The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1880-08-26
haAess Of the Democratic Executive
- ComTiisteo to tho People OF South

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The Defsocratic party has again pre-.
sented to the country its platform of
principles .snd It's candidates for Office.
The record attesta the good faith and
honesty of both. ~
The platform Is o plain aud simple
assertion of the principles of the Consti.
tuition as II Is, and officials Of the gov
ernment selected from and by the Demo.
cratic party are guided by IL in the con-
duct of their offices.
The duties of each officer ere prescribed
by law, written Law, and when they are
faithfully performed 1t Is the law that
rules, and not tho individual who hap.
pens to personate it. Indeed, the faith.
tul discharge of official duty is necessary
70 this rule of law, on which depends
the peaceful enjoyment by the people of
all the liberty, Justice and regulated
order that their system Of government 10
capable of affording. Honest observance
Of official obligations is O necessity to the
maintenance and perpetuity of this gov.
ernment Of the people by the people.
Should our government of law, faith.
fully administered, fail to meet the de.
mands Of the people, the mode Is plainly
prescribed by law for such alteration.
and amendment as may, from time to
time, become necessary. ANY stretch OF
official power, to meet any supposed de-
mand, is to that extent the exercise of
unlawful or arbitrary power, and to that
extent destructive of our governmental
system-is, in fact, q substitution of per-
sonal for official power, which is antago.
nistic to both the letter and the spirit of
our institutions.
However worthy tho motive or urgent
the emergency may be the exercise OF
! personal power by even the most patriot.
ic officer 81 -nld be watched and .necked,
as it opens the way for faithless and de-
| signing officials to use the machinery of
government for its subversion.
It ia to maintain these principles In
the conduct of the government that the
Democracy is arraying it's strength for
the coming conflict.
Whatever may havo been the original
object and purposes Of our great antago.
| nist, the Republican party, however
honest and patriotic its platforms and
cardidates may once have been, it would
set,- that their organization was cap
tured in the hour Of .heir triumph By
fnithless, self-seeking officials, whose
construction of the Constitution as to
their powers would have made the mis-.
guided but patriotic old Federalists,
against whom Jefferson waged war and
raised the people in their might, stand
aghast with horror. The old ship that
was steered through the stormy sea Of
rebellion without the loss of spar had
bareiv reached smooth water VIII n she
was ,oarded by these pirates am used
to p Il 1der and destroy what she was
bui' 20 protect It's flag which was
borl with such enduring pluck through
the b 3ody, battles of protracted war,
was seized by treacherous hands and
made the standard Of an arbitrary power
| Infinitely moro dangerous to American
institutions of liberty than the armed
| array of tho world Under the shadow
of its folds the old fo, tress Of the Consti-
tuition was dismantled and its armament
moved TO g "ca;T;P outside Govern
mental organization was subordinated to
party organization, Constitutional power
was snpplanted by Constitutions
force, and the mandates Of party were
substituted for The laws of the land.
Is 1t strange that this mode of con-
duc.ing o constitutional government
should render necessary the expedients
of fraud and force? The employment
of both is q prime necessity to It. Tt is
an inlpossibiliLy without Infamous be.
traysl of trust on tho part of officials.
sustained by the force OF extra. .constitu-
tional organization.
The practical result Of all this Is de
fdcto centralized government, the powers
cs which are limited only I,y the discre-
tion its officials.
Thanks to the wisdom of the fathers
of the republic, the exercise Of this dis
cretlona.y power is curbed by obstacles
inherent in the mstchle4s syssAe.. ;sse!f
which they framed. The officials
through whom the powers of government
are operated are oil, from the President
to the humblest municipal officer, sworn
to support the Constitution and laws of
the country and the extent to which
arbitrary rule Is practicable is in proper
tion to the faith.sssness Of thess ofIicials.
Where ali are true to their trusts il is
impossible. Where all are faithless ar
bitrary government is fully equipped
with the machinery necessary for its
complete administration.
When, in the recent past, our State
government I, nnaee, the control os the
Republican party, was converted into an
engine of oppression, degradation aud
ruin, we were experiencing the full oper-.
alton OF this centralized government.
The sworn officials furnished by the Re-
pupIlcan party, 30 far from interpbsiDg
the natural obstacles of our goyefntnen-
tai system to the administration of un..
lawful government, themselves destroyed
the barriers. .of the lazy and added their
share of arbitrary power to the tide of
tyranny that engulfeti us all.
This method Of conducting government
is tn onig one known to the Republicans
of South Carolina, rs
Driven welLnigh TO despair, the free
born citizens of the State resolved to-
unite # Dir strength in q snpfema effort
for relief They succeeded IN festosing
State, aud thereby placed her on a plano
With the other Ststea Of lie Union. But
over them all Btill hangs the i -.
governments dark threat % liberty and