,
when the merits Of the controversies were
so widely different from what they are
now, will stand by it at present upon
platform that it repudiated in its former
efforts.
Four years ago the Democracy denied
the validity of the reconstruction laws,
and rejected the constitutional amend
ments as being dishonest and without
binding force upon the country. 1t ap-
pealed to the prejudices of race and color,
and won to its support thousands Of men
who disliked to trust the negroes with
equal political power with themselves.
Since that time the Democracy has
changed its front, and agreed to accept !
the Objectionable laws, the amendments,
and the negro. This discharges one-half |
of its supporters at once from its ranks. |
Men who felt great distress at voting for
a Democrat prevailed upon themselves to
support the nominees of that party on the
sole suggestion that they were Of the
white Mans party" This excuse being
aiken away, these men are now without
my fixed connection with any organiza-
ion, and the chances are that they will
7ote for Greeley, since he is the friend Of
amnesty and the freedom of the States,
against Grant, who opposes amnesty, and
sticks his bayonets into the States.
The Democrat who supposes that his
party is three million strong is about as
weak Of mind as the Customhouse faction
$, that supposes because it has boisted
he name Of Republican over its portals
t has thus become the leader Of the eighty
thousand Republican votes in this State.
There have been banners that had big
.rmies under them one day, and small
mes the next Bonaparte III. could give
he Democracy some useful information
n this point, how man may shake an
mpire when he truly represents its senti-
lents, and how, in turn, he may be
haken when the people discover that he
las lost the power to save them.