The Democratic press. [volume] (Ravenna, O. [Ohio]) 1868-1901, 1874-01-29
Fitness and Judges Of Fitness.


AURORA, Jan. %, 1874.
Mr.. EDITOR :-It appears that the
opinions of Caleb Cushing up to 1861,
on the right and power ofa State to
withdraw from the Union. have dis
qualified him for Chief Justice, but
not for diplomatic agent to a foreign
country. Is this complimentary to
foreign nations? Is not this the way
in which we have secured the con-
tempt of all the profoundest thinkers
and statesmen of the age? WHAT an
able and consistent expounder of our
system of government this good
enough diplomat must be VIII he
prove as clear, explanatory and unan-
swerable, as Tod did at Brazil? After
proving to foreign inquirer that we
are one thing, viii he come home and
show by fighting that we are another !?
In this act OF orr government7shall we
dispreve the assertion of a late Ger
man writer, that, as a republic we are
not of much account, and that ethe
air of the United States is infected
with the corruption of the leading
classes" Have maxims changed and
twisted to suit these times, so that
vice aud dishonor. instead of virtue
and integrity, have become the sup
port. of Republican communities p
When some. Carlist, or Democrat of
Spain interrogates Cushing, why JEFF
ferson Davis was denounced as rebel
and traitor, and why was he chained
and cast into e dungeon, how will he
convince his eatechist of his own
soundness, truth and honor2
But upon whom besides Gushing
Knight not the Tower of Sloan fall?
What was the record of the New
Y ork Tribune. the greatest political
organ in the world, on the subject of
secession, up to the time Gushing
wrote that honest letterlto the Presi-
dent of the Southern Confederacy /?
When was the precise moment Ben
Wade changed his mind When
Edward Everett and Ben. Butler p
When Douglass, Dickinson, Logan,
Tod 2--there is not room for the list.
i Bat when did the readers, the Re-
pu ubliean masses who had swallowed
I for years the doctrines ofthe Tribune,
The Ohio State Journal, the Cincinnati
lGommerciaI, the Indianapolis Jour
nal. and the, Cleveland Herald, when
did they begin TO hate secession and
Hove loyalty When. these papers
were copying from one another seces-.
lsi6n doctrines with appreciation and
without the dissentsof their hundreds
Of thousands of readers, where was
] the guiltipess Of Gushing in saying the
same thing ~ M
Is Will the Cleveland Herald look TO
hits oWnfiles of that celebrated Jump
Jim Crow period particularly to an
article from the State Journal-and
then feel justified in saying what il
dida few days ago? ssar
| s.The people Of the South believed
what their Northern Democratic allies
had said, when Democrats assured
Southern seeessionists that in the abb
stract right of secession Democracy
was with them"
/ suppose the. South did believe
what Democrats bad said-this is for
Democrats. TO. ssttle with their con-
scfehces. But did not The stronger
land wider SPREAD expressions from
Republican orators, organs and con-
ventions, have no weightintheS South ?
Possessed they no credit? Could the
South place no reliance on what Re.
I pablicans said ? Was that famous
convention that met at Cleveland moi
0Dg before the time alluded to, at
which Governor Chase declared he
would carry out the DEGREES of the
Supreme Court of Ohio against the
courts of tho United States, mere
tshoW,. cong gforllersllttii TUU1s,
knaves, and political mountebanks !?
Was it nothing that the Republican
party of Portage county, through its
Representations in. 1913 presented a
l.petition to the Ohio Legislature ask
ing that Ohio take Immediate steps to
come out from the Union, and that
other counties responded only with
hesiiancy as to the proper time?
Il So far as Republicans are concerned
the event has shown how lar they
were worry of belief, aud they may as
well concede one thing first as last,
either that they were unworthy of any
trust or faith, or that they too are
responsible for one grand deception.
The time will come when this coun-
try will elevate men without regard
to their services in the late war
when Union will not be confounded
with Liberty-and treacherous parties
appear in their own proper habili-
ments. 5 q
lsslHaa As ever, E. &.
Pa