The Montgomery advertiser., 1904-10-24
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The Hartford courant. tired of hnd- ing fault with Judge Parker. tired of looking for a reasonable and sensible issue in the Democratic platform. and even weary of condemning Southern suffrage requirements, lately tried Its pencil on a new indictment against Grover Cleveland. The text of it's ser mon is a statement made by the ex- President that he first became actively attached to the Democratic Party in 1856, and adding:
 In that campaign the Republican Par ty--newly arrived in the field of Pres idential political warfare--had appeal mens to ana aae ldSs for the % spsctaeSIsr by the nomination of John c. Fremont for President, while on the other hand tho Democratic Party challenged the country by the nomination Of the ma ture. undramatic and experienced Buc- hanan. *~S
 This statement is taken up by The Courant and made the occasion for a lengthy arraignment of Buchanan and ineiden tally of Mir. Cleveland for his admission that he was Buchanan Democrat. Naturally. The Courant dis likes Buchanan flor various reasons. One was that he was virtually nomi- mated by "the slave-holding planters of the South." That is practically true. for he could not have been nominated without the votes of the Southern del- egates. and they supported him be- cause he better represented Southern sentiment than either Douglas or cass. particularly on all matters relating to the subject of slavery.
 And The Courant finds another cause of condemnation for Buchanan in the platform on which he was nominated. That platform was strictly and .rigidly Democratic--tne Democracy of all believers of that day In the Constitution ee the United states. It upheld the theory of States rights. as Southern Democrats had ever done. and as.aff good Democrats now do. It disavowed or disputed the right of the Congress or the Govern ment of the United States to interfere with slavery where it existed, or to prevent any citizen of the United States from carrying his property into any of the Territories which were the common property of all the States and all the people. Looking back nearly half a century at the doctrines thus enunciated. we pronounce them good and sound Democracy.
 Perhaps 1t Is natural that The Cour- ant. with it's overzealous devotion to the Union. and itssFuritanic aniraosity towards slavery and the shareholders should think badly of the President who owed both his nomination and his election to the slave holding Democ- racy." and who tried with all his pow CTS to maintain and carry out his oath of office as he understood 1t. and as Democrats generally understood it. This, we say. may be natural and con sistent, but that Is no reason why it should belabor Cleveland for follow ing Buchanan and ailying himself with the party which had nominated him. MT. Cleveland had not yet reached his majority, and that the mature, undra- matic and sxperiehced Buchanan" ap- pealed to his boyish ideals Is not strange. Neither is 1t strange that he also approved the doctrines for which Buchanan stood and upon which he was nominated. No doubt, young as he was, he had to some extent made him self familiar with our theory of Gov ernment, or at least had his own ideas of those theories, and decided for him self that the Democracy of Buchanan and the South was the proper political faith for him.
 If The Courant can find no better ground of complaint against MT. Cleve- land than that he was warmed in the bosom of Buchanan Democracy and christened, as 1t were, into the political congregation of which Buchanan was made the leader. it is barking on an exceedingly cold trail. Democrats who are worthy of the name are not going to turn their backs on Grover Cleve- land merely because, if he had been old enough. he would have voted for James Buchanan.