The New Orleans daily Democrat. [volume] (New Orleans, La.) 1877-1880, 1879-03-05
A CHANGE OF FRONT.

In the debate In the Senate over the pro-
posed amendment to the deficiency bill, appro-
priating $3.50, 900 to pay the accrued expenses
of the election cases-or rather to make
good the deficit In some other fund that had
been robbed to pay them-Mr. Thurman
adopted tone which would seem to indicate
that under his leadership the Democratic
party Is about to assume bold and aggres-
sive policy, entirely at variance with the
purely defensive conservatism 1t has hereto
fore maintained. Said he:
What new circumstances had arisen, that the
Department Of Justice has expended y uua!.e
of a million OF dollars OF the. peoples money
without authority Of law. me depa i ie,,
which should. above all others, obey the law.
disobeyed It,"
He then proceeded as follows:
" This money was to pay a set OF men en- n
| ployed ostpnsibly to preserve tne PURIFY OF
| elections bur really In corruptiug ele TONS
Supervisors and deputy marshals were as
| aorrupt than any buldozers that ever put foot
| on this land Where was the money SPENT IL
| was heralded that the money was needed 70
| nroteet the poor negro of the South, but the
| money had been spent In New York and else.
| where OF the 81 600 600 heretofore Appropriated
the Attorney NW VII y" s n 2,
vana $4,000 In New Jersey. and $4,000 Or $4,000 IL
q single county IN Ohio. on account, OF
| u
Of the House of Representatives were elected
/ In view of the reign Of terror instituted in New
| York by Davenport. there was no difficulty In
| showing with this machinery how elections
were carried over 1900 deputy marshals were
| appointed In the city of st. Louis alone, and
| the Democratic majority In three districts was
overcome by these means. The money Of tne
people of the United States WINS being expended
by the hundreds Of thousands Of dollars to cor
ndeT Come Mh gbt tbese DEPUTY nj
were appointed would be stricken from the
statute books. He for one was willing to stay
here until this time next year TO repeal these
sections"
This Is the truth. every word Of it. and the
truth grandly ard worthily spoken, as became
the man. bic, station and the cause he cham
pioneI. But there Is more In these words,
and the temper in which they were spoken,
than mere truth It Is truth inspired with
hopeful courage and the zeal that Is born OF
an earnest and strong conviction. This is
the sort of talk we have been longing to hear
for many q day, and we are glad to note the
hearty response it has elected all along the
Democratic front. Upon the rank and file OF
the party 1t will have the same cheering eff
feet that orders to advance are said to have
upon troops worn out and disheartened by
retreat.
Some time ago Mr.. Thurman declared that
the Democratic party could not any longer
afford to tamely act on the defensive and per-
nit the Republicans to continuously carry on
against them an active and aggressive war
fare.
This conviction has evidently forced itself
upon majority of the Democratic leaders
in Congress, and Is at this time dominating
the party cOunsels. 1t was manifested i'm all
the speeches upon this amendment, notably
In those of Senators Garland, Beck, Wallace,
and voorhees,, and In the position taken by
Messrs. Blackburn. Southland, Herbert and
others In the House on the repeal of the test
oath and election laws. which positions were
sustained by the party to man In
both instances. This unanimity is itself most
gratifying, indicating, as 1t does, that
the Northern Democrats In Congress are not
so fearful of encountering the prejudices of
their constituents as they have been In days
past. The war has long gone by, and the
time has come when reason should regain
the popular control too long usurped by a
blind and needless passion, and with return
ing reason all vestiges of the struggle should
be obliterated. That was a wise provision of
the old Greeks which ordained that all monu-
ments erected to commemorate the victories
Of civil war should be built of wood, that
they might soon decay and leave no remind
ers of the unnatural conflict. There Is in
this custom a noble lesson upon which we
might improve.
AS we understand it, the fight the Demo-
Gratis are making is to obliterate from the
statute books all the harsh and oppressive
measures which are left as the legacy of the
war, which were passed originally to keep
the Republicans in power, and which have
never subserved any other purpose. They
are fighting for return to the purely civil
and local self government which prevailed be-
fore the war, and which Is the only form Of
administration for which our institutions
provide
Most conspicuous among these obnoxious
laws are those which are now engaging the
attention OF Congress. and which the Demo-
Gratis are determined shall be repealed at any
cost-the test oath and the Federal election
laws. These statutes are nothing else than
monuments of hate and prejudice, and only
serve to perpetuate fraud, partisan persecu-
ton and the corruption Of the ballot, and they
should be Immediately repealed. The old
electoral methods and the supervision, con-
troll and protection OF the exercise Of the
franchise by the States was entirely satisfac-
tory before the war and until the Republican
party came into power and engrafted It's cen
tralizing ideas upon the Federal admin
istration. We hope and believe that the
Democratic party will not cease the ag-
gressive fight 1t has begun until these old
methods are restored and fully indicated
It Is shameful indeed that the money of the
people should be expended, as Judge Thur
man says has been done, by the hundreds Of
thousands, to corrupt voters and perpetuate
by fraud and intimidation, by the bribery and
debauchery OF officials, and the wholesale
persecution of the people, the despotism of
a vindictive faction.
DOGS In THE CONSTITUTION.
We are upon the eve Of a great public