Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1888-02-16

ever yet sung of that flag that floats SO
beautifully above us:
Tear down that Haunting lie
Half mast that starry flag,
Insult no sunny sky
With Hates polluted rag
1T was not Democrat" says Mr.. Mil
| ligan, who from the public platform de-
nounced the Constitution of our country
as a covenant with death and league
with he'll yet only few weeks since an
| acknowledged leader Of the Democratic
party. who during the war did all III his
/ power to annui the Constitution. and af-
ter the war opposed the adoption of the
| Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments
| to the Constitution, was appointed by a
| Democratic President to a seat upon the
| bench OF the Supreme Court of the United
States, to interpret that Constitution.
| And again he says it was not Demo
| crat who said to the Southern States in
! their contemplated treason. "WaywaTd
| sisters, depart in peace, there is no power
| in the Federal Government to cOerce
YOU -: yet the Democratic President Mr.
Buchanan and his Cabinet declared the
government had no right to cOerce a State.
| In the light of historical truth, this pan
! egyric upon the Democratic party is very
amusing.
Let us with more fairness and less par
tiality pursue this inquiry, What is the
! Democratic Party"
The Democratic party of to-day Is sub
Stantially the Democratic party OF thirty
years ago. lis leaders then were, i'll the
! south, Davis. Hampton, Hill, and Lamar
and in the North Thurman, PendletOn
and Mcdonald; they are its leaders now,
! Thirty years ago it had a solid South. and
/ ID OF NJ
! New York. New jersey, Indiana, and
! Connecticut: the same is true Of it to-day
! In 1860 tie South asserted the doctrine of
| States Rights, and the Democratic party
1 of the North declared the same thing, and
to-day the party is asserting the same
| doctrine in its advocacy of local self
government and "home rule
Let rs now briefly review some OF the
principles and doctrines of the Demo
cratic party, as proclaimed i'll its plat
! forms and by its Representatives IN Con
greSS during the last thirty years.
In 1886 it declared that Congress has
no power to charter national bank; that
we believe such an institution to be one
of deadly hostility to the best interests
of the country" and during the war ii
opposed all schemes for the creation of a
national currency, and in Congress de-
n0unced both as unconstitutional; and il
asserts the same doctrine to-day, as is
shown by its platform of 1880, "We
pledge ourselves anew to the cOnStitu-
tional doctrines and traditions of the
Democratic party"
it declared the war an experiment,
and that experiment Il failure" and de-
manded that immediate efforts be made
for a cessation of hostilities, with view
| to an ultimate convention of States, OF
other peaceable means, to the end that at
! the earliest practicable moment peace
may be restored on the basis of the Fed
erai | Union of the States >; and in 1854 ii
declared THAT the aim and object of the
! Democratic party is to preserve the Fed
eral Union and the rights of the States
unimpaired."
After the war it opposed the Recon
structiOn acts, speaking of them as uSur-
patiOns. unconstitutional, revolutionary
and void >: and in Congress this method
/ of reconstruction was opposed by SOLID
party vote. as was also the adoption of
| the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amend
mentS to the Constitution, which amend
mentS having been adopted, it SOlidly op-
posed all legislation looking toward their
| enforcement, and repeatedly refused to
affirm their validity.
The Democratic platform calls for a
| free ballot, and demands that neither
| fraud nor force must be allowed to sub
vert the rights of the people: yet the solid
South of which it boasts and from which
| il confidently expects 1873 electoral votes,
was made solid by midnight raids and a
system of terrorism which drives away
all opposition at the polls, and is kept
solid by ballOt-bOX Stuffing and fraudu-
lent count.
In 1872 the Republican vote of Alabama
was over 10000: i'll 1873 it was nothing
In the same year the Republican vote of
Mississippi was 81, 1I5; in 1878 it was ,16S.
The same falling off of the Republican
vote might be shewn of other Southern
States
The Democratic party of the North
gathers its greatest strength from the
mass of the dangerous classes in our large
cities, and tally-sheat f0rgeries are become
so frequent that the party is like to be
made bankrupt by its lawsuits.
The Democratic party has been on the
wrong side Of nearly all the important
questions within the last thirty years, and
frequently during that time has it shown
its incapacity and inability to rule. For
many years past it has been advocating
tariff reform, and yet during ten years of
Democratic aScendancy III the House
there have been only two reductions in
the revenue, and those immaterial ones.
1t is now advocating Free Trade, a meas
ure which, if successful, will involve the
destruction of American industry.
The Democratic party has always been
a party OF tuiSe pFeteRSeS, and nearly all
its platforms during the last quarter Of Il
century have been dOuble-tOHgiLei Glld
dHbigHOuS, or, as Henry NatersOn, in a
late issue of the COuFjeF-JOUT7tdIe express
es it. in speaking of the tariff plank i'll the
last Democratic platform: 1t was not a
Straddle, yet it was made to seem a Strad-
die"
During the last Presidential campaign
the party advocated Civil Service Reform,
vet during the three years of Democratic
administration backset has been given
that good cause from which it will take
it years to recover. The present Demo
cratic Executive was very emphatic in
his advocacy of this measure, but it is
now apparent that he did this simply as
a campaign dodge to catch votes, for he
is now one of the leading SpOilsmen of
his time.
In 1884 the party raised a great hue and
cry against the surplus, and sought to
arouse the country against Republican
extravaganza" yet there is to-day a much
greater surplus in the Treasury than then,
and the expenditures of the government,
far from being lessened, have been stead
lily increasing, and the only reduction
that has been made in the governments
expenses has been in its refusal to pay its
just debts and to provide for its own
safety, refusal of which every true
American should be ashamed.
Such Is a brief record of the Democratic
party. Surely, such a party is not fit to
be entrusted with the reins of govern
ment. \ REPUBLICAN.
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