Year: 1868

pie scOrned the words and fought on to an


unconditional victory. The Democratic


Convention of 1868 declares that the war


debt shall be repudiated. And their
words will be equally spurned by the


same honorable people. In 1864 upon


platform of surrender to the rebellion the
Democrats nom mated the conspicuous


military failure of the war. In 1868 upon


platform of reputation, they nominate
pure Copperhead. In1SG4 the men who


thought it possible to prevent victory


directed the Convention. In 1868 the same
men who think there is at least chance
of disgracing the victors controlled it.
There is no doubt as to the issues of the


campaign. Shall the exrebels and their
political allies dishonor the national name
by repudiating the debt and betrayipg the
loyal citizens of the Southern States
Shall all the work of reconstruction be
undone, and the country plunged anew
Union? Shall the policy of subjecting
substituted for the policy of reconstruction
upon equal rights which is now in process
of accomplishment? II


These are the questions fairly put to the
good sense and patriotism of the American
people by the two platforms and the can
didates Nor does it matter that it may
be denied that the Democratic platform
explicitly opens the question of reconstruc-
tion. Its declaration is, that . the recon
struction acts $50 called) Of Congress
are usurpations, and unconstitutional,
revolutionary, and void" Any man
or officer who refuses to acknowledge
them is justified by the Democratic
platform. Coming into power the party


must treat those acts as void or belle its
declarations. If it acts as it processes to
believe it will set the acts aside. If it


chooses to belle its words, it will let them


stand. But in what manner is it likely to


respect or enforce acts which it denounces
as void? If the reconstruction acts are to
be overthrown, let the Democratic party
come into power. If they are to remain,


which will most honorably maintain them
the party which believes in the principle
they embody, or that which derides the
principle, and declares them usurpations,
revolutionary, and void?


The attentive and reflective reader will
also remark that, according to the Demo.
cratic platform, the present situation of
the country, if not altogether what might


be wished, is wholly due to the Republican
party. That men like Wade Hampton and
N. B. Forrest and General Hoke, and a
hundred other rebel officers who sat in the
Convention, have directly or indirectly
done anything to disturb the national
tranquility or increase the public debt, is
not remotely suggested. But words were
feeble in thesmouths of the Committee
upon Resolutions to describe the enormous
offenses of party which had led the
country in its noble and triumphant re-
sistance to the rebellion, whether in the


field or in Copperhead councils; which
has removed the unspeakable stain from
the national character, and which, without
a stroke of vengeance, has restored the
Union upon the enduring principles OF
liberty and justice. 1t has not made Wade
Hampton and his companions the arbiters
of the fate of their loyal neighbors; and
the Democratic party, which four years
ago clamored for surrender to Wade Hamp-
ton and Forrest and Hoke, now denounces
the party that prevented the surrender,
and that honors all loyal men in the land.


The issue of reconstruction raised by
the Democratic Convention is precisely
that for which Andrew Johnson has been
contending; namely, that when the rebel
lion in arms was overthrown the only ma
tional right whatever within the recovered
States was the right of prosecuting for
treason, and that every State might reor-
ganize itself as it chose. The Republican
ground of reconstruction is, that as there
was no authority left in any Southern
State after the surrender but that OF the
United States no step toward civil gov
ernment could be taken but by their au-
thority, and that they were bound in reor-
ganizing the States to take such measures
as emancipation and the general welfare
of the country required. Upon this prin-
ciple the Government proceeded. 1t
moved slowly, for only gradually could
the real disposition of the Southern States,
upon which so much depended, be ascer-
tanned. 1t did not act upon any abstract
theory, for it was peculiarly subject of
practical craftsmanship. 1t has now re-
stored all but three of the States that made


war upon the Union. The complete paci-
fication of those States, their adaptation


to the radical changes wrought by the
war, and their renewed industry and pros
perity, are results that can be only slowly
attained, but are not attainable at all until


after their political reorganization. 1t is
this which the Democratic platform of
1868 denounces as void 1t is this which


the American people will sustain precisely


as they sustained the war, against the
declaration of the Democratic platform of
1864 that it was a failure. = Harpers'
Weekly.