National Republican. (Washington City (D.C.)) 1872-1888, 1875-03-12
A FEW WORDS OF ADVICE TO THE RE-
PUBLICANs OF PENNsYLVANIA,


The experience Of New Hampshire
serves no beneficial purpose, we arc afraid,
by way of influencing the action Of the
Prohibitionists or Local 0pIonists in Penn
sylvania. They have put forward their
claims for recognition in the latter State as
they did in the former, and there is danger
that the movement may result to the injury
Of the Republican party again. 1t is very
generally admitted that these advocates Of
temperance are Republicans by conviction,
and it is further admitted that, being moral
lists, their interests would be best served in
the event of Republican success. They
must know that they cannot succeed by
and of themselves, and that consequently
the wise part for them is to abstain from
any step that may embarrass or injure their
natural friends. But, aside from this view
| of the case, there are other reasons why
they should carefully avoid doing anything
to. the disadvantage Of the Republican
party. COnceding everything that they
may advance as arguments in support of
the importance of the temperance cause, we
insist that more important issues are in
volved in the result. The moral Influence
of Democratic success in Pennsylvania
would not only, as we have said, be construed
as a signal defeat to them, but would be
used to encourage similar successes in other
States, and however much they may be de-
voted to the cause of temperance they
must not fail TO appreciate that Democratic
successes now mean Republican defeats
in 1876, and Republican defeats in
1876 mean something akin to another civil
war or separation of the State-rig be-
lieying States from the Union. We know
that it is the fashion to sneer at such pre-
dictions as these as unfounded; but we ad-
monish the peace-loving and law-abiding
people Of Pennsylvania that they are igno-
rant of the true designs of the late rebel
leaders. These leaders have already as
sumed the control of the Democratic party,
and mold its opinions now as they nodded
them, with the aid of Northern dough-
faces, before the war. Take Gordon and
Lamar, now on the stump in Connecticut,
as examples. They were both prominent
in the Southern Confederacy, and were &C.
cepted by the rebels as honest and capable
advisers. They were both elected to Con-
gress simply because they had been earnest
rebels, and for no other reason. If they
had accepted the situation as Longstreet
did at the close of the war, and had de-
clared openly their belief that the result of
the war banished forever from public con-
sideration the fallacious and reasonable
theories Of secession, they would now be
banished themselves, as Longstreet is, from
that consideration. But they have pur-
sued q different course. They have stead
lastly maintained, in violation of an honest
construction of the terms of their surren-
der, and of the meaning of the reconstruc-
ton acts by which their States were read
mitted, and by which their personal citi-
zenship was renewed, that each and every
State in the Union has a right to secede,
and at the same time have denied the
power of the General Government to CO.
cree a seeding State back into the Union.
They may say, and say it truly, that
they never intend to renew the open fight
against the Government; but in this asser-
ton resides all the trouble that may be ap-
pretended for the future. Gordon himself
was Ku-Klux. He stands convicted to.
day by his own testimony of having been
the adviser of that murderous and treason
able organization-an organization formed
for the sole purpose of defying and over
riding, within the Union, the constitutional
amendments which were the logical conse-
quences of their defiance to the Govern
ment when they attempted TO override the
Constitution without the Union. In short,
the very basis of the political belief of the
rebel clique now in control of the Demo
cratic party is covert treason-the same
kind of treason which, when openly as
serted, cost the lives of thousands of brave
Pennsylvanians, and drenched the country
with tears of grief and with loyal blood.
The object which these traitors seek now
is the same as in 1S60-61. They aim to
elect Democratic President, under whose
government, denying the right of coercion,
they will be able to set up new Southern
Confederacy and sever the Union in what
they call peaceabie way.
If any one doubts the truth of this asser-
ton let him look at the records and public
utterances of these gentlemen since the
close of the war, and particularly since, by
the laundering generosity of the Republi-
can party, they have been allowed to &C.
cupy seats in the National Legislature.
Gordon has been outspoken and blatant in
his assertion of a belief that the "invasion"
of State by the armies of the United States
was treason against the sacred sovereignty
of that State. In other words, the main
tenance of peace in South Carolina, or any
of the Southern States, and in Rhode
Island, or any Of the Northern States, by
United States authority and the execution
of laws by the punishment of crime, is, in
his opinion, an act Of treason. We re-
member hearing similar declarations in
1861, when the traitorous and fool-hardy
authorities of the State of Maryland at
tempted TO deny the right of United States
volunteers to march through her territory
on their way to crush the Shareholders re-
bellion. Lamar has been equally pro-
nounced in support of the same wicked
principles, while Senator Thurman, ma
tive Virginian, a carpct-bagger in Ohio, and
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