St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1880-08-20


applied to other states, until the North
should have been made as solid as the
South.
While it cannot be doubted that the
rank and file of the Democratic party
comprises large numbers of honest and
honorable men, it is not less certain to
my own mind that in its auimus and
management as party it is essentially
dishonest. Power, and the emoluments
of Office, the leaders are determined if
possible to obtain by whatever means.
If a Union General who has shown
himself somewhat in sympathy with
Southern ideas, can be used as bait
to catch "gudgeons" enough to bring
their party into power, they are ready
to take such an one as their candidate
for once, but let them get control of the
machinery and patronage of the govern
ment, and the control of the national
forces, and then it will be comparatively
easy to elect JEFF Davis, or any one else
whom they may desire to honor.
The question is not simply one of the
relative merits as individuals of the
two candidates, but we must also con-
consider the class of men from among
whom their advisors would be chosen
and the line of policy which would be
likely to be pursued in their admins
trations. To elect Garfield is to con-
tinue in power the party under whose
auspices the Union was preserved,
whose financial successes have excited
the wonder and admiration of the
world, under whose rule the country is
prospecting, and whose greatest fault in
my estimation at least, is that they
have too sparingly used the power en-
trusted to them for the defeat of those
schemes of villainy, the partial success
of which alone threw doubt upon the
last Presidential election, and upon
whose more entire success rests the only
hope of the Democracy in the present
campaign.
To elect Garfield is to keep the ex-
ecutive power of the Government in
the hands of its friends, to keep in the
places of power men who believed that
the war was and ought to have been a
success, who believe that the rebellion
was a crime, and that all those princi-
Piles and ideas which led to it ought to
be buried with it. That all obligations
incurred in putting it down should be
promptly met, that the liberty and
equal rights to all which were proclaim
ed as the results of the war should be
everywhere maintained by the whole
power of the nation if need be, and that
the career of business prosperity npon
which the country has entered should
be uninterrupted by needless and reac-
tionary changes.
On the other hand, to elect Hancock
is to swallow the bait which designing
men have thrown out with view to
ensnare those in peace whom they have
failed to conquer in war. 1t is to put
in power party which while contain
ing some honest men, and true patri-
OTIS, is so largely made up of those who
believed and still believe in the princi-
pies upon which it was sought to estab-
lish new confederacy upon the ruins
of the Union, that it will be completely
under their control. First among these
principles is that of the right of the
few "born rulers" permanently to con-
tIol and govern the masses. "Get the
power, fairly if you can, bnt get it," is
the principle upon which the opera
tions of the Democratic party from
Mississippi to Maine have been conduct
ed. They aim to save from the wreck
of the confederacy just as many as pos
sible of it's leading characteristics, and
regarding the rebellion as justifable,
and honorable, they will seek just as
far and just as fast.as they safely can,
to make good the losses incurred in it,
from the Federal treasury.
Gen. Hancock is a brave soldier, and
fought nobly for the preservation of the
Union, yet among his supporters are all
those who SO bitterly fought for its
overthrow, all the copperhead ele-
ment of the North, all those who have
opposed every measure for the preven-
tion of fraud or intimidation of the bal
lot box, and every measure for the
preservation of the financial honor of
the Government, and it is with such
creatures that the federal offices will be
filled in case of his election. Look at
the state of things existing in the two
sections respectively, compare the in
telligence of the people, their industrial
prosperity, their progress in education
and in everything which goes to make
up the highest civilization, and then in
view of the past and of the present say,
since the two sections are arrayed SO
nearly sslidly against each other in this
struggle, which it is fittest should pre-
vail, and give direction to our national
policy. l think that the verdict will be
that while milk and water Republi-
canism hardly distinguishable from De-
mocracy has no excuse for existence, a
genuine straight out" Republicanism
is indispensable to the safety and con-
tinued prosperity of the country.
STALwART.
Tanners Fast.