Waterbury evening Democrat., 1889-05-13

lican side of liberality of opinion and dis
 regard of race lines." There is some | thing deeper than passing spirit of in dependence or transitory revolt against | seeming assumption of ownership that prompts such men to seek refuge for | themselves or others of their country
 men within the lines of party that has
 generally been regarded as antagonistic
 to them. What that something is the
 democratic press and leadership must study and determine for themselves. The cause is not to be reached or
 removed by carpir g criticism or vulgar
 ridicule-the Irish voters have had
 enough of that ,and they will not be won
 back from their new found allegiance
 by any such methods. Indeed, we be- lieve that the vulgar screeds that certain democratic editors have felt themselves
 privileged to indulge in anent those Irishmen who have had the manhood to follow their political convictions are
 rather more likely to have the opposite
 effect of strengthening them in their de-
 parture from the democracy and of carry | ing others of their countrymen with | them.
 1 There can be little question that the
 Irishman's natural affiliation is with l that party which has been most friendly
 to him as an immigrant and which has
 always been foremost in extending to
 him the largest rights of citizenship. Gratitude is not the least of the ties that l tend to bind Irishmen to the democratic
 party. But there is limit to all human | gratitude, and as the negro has been slowly nearing that limit in his attach
 ment to the party that has claimed the credit of freeing him from slavery, the 1 Irishman seems to have almost reached
 the limit with reference to the party that
 extended him the hand of fellowship on his arrival on American soil. May ie not
 be that the democratic party has been so
 accustomed to the lasting nature of Irish gratitude that it has come to look upon
 all Irishmen as its own special property !? And may it not be for this reason that
 Irishmen have sometimes been denied de served recognition at the hands of the
 democratic party? Certainly there was
 a feeling abroad last fall that President Cleveland was unfriendly to the Irish
 was not as party disposed to
 find fault with him for his
 attitude towards them. How much
 this feeling may have had to
 do with President Harrison's election we
 have no means of knowing, but that it
 did lead many Irish voters to vote for
 him is matter of common knowledge.
 One thing is very certain-there were
 more Irish votes cast for President Har- rison than is generally known, and his
 action in appointing Patrick Egan and Congressman Ryan to responsible pub
 lie positions is less likely to draw those votes from his party than President
 Cleveland's treatment of Congressman Collins was to hold Irishmen within the democratic lines. The Bridgeport Far
 mer, which is particularly conservative
 and fair-minded, discusses the division
 of the Irish vote in philosophic spirit
 and says of it "Viewed from the Irish standpoint, this division of the Irish American vote cannot be regretted. It , has put an end to the bitter attacks up
 ed the columns ofrepublican newspapers
 and supplied the greater part of republi- can stump speeches, and it has also as sured to the Irish American element a representation in governmental affairs, , whichever party may be dominant. , Furthermore, and perhaps still more i'm , portant, it has disproved the charge, once frequently made, that the Irish ele- , ment had massed itself in one political party with view to an eventual cap , ture of the government-a charge which created great alarm in some quarters and operated, in some considerable de gree, to republican advantage"
 F If the democratic party expects or hopes to hold the great bulk of the Irish
 American vote-and as profound be- lievers in the fundamental principles of democracy we hope it will-there must , be more justice i'll it's treatment of , them, more of the American spirit , of toleration for those who depart from it and very much less of that conceit ot
 ownership that has galled the heart oi
 independent Irishmen and driven them out of the ranks of the democracy in a , spirit of self-respect and self-protection. Throwing mud at those who vote the
 republican ticket, holding them up tc ridlcule as mercenary creatures or un-
 principled traitors,i is not going to prevent division of the Irish vote that is favored by men like John Boyle O Reilly
 and others like hlm i'll whom the Irish
 people have an abundant and abiding confidence. It will be we'll if the dem ocratic editors and leaders will lay uI this truth very close to their hearts, and ; be guided by its warning.