The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1892-03-18
pEMocKAT1c LusTER.

ham, Ala, on Wednesday, denied that the
Republican party gave luster to the his
tory of this country. vapored about ''the
principles of Jefferson. and congratulated
his audience that the great and valuable
acquisitions Of territory OF this country
had all been acquired through the efforts
of Democratic statesmen, and that the
great foreign wars which the country
waged were under the auspices of Demo
cratic leaders.
The Republican party fought the extern
sion of human slavery; the Democratic
party under Polk. Pierce and Buchanan
labored for its unconstitutional aggran-
dizement; the Republican party en-
acted the homestead act. up
held the Union and restored the
supremacy of the flag; the Republican
party emancipated the slave and enacted
the great war amendments to the
constitution in spite of the determined re-
sistance of the Southern Democracy in
arms and the copperhead Democracy in
congress; the Republican party from 1880
to date has protected American industries
and the wages of the American working
man; the Republican party has ever been
the foe Of imitation, of fat money, Of all
forms of debased national currency that
seek 10 make the dollar of the wage-earner
worth less than 100 cents. while the Demo-
cratic party championed fiat money in
1874, and advocates the enactment of the
free silver coinage of debased legal tender
dollars today.
The Republican party fought the ex-
tension of slavery before the war; cham
pioned the cause of human rights and
emancipated the slave during the war;
enacted the fifteenth amendment after the
war. which guarantees the inviolability of
the free suffrage rights Of every citizen of
the land, no matter what his race or color
may be or his previous social condition
may have been. And David B. Hill, the
architect Of political fraud; the corrupt
tool of "Bill Tweed :" the author and ex-
ecutive of a successful conspiracy to steal
the New York legislature, thinks the Re-
publican party has given ''no luster to the
history of the country"
From the standpoint of Hills Satanic
craftsmanship none of these splendid acts
have conferred cluster upon the history of
the country" The logical inference is
that the Democratic party, which vainly
resisted all these forced marches to the end
of making freedom national; to the end
of equal rights and honest money, has
conferred ulster upon the history of the
country" by their unsuccessful obstructive
ness. The Democratic party that sought
TO make slavery national; that fought the
armies of the Union at the South and
bit the armies in the back at the
North, that party, forsooth. has conferred
luster on the history of the country"
The Democratic party that has steadily
urged the perpetuation of dishonest paper
and the free coinage of debased dollars;
that party, We may fairly infer, has in
Hills judgment conferred luster on the
country"
David B. Hill commends 'the princi-
Piles" of Jefferson to the south. The
South needs no urging on this point. The
devotion of the South to the principles of
Jefferson" as embodied in the Virginia
and Kentucky resolutions of 179S, precipi-
tated our frightfui civil war. These par
ticular principles of Jefferson" found
grave without hope of resurrection in the
last ditch of the Confederacy at
Appomattox. Another of Jefferson's
principles" was devotion to the
policy of protective tariff, a principle
that the Democracy from 1s42 to date have
been fighting to eliminate from the laws
of the nation; principle that has OBJ
tanned its most perfect modern expression
in the Mckinley tariff. enacted by the
Republican party. which Mr. Hill holds
has mot conferred ulster on the history of
the country" Another of 'the principles
of Jefferson" was the policy of peace with
out honor, policy that plated
crown of thorns for the head of
poor President Madison, to whom
Jefferson willed country made
defenseless by his pusillanimous policy of
refusing in time of peace to prepare for
war that his peace without honor admin
istration had made inevitable. Another
of ''the principles of jefferson" was to
destroy the life tenure of the United
States supreme court aud place the high
est court in the land under the thumb of a
partisan administration. Another of 'the
principles OF jefferson" was to commit
executive acts that not only had no
warrant in the constitution, but were pro-
hibited by it. This principle of Jeffer-
SOM is one that would naturally COM
mend itself to David B. Hill, as he has
never hesitated to violate both the spirit
and letter of the laws and constitution of
New York TO accomplish his political pur
poses.
The great and valuable acquisitions of
territory of this country" Mr.. Hill saws,
'have all been acquired by the efforts of
Democratic statesmen" The Louisiana
purchase of President Jefferson was due 10
the fact that Napoleon Bonaparte was in
such desperate need of money for warlike
purposes that he sold Louisiana for song
10 the only power on earth that would bid
tor it. The annexation of Texas was
forced by the South at the cost of an un-
just war with Mexico, and was an i'm
mense enlargement of the area of
slavery. In the settlement. of the
Oregon boundary the Democratic
statesmen all yelled "Fifty-four forty or
fight" until they were hoarse. but Great
Britain refused these terms and the Demo-
cratic statesmen didn't fight" and we
surrendered 10 Great Britain valuable