The Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1877-1885, 1877-09-04
APAwo OLD Facts.

In his elaborate speech delivered lat
Athens, o.. on Saturday. Stanley Mat
theWs made this statement:
SIN 1861 the democratic party rent
asunder the Union rather than peaceably
submit to the Inauguration Of republican
president, There was no question as to
the fact or rightfulness of his election; but
it was made the pretext and signal for q
disruption. The democratic party had
taught itself to believe that it was the ex-
elusive depository Of some divine right to
rule; and the election of Mr.. Lincoln,
though constitutional In itself, rudely
shocked the party tradition Of infallibiEity.
He was treated as an intruder aud a
tresspasser whom 1t was lawful to eject
and expel."
The New York World makes this state
ment the basis of little political history,
containing some few facts that may be
interesting to some of our republican
friends, as follows;
Macaulay said of an old SANDER that it
had long before been abandoned by states
men to aldermen; by aldermen to clergy
men; by clergymen to old women, and by
old women to Sir Harcourt Lees. We are
sorry to see Stanley Matthews assume the
position of fnal sponsor for political out.
cast Of the same kind. 1t may be worth
while to repeat a few facts in regard to
the presidential election of 1860 which are
no longer fresh in the public mind. They
show clearly that the democratic party ac-
cepted the election of President Lincoln in
good faith and supported him Loyalty, and
had as little to DO with secession as the
republican party. There we're four tickets
in the field during that canvass-the ticket
nominated by the national republican con-
yention at Chicago. headed by Lincoln;
the ticket nominated by the regular
democratic convention at Baltimore, head
ed by Douglas; the ticket nominated by
the seeding democratic convention at
Richmond, headed by Breckenridge, and
the ticket nominated by the constitutional
union convention at Baltimore, headed by
Bell. The democratic organization now in
existence succeeds in direct line the Doug
las democracy of 1860, and is only RESPONSE
bic for the record of that body. On OK,
aiming the popular vote in the national
election of 1860 it appears that Lincoln re-
ceived I,S57,6l0 ballots, of which only
&c, 430 we're cast in the slave states. anC
of this number but 1929 were cast in the
states that subsequently seeded, Dougla:
received l,29l,574 votes, Of which only
l63;525 were cast 10 the slave states, anC
of this number but 72,084 were cast 10 the
states that subsequently, seeded. Brock
enridge received 850.082 votes, of whiet
| 57O,87I were cast in the slave states, anC
| y III yanosuo1 GAE 1OA nf hal
I5l5,973 were cast in the slav
states. These figures are significant
/ They show that the popu
lar vote cast against Lincoln was $50, III
in excess of that cast for him and that th
regular democratic ticket had IN 1860 bu
httle more support in the south than tn
republican ticket Was the attitude o
the democracy on that occasion wha
Stanley Matthews represents it TO be
The party found itself with the beggarl
showing of IL electoral votes and popCla
vote of |. 29l ,574. while minority candi
date, with popular vote not greatly j
excess of its own, was constitutional
elected by an electoral vote of $50 out O
3O3. 1t was certainly an occasion to tr.
the patieDce of any set of men, but s.
strong was the party instinct In favor o
the forms Of law that few Douglas demo
Gratis hesitated moment aboutacquiesciD
10 the election of Abraham Lincoln O
maintaining bis authority after his in
auguration; and when the southern state
seeded and the storm of civil war loome
I | in the horizon Lincoln could lean with Col
fdence on tbs faith of his former riva
The course of Douglas was in that cris
oo,,;IoroO N 1,,oroDteo nf tho Sofatu nf RI
G Union. If there was any wavering or pa
). tering with what was called 'disloyalty
i at the north it was among the supporter
of Breckenridge and Bell. many Of whom
; like Butler, Tremain, Stanton and Di,
= afterwards became renegades to Republ
canism and the fercest enemies Of Il
southerners whom they had served I'll
democrats fought faithfully to mainta
the Union, though they were Wiley slar
d dered by the party that reaped all Il
glory and profit out of their sacrifice
They criticised freely the Outrages con
s. mitted upon civil liberty and the miserab
y series of military blunders through whit
,r the war was prolonged, but they never fc
:. got their duty as good citizens They co
tributed their full share to the rank al
81 file of the army, most of the good Office
a and very few Of the host Of blunderers Ii
$, Butler. Banks and Schenck. who cover
N the Union cause with disaster. 1t
- = hard to understand how people with a
Is common sense will listen to the slaud
t. just revived iu Ohio, when simple oper
- ton in arithmetic is enough to show thi
70 if the democracy had rebelled agar
" Abraham Lincoln, the nation would ha
I, been represented by small minority
le the people Without the support of t
O. democracy he could not have held his oV
10 With its opposition, any attempt on
70 part to uphold his authority by fol-
u. ~ would have been simply ridiculous.