Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1883-05-31
The Bloody Shirt.

Inc heuluchy DoLnOCIdtiO OOhfCh
tion did not, IN words, wave the bloody
shirt, but its actien shows pretty con-
clusively that the garment is one of the
fundamental planks in its platform.
The time has not been since the war
when a man who favored the Union
side in the contest for the destruction
of the Government could be nominated
for an important Office in that State.
This feature was again illustrated at
Louisville on Wednesday and Thursday.
A large body of men, who were on the
Union side during the war, are now
acting with the Democratic party, and
these have frequently sought recogni
ton in the convictions, but have al
ways been rejected. Their claim was
freshly denied at Louisville. They were
told by the action of the Convention,
which spoke in tones more emphatic
than words, that they would be permit
ted to vote the party ticket but could
form no part of that ticket. The reason
for the rejection of that element is
plain enough. The representatives OF
the progressive Union sentiment were
strong men, and in themselves not only
unobjectionable, but eminently fit to I'll
the highest positions; but they were on
the wrong side, from Kentucky Demo
cratic standpoint, during the war, and
that sealed their fate. There were no
yells in response to the presentation Of
such names. However eminent the in
dividual. the fact that he was not in
arms against the Government, or in full
sympathy with those who were in arms,
was sufficient to throw cold water
enough to put out any fire that personal
popularity might seem likely to kindle.
And as it is in Kentucky, so it is in
almost every one of the Southern States.
There is no place on Democratic tick
ct anywhere in the South for men who
were not on the side of the Confederacy,
and to this extent, and with all that
this course of prescription implies, the
bloody shirt, waves from every Demo
era ic stump within the bounds of the
late rebellion. And this shirt is carried
into legislative bodies, and whenever
the Democratic party has been in power
at the National Capital it has been con-
spicuously exhibited there. When the
next Congress shall assemble, it is en-
tirely safe to predict that the House of
Representatives, will substantially not
put in office men who served in the
Union army, and that the places will be
mLinly filled by the soldiers or support
ers of the rebellion. This has been the
policy of the past, and there are no signs
of progress With the Democratic party
in full power in the National Govern
ment, the latter would be administered
chiefly by men who sought for five years
to destroy it, either at the front or in
the rear of the contending armies. This
is not the result of accident. There can
be no accident about that policy which
proscribes men who stood by their coun-
country in the hours of its greatest
peril, because they were on that side.
The meaning of this is all the more en-
phalic and far-reaching because it does
not spare men who are acting with the
DE- mocratic party. Republicans are to
be prescribed, as matter of course.
This is the nature of partisan politics,
and persons need not bother themselves
mplaihipg about it. The civil service
pro Gramme would not save the official
h ad ct Republican under Democratic
rule, nor would it save the head of a
Union Democrat in the Southern States.
Bourbonism is prescription in the worst
form. 1t embodies the spirit that sus-
tained the war for the destruction of the !
Government; and in nearly all the
Southern States Bourbonism and De- |
mocracy are Synonymous terms, and if |
the bloody shirt is ever TO be buried cut |
of sight in the Southern States Bourbon
ism, such as rules Kentucky and nearly
every State south of Mason and Dixon's |
line, must first be inferred in very deep
grave. @
AND does anybody suppose that this
same spirit does not float through the
camps at the North? The
policy of prescription is not as pro-
nounced, of course, at the North as at
the South. 1t would not be policy to
pronounce on the subject at all; but its
effect is to be seen nevertheless. Call
the roll Of the Democratic leaders at the