Year: 1873

The radicals and some soft skinned dem
ocrats, whonever did comprehend the fOun-
dation principles Of the party they pro-
fessed to belong to, are now insisting, be
cause the Democratic Party put forward no
candidate at the last Presidential election,
and concluded to support Horace Greeley in
the hope of thereby defeating Grant, that,
consequently, the party is dead, that its
time honored principles were all surrend-
cred at Baltimore, and that there is now no
difference on national politics between the
democratic and republican parties. There
never was greater mistake or grosser mis-
representation. There was no surrender of
democratic principles at Baltimore, and
none was intended. Not one well recognized
dogma was yielded, and we defy any rad
ical, or soft shelled democrat, to show the
contrary. The old democratic doctrine of a
revenue tariff, as opposed to protection, was
not abandoned, nor any doctrine of State
Rights, except secession, and this was well
understood by Mr.. Greeley and his liberal
republican friends There was not the least
intention, on the part of the honest leaders
and less distinguished participators in this
movement, to give up the organization of
the democratic party; on the contrary, the
St. Louis Republican, the Louisville Courier
Journal, the Montgomery Advertiser, the
Pittsburg Post, the Lancaster Intelligencer,
the New York World and the Boston Post,
leading papers of the party, all expressly
declared that the democratic party organi-
zation was to be maintained in all its integ-
rity for future usefulness and ultimate tri-
umph. The Cincinnati platform, put for
ward by the liberal republicans, was good
enough, as far as it went, and all the good
there was in it was merely an affirmance of
what had always been democratic doctrine,
recognized as such from the days of JEFF
ferson and Madison. There was then
no harm in the democracy accepting
it to a certain extent, but this was not an
abandonment of their old platforms, save
on the subject of the new Constitutional
Amendments, which were not approved but
accepted as settled facts. This is the whole
matter fairly stated and cannot be success
fully denied or disapproved. The writer of
this article opposed, to the extent of his
power, the Greeley movement, until his
party adopted it both at Corsicana and Bal
timore-he then gave in his adhesion and
did what he could to elect Mr.. Greeley in
preference to Grant. He considered the
movement improper, unwise and not likely
to result faYorably to the democratic party
or the country, and so it turned out We
were then in favor, as now, of running q
straightout democrat for the Presidency, of
blowing the old democratic trumpet,
and raising the old democratic standard,
and calling upon all the dissatisfied and dis
gusted adherents of former parties to rally
around it, as the only hopeful means of re


claiming and saving the country. This is
the plain course to take, and it should be
straight forward, without turning to the
right or left. We must have fiat footed,
square up democratic organization in Texas,
with platform, embracing all the old well
recognized doctrines of the party, and at
the same time so liberal and conservative
and well suited to present circumstances,
that all honest patriotic men can stand
upon it, and do battle against the common
enemy. The liberal republicans, who sus-
tanned the Greeley movement can, with the
utmost propriety and consistency, act with
us for the defeat of radicallsm and
the dethronement of Grant. The dem
oaratic party is the only chance of sal
vation. Let no other be thought of.