Barbour County index. [volume] (Medicine Lodge, Kan.) 1880-current, 1883-03-23
WASHINGTON. a Democrat.

~ 0~-S
Our esteemed contemporary, the Pal
,adiunl. declared Friday that it is not
..worried'' because the emocrats cele-
brate Washihg ton's birthdays but mere
W aston she'd at their 'effroDtery.
Pro ceedine, II says.- - -
THE pla fact of history is that the
democratic party not only villited and
abused Washington when alive, but has
done its best, notably during the past
Twenty-Five years, to set at naught the
principles he most ardently cherished.
1T has stood for everything that he OPP
posed, including .disunion- and dishonor
of National obligations. Instead of
clarifying itselfon Washington's birth
tday it ought to do penance Tor its long
record o: misdeeds which have brought
so much sorrow and dishonor upon the
Nation which heAfoRnded.A That it fails
to do tn S. but instead seiZes upon the
occasion to eXalt itself, is but another
Illustration of its bra en- impudence and
ignorant perversity."f no tNsfr
T. From this one would almost be per-
suaded that W ash ngton was a Repub-
lican, but unfortunately for that claim
| the present Republican party was not
founded until fifty years after Washing
tom death. If not nominallv Demo-
erat. Washington was. a Democrat in
principle before and during the Revo-
iutionary War Indeed, 1.-THE very pre-
/ text for rebellion was an TN lust tax,
something like the present Republican
tariff. Governor Benjamin +. Butler,
at the Democratic banquet held at Bos
ton, recently, clearly pointed out
! Washin gton' Democratic ideas. Sale
Butler:vgsasszss,-s.ss,szs ---ssr's1
bHc' In the historical portraits of Wash
,ington. there was one quality which
was not brought-sus Gc;entlv into promi
hence, and that was that VIII ch show:
him to have been, . man. The result
was that the people reverenced him as
a sort of demi-god instead OF loving
him as man. He has been pla ed or
the pcdes al of his virtues so high thai
the people almost feared to love him q:
racy, Thomas Jefferson. The Democ
racy has RIGHT to celebrate his, a,
well as the latter's birth day. 1t wa:
the Democracy which fought the Revo
Flutionary War. The fortunes of those
men who gathered in the Convention
(which declared independence, exc'ud
I ing the wealth of + ancock, Franklin
Carroll and Washington. would hardly
have suficed to have paid the board
bills of the Convention. The poor mer
stood by the country in It's hour o
need, and by the force of their love o
liberty. by the force of their devotion
to principle, by the energy and tn,
character they brought into the con
test they comNelled to fight with then
what were known as .he better e
ments of society of that day. They
drove into the ranks the clergy and h,
men of wealth. They drove into tn,
support of the country all who had tn,
slightest love of liberty. and~tho whc
had not they drove off to FalilaX ant
Nova Scotia or Prince Edward Island
Washing ton oined he Democracy ant
became part OF us and one of us. "a q
The Struggle of the Revolution. il
which Was ringtony bore the leading
part, WIS aGcontest of %the scommrl
people against the aristocracy, wealth
ofliCeholders and Ubiquitous Legislation
of lngland. 1t was struggle for ua
rights. for the Democratic principle q
local se'f-governmen t and for equal tax
alton. These are the fundamental p IN
ciples of the Democratic marty, Otto
dar. The only welEestablished pr nci
pie which the .Repu 5lican PARTY eve
had was he torcihleS abolition of South
ern S avery. But Washington himsel
was a Southerner and STAKEHOLDER, ant
it is perfectly certain that if Wash no
ton had been alive IN 1851, he woult
have drawn his sword in de. rense of hi
native tate and against the forci L
abolition of slavery, as did all of hi
Virginia people. In his late year
Washington leaned toward Federal SIN
but that was a long way from mol, II
/ Pepublicanism. 1nfhis farewell address
his most solemn apreal to his co, ntry
men was that they should refrain from
uniting Themselves with any such sc ,
tional party as is modern Repub'i an
ism. Washington's greatest fame wa
gained when he was fighting the hattie
OF the comm n people ainst central
lied form OF government. aga'nst dc
nitares. the rich, the monopolis an
unjust law makers of his day. In tina
! contest he was Demo rat OF the Dem
ocrats, and the Democratic party OF tc
dav does well to honor George Wash
ington. HdUen LEICESTER.