The Louisiana Democrat. [volume] (Alexandria, La.) 1845-1918, 1875-03-24
Hnw TO Elect a Republican PreSi-
dent,

thoughts of third party, and there
are reports from Washington of con-
ferences lately held there upon the
sublect. But those who would pre-
vent the perils of a Democratic resto-
ration must see that the effort to or
oanize a new party at this time could
only end in the election of Demo
crat in 1876. There is no doubt that
clear majority of the people of the
country distrust the Democratic par
ty; and while they do not question
the patriotism Or the high character
Of men like Governor Tilden and
some others, they doubt the power of
such men to direct their party
There has always been very little in
dependence among Democratic lead
ers. They fear the following which
they fatter and to which they yield.
Even man of the character of Sena-
tor Thurman, with his eye upon the
Presidency, takes occasion to allude
to the Roman Catholics as s'the grand
old Church" The Senator was think
inc of the Irish vote.
There is this difference between
the two parties, that the mass of
those who are inclined to the Repub-
licaa organization are better and wi
ser than their leaders, while the Dem
ocratic leaders are very much safer
than the mass of their party. In de-
Gliding upon this political action,
the voter must look over the shout
der of Governor Tilden or Senator
Thurman, and see what stands be-
hind them
He viii, see there are many of the
most dangerous elements and tenden-
cies in the country. The surviving
passions of the war; the kind of bar
barism and impotence Of law which
slavery breeds in the society in which
it has long existed; jealousy of the
negro; hostility to tn e common
school system; extravagant dogmas
of State sovereignty; the most re-
lentsess party tyranny-these and
such as these are the tendencies and
influences which are massed behind
tive Democratic leaders, and it is to
these, not to an ideal Democratic par
ty, that the government of this coun-
try would be Ratrusted in the event of
Democratic success.
But while there is scarcely one of
the Republican leaders who com
mands the enthusiasm and confidence
Of the party, the roter can see over
their shoulders the great mass of
those who sustained the war, and
who gladly approved tHe principles of
recensdrHctioa--ac compact multitude
OF irdr strioUs and intelligent voters,
trained to obey the law and to seek
the remedy Of all evils in ttae courts,
and not by revolution and intisnida-
ton and every form Of iawlcssness,
and il is because the leaders have not
responded to the convictions and de-
mands of this following that they
have forfeited the party confidence,
and haze been deserted at the polls.
The country is not in the party sense
Democratic, yet it hesitates 10 sus-
tain the Republican party. The pno-
blem, then, is how to reunite the ma
jority in the ouly organization which
can hopefully contest the election
with the Democrats. And there is
but one way in which it can be done.
To attempt the formation of a Few
party, which would have no recruits
from the Democrats, is mere suicide.
Yet to push stolidly on the course
which has been pursued for some
time is destruction quite as sure.
The policy of Republican recovery
then, is the nomination, ia 1876, of a
candidate wholly free from any COM
plicity with the policy which has al
ienated the sympathy and support of
the country, and the adoption Of al
platform which shall show a spirit of
profound confidence in the principles
of free constitutional government
and a resolution to secure honest and
economical administration by prompt
return to specie payment and judici-
Gus reform of the system of the civil
service. Such nomination and such
aplatform would be in them selves
the evidence that malign counsels in
the dominant party were abandoned,
and that those who have been always
Republican, and would still prefer to
act with the old organization, might
return with the old zeal and conf
dence. The Republican party, so re-