Rensselaer Republican, Volume 15, Number 50, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 23 August 1883 — THE POLITICAL SITUATION. [ARTICLE]

THE POLITICAL SITUATION.

Address of the Union League Club to Rood and Sufficient Reasons Why the Republican Party Should Still Be Trusted. V • \ Fellow Citizens: At the annual meeting of the Executive Committee of the National Union League, held at the Continental Hotel, in Philadelphia, March 34, 1883, the following resolution was adopted: “Resolved, That a committee of three be appointed by the Chair to prepare and issue an address to the people on the political situation of the country,” and the undersigned were appointed such committee. We enter upon the duty thus prescribed with hesitation and a profound feeling of inability to do justice thereto. At the same meeting the following preamble and resolutions were adopted, and . we here reproduce them to show to the people the spirit that .animates the National ‘ Union LeagueThe National Union League arose In the dark and perilous days when the National un.ty and existence were assailed by organized and armed rebellion; It did mnch for tho preservation of the Union; it has continued to exist and been active in every important political contest since the close of the dm war; it lives o-day and looks with no small anxiety and hope into the fature: therefore. Hr solved, 1. That we earnestly indulge the hope that any differences which hav heretofore existed in the Republican uariy shall be speeddy terminated, so that all embittered feelings may cease, and the saocesa of the party be secured in the future as in the past. Resolved, 2. Th it we earnestly recommend that the appropriate representative committees of the par.y meet at such time and places as they may select and consider what plans or methods can be adopted to produce permanent peace and proswrity in the Keuublloan party. Resolved, 3. That we call upon the masses of the Republican party throughout all (he States of the Union to stand together in support of the principles of the Republican party, and to labor together at the primary meetings, at the conyentions, and, finally, at the polls, to aid the party to seenre harmonious action, perfect organization, and ultimate victor)', and to this end we urge aggressive opposition to the Democratic party, believing It to be now, as heretofore, the exponent of political views hostile to the best interests ot the country. Resolved, 4. That this action of the Executive Committee be pi in ted and transmitted to the State and other subordinate organizations, and to the Rational and State Republican Committees. / : It will thus be seen that the National Union League is, in sentiment, in unison with the best ideas of Republicanism and political progress in the United States Entering, as the Republican party has soon to do in many States of the Union, uuon political campaigns fraught with mighty consequences as affect, ng the future ot the country, it is the hope of the National Council of the Union League that the spirit of dissension and bitterness which has been rife in some sections of the Union during the past few years, may die away and be forgotten. There is no section of the Republican party whose advent to power in the States ana the nation would De as disastrous to the best interests of the country as would that of the Democratic party. There is no shade of opinion held by any respectable number of Republicans in the United States that does not breathe the spirit of liberty, of progress, and of good government in a fuller and better sense than the best utterance, the best inspiration, and the best sentiment of the Democratic party of to-day. Paramount to all considerations of personal aggrandizement or the advancement of factions Is the demand the country makes upon the Republican party to see to it that the reins of government be not wrested from its hands Therefore, it is that, reiterating the utterances of our constituents, we appeal to the Republicans ot the country that factions cease among them, that the potent voice of the people speak to the waves of discord everywhere, and command them to be still We utter no word of crimination against our brethren of any phase of political sentiment We neither discuss nor decide any question that has been one of difference between u& We look upon them all, whether aiming at personal preferment or representing diversity of political views as immaterial and unimportant, when weighed in the balance against the consequences of Democratic ascendency. It would be a thrice-told tale to restate the political errors, failures, blunders and crimes of the Democratic party. It brought the Government to the verge of bankruptcy pt the close of its last administration. It promulgated and fostered, through the great body of its adherents, the fatal doctrine of State sovereignty and the right of secession; and that portion of the party which did not join in the open support of this heresy did not raise its voice to rebuke it Owing to the unpatriotic and criminal maladministration of the Democracy, the Republican party found a shattered and wrecked Union: a constitution defied and despi ed in eleven of the States; hostile armies arrayed against the life of the nation npon the soil of the commonwealth. The Democratic party had debauched public sentiment; it had made patriotism disreputable in a large portion of the country; the public credit was ruined, the industries of the country paralyzed, the flag of the nation despised abroad and degraded and powerless at home. The Democratic party had proclaimed itself the champion of slavery and declared that that blighting and mon trous instution should go into all the free Territories < f the oountry, and it ostracised the members of its own party who raised up their voices in opposition to these dogmas. We point to this record only to add that dur ng the past quarter of a century, notwithstanding that each one of these pernicious doctrines has been overthrown either on the battle-field, in the legislative halls of the country, or by the greater tribunal, the voice of a free people, nowhere has the Democratic party apologized for or retracted any of its opinions upon these great questions; The Democratic party was directly responsible for civil war and for the blood of more than a quarter ot a million of the best citizens of the republic; it placed upon the nation the fearful burden of a great debt, and steadily strove to bring about substantial repudiation of the obligation of the Government to pay it; its demand now to be put in charge of the Government Implies that it will come into power proud of its record, apologizing for nothing, repudiating nothing. It is enough to say of the Republican party that it bus made powerless for barm every principle ih t the Democratic party has advocated during tho last quarter of a century. It has stood in the gateway of power, with a drawn sword In its hands, beating back the aggressive forces of Democracy, and shielding the nation from the baleful influences of the vicious principles of its opponents; it has restored nationality; it has re-educated public opinion; lt»has re established loyalty; it has made liberty universal and eternal; it has obliterated all distinctions from among men before the laws of the Untied States; It has liftedJip the down trodden; it has enoourageothe weak; it has rebuilt the waste places of the nati- n; it has Spread abroad prosperity like a mighty canopy. Under the benign influence of the teachings and administration of the Republican party material growth has come to us, such as no other nation ever experienced on earth; we have grown mighty in population; we have grown mighty in wealth; we

