The Jackson standard. [volume] (Jackson C.H., Ohio) 1847-1888, 1878-05-23
From Columbus Sunday Herald.l
Limits Of Party Allegiance.


right?' And this question leads US t.
consider more general one which is jus
now prominent in the minds of a gooC
many, viz, what are the true limits o
party allegiance ?"
Now it is certain that political part,
always represents a compromise. Scarce
ly any two individuals can be found tt
:. agree exactly upon all points either o
privite conduct or public policy; and o
course 1t could not be expected that two
hundred thousand or two millions wou' {
agree upon all. To demand or insist up
on such agreement would make the
formation of political party impossible
But large number of men may agree IL
the support of general principles and thus
form party, although they may be con
tinually disputing amongst themselves as
to the manner in which those principles
are to be put in practice or their appli
cation in articular cases.
Again, a large number Of men may
form party by uniting for the accom-
plishment of some great object or end
which is clearly or definitely understood
by all. Here also there may be much di
vergence of opinion as to how the erd
sought can be best attained and whether
this or that particular measure will or
will not promote the attainment.
These considerations enable US to get
a clear and satisfactory view of the true
limits of party allegiance. A man who
voluntarily connects himself with po-
litical party tacitly agrees and is in honor
bound to support it and its candidates, no
matter whether it's special acts are or are
not in accordance with his own judge
ment, and no matter whether he may Or
may not favor or oppose some particular
measure which the party favors or oppo-
ses, SO long as it does not abandon the
principles which gave it life and turn its
back upon the grand object for which it
was formed.
1t is a common maxim amongst politi-
clans that while the members of party
may disagree before convention, there
should be nothing but acquiescence and
harmony afterwards. This is true pro-
Vided the convention does not abandon
the principles of the party or prove false
to its great end. During the war for the
preservation of the Union, Republicans
| might have been permitted to differ as to
whether it were best to confscate the
property of the enemy wherever found;
for that was a matter of detail or of the
application of principle which in no way
trenched upon principle itself. They
might have been allowed to differ upon
the policy of arming the colored men, for
that was only a question as to means
Republicans were bound to acquiesce,
whatever their party's conventions said
about them, or whether they said any
thing at all or not.
But had Convention got together and
assumed in the name of the Republican
party, to pronounce for a dissolution of
the Union, that Convention would at
once have passed the limits of party allie
glance, and it would have become the |
solemn duty of every Republican to op-
pose with all his might its platform and |
its nominees. Why? Because this would |
have been an abandonment of the very
principle upon which the party was
founded. So, after the war, when the
party had adopted the extinction of sla-
very as the one great end for which it
would act, a Republican Convention
which had resolved in favor of Andy
Johnson's quasi restoration of slavery in
the South, or had indorsed Johnson's
"policy" for SO restoring it, would have
been false to the great end the party had
in view, and would have absolved every
Republican from allegiance to its action.
To-day the Republican party has for its
guiding principle the maintenance of the
United States Constitution, as amended,
throughout the land, and as its great end
the securing of civil and political rights
and the privileges of exercising them, to
every citizen, without regard to BIRTH
place, color or race. 1t cannot sanction
the violation of that constitution by the
forcible overthrow of a legal State Gov
ernment, without being false to principle;
it cannot acquiesce in mob rule to the
exclusion of law without a cowardly
abandonment of its great end and it
cannot either in State or National Con-
vention sanction such abandonment,
IcN1 N11yir fnO
glance and making it their solemn duty
to resist such recreancy until the party
returns to its principles and labors again
to promote the object for which alone it
has legitimate existence.
Let us recapitulate. "A convention as
suming to represent party may exer
else great latitude in reference to the ap-
plication Of the principles of the party in
particular cases, and may indorse or dis
approve such applications without for
feiLing its right to the support of all the
members of the party; but it must not
abandon those principles themselves on
pain of terrible punishment inflicted at
the hands of those who are the best and
noblest in the party, and most earnestly
devoted to its principles A Convention
may differ with many members of the
party as to the means proper to promote
the great end the party has in view, and
not lose the support Of those members
but the Convention cannot abandon that
object without forfeiting allegiance and
inviting disaster.
1t need scarcely be said that to indorse
and approve the man or the men who
prove false to principle, is as bad as to
abandon principle itself; and that to ap-
prove the conduct Of the man or men
who have proved false to the great object
of party, is as bad as to abandon the
object itself.
The special application we desire made
of all this is that if the Ohio Republican
Convention which will assemble at Gin
cinnati, June 12 indorses the Admins
tration of President Hayes, indorses
Hayes himself, or his action or policies, it
will be considered by a hundred thou
sand Republicans of this State as false to
both the principles and objects of the
party. That Convention, even without
such Endorsement, may not bring victory
to its party's standard; but with the in
dorsement, it would render defeat GER
tain, overwhelming and final, before
speech were uttered from the stump or
battalion set in the field
1t is told of the late DR.. William Ham
ilton of Brighton, that one day he went
into the town to buy a fish. The fish
monger was female member of the So
ciety of Friends. Having made his pur
chase, lie requested her to send it to his