Delaware straight-out truth teller., October 01, 1872, Image 1

About Delaware straight-out truth teller. ([Wilmington, Del.]) 1872-18??

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TRUTH TELLER.
VOL. 1.
OCTOBER 1872.
NO. 1.
O'Conor & Adams.
HONESTY, PATRIOTISM AND
STATESMANSHIP.
C
m
AN ADDRESS
—TO THE—
/
DEMOCRACY
—OF THE—
UNITED STATES.
OF THE LOUISVILLE CONVEX
TI0N '
The special committee appointed by
the Democratic Executive Committee
ofthe United States to prepare an ad
dress to the people on the issues of the
present campaign desire, first, to call
attention to the prime object of the
Louisville Convention. It is just to
the only properly desig
nated Democratic Convention which
lias been held for the purpose of nomi -
nating Democratic candidates for the
office of President and Vice President
for the campaign of 1872. The Balti-1
more Convention has no right to i )e
considered a Democratic body, because 1
the political rings which controlled the j
primaries lor the election of delegates
1
fi&y that it
redetermined i lint neither a Democrat
ic nominee nor a Democratic platform
of orinciplcs should be presented to the 1
•cmion wns called 1
'cept the
k faction
people. The l :
for no other purpose than to
nomiucc and the platform of
of the "Republican" party, already
in the field. The character of its de
liberations was as undemocratic as its
platform and nominees, for the g ay rule
of the previous question was mercilessly
used to cut off debate, precisely as it
lias ever been by Messrs. Greeley and
Brown's party in Congress. Every pro
K 'tion was ''hooted down" which
ed to the least mention of Demo
cratic names or Democratic principles;
and the Convention finally made a
noisy conclusion by singing a Radical
Greeley song, to the tunc of "Old John
Browu's bouI is marching on!" To call
such a body a "Democratic Conven
tion," is an insult to the American poo
pie. It was no more a Democratic
Convention tlmn a meeting called for
the purpose of tearm" down the em
blems oitho Cross and erecting those of
the Cresent instead, would be a Chris
tian body. A Christian Convention
without Christi is precisely a match for
& Democratic Convention without Do
mocracy. Human sense is quite us
much shocked at one as the ether.
The honest masses of the Democratic
party could not and do not accept this
surrender of their principles; or if they
do, it is still denounced us a "base be
trayal" and a "hitter pill.'' Out ofi
this wide-spread disaffection sprang up, I
in every State, a desire for another :
Convention which should unflrl once
more the grand old banner of Democ
racy, and give the honest masses of the
party Democratic nominees to vote for.
The prime object of the Louisville
tnovemeut, then, was to put on re
record a Democratic protest
against the attempt to transfer
THE GREAT DEMOCRATIC PARTY TO
THE EMBRACES OP A CONTEMPTABLK
FACTION OF THE RADICAL PARTY, to
reorganize the party on its own im
mortal foundations, and replace the sa
cred name and principles which have
been erased from its banner.
Louisville Convention,, therefore, be
gan an organization which must be the
Democratic party of the future. Indeed,
there is no other _ organization at this
moment bearing either the name prin
ciples or nominees of the Democracy.
The Baltimore Convention hauled
down the flag of Democracy, and in
company with the most illiberal faction
of the so-called Republican party,
up the name of "Liberals." So far
the Baltimore Convention is concerned
the Democratic party has ceased to
1st. It has not even a name to live.
There is a campaign of "Republicans"
and of "Liberal Republicans" going
on, and what was once the Democratic
party is appended as a tall to the kite
of the latter ! All the campaign meet
ings of this piebald party
the name of "Liberals," the name of
Democracy having, been dropped al
together. The organization, therefore,
commenced at Louisville, is, wo repeat,
the only Democratic party now exist
ing in this country. If the organiza
tion which has adopted a Republican
nominee on a Republican platform has
not ceased to be Democratic, there is
no senpo in human nature. At *ny
rate, we can feel very llttl^respect f for
the intellect of any man wHT) seriously
claims to bo a Democrat after he [has
creed and\the
The
called in
publicly adopted the > _
THE BALTIMORE PLATFORM N0
DEMOCRATIC.
Mr. Sumner declares that the Cifnci
oati-Baltimore, platform "Is a better
Republican platform, and .more wor
thy than the Philadelphia (or Grant)
P^tform. From a Democratic stand
P° int » we 806 no difference,
8®. * or a3 as the otlid*.
Pnmoncesaidthat,"toformaRepub
he, Republicans are necessary. We
should think that to form, or to remain
a Democratic party, Democratic prra
oiples are necessary But who lias yet
attempted to point out a single distinct
ive Democratic principle in the Cincin
nati Platlorm? Noonc. It is simply the
platform ot the worst feet ion of the Kadi •
J' a Vî irl ;- ' , thoutonc lino that recogn
izes the fundamental principle of Dciuoc
racy, viz:—the absolute right of thepeo
plc*to local self government tinder their
This is, in
before
The
One is as
- U4 . .
