Los Angeles daily herald., 1875-08-27
Another Letter from an Old Democrat.


not the Democratic party inaugurated
the late deplorable war between the
Northern and Southern states, and
that every act of the Republican par
ty during that war was in violation of
the C Constitution of our country, and
that every act of the Southern states
was warrented by the letter and spirit
of the Constitution and every princi-
pie of our government.
Mr.. Wood asserted that the Demo-
cratic party was pro-slavery party
let us look at the history of the DEM
ocratic party in the United States, and
see if that assertion is warranted by
facts. 1t is well known and undis-
puted fact that at the close of the Rev
olutienary war there were thirteen
states, every one of which held slaves,
and it is also well known and undis-
puted that after the election of Thom-
as Jefferson in 1900, the Democratic
party held undisputed sway in this
government down to the election of
Harrison in 1910, with the exception
of four years of John Quincy Adams;
and it is as we'll known that up to 1927,
eight of these original states had, un-
der Democratic rule, abolished slavery
and given them the right of suffrage.
Under Martin Van Buren's admins
tration as Governor of the state of n.
York, the negroes who paid taxes on
two hundred and fifty dollars worth of
property were allowed to vote; how
then can any one say that the Demo-
cratic is pro-slavery party? No man
can say so who has any regard for
truth and no man will say so in
public speech, except he thinks he is
talking to those ignorant of the histo-
ry of the country; and no man has ev-
er said so excepting Republican speak
ers, whose hopes of office depends up
ON the amount of deception he can
practice upon the American people;
who does not argue or reason, but con-
tents himself with declarations and
denunciations for which there is no
foundation in fact. Hoping by his
malign teachings to perpetuate the
Republican party in power, upon the
single emotion of hate,-treacherous,
ferocious hate of the Democrats of the
North, and our fellow citizens of the
Southern states,-as Gen. Chase said
to w. d. Chadwick Glover, Dec. 81
1859: ~ do not wish to have the slave
emancipated because l love him, but
because hate his master.n And on
this principle of ferocious hate rests
the claims of the Republican party to
the suffrages of the American people;
and in the year 1869, in the cemeteries
of Washington city, when they were
decorating the graves of the brave sol
diers of the war, soldiers were placed
in the cemetery with fixed bayonets
to prevent persons from strewing flow
ers on the graves of the southern dead.
But mark the contrast. When Mass.
became Democratic, the state gave a
cordial invitation to the soldiers of the
confederate army to participate in the
celebration of the centennial of the bat
lie Of Bunker Hill, and the son of
Gen. Lee was an honered guest of the
city of Boston; and the State of Mass.
under Democratic rule took their
Southern brethren by the hand and
buried the hatehet on the brow of the
hill, beloved by every American from
Brunswick to California-from Nova
Scotia to Mexico. [ ask Mr.. Wood,
when he again makes these charges of
pro-slavery traitors against the DEM
ocratic party, to look at these facts in
the history of the country, and re-
member that the Democratic party
had the control of this government
for sixty out ofseventy years, and when
we handed it over to the Republican
party we were "invincble in our
strength, exhaustless in our resources,
boundless in our prosperity; we Were
the wonder, and admiration of the
world;n and we ask the people also to
remember these things, and let us
place the government back into the
hands Of the Democratic party, who
has such a record in the history of our
country. The Independent party ad-
nit the corruption of the Republican
party, and openly proclaim in all their
speeches that they have destroyed al
most the last vestige of constitutional
liberty from the land; and that their
principles will, if not checked, result
in the final and complete overthrow
of our once glorious Republic. And
yet they stand up and boast that they
were in that Republican party, and
helped to destroy our once Democratic
and glorious government. On what
grounds then do they claim the suf-
frage of the people? If they helped
to destroy our former good govern
ment, which they admit, then of
course they are not to be trusted, SIM
ply because they have changed their
name from Republicans to Indepen-
dents. This same old Federal party
has changed its name every few years
since the formation of our govern.
ment, and have caused disturbance
every time they get into power; and
the people, in order to restore the
country to quietude, were forced to
place the country back into the hands
of the Democratic party, who were no
sooner in possession of the reins of
government, than they Immediately
went to work to restore harmony
among the people and prosperity to
the country. Let us again put the
government in their possession, that
we may get out of our present slough
of despond, and start again on the
road to prosperity. The Democratic
party is the only party that has never
changed its name to catch the votes of
the people. The Democratic party are
the people, and the Constitution of our
common country is one platform. Let
us all go for it once more, and take
each other by the hand, and, emulat-
ing thestate of Democratic Massachu-
setts, let us grasp hands and bury the
hatchet with George L. Wood and his
inrin of f1 -