Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1872-08-03
THE TASK OF HERCULES.

LII xAOA Va AbAtOOAA6s
1t is rare amusement to witness the
contentious of the Courier over the dose
administered by the Baltimore Convention
to the Grant party. 1t prays and curses
by turns, and no two issues of that journal
sing the same tune or strike chords in
unison. In Wednesdays issue it attempts
to show that the Democratic party was swal-
lowed up; that it was a thing Of the past;
that it had deserted its principles in Or
der nominally to fight under the flag of
Republicanism."
Now there is just about as much truth
in. these assertions as one might expect
from the source in which they originate.
While the Democrats may have endorsed
the Liberal Platform, great care was taken
by its trainers that it should be platform
they could endorse. 1t embodics the
principles the party has ever contended
for, and responds to the demands urged by
the party since the war closed. 1t repp-
dates the tendency towards Capitalization
and the complete obliteration Of the rights
Of State government; declares for univer-
sal amnesty, and reunion Of the adverse
sections Of our country in common broth
erhood, aud the administration Of the Gov
eminent upon the good old Jeffersonian
test of honesty and capabiiity. If this is
Republicanism, we have failed hitherto to
discern it in their party platforms, or to
witness it in their administration of public
affairs. If the sweeping indictment against
Grants Administration contained in the
address of the Cincinnati Convention, is
-Republicanism, then the Courier and its
supporters are not Republicans in name or
sentiment.
The fact is the Democratic party has
just begun to realize the enormity Of the
insults that have been heaped upon their
Southern brethren, by impudeut carpet
baggers, aud the injuries which have been
pcrpetrated against life and property un-
der the operation Of the infamous Ku.
klux law. They have admitted their fears
that an Administration may become so
corrupt, that by the aid Of party legislation
it can stiae popular sentiment, subvert the
will Of the people, and establish despot-
ism clothed with the. forms and sanction Of
law. The crisis was one that would not
admit of any course except that affecting
the present emergency. The issue was too
vitality important to allow Of division
among those who saw the danger and we're
prepared to meet it. 1t was the duty Of
patriotism higher, purer and nobler, than
any other impulse of the human heart,
that cemented the union between men who
had long differed on abstract questions
or principles of minor importance.
Does the Courier imagine that men who
have stood firm, not for days and mouths.
but for many years, who have resisted all
Establishments and brides for the sake OF
principle, are actuated by any less con-
scientious motives now? Can it class with
the army of pap suckers and placc-hunt-
ers the three millions of Democrats who
have stood true to their principles SO long,
and assume that they are controlled by
the same sordid considerations Or can
it justly claim that a party dissolves its
organization or ceases to exist, which man.
ifests SO grandly its unanimity Of senti.
ment, or has managed to maintain its
organization SO long without the aid of the
" cohesive power Of public pluuder"?
Why does our neighbor persist in war.
ring against reason and common sense?