Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1874-11-12
EXPLANATION NEEDED.

The orators at the democratic jollifica-
ton meeting in this city on Tuesday even
ing. having had week for preparation of
their speeches. can hardly claim that they
were impromptu. They had time certain
II to present to their hearers we'll consid-
cred speeches. applicable to the time and
! occasion, worthy to be uttered in the glare
q bosarss, the ringing Of bells, the corrus.
cation Of fireworks. and the roar Of cannon.
At such time. with the inspiration Of vic
/ tory upon them, democrats might be ex-
pected to do their "level best
q Those however who were present at the
meeting must feel terribly puzzled at what
It's speakers said. What did the first
speaker mean when he spoke of the fifty
years rule of the democratic party without
the faint Of corruption? Does he believe
what he saidP Does he pretend to say
that the party which nursed in its bosom
z such men as JEFF Davis, Howell Cobb.
John G. Breckenridge, and other like trail
/. t,rs. was party of pure menP Will he
soberly assert that the party which sus-
tanned the auction block at which human
beings were sold as chattels was party
Of pure principles Will he stand up and
declare that the party which plunged the
nation into bloody war, clothed nearly
every family In mourning, and fastened
! upon the nation the enormous debt with
which It IL loaded is q party without the
faint Of corruption upon IT. Is the party
guilty Of these things worthy to be repre-
sented to the youth of the land as a model
ofpurity We confess our amazement
that even democrat should maintain that
= party with such record is pure. Con.
trssted with the democratic party all other
parties known to this country are white us
snow, and yet Ex-senator Bradbury. over
come by the delight Of transient demo-
cratic victory, the first for eighteen years,
and probably the last for eighteen years
70 come. can find no better word to say
than 70 pronounce this most corrupt of all
parties party without corruption Why
the fraud OF tha Credit Mobilier and all
the other charges Of corruption cast up
against the republican party make but
molehill compared with the mountain of
iniquity for which Buchanan's admins
tration 10 responsible. Is this the party
which the voters of the country are going
to entrust with the work of reform? We
think not. Mr.. Bradbury.
The second speaker, not having in mind
what the first had said, made an attempt
in his extempore speech which he had
spent week preparing. in undertaking
10 show that the democratic party stands
upon the same platform as the republicans.
The democrats he argued accept all the
amendments to the constitution. This OF
course IL to admit that the democrats have
all along been wrong and the republicans
right Every amendment to the constitu-
ton since the rebellion began has been
Z opposed by the democratic party. and
would have been defeated if that party
could have done SO; every amendment is
the work OF the republican party, from the
first to the ultimate act. In Congress, in
legislatures, and at the polls they were
issues between the two parties containing
vital principles. Now that they have been
made part of the constitution, it is rather
late hour for the democracy to confess
that they were wrong in opposing them.
And what is such confession worth
when 1t is followed as this was, by the
declaration Of the next speaker that de-
mocracy never changes. Democracy ac-
cording TO him is right everytime-is as
true 10 its principles as the needle to the
pole--will never change until the leopard
changes its spots. If democracy never
changes how can it accept the amend
ments which it opposedP If it is true to
principle all the time. how could 1t OPP
pose the emancipation of the negro and
the clothing Of him with civil and polti-
cal rights while the amendments TO the