Worcester daily spy. [volume] (Worcester [Mass.]) 1850-1888, 1872-10-02
woRCEsT Err.
WEDNESDAY. OCTOBER g, 1879
What ihcr NEouId DO.


1t is not surprising that the supporters of Mr..
Greeley carefully avoid discussion of the real
issues of the present canvass The question be-
fore the people is this: Shall the government
remain, for the present, in the hands of those
who saved it from destruction, and gave it safety
for the future, by destroying the slave power
and making freedom the law Of the land2 or
shall it be transferred to those who sought to
DESTROY it or sympathized with its would-be de-
strovers? To elect Mr.. Greeley would be TO
establish the democratic party in power at
Washington, with such men as Zebulon B.
Vance, R. NJ. 7. Hunter, Wade Hampton, and
the Breckinridges, from the south, and Judge
Black, Senator Thurman, Pendeton, Fernando
Wood, and Gov. Hoffman, from the north as
chief rulers not to speak of the irrepres-
sible Blairs. Every one knows this, who
reflects seriously on the situation. The "liber-
ais" are few in number, and weaker still in the
force necessary to counterfeit any purpose of the
restored and strengthened democratic party.
In fact, majority of these "liberals" are mere
political Adventures, and really intend TO be-
come democrats of the EXTREMIST sort. Who
believes, for instance, that Senator Fenton, Nc
Clure of Pennsylvania, or n P. Banks of Massa-
chusetts, has more principle or character than
Montgomery Blair? There was a time when
Mr. Blair was the most radical member of Mr.
Lincoln's cabinet; and he had place in the pub
lie estimation far above what was ever reached
or ever could be reached by either of the other
gentlemen named. Now, he is one of the most
reckless democrats in the country; and the "last
state" of the "liberals' we have named will not
be better than his.
Mr.. Greeley wishes TO have republicans be-
lieve the democratic party has been converted"
and that it is now holding pentecostal love
feasts; but he can not feel much respect for
anybody who believes this. The spirit and aims
of the democratic party are precisely what they
were, a year ago, when Mr.. Greeley himself said
oft: "The brain, the heart the soul of the present
democratic party is the rebel element at the
south, with its northern allies and sympathiz-
ers; it is rebel at the core to-day, 1t would come
into power with the hate, the chagrin, the wrath.
the modification of ten bitter years to impel and
guide its steps" Again: "They propose to re-
new the fight; they expect to regain as demo-
Gratis, through elections, the power which
they lost as rebels through the war"
There has been no change Of their
purpose; in the renewed fight" they have
unanswered to divide the republican party by
using Greeley as a candidate, and Numbered
badly in doing so; but politically they are the
same men whom Mr.. Greeley described in the
extracts we have quoted, and they have not re-
linquished jot of their determination to re-
cover, by political management, the power they
lost in the rebellion. To talk of the democratic
party as Converted is to undertake very
barefaced confidence game which insults com
mon sense. If this audacons assertion were
true the 'new converts" would understand the
propriety Of not pushing their claims beyond a
request TO be received "on probation" But
those who represent the party are telling and
showing us constantly that it is not true.
If the democrats had been converted to repub-
lican principles, we should not hear SO much
disingenuous talk about reconciliation" Such
a conversion would complete the work ofreconcil-
iation and leave no room for any further question
in regard TO it. AT the north, since the surren-
der of Lee, there has been no lack Of good will
toward the conquered rebels; and if there has
not been complete reconciliation, the fault is
not here. The truth is, the only obstruction
which has hindered reconciliation, is that
pointed out by Mr.. Greeley, when he said the
rebel and rebel-sympathizing rulers of the
democratic party would come into power with
the hate, the chagrin, the wrath, the morlif-
cation" which rebellion had left among them.
1t is from this mood of hate, chagrin, and
wrath, that all the difficulties in the way Of
reconciliation have proceeded. Conversion to
republican principles would change it and bring
another, better, nobler mood. 1t can not be
changed by political movements and intrigues,
which keep alive in these men the hope of re-
storing the democratic party to power. It is not
likely to be changed, until that hope is do
stroyed. Therefore, an overwhelming defeat of
Horace Greeley and the democratic party, in this
presidential election, will do more to Convert"
that party and establish reconciliation, than is
likely to be effected very soon by any other
means.
The men who control the democratic party
viii never give up their purpose to nullify the
fourteenth and fifteenth amendments of the
constitution, and make important changes in
the work OF reconstruction, so long as they can
find anything to feed the hope of "regaining, in
the elections, the power they lost through the
war" At present, no complete reconciliation
with them is possible, in which these aims of the
rebel element are not realized. They renew the
fight in politics, as Mr.. Greeley said they would;
they seruple at no method of conducting it,
which seems hopeful; they can adopt the
policy of discrimination as readily as any other;
they can nominate Horace Greeley and "eat
crow for season, but they will not give up
their purpose, until their defeat in politics shall
be made as hopeless as that which they suffered
in the field Therefore, the welfare, peace, and
prosperity of the country, demand their deleat
at the present time Should the defeat be over
whelming, it would, probably, be followed by
by an ''era of good feeling"