Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1880-07-23

4 significant accession to the Republican
party is that of Hon. Philo A. Orton, of
Wisconsin, veteran Democrat of high
standing and influence in that State, who has
sent TO the Darlington (Wis) Repu5lcan a
a remarkable letter, explaining why he feels
bound 10 cut loose from his old political
friends and support the Garfield and Arthur
ticket. Some of the more pungent passages
are as follows:
Whatever the Democratic party NAV have
been in the'past, it is essentially and absolute
| ly the party of the South to-day Or the
lS5 Electoral votes required to elect Pres-
dent this fall, the Democratic party count
/ the 13S votes from the solid South, made up
of the States which sececded, or wanted to
seccde and dared not, SOLID in advance for
its candidate. The other a votes they hope
to get in the North. Thlrty-five of them
they confidently expect from the city of
New York, for the State of New York out
side the city is as strongly Republican as
! Wisconsin. The remaining II votes they
hope to receive from some of the doubtful
/ Northern States.
/ Ii is said the Democratic candidates are
Northern men, but it is not true that tue
South was compelled to nominate Northern
/ inen in order to give any assurance of sue
cess at the election: 1t matters
not who the President is if he is controlled
by the South
/ The record of the Democratic party in
Congress for the last four years has Justly
excited the suspicious of Northern men.
The promises to the people made in the
Democratic platform of 1876, of civil SER
vice and revenue reforms, and upon which
thp ppo,l,l acted in trivip,r lao ,.,,,- ,o,,,oI
in Congress, are entirely unfulilled. Civil
service reform has gone no further than to
unrcasonably restrict appropriations, by
which the efficiency of the service in some
branches has been greatly impaired, and
large appropriations To cover deficiencies
have been made necessary, while millions
have been thrown away for the improvement
of rivers and harbors all over the Nation.
Revenue reforms eliminated in the selection
OF Mr.. Randall as speaker Of the House, II
prolectionst OF the most determined sort,
by whom The House was SO organized that
no measure Tor revenue reforms would be re-
ported from The commi,te To which it was
necessarily referred. While great rart of
the time OF Congress has been occupied in
the discussion of measures unsourht and un-
asked by the North, and of interest only to
the South-such, for instance as amnesty TO
MIR. Davis, the repeal of the test oath. and
liie repeal ol the Election supervisor law
"lion WIZ uiseu win zeal worthy Il bet
',i aust 'iieii iorceu approval ny The Iresi-
dent being attempted by attaching them TO
appropriation bills. At least one of these
nie"su,e7 was urged through Congress upon
uic "iui "nte-oettum idea OF state rights. de
hyliS 10 congress The power to exercise any
cohtfoi oi elections even when members oi
Congress and President were To b. elected.
Jen Davis said but short tmr ago that
the principles oi the Confedcracy were cter-
nal because right. Beyond doubt this is the
opinion of the great mass of the white popu-
lalion of the South. They failed on the
battle field TO maintain these principles, and
now seek the same object, substantially, by
political manipulaionS through the Demo
cratic party. This practical question then
presents itself to every honest voter in the
North Is II wise or just, and ought the
,, ',,t s r'"',e '" "li.t 's n1"'l,I ii u, .,e
national credit hr s,f'. in ,ts hands ; WIN
the National Treasury be- safe in its hands.
OF VIII not rather us doors he thrown open
'Io;n'a;s III. y, t,'os"'s VI .G.''in
tablished To the satisfaction of the Southern
party. VIII the principle that the Republic
II N"tioh "c h"hcsiiy Itspcclcu anu ac-