Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1886-10-21
THE TWO COMPARED.

cause of the magnificent character OF the
party and its splendid achievements in the
past, as because of its sure promise of good
for the future.
1t has been and is a party of gloriou;
achievements, equal to every emergency to
arise as it has been in the past. 1t is the
only party known to the history of the
century that has never faltered or failed in
in the face of trial, and it can challenge
the records of the nation for the proof OF
the fact
1t has been for the right on all great is
sues; the natural heir of freedom and
progress, it administered the affairs of the
nation for a quarter of century with I'M
exampled success and brilliancy, and
turned over to its foe clean, open books.
After two years of anxious search, its enc
mics have been unable to put finger upon
a solitary error it has made, or to discover
any peculation or maladministration of the
affairs Of the nation.
Republicans have everything to be
proud of in the record of the party. Why
should they not glory in its past? Why
should they not rise superior to the errors
or villanies of men within ii, above the
trihing blemishes unworthiness may have
put upon its escutcheon-such as attach
to all human effort in greater or less de-
gree-and appeal to the record of its past
Why should they not ignore the pessi-
the carpings of the critics who refuse to
look above the muck heap, and point down
the avenue of the thirty eventful years of
grand service and salvation to the nation,
to the principles of progress, protection
and loyalty to which it has proved stead
fast?
Why shall not Republicans, scorning
the bosses and the tricksters, and squirting
the pigmies, point to the party as a whole,
the splendid record of its past, the mag
nifcent achievements it has accomplished,
the imposing structure it has reared in the
name of human freedom, protected indus
try, and enlarged manhood, and exclaim
with honest pride, "for that of the past, for
this of the present, for the promise of the
future, we are Republicans"
No party can command the confidence
of people that has nothing but promises
to offer; that can give no guarantee of
character, no assurance anchored in trial
and achievement. The past of party
can never be inhumed. The ashes of the
Democratic party can no more be buried
out of sight or its record of treachery to
the indissoluble union of sovereign States
be obscured, than can the grand successes
Of Republicanism blazoned upon the rec
ords ola Union preserved, nation washed
white from the ignominy of human bond
age, and republic broadened, deepened
and forever founded upon free soil and
equal rights. By the altitude of its ven
cradle towers, the men of to-day measure
the possibilities of the American nation
for the future. By no beacon in the past of
the Democracy will they permit their feet
to be guided; by no chart the Democratic
party ever laid down can they
plant buoys for the sailing of the ship of
State for the future.
The substructural principle of the Dem
ocratic party is that of turbulence. 1t has
introduced into the present, as has been
well said, "the wiles, tricks and vices of its
Greek prototype" 1t has ever been
revolutionary and disorganizing. 1t has
never introduced, while ever crying for re-
form; it has never accomplished. while
forever demanding. 1t antagonized the re-
form election laws; it fought the common
school system and opposed the broadening
the elective franchise, and it has uni
formly prostituted and abused the natural
ization laws. 1t stood out against the
homestead system, and left no stone I'M
turned to prevent the devotion of the soil
to freedom. 1t was the apostle of involun-
tary servitude, and the enemy of free labor
the ally of rebellion and the one chief OBJ
staele in the path of peace.
Its political system Is made up Of obec-
tions, its rule of action is that of the OBJ.
structionist 1t never cast vote for a free
State, and never failed to deposit its ballot
for human bondage. 1t resisted the admis-
sion of California into the Union as a free
State, and when admitted allied itself with
those who sought to snatch the newborn
star from the armament of the Union
Political vagary, internieine struggle, trea
ssnable schemes, and craven submission tc
eommunistic spirit have ever character
ired it.
1t has conferred upon the country nc
noteworthy good. or given us any system
to which the most astute of its member
ship can point for single moment. There
is not to-day, in all the wonderful progres.
of the nation, single institution which
the Democratic party can claim to have
origiasted, not single reform movement
that It has not antageHized. If it has ap
parently acquiesced in any advance move
ment it has only been pyetense to secure
power.
When hsrn in Massachusetts and in Yir
ginia, its fsst assault was upon that branel
of the Government which checks the haste
and impulsiTeness of the purely repre-
sentative body Its next was to break
DOM the compact of indissoluble unity o.
States. It's third was an effort to perpetuate
slavery. lis fourth. to disrupt the republic
itself. Is fifth to prevent resumption,
It has drawn TO Its ranks, by ma
tural attraction, all discordast human ele-
ments, and uniformly addressed its appeals
to ignorance and discomfort. It has, as