Year: 1870

THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY NO PLACE


FOR UNION MEN.


Hon. A. j. Felter publishes a card this week,
announcing his withdrawal from the Republican
party. Inasmuch he seizes the opportunity
to deliver parting thrust at his former political
associates, we consider that he invites criticism
such as, no doubt, will be unsparingly meted
ont by those to whose efforts and earnest sup
port he owes the position that he now holds and
has betrayed to the enemy. We do not question
the sincerity of the writer, and we do believe
that his honest convictions prompt the action he
has taken We shall not deny the right Of ev.
eryman to change his politics, as he would his
coat with every change of weather, and that
without being accountable to the proudest in
the land. Neither need he render n reason
therefor. But when a justification is attempted
as in this instance, remembering that the public
are suspicious always in such cases, q strong
showing should be made. Let us examine the
document referred to. 1t begins by referring to
changes made by the Republican leaders Does
not the Judge know that the Republican part,
has really had no leaders since the death of
Lincoln? Its members swayed solely by n
Of right. Who had better right to be
deemed leaders Of the Republican party than
w. II. Seward, Salmon P. Chase, and Frank p
Blair? How did the party follow in their foot
steps? The /" leaders" make no change, unless
sanctioned by the rank and file and, to crown
the argument on this point, we say deliberately
that there has been no change in the policy Of
the Republican organizations, from frst to last
The Judge states at the outset that he was
forced into the Union party by his patriotic feel
ings, and ends by declaring himself a @ lifelong
democrat" If he was a member of the Union
party through such compulsion, it was bnt nat
ural to expect that when the war pressure was
removed he would gravitate back into the depths
of Democracy. We do not desire to occupy
time and space in an extended review Of this po-
litical manifesto, but cannot help referring
briefly to the rhetorical flourish concerning " in
sane efforts to degrade American sufTrapeu
through naturalization of the Chinese The
force OF partisan Imagination and senseless pref
udice can no further go. Again we are told
that it is the " Headers who are doing this.
Now, we say that the Republicans favor no such
doctrine, and further, if vote should be had,
quite as many Democrats would favor such
Q measure as Republicans, althoagh, we are will
ing to admit, for different reasons. 1t is true
that Sumner proposed to strike the word "white"
from the naturalization laws, but it is also true
that it was Republican Senators who headed the
opposition, and the proposition was finally
voted down in a Republican Senate by the deci-
sive vote of thrty-onc to eight. We pass by the
sweeping assertions relating to the fifteenth amend
ment, with the simple remark that the " out
rage was and is approved by the American peo-
pie Is the Judge desrous that it be stricken
from the Constitution? If not, why attempt to
resurrect dead issue? If, as the Judge says,
the people were misreprcsentcd in its ratification
they have inconsistently continued to roll up
Republican majorities But let us carry the
war into Africa, and ask the Judge, as a Union
man, how far he is bound as a Democrat by the
utterances of Vallandigham, Brick Pomeroy,
Pendleton, Saulsberry, Garret Davis, Munger, and
John Morrissey? What about the reputation
platforms of Oregon, Ohio and New York? 1t
is poor rule that won't work both ways, and if





suffrage, the Democracy are more strongly
pledged to the dissolution of the Union and a
Southern Confederacy. The Republican party
can point with pride to its record. True there
have been errors and shortcomings in the gen
eral management of affairs but such must
inevitably occur through the falibility of
human nature and under every Administra-
ton The Republican organization preserved
the Union, established the political equality of
American citizens, and placed the nation on the
highway to prosperity. What more can be asked
of any party? Has anybody a word to say in
praise Of the Democracy during the last nine
years? is there a single line of its record which
warrants the belief that it will carry out meas
ures that {" will besticonduce to the interests of
the whole American people p What a burlesquc
upon the very word /" democracy Itself is it
that August Belmont, tbloated bond
holder" aristocrat, and agent for the House of
Rothchids at New York, should be the virtual
head of the party. TO add to the picture, Bel
monts most formidable competitor for the posi-
sion, and probable successor, is Bill Tweed, who
claims recognition solely the perpetrator of
the most gigantic election frauds ever known in
this or any other country


JN SAP Francisco political matters are getting
mixed. The Democrats have nominated a city
and county ticket: the Taxpayers' Convention