The Louisiana Democrat. [volume] (Alexandria, La.) 1845-1918, 1878-03-13
THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY.

Four years OF war ana lourIeeh
years of the supremacy of the Re
publican party in the United States
have left the two parties and only
two parties in the United States,
where they stood in 1860, with the
difference, and q very substantial
one it is, that then the Democratic
party was passing out of power and
now it is on the eve of resuming con-
troll of the government of these
States. Once only in all these years
of war and misrule did the grand and
glorious old party falter or halt,
when devotion to the country as
whole OVERRIDE all considerations of
party and justified the sacrifice of
party organization for the general
good; and that was when it listened
to the song Of the siren, at Baltimore
in 1872. We have alluded to that
episode in its history, not in a spirit
of tault-fnding nor to fling a re-
proach upon its cherished and hon.
ored name, but to point moral,
apropos Of what we shall have to say
below.
Amid defeat and disaster it has
braved all odds and battled on for
the principles which made it a great
party, and it's life long friends can
point with pride to it's record for he.
roic perseverance as well as to the
history of its past achievements. In
the South, and particularly in the
State of Louisiana, the exigencies of
the times have forced it into retire
ment and seclusion for a season, and
other and younger parties, some of
them its legitimate offspring, have
been the recipients of popular favor,
and having served the purpose of
their creation, have after brief ex-
istence subsidized and given up the
ghost of their ephemeral life. These
temporary expedients were honestly
intended and found then justification
in necessities it was supposed the
Democratic party, as party, could
not compass by reason of real or
imaginary opposition to its name
and organization. AS for the DEMO
tcRAT, while it gave all the aid In its
power to the cause ofthe people, and
in times that tried mems souls, stood
shoulder to shoulder with them, of
them and for them, it has never de-
serted the standard of its party; and
as for ourselves, we have never been
convinced of the wisdom or policy of
worshipping new gods in the name Of
expediency. The faith in which we
were reared has been strong in US all
the time, and the name which for
forty years has been a "sweet sa-
your" to our nostrils and musical to
our ears, has never lost, for Us,
any of the halo that surrounds it.
Now that everywhere else in the
Union there are but two parties, and
there can not be consistently urged
any necessity for the adoption Of a
new party name, or any valid reason
for the revival Of any of the buried
new ones, we pronounce ourselves as
fairly and squarely in favor of con-
Quoting the next campaign under the
good old name of Democracy, with.
out any "ifs' or sands" quali6ca-
ton, reservation or deviation what
ever. We propose to file into line
and to battle with the Natioral De.
mocratic party for the common good
and two years from now we expect
and confidently believe that our par.
ty will have the complete and entire
possession Of the government of the
United States and of three fourths OF
the States. We shall not desert the
people of our State and Parish under
whatever name they may conduct
the campaign of this year, but we
) have flung the banner of Democracy
to the breeze at the head of our col.
umns and there it shall fly, "expedi.
ency" to the contrary notwithstand
ing. There are and there can be but
two parties in this country, and We
shall do our utmost to have the cam.
' paign of this and all other years con
Quoted as a Democratic campaign
purely and simply as such in opposi
ton to the Republican party, or what
is left of it in this State.
4
THE carriage department Of the
Excelsior Stable, under the specia
charge and workmanship of G. W
Glynn and John Harris, has just
tnnnad e.,t H.,ll.. On 4 xaa4lu