Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1885-10-16

kind upward and onward toward broader
distribution of the blessings of life. The ex-
ciuded classes are lifted on to these higher
1 planes, and vested with greater powers to
hold their position there. The great desid-
eratuIn, that Government shah proceed
frernaboye, or by the force of the intelligence
and virtue Ct mankind, INSTEAD of from
below, or by the force of ignorance
and vice, makes steady progress. Whether
u1der the name of Republican or Demo
crat, Conservative or LIBERAL, Republican
or lmperi&list, the issues inseparable from
the vicisSitudes of national life form by
natural alignment but two great parties !:
one, the party of progress and positive
ideas; the other, the party of retrogression
and negative opinions. The San Francisco
41ba is professediy a Democratic paper,
but the editor appears to occupy a place
in the blending zone between the two
parties. Whether this be due to enfeebled
conviction which puzzles the political nat
Iuralist in classifying men, we will not here
undertake to say, but in recent issue of
that paper we find its editor speaking with
singular confusion of ideas concerning the
craftsmanship in the past which has given
the Republican party its great lease of
power. He says of that party, that the
principles which carried it into power
at first were fruits of It's craftsmanship. He
declares that opposition to the extension of
slavery and final emancipation were among
the most elevated issues, " rHether consider
| ed from the side OF their support OF The opposi-
ton to them, that ever engaged the atten-
ton of the people of an established gov
eminent" And in further confirmation of
this heresy to Democratic history and ira
dition, he says: IN those issues heroic
age was born; in the struggle that came
from them, all the qualities of manhood
and courage were called into exercise on
both sides, and future ages, forgetting the
rival opinions, will write on the grave
stones of all these dead who died battling
for and against an idea, that they fell,
illustrious and immortal witnesses to the
courage and the quality of the American
character"
With what cool efrontery vanquished
error appropriates the laurels of victorious
truth Here is Democrats who asks
to be apotheosized in the Pantheon of
fame because he had the honor of battling
against the right. Here is political
descendant Of secession and treason claim
ing equal regard in the patriotic
memory of the country, because his
party had the honor of waging war in the
defense of human slavery, In this there
is consolation for the successors of Judas
Iscariot, Benedict Arnold and Jefferson
Davis; for if future ages, forgetting the
rival opinions, will regard with equal
honor the memory of those who died bat
Ting for and against the truth, then, indeed,
has infamy been eliminated from the
possibilities of human achievement. Our
contemporary is right, from Republican
standpoint, when it declares that opposi-
ton to the extension of slavery and the
emancipation of the slaves presented the
grandest issue of civil liberty which can
possibly engage the attention of an estab-
lished government. That issue, once pre-
scented in this nation, classified men by a
natural alignment All those who loved
the liberty Of men ranged themselves with
the Republican party; all those who hated
the liberty of mankind ranged themselves
with the Democratic party. Inherent in
stinct had everything to do with
the political attitude assumed by
men in that memorable struggle.
In every future issue involving any ques-
ton of civil or religious liberty, the ele-
ments which mustered under the banner
of the Republican party must be depended
upon to solve those issues on the side of
liberty and justice, while with equal GER
tainty the elements which rallied to the
defense of slavery will as surely be found
} in the ranks of the enslavers of mankind.
Of all the classes that have ever existed
in any country, the American slave was
the object of the greatest commiseration.
He possessed in its lowest degree the
capacity of self-help. He was vested with
the very minimum of power to reward his
deliverer. The men of the party espous-
} ing his cause had nothing beyond the
abstract principle of right to sustain them
IN the hour of trial or to reward them for
sacrifice made on his behalf. To its eter-
nal honor be it remembered, the Repub-
lican party addressed itself to the
elevation of this lowest condition
of manhood and earned for itself
the right to be remembered in
history as having waeed and won the
battle of freedom on the plane of abso-
lutely unselfish devotion to the genius of
liberty itself. The issues of to-day grow
out of the history of the past The Re-
publican party Of tomorrow, equally with
that of to-day and yesterday, is the legiti-
mate heir of the Republican party of 1861.
1t embraces the same elements of national
life and character, which, true to the in
stincts of liberty, espoused the cause of the
slave. On the other hand the Democratic
party is the political heir of the heresies
! which rent the nation asunder and del
uged it with the blood of martyrs to the
cause of liberty; and future generations
, will not forget the rival opinions and sing
| poems and erect monuments equally To
those who died battling for and against
the right. 1t is the great office of later
generations to sit in Judgment upon the
conflicts of the past and to build monu-
, ments 10 the heroes of the right. The
5 fame Of the champions of the right is
forever the infamy of the adherents of the
wrong; and when this distinction is lost
in the recognition of men, then will fame
have become yirtueless harlot, wreathina
with Understanding lust the memory Of
the true and the false. The past is the
only guarantee of the future. The Repub.
+ licans of Ohio have been true to the ira.