The Democratic advocate. [volume] (Westminster, Md.) 1865-1972, 1878-08-10
The National Party.

The adoption of adcaptanduni titles i
an old trick, often praeticed by wiley pol
iticians, when they want to get up some.
thing new in the way of political party.
Men change and the names OF parties
change, but principles never; like Tenny-
sons brook they ''go on forever" In pol
tiles as we'll as in weightier matters of re-
ligion, there are men who are as punishable
as water, who are "bl0wn about by every
wind Of doctrine" and ever ready to desert
the old and the tried for the new and the
untried. Such men are mere camp-follow-
ers and of little consequence in any party.
Go where they may they don't stay long,
but are ever on the look out for something
new. The new party which has assumed
the title of National" is yet in embryo.
1t has no general or accepted creed or faith,
and public opinion is still uniformed and
chaotic respecting its merits or dement's.
The sporadic utterances of those who here
and there assume to speak for it, are crude
aud discordant, indicating that this newly
fedged party does not know itself, does
not know what it is, or what il wants. 1t
is one thing in California, another in Chi
cago or St. Louis, aud another still in New
York or Boston. 1t may ultimately turn
out to be something very different from
what it was intended to be by those with
whom Its conception originated There
are "many men of many minds, and
widely divergent views already looming up
in its ranks aud their crudities and incon-
gruities may be as impossible to harmonic
as acids and alkalies or other antagonizing
substances in the chemists laboratory.
The old Democratic party has witnessed
the birth and burial of many such organi
cations, the mere ephemera of the political
world, which are born and perish in day.
That grand old party was founded with
the republic itself Its principles under
lie and constitute the very basis of the
superstucture reared by the fathers and
are enduring as time. Its history and
ira .itiOus are inwoven with and inseparable
from the history of the country, and thor
oughly identified with its growth and de-
velopment. 1t added to the original thir-
teen States the magnificent domain which
now extends to the Rio Grande in the
South and to the Pacific in the West.
Louisiana and Florida, Texas, New Mex
leo and California are all the accessions of
Democratic policy. That policy is good
enough for us. The name, the traditions,
and the achievements of the party inspire
our pride. We venerate the memory of
its founders and cherish its principles as
the best system of government ever devils
cd by man. Whenever its principles have
been departed from and its policy thrown
aside for something new the country has
suffered. The wisdom of its policy has
been attested by the experience Of a cen.
fury, and the older it grows the dearer it
becomes to all those who are of the true
faith, who are part and parcel of the grand
old party, and not of mere PARASITIC growth.
Like old wine and old friends it only i'm
proves by age. For eighteen long years
it has been under cloud, but that cloud
will yet disperse and the sun of its pros
perity shine forth with renewed efulgenee
and all the more brightly from its partial
observation. The Democratic party only
awaits the next Presidential election, to
reinstate itself in power and to bring back
the country to its former glory and pros
perity, and present it before the world re-
deemed regenerated and disenthralled.