Port Tobacco times, and Charles County advertiser. (Port Tobacco, Md.) 1845-1898, 1874-11-20

The Democratic Party & Negro Rights.
As we said last week, the hour of victory
is sometimes the hour of danger. This is
true in politics as in war. An army may
become demoralized by success and party
ruined by the same cause. The present
position of the Democratic party is not
free from danger. The great mass of the
people have given it very substantial evil
dence of their purpose to entrust it with
the control of the National Government,
and it will be the fault of the party if it
loses the confidence thus rendered it. 1t
is not yet in power and cannot, under any
possible circumstances be, until two years
shall have passed. Much has been done,
but more remains to do to attain this great
object and thereby bring back the Nation
al Government to the principles of consti-
tutional republicanism. All who are
Democrats from principle and conviction
should carefully survey the situation, and
recognizing the duty of the hour, should
unfalteringly enter upon the path ofpatrio
tism which shall most unerringly bring
about the desired consummation. To do
this successfully we must disabuse our
selves of any lingering traces Of prejudices
and be guided alone by sound judgment
and sense of right. 1t is well known, as
we said before, that We are to very large
extent indebted for the extraordinary sue
cess of our party, on the Sd of November,
to honest members of the Republican party,
who, unable longer to bear the misdeeds
and corruptions of their own party leaders,
preferred to vote with us. The votes and
confidence Of these men we must retain if
we wish success-their prejudices We must
respect, always provided we can do so
consistently with the doctrines and tradi-
tions of our party That we can do this
we think there is no doubt, if we exercise
that conservatism Of thought and action
which has always characterized party so
eminently constitutional as ours. We
know that for years it has been charged
that the Democratic party has been the
party of slavery. This has been uttered
on every hastings in the North and preach
ed from every political pulpit, of the Ply
mouth Church kind, until it had become
almost part of the religion of the people.
But yet it was not true. The Democratic
party upheld slavery only because it was
recognized by the Constitution, and it re-
pudiated any ''higher law than that
sanctioned by that Magma Charta of our
liberties. When slavery was abolished, Us
one OF the results of the civil war, the
Democratic party, in common with vast
mass of the people of the country, acqui-
ed in it. When, in violation of the
Co. damental theory of Ss;es' rights, with
GUY which our Federal form of government
neFer would have existed, the Government
undertook to confer the right of suffrage
on the negro, the Democratic party fought
the 18th Amendment step by step, and
inch by inch, and lives to-day to protest
against the mode in which this measure
was adopted. But when it was done and
apparently acquiesced in by the mass Of the
people, it withdrew its further opposition,
and by solemn resolve in the National Con-
vention of 1872, pledged itself to sustain
in good faith, the 14th and 18th Amend
ments for the sake Of peace and harmony,
and that the North and South might "clasp
hands across the bloody chasm" made by
the civil war. On that platform we stand
and we mean to abide by the pledge then
given; and we have no hesitation in saying
that in our opinion the whole party will
as it ought to, unreservedly maintain the
position to which it is thus committed.
It is ON this point of negro rights that we
can fareses danger to our party, unless it
is guided by prudence and wisdom. We
have not now the space at our disposal to
pursue the subject further, but will at some
other time show why we think wisdom
and prudence alike demand that negro
rights should not, and would not be put
in jeopardy by the success of the Democra-
tic party.