Year: 1868

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UNlTEDi


tFrom The Old Guard for Nsy.]


In somewhat extended editorial expe.
rience, We have had to write many arti-
olss which were dictated far more BY q
sense Of duty THAI Of pleasure but we
cannot call to mind an instance when We
we're compelled to perform more unwel.
come task than the writing Of this arti.
Gle. We cannot, however, with honor,
dodge the responsibility. No one has
been more truly anxious than We have to
see the Democratic party united and to
this end We have steadily avoided the
betrayal Of . preference for any particular
person for Office. We have had no can
didats. Our only concern has been for
the triumph Of those principles which can
alone secure peace and liberty to our
country. We know that there can be no
permanent peace except upon tho foun.
dations Of self-government and liberty.
Liberty 10 peace. Despotism 10 eternal
war. The right Of every state to be the
sole dispenser Of ite own domestic insti.
tutious IS as necessary to freedom as the
heart is TO tho life Of tho human body.
But we wcro willing to bury the record Of
those who have Joined ia the war upon
this fundamental principle Of solf govern.
ment, provided for the future, there is to be
. return to those ancient doctrines on
which the Democratic party stood with
unfaltering tenacity, from tho foundation
Of tho Union until tho beginning Of the
negro war. Wo have stood up for o re-
turn Of these principles, because We saw
no other possible hope for the salvation
Of the country. During the war, we stood
(amid what storm Of violence the whole
country knows) upon precisely the same
platform Of principles that the Democratic
party Of every State stood upon at the
Of the war. It was the same
platform tho party had occupied, with.
out deviation. from 1857 to 1861. While
tho leaders quite generally deserted those
sacred principles, and acd to the tents Of
the enemy, we remained with the masse,
Of the party, on board the old ship which
was launched by Jefferson. It was that
Of State sovereignty and self government.
At the close Of tho war, it was question
with some whether the principles Of free
governmedt had not been entirely thrown
down by it-whether it was worth while
to attempt to build again upon tho foun.
dation Of freedom laid by our fathers.
We know that tho whole body Of tho
Democracy profcsscd horror at tho idea
Of going into the consolidated despotic
system which strips tho States Of their
sovereign individuality, and leaves every
ono of them, North and South, exposed
to the abomination Of negro equality, and
q hundred other calamitics, which the
tyranny Of an infuriated Congress may at
any time invent. Against this system Of
consolidation, every Democratic paper
planted itself, and the party universally
responded. Mono wsre more happy than
we at this evidence Of a determination to
return 10 the safe and sacred principles
on which tho Union was originally formed.
None could be more anxious than VIC
that q veil Of oblivion should be drawn
over the gulf Of blood in which SO many
Democrats worked with tho anti. Demo.
cratic, or consolidating party. But it
soon became painfully evident that many
who had been wandering from the fold
Of Democracy, or from tho vital princi.
pies Of Democracy, were determined to
keep up war upon those Who had not.
And others who we're less belligerent,
thought, as matter Of policy, it would be
best for none who had refused to support
the Lincoln administration to take any
part, except to quietly and humbly vote
for those who had. The modesty Of this
proposition might have secured universal
approval but for its extreme foolishness.
How would it be possible under such
rulo, to prevent large numbers Of the
masses OF the party, who hate the very
thought Of the war with uudying bitter.
ness, from boiling outright, or staying
at homo In unutterable disgustp The
Eighth Congressional District Of Ohio is
an example Of what the whole country
would be under such rule as this. Any
man Of ordinary sagacity must sec that
there 10 NO hope of . Democratic success
except upon the rule Of silence upon
passed differences, aud perfect harmony
upon present issues. And that such
happy state Of thing. does not exist at the
present time, We charge, is solely the fault
Of those who have come back to the party
from the Lincoln camp. Less than one.
third Of the Democratic press Of the
North supported the Lincoln war and the
two.thirds which did not snpport it have
evincsd willingness to keep silence upon
that horrid event which has produced all
our present ruin. It il the one.third
which 10 the cause Of tho threatened dis.
ruption Of the party. The campaign in
New Hampshire affords an illustration Of
the bad faith Of what was called the "War
Democracy" It is now discovered that
the Democratic nominee, Mr.. Sinclair,
was defeated by the trsachery of that
class. The letter Of Mr.. Butter6eld, the