Alpena weekly argus. [volume] (Alpena, Mich.) 1871-1893, 1880-09-15

II dSdluct uti. iucle 10 no iieu
trail ground TO be occupied"
Douglass declared:
"There can be no neutrals il
this war-only patriots or traitors
express il as my
conviction before God that il is tn,
duty Of every American citizen Ia
rally around the flag Of his coun'
try"
The eloquent Baker, then a Sen
ator from Oregon, said:
eve are all Democrats we are
all Republicans. We acknowledge
the sovereignty of the people
within the rule of the Constitution
and under that Constitution and
beneath that dag let traitors be-
ware"
Had the Democrats favored the
rebellion as they are now falsely
charged by the Republicans with
having done, il must have been a
success, and this glorious Union
with its present greatness and hopes
for the future, must have persisted
from the earth. So far from the
Republican party having put down
the rebellion and saved the Union,
it was the patriotic Democrats and
Republicans who rallied to its sup
port that saved it, a thing which
neither could have done without
the aid of the other.
Ii seems 10 me that no original
Republican who prefers principle
to party, right TO wrong, and fair
ness to dishonesty, can longer act
with such an organization. Where,
then, shall he GOT Can he con-
sistently vote the Democratic tick
etl That party has been out OF
power twenty years. More than
half its voters, as well as those OF
the Republican party, have become
such since 1860. 1t is not, there
fore, composed of the same per.
sons as were in power at the COM
mencement of the war of the re.
bellion. 1t is to-day the open and
avowed advocate of the principles
and policy declared in the fourth
and sixth resolutions of the Re-
publican platform of 1860. One
of the fundamental articles of its
creed is "the right of each State
to order and control its own do.
mestic institutions according to its
own Judgment" This does not
mean the right of State to Sc
cede from the Union any more
than it did when embodied in the
Republican platform Of 1860; but
it means just what it says: The
right of State TO control its do
nestle affairs without interference
by the federal government in its
elections, by federal officials or q
lawless, armed force under any pre-.
text whatever. The Democratic
party as such was never seces-
sion party, though some of it:
members, as well as members Of
the old Wing and old Abolition
party, were nullifiers and seces-
sionists. Some of the abolitionists
were accustomed to denounce the
Constitution of the United States
as ga league with the devil and a
covenant with hell" II was Gen.
eral Jackson, the leader Of the
Democracy, who so effectually
crushed out the doctrines of multi
fication and secession in 1882, that
it did not again show its head till
J 1860, when the war followed, and
I buried it forever beyond the power
of resurrection. Neither secession
nor African slavery will ever
trouble us more. The charge that
"the pledge to the constitutions
/ doctrines and traditions Of the
Democratic party, as illustrated by
the teachings and example o
long line OF Democratic states
men and patriots" means a pledgc
to the doctrine of secession, is al
far from the truth as it would b'
to charge the Republicans Of 1856
with being secesionists because
they favored restoring the actor
of the Federal Government to tht
principles of Washington and JEFF
ferson. 1t is only to the constitu
tional doctrines OF the fathers tha
the Democracy pledges itself, ant
unless Republicans believe tina
secession is a constitutional doc
trine, how can they charge tina
pledge to mean secession?