Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1868-1875, 1872-11-14
rug PoEl rKoAL sIrUATIoN.


litical skimmers and schemers who either
do not know or attempt to conceal the fact
that parties in republican government Mt
are. founded upon great underlying Princi-I
pies, AMI do not depend for permanent sue
cess upon the peFseRalPepulafi eff -bhis-er
that man. Straightway after defeat the
skimmers, who never get beneath the sur
face, begin to cry out the party is dead, its
funeral obsequies have been performed and
there is 60 resurrection The sooner .
party gets rid OF such croakers, birds of
evil, the better for its permanent success,
As With The skimmers, 90 With the schsmers.
fhey toe ater defeat begin -straigbtway to
cry out, death; and plot and plan and scheme
to inyaigla adherents of dsfsassd pEiaei-
pies into some new political organization.
Every man who has the right TO vote should
know that principles, never die, men may
be defeated OF die, but it is with correct
principles as with truth VI
Truth crushed to earth shall rise again:
The eternal years of God are hers; r.
We are led to these thoughts by the ca
anxiety with which a class of disofgan-
izers here in Tennessee, more noisy than
numerous, seek to locate the future Of ex-
President johnson add make aim the hinge
upon which the hereafter of Tennessee
politics will turn. We certainly shall not
question the great ability and the great IL
duence Of Mr., Joh1sonr bat if he were to
die tomorrow, tbs great fundamental
principles 5of constitutional government
would still exist ami coadnue to exist
while genuine republication survived. OF
one thing we can assure Mr.. Johason's
latter day admirers, who now worship him
with all thu ardor of zsalobs, let them spec
ula.e as they may: he never can lbscoano
The defender Of the practices and
principles Of the past, present or
hItura administration of General
Grant. Morton, Cameron, Ben, Bdtler and
Murphy have their grip oa the Radical
or Republican party. They wllrmould it
to suit their will. Il is essentially the mere
instrument Of monopolies and rings, the
tool Of corruption and intrigue, and as such
manages the government of the United
States sscompletely as ever master managed
slave. Suchis Grantisn, such is modern
Republicanism. Standing opposed to it,
we have the Democratic party, having its
foundation deeply laid in those great prin-
ciples of true Republicanism which Mr.. JEFF
ferson made the corner stones of his admiu-
istratioa, aud upon which to-day rests the
Democratic party snd depends tbs future
OF our government. s.
We know that there are those who have
a personal prejudice OF dislike to the name
Democrat. We are fully prepared to make
all proper allowance for such prejudice or
dislike, however unreasonable in aphilo-
sophie view it may be. We are not of
those who would utterly ignore the imper-
fections and shortcomings of human ma
ture. The Democratic party Of Tennessee
is entitled to neither blame nor praise for
its name. When the war ended those who
now act with the National Democracy
found two great parties struggling for the
administration of the government: one
preaching and pracicing Gl Of the obnox-
ious doctrines known under The odious
mama Of Radicalism. The other
advocating the constitution as the
chart by which the ship of State should be
steered. One practising the doctri ~ thai
the government was a close corporation for
few individuals who either appeared in
person or were represented by other corpo-
rations. The other maintaining that the
government was constituted for the general
GOOD of Inc whole people, with equal rights
for all sai exclusive privileges for none.
One c0ndemning without trial and pro
S,ribing without a hearing an eutire section
of ths Union rich in all the products that
for Sd long made the United States the
CONNIE. cial dictator of the world. The other
demanding impartial suffrage and universal
amnesty for ali the people of every section.
Finding parties thus defined when the war
ended, all in the South who opposed Radi-
calism naturally took posi- ion with those
who in the North were enlisted under the
name Of Democracy, whether they had
been old Wings or old Democrats, onion
men or ConfedeFates. Those who -feon
early antipathes dsliked the name, sacri-
feed prejudice to principle ana stood togeth
er as a band of brothers in dsf5nCe Of
common cause. The name is but sym
Dol by which class may be designated
and has nothing Of merit or demerit 10 it
except so far as it is the representative Of
good or pad principles.
Puny Democrats. or Democrats so-called,
may sicken at our late defeat, but Demo
cratic principles can never die while good
government lives, and the need Of them is
greater to-day a hundred fold than when
they were proclaimed by Jefferson and en-
forced Oy Jackson. Let it ba known that
Democracy is not dead but still lives aad
viii continue to live while Liberty lives.
As Byron said Of the Coliseum, .s-a
While stands the Coliseum, Rome shall stand;
When falls the Coliseum, Rome shall fall;
And when Rome falls, the world.
So we say of the Democratic party as
representing the democratic PRINCIPLES of
government: While stands the Democratic
party, republican government shall stand;
When republican government falls, then