Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1876-08-30
Why the Democratic Party Cannot be
Trusted.

The Democratic party cannot be safely
trusted with the control of our Govern
ment for many reasons, few of which
will briefly state:
Because the vital element Of the party,
the men who control its action and des-
tiny, were traitors, and did everything in
their power to destroy their country. No
man who ever deliberately betrayed his
country should be entrusted with its gov
eminent. To forgive rebels is one thing;
to put them in power is another thing. TO
place this Government into the hands of
men who sought its destruction by armed
rebellion would be insanity. These men
accept the Government only as military
necessity They do not love it, are not
proud of it, care nothing about its credit,
| and its very existence is "a rebuke to them
But this does not diminish their desire to
get control of the Government, to recuper-
ate and repair their shattered fortunes
The condition of the Democracy of the
North is somewhat different though
scarcely better. Sympathizing fully with
| the South and entirely subservient, it
asks nothing but Office and leaves meas
ures and policies to the South. Upon
economic questions that pertain alike to
all parts of the country, while opposing
whatever is and all that has been done it
has not even a suggestion to make, and is
utterly bankrupt in ideas. With individ-
ual members of talent and intelligence, as
an organization it has the confusion of
ideas and the feebleness of grasp which
belong to the senility of age that has out
| lived everything but its passions and the
memory of evil deeds 1t cannot es-
cape from the past, and all its
traditions are evil. 1t cannot point
to one of its leading measures
in thirty years that has not been con-
demned by the voice of mankind. The
other day, in the Senate, | asked the
question What good thing the Demo
cratic party had done, or proposed to do,
in the last twenty-five years? and said
would yield the floor to any Democratic
Senator who would answer. The Senator
from Delaware, Mr.. Salisbury, accepted
the challenge, and named the appoint
ment of investigating committees by the
| present Democratic House of Representa-
tives. The answer was an awful confcs-
sion which was painfully felt by every
Democrat present. The distinguished
Senator felt the necessity of saying some
thing, and could think of nothing but the
| appointment of smelling committees to
enable the rebels to find out whether we
could not have put down their rebellion
more cheaply than we did. The Fugitive
Slave law in 1850; the repeal of the Mis-
| souri, Compromise in 1854; the border
rutfian outrages in 1866; the Lecompton
Constitution and the bred Scott decision
in 1857 its denial of power to suppress
the rebellion in 1901 its responsibility
for the rebellion by sympathy and en-.
! nn11rn frnf ant ito 10
measure its efforts in 1864 to bring about
the abandonment Of the war; its protec-
ton to treason and conspiracy in the
Northern States; its opposition to the
| Constitutional amendments; its encour-
agement to the people of the South to re-
sist reconstruction, and its defense of the
Kuklux, White Leagues, and every form
of organized violence in the South pre-
sent an unbroken series of infamous
measures which will grow darker and
darker by the lapse of time
The House of Representatives during
the late session instituted twenty-six inves-
legations into the accounts and conduct
of Government officers. A majority of
the committees charged with these inves-
| legations were differed and managed by
! Confederate soldiers. and the sole pur-
! pose of all seems to have been the man
utacture of reports to damage the Repub-
lican party in the approaching election.
| For this purpose the rules of evidence
were ignored, hearsay statements and I'M
| supported rumors received in testimony,
the telegraph violated private books and
| papers seized, the rights of citizens tram.
| pied under foot, and lunatic asylums and
| penitentiaries ransacked for witnesseA
| lntormers were encouraged and en-
| ployed, and the most incredible stories
received with avidity, although contra
dicted and scattered to the winds the next
day. Any Titus Oates who would by a
Munchausen statement implicate the
| President in whisky frauds. or other
crimes against the Government, was vel
coined rs a benefactor, and treated with
the most delicate and assiduous atten
tons.
The most of these investigations were
conducted with closed doors. so that the
victims, whose names were to be black
ened, would know nothing of what was
gong on until they got it through the
newspapers, or other indirect channels
and when some of them demanded To be
heard and confronted with their accusers
ii was refused until the ISLANDERS had been
sent over the country, and then granted in
such manner rs 10 make their defense
impossible or imperfect. The attempt To
drag down the Secretary of the Navy and
To cover him with scandal without his
knowledge, the reluctance with which
they yielded to his stern demands to be
heard. and their refusal to consider evil
dence which was offered in his yindica-
ton, constitute one of the darkest pages in /
parliamentary history
I. These committees deported themselves
as lawleSs bodies, recognizing no public
or private rights which they were bound /
to respect, and were distinguished from