Year: 1872

IT is the duty of those who insist that
it is foolish to regard the Democratic
party as the same Democratic party
which the country has constantly rejected
to show in what it has changed, and
what fresh claims it has upon public con-
fidence. The mere assertion that old is
sues are settled is useless. For if, as
those who constantly repeat this phrase
declare, political parties are only combina-
tions of voters to enforce certain pol
icy, why do the parties continue when the
issues are settled? In other words, when
the policy of one party is finally accepted
as established, and that of the other is fin
ally defeated, why do not the parties dis
appear? Thus, if the Republican party
was only a combination to resist the ag-
gressions of slavery, and if slavery has
been abolished and every thing that de-
pended upon it has fallen, why does the
Democratic party, which was the organi-
zation by which the ascendency of slav-
cry was maintained, still continue? When
the Democratic papers declare that their
party must be only spectator at Cincin-
natl, and that its undivided support will
be given to the Cincinnati candidates, do
they speak of party which does not ex-
ist? Do they mean that the voters who
were recently known as Democrats
Will hOG NOlO DtlnOCIdlS, DuG dS
members of new party? And if so, is
there any evidence of this fact? Do not
experience and the tone of the Demo
cratic press teach us that the party organ
ization is still intact, and that its action
will be taken as party?


When the Republican party was formed
it was composed of the Wings, and al
though Whig organization continued, it
was only spectral. The mass of the party
had taken a new name. But is there any
thing corresponding to this in the present
situation The Democratic organization
is compact. Its representatives in Con-
gress vote in body against equal rights,
according to the most orthodox Demo
cratic traditions. 1t insists that the Gin
cinnati movement shall be controlled ex-
clusively by Republicans. 1t speaks of
the settling of old issues and of acqui-
escence, but it does not propose to dis
band 1t still includes all who are hos
tile to the principles that triumphed in
the war; all who deplore the worst days
of the republic as Golden Age all who
would repudiate the national debt and dis
honor the national name. If all old is
sues are settled, and If parties fall with
their settlement, why does the Democratic
party remain, and why, in the presence
of such a party organization, are Repub-
licans told that they are fighting shadows
in opposing it, or in warning the country
against movements that would restore 1t
to power. - E--,.. ..-.


But if the organization is retained as a
convenience for new issues, is. there any
good reason that the Republican party
should not be maintained for the same
purpose? Clearly not; and the existence
of both parties shows either that they do
,nt viz md foil rxyrfh Qryr
or that the issues upon which they were
formed are not felt to be settled. If there
were any important number of Democrats
who proposed to unite with a similar
number of Republicans in new party,
there would be reason to suppose gen.
eral feeling that the time for such action
had arrived. But there is no such phe
nomenon. The Democratic press, as we
said, insists that the Cincinnati Conven-
ton is exclusively Republican. Mr.. Gree
ley and his friends who sign the New
York letter equally insist that they act as
Republicans And the Tribune declares
that if there be a Democratic nomination
it will support the most promising Re
publican ticket. There is here no
acknowledgment upon either side of the
final settlement of old issues, or of an ex-
pectation or even desire of a new politi-
cal organization. The Cincinnati Repub-
licans declare that they are even more
Republican than the rest of us; and the
united Democratic party says that if the
Republican rupture is important enough
to give the Democrats chance to return
| to power, even under the mask of Re
publican candidate, it will gladly support
it.


1t is impossible, therefore, to advocate
the Cincinnati schism under the plea that
parties are dissolved. That the issues,
indeed, are not just what they were eight
or twelve years ago is plain enough. But
that it makes no difference whether the
next President is elected by a Republican
or a Democratic majority is simply pre-
| posterous statement which the good sense
of the country scorns. 1t could as truly
be said that it would have made no differ
ence in 1868 whether Chief Justice Chase
had been elected President by the Demo
cratic party or General Grant by the Re
publican. That Judge Chase had been a


Republican would not have changed the
fact that his election was a Democratic
victory.--Hdrper's Weekly


Us The coming dictionary will be a
more complete affair than the present
book. For instance, it will contain defin-
ations like this: "Greeley. l. A great ed.
itor who fiourished A. D. 1872. 9 To bolt,
as in politics; the use of ''to Greeley" in
connection with fastening doors is vul.
! anrr11ntion To rrtfar nrnfann