The Democratic advocate. [volume] (Westminster, Md.) 1865-1972, 1876-10-14

he uoHn auu De roDDeu seni-annuallY bY
a corporation which Tilden would long
ago have disarmed Of It's power, and whose
criminal abettors he would have swept
into the penitentiary by scores. repeat
that do not blame you as an active ac.
oomplice in this wickedness. But you
ought to have come out from the evil and
corrupt fellowship as soon as you saw how
evil and corrupt 1t was. You owed It to
yourself, your church and your country,
to break off at once from political asso-
ciates capable Of such indefensible con.
duct. But your acceptance Of the doe
trines planted at Plymouth by the Yankees
blinded your Judgment, and made your
conscience inaccessible to the principles
planted in Jerusalem by the q people irst
called Christians at Antioch"
You would have us believe that HAYES.
If elected, will reform abuses and give us
a pure administration. Your statement,
and that Of other gentlemen equally rclia.
Bile, make IL certain that Mr.. Hayes bears
an irreproachable character in all his pri-
vate relations. do not doubt his posses.
sion Of that negative honesty which it is
disgrace to want, accord him those
tame household virtues which entitle him
to the respect Of his neighbors and the
confidence of his family, but he can no
more stem the torrent of republican cor
ruption than he can swim against the rap
ids Of Niagara. His whole history shows
that he would not even make an effort TO
do so. He has been most happily called
"a man Of tried subserviency.b A refor-
mer in these times must be made Of ster-
ner material. He must have no connec.
tion with and be under no obligation to
the authors of the abuses which need re.
form. Above all things be must not have
consented expressly or impliedly to the
commission of the public wrongs which
his duty as reformer would require him
to punish. When he comes to punish
wickedness in high places, the conscious.
ness that he himself is IN pari deIicto will
make even strong man as nerveless as
infancy. To show how hard it would be
for man like Mr.. Hayes to resist the
worst orders of his own party, will cite
case directly in point, and certainly
within your recollection as well as mine.
In the case Of Miligan, you made an
eloquent and powerful speech before the
Supreme Court for those free principles
which | at the same time supported in my
weaker way. You showed the indestruc
tible right Of every citizen to legal trial
you proved that Magma Charta did not
perish on the battlefield; you demonstrate
ed by irresistible logic that the constitution
was supreme after the war as it was before;
you spurned with lofty contempt the bru-
tai idea that law was extinguished by the
victory Of the forces called out to defend
it; and you closed with that grand perora-
ton on the goddess Of liberty, which, if
spoken at Athens in the best days Of her
"ferce Democracie,n would have "shook
the arsenal and fulmined over Greece"
These were not the words of paid adyo-
cate, for you had volunteered in the cause,
ncr the sudden emotions of neophyte,
for you had read and pondered the sub
ject well. You spoke the deliberate con
illusions of your mind, and there is no
doubt that in your heart of hearts you be-
lieve them to be true this day. Yet when
the reconstruction law was proposed you
suffered yourself to be whipped in, surren-
dered your conscience to your party, and
voted against your recorded convictions,
for measure that nulli6ed every provis-
ion Of the constitution, whereby ten mil.
lions of people were deprived of rights
which you knew TO be sacred and inalien-
able. If this was your case, what subser-
viency may not be expected from Mr..
Hayes when the party lash comes 10 be
laid on has back? You are his superior
in every quality that holds a man true to
public duty. You have been carefully
schooled in the morality of the New Tes-
lament; you have lived all your life in the
full blaze Of the gospel you are gifted with
. logical acumen which few can boast, aud
with moral courage far above the average.
IF you fell down before the Moloch Of
abolitionism, and gave up all principle at
once, what act Of worship will Hayes deny
to that grim idol?
Speaking Of reconstruction, and seeing
your broad accusations Of treason, / am
tempted to ask if you are sure that you
yourself and your associates did not COM
NIT that crime? In March, 1867, the
then existing government of the union
was supreme all over the country, and
every State had separate government Of
its own for the administration Of its do
mestic concerns. That government was
entitled then, if it ever was, to the univsr-
sal obedience Of all citizens, aud you, its
officers, had taken special oath Of fidelity
10 it. Nevertheless you made deliberate
arrangement, not only to withdraw your
support from it, but to overthrow Il totally
in ten Of the States; and this you did BY
military force. In all the South you levied
loar against the nation and against the
States, destroyed the free gov
Of both, and substituted in their
place an untempered and absolute despo-
ism.
Now suppose you had been indicted for
his; how could you have escaped the
Of the law2 l know your
excuses, and can understand your claims
70 mercy-but what legal defense could
you have made consistent with your own
and the decision Of the court in
he MiIligan case? l cannot describe
% you how unpleasant is the sensation
produced by your professions Of desire
or peace. Why do you not give US peace
{ you are willing we shall have il 7 You
,eed but to cease hostilities and the gen
,ral tranquility viii be restored. You
'efuse to do Chat because peace would en-
langer your party ascendency. To main
ain your plunderers III power you have
resorted to the bayonet-you
ave made civil war the chronic condition
4 the country wherever you could you
AVE displaced liberty, fraternity and
quality, and given nothing instead but
infantry, artillery and cavalry. You are
I this moment openly engaged in prepar-
ng your battalions for armed intervention
a the struggle Of tho people with the
arpetbaggers. What makes this worse
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