Year: 1876

The Democratic party cannot be safely
trusted with the control of our Government for
many reasons, a few of which / will briefly
state:


l. Because the vital element of the party, the
men who control its action and destiny, were
traitors and did everything in their power to
destroy their country. No man who ever de-
liberately betrayed his country should be in.
trusted with its government. To forgive reb-
els is one thing; to put them in power is an
other thing. To place the Government into
the hands of men who sought its destruction
by armed rebellion would be insanity. These
men accept the Government only as military
necessity. They do not love it, are not proud
of it, care nothing about its credit end its very
existence is a rebuke to them. But this does
not diminish their desire to get control of the
Government to recuperate and repair their
shattered fortunes. The condition of the De-
mocracg of the North is somewhat different
though scarcely better. Sympathizing fully
with the South. and entirely subservient, 1t
asks nothing but Office and leaves measures
and policies to the South. Upon economic
questions that pertain alike to all parts Of the
country, while opposing whatever Is and all
that has been done, it has not even sugges-





With individual members of talent and intel
ligence as an organization it hasl confusion
of ideas and the feebleness of grasp which be-
long to the senllity OF age that has outlived
everything but its passions and the memory of
evil deeds. 1t cannot point to one of its lead
ing measures in thirty years that has not been
condemned by the voice of mankind. The 9TH
er day in the Senate asked the question what
good thing the Democratic Party had done,
or proposed to do in the last twenty
five years, and said l would yield
the floor to any Democratic Sena-
ator who would answer. The Senator from
Delaware, Mr. Salisbury, accepted the chal.
lenge, and named the appointment of investiga-
ting committees by the present Democratic
House of Representatives. The answer was an
awful confession, which was painfully felt by
every Democrat present. The distinguished
Senator felt the necessity of saying something,
and could think of nothing but the appointment
of smelling committees to enable the rebels to
find out whether we could not have put down
their rebellion more cheaply than we did. The
Fugitive slave law in 1850; the repeal OF the
Missouri Compromise in 1854; the border-ruf-
fan outrages in 1866; the Lecomption Con-
stituton, and the bred Scott decision in 1857 /;
its denial of power to suppress the rebellion in
1860 81 its responsibility fonsthe rebellion by
sympathy and encourag gement; its resistance to
every war measure its efforts in 1854 to bring
| about the abandonment of the war; its protec-
| tion to treason and conspiracy in the Northern
States; its opposition to the constitutional
amendments; its encouragement TO the people
| of the South to resist reconstruction. aud It's
defense of the Kuklux, White Leagues. and
| every form of organized violence in the South,
present an uDbroken series of infamous meas
ures which will grow darker by the lapse of
time.-Senator Morton's Speech at Indianapolis