Year: 1865

new and stupendous questions which every
day will now be developed, public mans
position must be determined, not by his
mistakes where all have/erred, but by his
capacity, his integrity and his patriotism.
The day has passed when the party epithets
upon either side, which were without justi-


fication, almost without excuse, even amid


the rancor OF civil war and the heat Of
partisan discussion, ought any longer to be


tolerated. Noman in the Democratic party


in the North or West, of responsible or re-
cogniZed position, was for disunion or sep
aration for its own sake. But if any such
there was, false to the Government of the


Union, he was false also to the Southern


Confederacy, else his place would have been
In the ranks of her armies. Some, indeed,
1 not many, of the ablest and most sincere
and honest among us--men who, to-day,
changing their opinions, are the worthiest
of trust, and | speak strongly as one not of
their cOnviction--b believed that only through
temporary recognition of Southern inde-
pendence, could the Federal Union be re-
stored. Such, too, had been the declara-
tions before and in the beginning of the


war, of many distinguished men in the Re-
publican party, some of them still high in
position, expressed in language the most
emphatic, going even to the extent of per-


manent separation. The record of these
declarations remains; but to quote them, or
to name the authors, is needless. The argu-
ment stands sufficient OF itself.


| 1t is not that the Democratic party oppos-
ed either the civil war or the peculiar pol
icies upon which 1t was conducted that is
to exclude them from the confidence of the
| people. Scarce prominent man In the Re-
publican ranks, unless ofDemocratic antece-
dents, from the late President down, but
Opposed-many of them with unmeasured
bitterness and violence-the prosecution of
the foreign Mexican war. Devoted wholly
to the Union, the old Union, in any event,
the men of the Democratic party judged of
| the war and of its policies solely by that
standard, and upheld or opposed them ac-
cordingly. The party-and refer to the
! question because it has been made the sub
Ject of recent newspaper cOmment-will,
indeed, certainly not follow the "Chicago
Platform" of 1864, as political Textbook


now, any more than the Republican party,
or its heirs or assigns, will adopt the "Chica-
90 Platform" of 1860, for the same purpose
in the future not that the former was not
the very best practicable at the period and


for the occasion which brought it forth;


but because, dealing in time of war, almost
wholly with questions of policy, not princi


pie, 1t would, in time of peace, be quite as
inappropriate as the code of Justinian or
| the journals of the Continental Congress.
| All that need now be asked of our political
foes is, that it be quoted correctly; the
more especially since, though the work of a
committee made up of some of the ablest
and truest men in the Convention, and
adopted by that body unanimously amid
the rapturous applause of two hundred
thousand freemen present or at hand, it
survived but eight days-dying of circum-
cision.. But there is one crown of glory, at
least, during the terrible trials of the last
four years, richest among the treasures of
the Democratic party, which cannot be ia
ken away. Fit shall so happen that to the
Republican party may be due the honor of
maintaining the Union, to the Democracy
the country is indebted for the preservation
of whatever remains of that other and even
dearer birthright of Americans-Constitu
tional Liberty and private right.


But laying all these questions aside for
the present, trust that all men who, in the
old Roman phrase, feel alike concerning the
Republic now, may be soon brought to act
together. He who cannot at this moment,
for season at least, forget his private
griets, or lay aside his prejudices against
men and parties, for the sake of his country
in an hour of trial which demands all the
wisdom of the wise and the utmost firmness
of the stoutesthearted among us, is too
much of partisan to be anything of pat
riot. Fortunately among politicians the la


Dor is usually not difficult. If the melan-
choly reflection of Cicero, in his later years,
were well considered and just, that true
friendships are most rarely found among
those who concern themselves in public af-
fairs, it is quite certain also that perdurable
enmities are equally rare with them. And
it is the motive, not the new association,
which marks the change ofparty habitudes,
as patriotic or corrupt. Itwas not the mere
fact that Fox and Burke united in coalition
with Lord North, that made them all odious
to the British people, but because the pur-
pose and circumstances of the coalition
were unpopular and not just. Here and
now the war having accomplished all that
the sober and rational among its advocates
ever claimed for 1.-THE breaking down of
the chief military power of the Confederate
Government-we have reached the point
where all that class among its supporters,
of whatever party, mustnow unite with the |
friends ofpeace and conciliation, in exhaust
ing all the arts of craftsmanship, to the end
that speedy and perfect pacification, and |
with it, a real and cordial reunion, may be |
secured. The questions which belong to
state of war are, in their verv nature and
from necessity, totally distinct from those |
which arise upon cessation of hostilities.
Men who have hitherto agreed on other is
sues, will differ widely now, and new party
association must follow. The hereditary
supporters of the President just inaugural
ed; must not assume that, as a matter of
course, the Democratic party will be found
in opposition upon these questions. On the
record, up to the day when the Executive
office. by reason of horrible crime, was
iforoed unon him, he himself differed from
that party only, or chiefly as to the fact and
the manner of prosecuting the war. Not
responsible for anything done or omitted
by the late Administration, whereof the
Democracy complained now that the war
is ended, he begins his chief magistracy
without past difference in principle or
present separation as to policy. In any
event, he Is entitled at the hands of the
Democratic party to fair, candid and
charitable consideration of the several
measures which he shall propose, though
most assuredly at the same time, it will be
the duty of that party to render strict,
firm and fearless Judgment upon them, and
to act accordingly as they shall be found to
merit support or to demand opposition. 1t
is. indeed, already to be lamented that al
though General Sherman may not have
had the authority--and he claimed none
for himself, referring all to the Executive
his plan of Paciication and Reunion was
not promptly confirmed by the Presidents.
IL was concise, comprehensive, completes;
proving him not less wise and great In the
science of craftsmanship, than grand and
triumphant In the arts of war. Aud 1t
would have made peace, immediate and sim
cere .peace from, the Potomac to the Rio
Grahde.p This was his proud congratula-


tnru hoa Of to his army at the end of the great