Clarksville weekly chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 1873-1890, 1876-05-20

in the position of an enemy rather
than friend. The Enquirer is very
fond of predicting the defeat of the
party in case Dir. Allen is not made its
standard bearer with legal tender plat
form, and predicts it evidently in the
spirit ofthose prophets who work hard
to fulfill their own predictions. Now
we have never concealed from our
selves that the election of Demo-
cratic president is in any case, going to
be matter Of immense difficulty and
whatever may be the extent of the
Enquirer's influence, be it great or
small, we should consider it serious
mifortane TO see it exerted against the
party; but even if we were convinced
that its opposition would ensure our
defeat, we would still boldly avow,
that, devoted as we are to Democracy,
there are some things which we would
look upon as worse than its defeat. and
one Of them is the proposal to cast it
down, bound hand and foot, before
one.man who presumptuously claims to
rule the party and, in default of that,
Enthusiastically holds out an te1rorens
his power to ruin it. This is not De-
mocracy either in an individual or in
journal
We firmly believe that the Conven-
ton at st. Louis will nominate a good
an.with sound platform to which all
honest Democrats can subscribe, and
are fixed in our purpose to support
both nominee and platform, holding
as an enemy rather than friend him
who says by implication nominate InY
man or you will have me against you"
As for the currency question, we alb
solutely refuse at this stage of public
affairs to discussit. Matters offnance
and currency ought never to be treated
on the stump; the principles on which
they depend are so abstruse, the tissue
Of remote consequences to which all
fiscal theories lead are so complicated
and recondite that they can never be
adequately discussed in promiscuous
public meeting and therefore they
should never be made campaign ques-
tions. Mr.. Gladstone tried it at the
last great general election in England
and had strong reason to repentit. He
put forward scheme for reducing the
income tax by applying to this purpose
an anticipated surplus in the rev.
enue. When Parliament met it was
found that there was no surplus to dis
pose ofas the opposition had predicted
it was also found that Mr.. Gladstone
had sustained a crushing defeat, which
those best able to judge attributed in
great degree to his false tactics in
this respect. Can Ohio and the En-
quirer remember no similar defeat
from similar cause?
One more point on this head and we
have done. The Enquirer must have
been satisfied by the result of his eff
forts last year that this question can
never by any possibility be forced on
the Democratic party at large; if there
fore he really desires the success of
that party, what possible object can he
propose to himself by agitating it?
There is one other point on which we
are at issue with the Enquirer. While
he consents to and even solicits the ac-
cession of Southern Democrats to the
Convention he thinks that they ought
to have no opinion of their own when
they get there, but content themselves
with submissively subscribing to what
ever the Northern Delegates may pro-
pose. He holds out the idea that the
Northern Democrats suffered severely
in the loss of Office and consideration
by the secession of the Southern De-
mocracy during the war and that graf
itude demands that the South when
again admitted should take a back
seat and be but little seen or heard
except when they vote aye.
To us this sounds much more like
Radical than Democratic talk. 1t is
the very principle of Radicalism that
the South is to be treatedas conquer
ed country and not as a constituent
portion of the Union, but we supposed
the Democracy to hold a doctrine
more charitable and philosophical. In
any case this is our plain answer. 1t
is for the rest of the Democracy to say
whether they want the South in its
councils; it is for us to say that we 90
as equals or not at all.
But Democracy is one thing, the
Cincinnati Enquirer is another; we fear
no such churlish rebuffs from the true
Democracy.