The Portland daily press., 1879-12-25
"Will Democrats Do Their Duty?"
AN Appeal to Them by tho Springfield
Republican.

uU IllltS III "a ltotoly Has 5AtNSl
responsibility rested upon political party
than rests upon the Democrats to-day 1t is
for them to say whether the national honor
shall be wounded and the national safety i'm
periled A great wrong has been committed
against the sovereignty of the people 1t has
been done at q time when it may have fatal
weight as precedent. The result of State
election has been deliberately falsfied. The
defense put forth by Gsrcelon and his associ-
ates is absolutely no defense. 1t is a verbose
assertion that the law has heen obeyed and no
wrong has been DONE But every one knows
that great wrong has been done. If the ques-
ton is put to the Governor and his Councillors
'Did you honestly try, under the forms of the
law and the Constitution, to ascertain the true
will and intent of the people of Maine as to
their Legislators" there is but one possible
answer to the question. Every intelligent man
knows that they acted with deliberate and
studious purpose to misinterpret the intent OF
the peoples voice in the election. Whether
they openly broke the law or only twisted the
law, they violated its spirit and outraged the
first principle of free government, that the will
of the people peaceably and orderly expressed
shall be the supreme authority.
Their half-fnished crime is as it stands the
work Of individuals. If it is consummated by
the assent OF the Legislature, the Democracy of
Maine makes itself an accomplice in the crime.
Ii it is tolerated by the public sentiment of
the nation, it will show decentralization which
makes our future almost hopeless. And these
momentous decisions rests chiefly with the
Democrats. Indignation and protest of Re-
publcans alone signifies little and avails little.
1t is only the party that would Immediately
profit by the wrong that can effectively con-
denim and even thwart it, We scout the no
ton that it is idle to appeal to the integrity and
patriotism of Democrats. The Democrats are
almost half the people OF the United States.
They are, with their allies. almost or quite
majority of the people OF Maine. II they are
inaccessible to the appeal of plain justice and
honesty, then there is small hope for the ma
ton. The assumption is an insult not to DEM
ocrats only but to the American people of
which the Democracy is an integral portion.
tits refuted by recent. history. In the supreme
emergencies of the last twenty years the patri-
otism of Democrats has been an indispensable
element of the national salvation. If, when
the war broke out, the Democratic party had
stood solidly by its old Southern allies seces-
sion would have been Immediately successful
It's defeat was possible only because the rank
and file of the Northern Democracy were
Unionists first and Democrats afterward. The
mass of them followed not Vallandigham but
Grant and Mcclellan and Hancock, and with
their help the Union was restored. So again
when New York had fallen under the corrupt
rnle of Tweed, though party leaders winked at
his crimes, the mass of the party revolted from
him the very day his rascality was brought in
to clear daylight. In q doubtful State and
heavily Democratic city he met the promptest
overthrow as soon as his guilt was made clear.
1t was not Republican triumph, but a tri-
umph of popular honesty, in which the Dem
ocrats had their full share. When, again,
the competition at the South of fraud and
intimidation had plunged US into the tumult
and danger of disputed Presidential cleo
tion. it was neither party alone, but the best
men of both parties, that effected peace
ful and orderly settlement. Northern Repub-
lieans like Edmunds, and Southern Democrats
like Lamar met each other halfway, and forced
on the fanatics and hot-heads of both parties
plan for just arbitration. When that arbitra-
ton was thought by one party to have sacri-
feed equity TO partisanship, none the less was
its decision Loyalty accepted. The patriotism
of Democrats, we repeat, has been vital and
indisputable factor in working out the national
salvation at all the great crises OF these past
years.
And now in this new and grave crisis, will
the Democrats of the country and of Maine be
true to the best traditions of their past? Will
they be honest men first and Democrats after
ward? They are called to hard duty, for no
moro words will suffice The Legislature it
self must, as its first act, unao inc WTUng by
rectifying its roll of membership. In Gov
Garcelon's defense just one single sentence is
to the point: ''let it be remembered that the
decision of the Governor and Council is not
final" Small thanks to you, Governor, that
YOU only picked the lock and had to leave it for
someone else to carry off the booty! But it is
a most pregnant though unintended hint to
your party associates in the Legislature that
thew do not make themselves a burglars ac-
completes Is it quixotic to ask that they
should not? See then, what follows If they do
accept felonious advantage. The party in
the State loads itself with the responsibility OF
of a great political crime. 1t accepts as its
own the child of shame laid at its doors by
political strumpet. The party in the nation
enters on Presidential campaign weighted by
a deliberate and conspicuous fraud. Into the
Presidential contest always too hot and bitter,
there is thrown an element OF fierce and dam
gerous mutual suspicion. Each party. believ-
ing that the other has taken an unfair adyan-
taee, will be melted toward doubtful and des-
perate measures. The unscrupulous will be
encouraged to audacity, the timid will begin to
look longingly for a ''strong man." The dan
ger of fraud aud force will steadily increase.
If in peaceful State like Maine, in an off
year. without shadow OF provocation or excuse,
the expression of the popular Will can be de-
liberately falsifed and the representatives of
the people sanction the lie, what can be ex-
pected when the game is played with the con-
tinent for table and the Presidency for
prize?
Yeoman of Maine, what do you think of
these things? You who in good faith voted
the Democratic and Greenback ticket, honest
men and good citizens, are you going to ap-
prove your representatives in sanctioning
fraud? They will never sanction it if you tell
them not to. Because it is hard to go back on
your party leaders, because the Republicans
haven't repented of all their sins, because
Blaine makes you mad, are yon going to be
made accomplices in big piece of cheating?
Yo1 have as sacred a duty to face as your
grandfathers at Bunker Hill or your brothers
at Gettysburg. Free government and all that
goes with it-order in the State, prosperity i'll
the community, virtue and happiness in the
home,-are concerned by your action or mac
ton in these next days. Will you do your du-
fxvO