Rensselaer Union, Volume 1, Number 46, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 12 August 1869 — The Democratic Party. [ARTICLE]

The Democratic Party.

Tu recent mult in Virginl» shown iu action In th« Northern SUtea. It hits hitherto Jiekl tenaciously not only to whnt It cells the inferiority of the negro, but to ita refeHltnnteW hin politionl equality. Bnt apoktfc* very peint the pnrty is now divided. In Virginia the Democratic rote is cast solid for negro suffrage. In California and Ohio negro suffrage is denounced. In Maasaciuuotta Judge G. Abbott, one of the chief Democratic loaders, writes to Tammany Hall that reconstruc lion and negro suffrage have been finally settled, however wrongly, and Tammany Hall mponds by glorifying the principle of the rebellion. The New York World urges acquiescence In what Is evidently accomplished, and hopes for the nomination of General HancOck In Pernwylvania. Pennsylvania repHesVny dehohficing the Fifteenth Amendment, which Virginia accepts, and by nominating a typical Copperhead for Governor. The Ohio Democracy virtually declares for repudiation, and the lowa for the strict letter of the contract. The party agrees only in vague denunciations of “ despotism ” and “ centralization ” and “tyranny” and “unscrupulous majorities'’ which, as it knows, mean nothing, and famish ao issues for an election. *

This condition of affairs merely illustrates the old truth that the Northern Democratic party was an instrument used wholly by Southern leaders for Southern purpose**. During the last ten years it has had but one moment of apparent revival, and that was at the opening of the last Presidential campaign. The reason was, that the Southern leaders returned for that occasion from rebellion to the oontrol of the party. The result was its defeat, despite its desperate frauds in New York, Pennsylvania, and Indiana. But now that the Southern leaders have agaiD withdrawn, the party drifts and drivels among iu old dogmas, wholly unable to confront the situation and to adapt itself to the utterly changed aspect of affairs. It is paying the penalty of its old subserviency to Southern mastery. That mastery forbade independence and rewarded the meanest servility. It humiliated Dix and Douglas, and promoted Pierce and Buchanan. As a national party, professing certain great principles and advocating a distinct policy, the Democratic party does not exist; but as an organization for place and plunder it u still powerful. It is the camp ol all tke discontented and disaffected, ft relies upon ignorance and passion, and watches eagerly for the mistakes of the party in power. While its Northern wing fears to alienee its Southern by accepting equal rights, the Southern wing proclaims them and sneers at its Northern allies Such is the ludicrous and pitiful dilemma of those allies that there can be no doubt, if the Northern conventions had been held after the result in Virginia had been felly considered, they would all have followed the lead of its indication, and have done what Judge Abbott advised Tammany Hall to do. With what profound contempt a man like Wade Hampton mast watch the flabby political feebleness of his old lackeys I Meanwtdle p •rganiMi, patty Intent npon obtaining power at all hazards is to be carefully watched also by those who know in what way it hopes to gratify its daMres. By the stupid system of electing a President, to which we still pertinaciously cling, the most important ot all elections a especially exposed to fraud. The real Presidential campaign is now always conducted in three or four States whose vote U , d e ci *j7 e year the, battle ground of the Presidency was New York, Pennsylvania, .and Indiana: The electoral vote in these States might have decided the result against immense popular majorities Ifcefrhcfc. Thus the election of the President is not necessarily the expression of the popular will. The Democratic managers would hardly expect, under any circumstances, to poll shown, K "y will not scruple to attempt to carry the electoral vote. Mr. < ChVles Francis Adams, Jun., in his striking paper before tonty for the Seymour electoral ticket in New York had the same legal influence upon the result as one hundred and sixty thousand majority for the Grant electoral ticket in Illinois, Massachusetts, and Vermont It is notorious that that majority was frauSiffent The methods are known. The chief, method was a system of dishonest naturalization, of which Tammany Hall was the head-quarters. The Democratic party everywhere opposes any scheme for purifying the ballot-box; and its reliance for the next general election is a concentration and development in a few States of the method that carried New York last year. Do we therefore claim that all honest men belong to the Republican party ? By no means. Bnt we do most heartily repudiate the puerility that one party is as bad as ajjptfcer. .If this were true there would be no Union to-day. The Republican party has questionable members, and undoubtedly makes mistakes. But it is always that party' which strives to protect the purity of the polk, and which relies upon the intelligence and conscience of the country. The great frauds which have been practiced or attempted upon the expression of the honest will of the people can not be charged to the RepnMican party ; they are identified with their opponents. ** a of principles, then, we rcpem, the Democratic party has ceased to be formidable; but as a conspiracy airainst honest elections it still challenges the vigilance of every man who values true popular government. It is to be remembered that all who justify the rebellion and pledge the “ lost cause ’’—all who would repudiate the national debt and dishonor the national name—all who disbelieve in popular government—all who would perpetuate hostilities of race—all who oppose a registry and its striet enforcement—the ignorant and the dangerous part of the population—instinctively ally themselves to the party that is responsible for the vast system of electoral frauds. Is this fee party to which the people of Maine, Pennsylvania. Ohio, and lowa wish to confide the welfare of their States TMarpert Weekly.