have grown mighty in education, in intelligence. in virtue, and Christian civilization. Our former circumscribed commonwealth has spread itself out to the very waters of the Pacino, until the steady march of population and enterprise has peopled every toot of soil over which the American flag has jurisdiction, adding farms, villages, c;t es and States to the material strength of the oountrv. y The history of the Republican party is all brilliantly studded witftr the gems of righteous Government; it has punished misconduct in its own ranks; it has demanded faithfulness to the country; it hue restored the credit of the nation until it stands higher than that of any other on the earth; it has discharged its sacred obligation “to bfcd up the nation's wounds, to oare for him who has borne the battle, and tor his widow and his orphan;” it has lifted the old flag to a plaoe of higher dimrity and grandeur in the greatigalaxy of the nations The Republican party has not hesitated to remedy its own mistaken; it baa not been blind to its own errors; it has nob been cowardly; it has never dodged behind devices for temporary effect; it has always met the great, cuversified and growing questions of the day and hour in the spirit that brought it into existence; lc has settled every question by the touchstone of its own birthright —liberty, justice, freedom and equality. The Republican party stands to-d.»y the champion and protector of a free ballot and Eure elections, and demands the security by tw of the right of every man to vote in accordance with his own convictions The Democratic party has been, and is the polluter of the ballot-box, the enemy pf tree elections, and the promoter of dishonest election returns Under the administration of the Republican' party America has opened wide her doors, ana the down-trodden mid oppressed of other countries have oome here to seek an asylum and protection from tyranny and poverty abroad; it has restored the oivil service of the oountry to a plane of honesty, capability and faithfulness from which it was degraded by Democratic oupidity; it has fostered education; lc has protected the labor of the country. By its Legislative enactments and by the protests of its conventions and the grand intelligence of its press,the Republican party has t-tood for years, and it stands to-day as a wall of fire against the determined assaults of the Democratic parly upon the industries of the country, with its pernicious heresy of “tariff for revenue only,” that dogma which, whenever it bas be/m tried, haß prostrated and destroyed the interest! of free labor. The Republican party is the only shield today that protects the industrious, the educated, the intelligent masses of Amerieun laborers from the blighting influence of the cheap labor and degraded habits of the pauper mißions of foreign lands. On this one great issue the Republican party can well afford to ask judgment of the American people, while the Democracy in their press and their conventioLs palter in a double sense, and fear to challenge the popular verdict by a candid at owal of their free-trade doctrines In dealing with the tariff the Republican party champions the interests of every great national industry, and its beneficent policy since its accession to power has united capital and labor In the harmonious development of a prosperity unparalleled in lbs grandeur and In its diffusion among ail the people Against the theorizing of doctrinaires and the sophistry of demagogues the Republican party hotas up the magnificent record of the last two decades, in which the fostered and protected in .ustry and skill of the United States has lifted and borne the burden of a mighty civil war with hardly a slackening in it< great strides of progress, until to-day the diversity of our resources and the general welfare of our 50,000,000 of people am the admiratiomand envy of the world. With such a record of Ihe past and suoh a testimony of the present, the Republican party is justified la making confident appeal to the intelligent suffrages of the working people pf the country. The issue Immediately before the American people is a simple one: Shall the Democratic party, with its history, its career, and the purposes they so unmistakably indicate be brought into power without any guaranty, without even a promise of better government in the future? And shall this beautiful country, with all these splendid institutions, the handiwork of Republican administrations, be turned over to the blighting sirocco of Democratic rapacity? Or shall the Republican party, reindorsed by the American people, reinsbructed from the source of all political power and intelligence —the voice of the people—be recommissioned to go forward Id its great work, and continue to guide the Nation upon Its glorious pathway to ultimate perfection? In the language of the third resolution of our Philadelphia platform: “We call upon the masses of the Republican party throughout all the States of the Union to stand together in support of the principles of the Republican party, and to labor together at the primary meetings, at the conventions, and, finally, at the polls, to aid that party to secure harmonious action and ultimate victory, and, to this end, we urge aggressive opposition to the Democratic party, believing it to be now, as heretofore, the exponent us political views hostile to the best Interests of the country.” G A. Boutelle, William F. Cook, G. H. Gbgbvknob, Committee.