Democratic Sentinel, Volume 4, Number 15, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 21 May 1880 — Plain Truths "Well Spoken. [ARTICLE]

Plain Truths "Well Spoken.

Ex-Gov. Hubbard, of Connecticut, in a recent address to the Democratic Club, of Hartford, took occasion to give some advice to that locality. We extract as follows: Great emergencies sometimes occur in the history of government, where the nation’s life and the liberties of the whole people are at stake. At such times parties are too small for the nation's needs, and they give way for the time being to a great, heroic and overmastering unanimity of the people. But such supreme occasions are rare. The ordinary and normal administration of government, in this and in other free countries, has been and always will be conducted by one or the other of twogreit contending parties, and, while bril>ery, intrigue, fraud, ballot-box stuffing, and the rascalities of returning boards may give occasional success to either, that will prevail in the long run which stands for the soundest principles of justice, liberty, law and order, and for the most honest and wholesome methods of political administration. This great party of ours is no transient growth of yesterday and to-day. It dates back to the formation of the constitution, is memorable in its history and rich in its faith, lineage aud achievements. It has witnessed the overthrow of I know not how many adversary parties. It will, in my opinion, notwithstanding occasional mistakes, witness the overthrow of all others, and last in its essential principles as long as the republic lasts. But this must be on condition that it forget not the faith of the fathers, and stand, in the future as in the past, on a higher plane of patriotism, principle and action than any other. To this end there are a few cardinal truths it must never forget. 1. The essentials of our traditional faith. The largest liberty of the citizen consistent with good order. The greatest good of the greatest number, as the object of all laws and constitutions ; a jealous holding in all matters of local self-government to the rights of the States, those primitive democracies intended by the fathers as barriers against the aggressions of the central power; and at the same time a faithful maintenance of the Federal Government in all its delegated sovereignties, as essential to the union of the States. Retrenchment and reform in the Federal revenues, honesty in Federal administration. Honesty in the nation’s credit to the last farthing, no matter at what cost. Honesty in the nation’s money to the last grain and pennyweight. A paper currency redeemable in gold and silver only, and good faith in everything. 2. The purity of popular elections as the indispensable condition of free Government. I lack words to give dne force and emphasis to this thought. The buying and selling of votes, repeating at the polls, the intimidation of voters by then- employers, the deviltries of returning boards, no matter whether in Maine, South Carolina, Louisiana or Florida, are all poison-' ous' to free institutions, and will, unless restrained, prove fatal to them. I know not how it comes about that so many men, honest and honorable in other relations, arc willing in politics to leave honor and conscience beliind them, and give themselves over to every form of political debauchery with greediness, A man who really believes m democracy, and that, as a voter, he is one of the rulers of the State, and equal to the foremost man m the republic, and yet sells his vote for a piece of silver, is a Judas in politics and a traitor to himself and to every other member of his party. I add, that that the buyer is as bad as the seller, and worse, for he is a dealer in corruption at wholesale. It ought to be the business of this association to do something for the repression of these growing evils, and to see to it that every Democratic voter casts a free and independent ballot, and that his ballot is fairly counted.

3. Honesty in official administration. I know no way of accomplishing this but by proposing honest men for office. To select candidates because they are political ringsters and can command the support of the bummers of both parties, or are willing to do duty work in the aid of their own candidacy, is the highest possible folly as a mere matter of policy. A party which has dirty office-holders will itself pass for dirty. There is no avoiding it. The place for the’ Babcocks, Belknaps and Tweeds of a party is the prison, if possible ; if not, then in the rear, out of sight and out of smelL So, then, I urge, not only as a matter of political morals, but on the grounds of party expediency, that everywhere, and particularly here in our own city, town and county, we put forward our best men for places of public trust, and that we resolutely apply to this question of official candidature, from the lowest local office upto the highest, the old Jeffersonian test: “Is he honest, is he capable, is he faithful?” A party incapable of applying this test, and nominees incapable of enduring it, will not be supported by the people, and they ought not- 1 >to be. 4. Unity of party action as essential to party efficiency. We have suffered quite too much in recent elections from the lack of this, and it is high time we had found a remedy. Adherence to one's party, when it no longer represents the essentials of one’s political convictions, is, I freely admit, no longer a duty. It is servitude rather. But to desert one’s flag, to fall into fractions, to withhold one’s vote, to hire out to an opposing candidate, or even to retire into a new party attitude, either from personal pique and disappointment or from bargaining and venality, is a base apostacy to one’s political faith and treachery to associates,. Have we not had of late something too much of this in our own ranks ? Let us have done with it. Tins city, town, county and State upon a free, fair, and unbought election is, I make no matter of doubt, clearly Democratic. What we need, and all we need, is, I repeat, union and concert of action among ourselves—candidates that will honor the constituencies that honor them, honest platforms that say what we really believe and mean just what they say, elections fairly conducted, and a free suffrage exercised from conviction and without fear or favor of any man, and honestly canvassed. This is what' we want; this is what we must try to secure. And, this secured, the grand old Democratic party of Jefferson, Madison, and Jackson will come to the front once more in solid column, and victory will rest on its banners.