The Columbian. [volume] (Bloomsburg, Pa.) 1866-1910, 1884-04-25
Democratic Societies.
HON. CHAUNCEY F. BLACKS LETTER TO
THE JEFFERsoNIAN CLUB.
From the Newark journal.

From the Newark Journal.
The following letter of regret was
received from the Hon. Chauncey F.
Black in answer to the invitation OF
the Jefferson Club to be present at their
banquet on Tuesday night. At the
request of number of gentlemen who
have read it, the Journal publishes the
letter in full:
York, Pa, April 10, lss4.-My
Dear Sir: had hoped that would
be able to respond in person to the
kind invitation to be with you on the
18th at your celebration of the ami
versary of Mr.. Jefferson's birth, but /
find, to my great regret, that on that
dav l will be detained at Harrisburg by
official duties which can neither be
delegated nor postponed
But my heart is deep 10 the good
work you are about. No sign of the
times is more encouraging than the
rapid increase in the number of politi-
cal bodies like yours, known by the
name of Jefferson, and devoted TO the
restoration of Jetfersonian principles
and practices. Here is common ground
upon which all democrats may meet in
harmony, and the clubs themselves are
that very expedient which Jefferson,
Gallatin, Madison and their patriotic
associates employed for the overthrow
of federalism in their day.
The democratic societies" of our
republican forefathers were the cen
tres of popular discussion and agitation.
They became, as Mr.. Jefferson said,
the very "nurseries of republican prin-
ciples.' But for them our government
OF defined and delegated powers might
then, upon its first severe trial, have
been subverted-the written coustitu-
ton might have been construed and
"administrationed' away, for. without
them the triumph OF the republican
ticket in 1880 would hardly have been
possible. But when the clubs thun.
dered the people heard and the fedora
list trembled, The latter threatened pro-
secutions under the Infamous sedition
law, and even went so far as to pro-
pose an act of congress making it a
crime to belong to a democratic So
ciety.
But neither the peoples leaders, nor
the people behind them, were dismayed.
The democratic societies multiplied and
fourished. They did their appointed
work in that great struggle, aud con
tributed powerfully TO the delivrrance
of the country from the tyranny and
corruption of federalism Nor did they
dissolve when they saw the votes put
in the boxes they remained, a vast
array of intelligent and politically dis
ciplined patriots, to see the votes hon
estly counted to see the man elected
by the people inangurated, and to hold
up his hands in the great work of
reform which he was called to do But
for them, but for the vast chain of pop.
ular clubs united by common princi
pies and inspired by common pur-
pose, ready to sound the alarm along
the line, and to move in concert at the
signal of danger, the Federalist plot to
cheat the people and swindle Mr.. JEFF
ferson out of the presidency might have
succeeded, as the similar plot to swim
die Mr., Tilden did actually succeed, in
1877. Think you that if Jefferson as.
sociations had been relatively as nu-
merous and strong in 1876 as were the
democratic societies in 1900, the phe-
nominal crime of 1877 would have been
undertaken, or safely executed if it had
been
Are we any letter prepared for 1857
Is anybody innocent enough to sup
pose, after the fraud of 1877, and the
wholesale corruptions of 1880, that the
federalist-republican party is going to