The Newberry herald. [volume] (Newberry, S.C.) 1865-1884, 1880-08-25
TO the People oftlle State.
The Address Of the State Democratic Gem
mittee

The Address Of the State Democratic Gem
mittee. |
The Democratic party has again |
presented to the couptry its platform Of !
principles and its candidates for Office.
The record attests the good faith and
honesty of both.
The platform is plain and simple |
assertion of the principles of the Con, I
stitutien as it is, and the officials OF
the government selected from and by |
the Democratic party are guided by
it in the conduct of their officers. The |
duties of each officer are prescribed BY !
law, written law, and when they are
faithfully performed it is the law that |
rules and not the Individual who hap
pens to personate it. Indeed, the
faithful discharge Of official duty is
necessary to this rule Of law on WHICH
depends the peaceful enjoyment BY
the people of all the liberty, justice
end regulated order that their system
of government is capable Of afcrdlng.
The honest observance Of official
obligations is necessary to the main
tenance and perpetuity of this govern
,uent Of the people by the people.
Should our government of law, faith
fully administered. fail to meet the
demands of the people, the mode Is
plainly prescribed by law for such al
teratior and amendment as may, from
time to tine, become necessary. Any
stretch of official power, to meet any
supposed demand, is, to that extent, the
exercise of unlawful or arbitrary pow
er, and to that extent destructive Of
our governmental system-is, in fact,
a substitution of personal for official
power, which is antagonist to both the
letter and spirit of our institutions.
However worthy the motive OF. ur-
gent the emergency may be; the exer-
else of personal power by even the
most patriotic officer should be watched
and checked, as it opens the way for
faithless und designing officials to use
the machinery Of government for its
subvecsion.
1t is to maintain these principles in
the conduct of the government that
the Democracy is arrayiog its strength
for. the coming conflict. Whatever
may have been the original object and
purposes O. our great antagonist, the:
Republican party, however honest and
patriotic its platforms and candidates
may once have been, it would seem
flat their organization was cap
tured in the hour of their triumph
BY faithless, self-seekipg officials,
whose construction of the Constitu-
tion as to their powers would have
made the misguided but patriotic old
Fedcralists, 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 barely reached
smooth water when she was boarded
by these pirates and used to plunder
and destroy what she was built to pro-
tect. LIS flag, which was borne with
such enduring pluck through the
bloody battles of a protracted war, was
seized by treacherous hands and made
the standard of an arbitrary power in-
initely more dangerous to American
institutions of liberty than the armed |
array of the world. Under the shadow |
of its folds the old fortress of the Con,
stitution was dismantled and its ar |
manent moved to scamp outside"
Governmental organization was sub |
ordinated to ncr;y organization. Con-
sthatiolal power was supplanted by
extra constitutional force, and the
mandates Of party were substituted for
she law of the land.
Is It strange that this mode Of con
Quoting constitutional government
should render necessary the expedients
Of fraud and force? The employment
Of both is prime necessity to it. 1t
is an impossibility, without Infamous
betrayal Of trust on the part Of officials,
sustained by the force of extra con-
.stitusional organizations. The practi.
cal result Of all this is de fact0 cen
tralized government, the powers of
which are limited only by the discre-
tion of its officials. Thanks to the
wisdom of the fathers of the Republic
the exercise Of this discretionary pow
e. is curbed by obstacles inherent in
the matchless system itself which they
framed. The officials through whom |
the powers of government ere operated
are all, 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 pro-
portion to the falthlessness of these
officials. Where all are true to their
trusts, it isimpossi0le. Where all are
faithless, arbitrary government is fully
with the machinery necessa.
~ for its complete administration.
When,iD the recent past, our State gov.
ernment under the control of the Re-
publican party, was converted into an
engine Of oppression, degradation and
ruin, We were experiencing the full op-
Grafton Of this centralized government.
The sworn officials furnished BY the
Republican party, so far from inter-
posing the uatural obstacles Of our
governmental system to the admins.
tration Of unlawful government, them
selves destroyed the barriers Of the
law. and added their share of arbitrary