The Portland daily press., 1874-09-10
Tories English and American.

ing the democratic tlckeJ mere Is no uOle
dangerous. or perncious habit than that OF
exercising the right of suffrage mechanically
and adhering without reflection to old party
associations merely because they are old. 1t
was this blind, unrehecting attachment to
names instead of things that caused thou
sands Of men who belonged to the progress
sive and patriotic Democratic party prior 10
Jackson's time to adhere to the false De-
mocracy of Buchanan's time-a Democracy
which had been debauched by slavery and no
longer bore any resemblance to that of the
genuine Jefersonian stamp. 1t becomes us
all to take care that the words progress"
liberty" Justice ard "moral ideas" do
not in like manner carry us unsuspectingly
into the support Of errors as serious, and
practices as vicious as those which, by reac-
ton, gave birth to the Republican party.
Why then should man who approaches
the polls next Monday vote for the Republic
can instead of the Democratic candidates?
To our own mind the most comprehensive
and therefore the most satisfactory an
swer is this-parties in the United
States have for several years been
to those in European countries, particularly
to those of England. By the disappearance
of the single issue of overwhelming impOr-
tance, which made party lines so sharp and
clear that no man could miss them, we are
relegated to the consideration of more gener-
al questions to seek motives for party ale
glance. And we find that the same motives
Prif cIIhi 70
with the Wings or Liberals rather than with
the Tories, would make Republican rather
than a Democrat of n American citizen. In
England no one question Of public policy is
ever for a hong time the point of departure
for parties. But there is no difficulty in dis
covering from both history and observation
that while the Liberal ideal is the future. the
Tory ideal is the past, and that while the
Liberal endeavor is to conform Institutions
TO the more generous and humane notions
of the nineteenth century, the Tory seeks
relief from the evils of the present by bring
ing the country back to the golden age of
the Tudors and Plantagenets. The followers
of Gladstone and Bright use their best
efforts, in their slow English way, to limit
the invidious privileges Of the upper
classes, at the same time enlarging popular
privileges and ditflsing intelligence. The
LIBERAL tendency is toward a republic, while
that of the conservatives, though they would
hardly admit it, is toward the absolutsm OF
the Stuarts. Consequently in England there
isa natural gravitation of progressive, philo-
nh To fl,a r how,
al party, and there is a corresponding move
ment in the direction of Toryism on the part
of the aristocrats, high churchmen and dilet-
tante authors. A reformer is Wing by in
stinct, while a millionaire or a gentleman
usher is as naturally Tory. Not that these
rules are inyariabe. Individual caprice or
private interest may make Tory of errat-=
ic reformer like Carlyle, or make noble lord
like the Duke of Argyle an advanced Lib
eral. Not that the Tory party as whole is
always retrogressive either. The last time
Disraeli was in the cabinet, be led his aston
ished and recalcitrant associates in the pas
sage of a bill greatly enlarging the right of
suffrage. Temporary expediency or the am
billion of an able leader sometimes leads to
strange dgressons and astonishing contra
dictions. But the fact is clear, nevertheless,
that if Great Britain were abandoned to the
Tories it would go backward, while the Lib
erals, clothed with undisputed power,
would carry it forward to essential, if not
nominal, democracy.
The parallel is plain. Subject to the same
individual exceptions and temporary and par
tial Emergencies, the Republicans are the Lib
erals and the Democrats the Tories of Amer
lea. While the future may never again bring
us single great question of abstract morals
on which to divide, no man need suffer his
political conscience to be confused and uncer-
tain so long as it plainly appears that one
party is looking backward and the other for
ward. The consideration of one or two rep
resentative specific questions makes this gen.
eral proposition clear. The matter of free
schools, for instance, is one of the most I'M
portant questions having reference to the per-
petuation OF democratic equality. Without
universal eduation, an aristocracy is ineyita.
BILE. Now suppose the country to be given over
TO the undisputed control of one or the other OF
the existing parties--can any sane man be at
moments loss to decide in whose hands
that most important interest would be most
safe? Wherever there are enemies to free
schools, whether they be southern whites.
northern conservatives or religious bicots.
they are devoted to the Democratic marty.
Wherever there are enthusiasts for popular
enlightenment, and wherever there is most
zeal for free schools, there is the Republican
strength the most overwhelming.
80 on al questions of reform. There are /
many consistent temperance men who are /
Democrats, but theirs is not the party which |
temperance men choose as temperance men.
because the general feeling and tendency in |
the Democratic ranks is such as to give them
no encouragement. There is not communi- |
ty in the United States where a Democratic |
success would be regarded by any true friend |
of temperance as triumph of that particu- |
lar reform.
Take the vital question of the equal civil |
and political rights Of citizens. Is there any,
where in the country class to which these |
rights are held to belong only by sufferance?
Is there a disposition anywhere to enforee, |
class distinctions-to discriminate between |
the rich and the poor, and 10 Cypress the lat
ter on account of their ignorance and weak.
ness? Who is it that cherishes this ungeper-
Gus feeling9 And who is it that insists that |
all men, rich or poor, black or white. shall |
enjoy an equal participation in the privileges
and responsibilities ct the government? No
one honestly seeking to do right in this mat |
ter could have shadow of doubt as TO |
which party presented the best claim for his |
support
There is, too; in the near future, great
struggle impending which will be a crucial
TEST oil the nations power of self-govern-
ment-a struggle which we should even now
be girding up our loins to encounter. Re.
sioes tne cialni already before Congress for re-
payment Oh the cotton tax, the South presents
CHAINS ioi cotton and Other property DESTROYED
hFrHfn HrraT Il r