( J' vn "talc Constitution
d«« 1 - ">« °nbr groat sauo ,,„w
the people ot the Limed States,
soul of Radicalism is the centbaliza
, while that of Democ
rac*y is the decentralizing of power
fheGreelcy^huturm adopted by the
Baltimore Convention is the quintess
! ut . :0 °* centralization. 'L lie third
mtiou ol that platform, said to have
been drawn by Mr. Greeley himself,
opens as follows: "That, subject to
solemn Constitutional obligation to
maintain the EquAL iuohtb
bens, our policy should aim at local
government, not centralization." Now
* bc "Constitutional obligation here es
pecially meant refers to those stupen
dous frauds, known as the Fourteenth
and Fifteenth "Amendments," which
completely centralize power in the
* cdcral government, and utterly strip
the States of all their most vital pow
cra * which they never delegated, and
of which they can never be lawfully
disposessed except by their own freo
will and unforced consent, The Federal
government has not, and never
have, any legal powers which are not
delegated to it by the States. All the
pow ers which have been torn from the
States by usurpation or fraud, are sim
Pty» m tb °i r legal status, only stolen
proporty, which still truly and right
tu "y belongs to their original owners,
tbe States. But the Baltimore Con
I vention has united with the most im
: placable and the most dangerous
facti. m of the Radical party in pro
ntfuucing tbeft a valid title to property,
an d in giving up all the safeguards
which the States possess against the
encroachments of centralized or dos
potic power. In this Greeley platform
there is not one word said about tho
u»ture of the general government—
TION OF P
not one word about the source or the
limitation of its powers. According to
his platform and his letter of accept
ance, all power is centralized in the
Federal Government. Whatever privi
leges or franchise are to be enjoyed by
the States under his plea of "local gov
by the -grace and favor
of the central authority, and not as
matters of original, inherent and inali
enable right of the State. According
to Mr. Greeley's platform and letter,
Congress has the right to pass such
acts of despotism as the Enforcement
Bill, the Ku-Klux Act, the Bayonet
Election Law, and all the other abomi
nations embraced in the whole fatal
scheme of "Reconstruction". There
is, indeed, no outrage upon public lib
erty which the Federal agency may
not commit under the rulings of the
Greeley platform; for it holds all the
rights of the States "subject to" po
which they have never "grantoa,'* ac
cording to the intent of the Constitu :
tlon. In the platform of the Demo
cratic party of 1868, all the "Recon
struction" acts, including the "Four
teentli Amendment," were pronounced
'"usurpations and unconstitutional,
revolutionary and void." Only a little
more than a
members of •
exceptions, voted solid against the
valididity of these so-callecF"Amend
ments," The Democratic
every State has, within twufy
nouneod the tame to be *
which, in the language of Jo4Tn Quincy
Adams, have been "forced! upon the
Constitution, " and are th<
tb«li\legal refits, /WltfiM*
feet upon any State. No me
needs to be told that articled "forced
upon the Constitution" are nAt legally
binding, as fore? and fraifd vitiate
everything they touch. Wh
willing that the so-called ''"Amend
men Is" should be treated 'as "dead
issues" for the time being, or till
such auch time as the States
get hold; of them in a Constitutional
Convention, we cannot permit them to
be made "living issues," and their va
lidity aftirmed by the Democratic party
as a part of its creed, without protest.
There is an infinite difference between
allowing a question to remain in abey
ance, and affirming it as eternally valid
Wo are willing that the whole matter
shall be referred to the States in Con
vention assembled. Such a Conven
tion must be held at no distant day.
The Fourteenth Amendment contains
both an export facto and a bill of attain
der; and surely no man needs to be
told that these are in conflict with other
parts of the Constitution* Nothing but
the free consent , or uncoerced will of
the States and make such vital changes
in the Constitution. This "Amend
ment" also completely overrides and
subverts the Constitution of nearly all
the States, placing the people in the
attitude of subjugated communities, by
stripping them of all control
vital question of franchise, and forcing
them into an equality with negroes,
which is not only hateful to them, but
is opposed to every dictate of their
ami judgment. Whenever the
States of their own free will and choice
confirm negro equality, the matter will
be settled, and not till then. The
creed of more tfrän seven-tenths of the
Democratic party in relation to this
matter remained unchanged down to
the very hour of the meeting of the
Baltimore Convention. Now, was it
within the power of the Baltimore
Convention to change the creed of the
party on this subject? No! The great
majority of the Democratic party in
their inmost souls believe precisely as
they did before the Baltimore Conven
tion, and there is, therefore, no way in
which they can vote for the Radical
Cincinnati platform without dishonor
and shame. 'EVERY DEMOCRAT
WHO VOTES .FOR THAT PLAT
FORM OUGHT TO »KNOW THAT
HE PUBLICLY CARRIES A LIE
TO THE BALLOT BOX. He walks
before mankind as a self proclaimed
falsifier of his own opinions, and
deserving the contempt of all honorable
Is politics nothing but a cheat
and a fraud ? Are honored men to be
called upon to play the part of hypo
crites and knaves under the terror of
the spoils monger's common cry of
"bolting regular nominations?
ernmont,"
■ SB
year ago the Democratic
Congress, with one or two
party i
ll.
we Bra
BOLTIN01 DEMOCRATIC PRINCIPLES.
It was the Baltimore Convention
which "bolted." It bolted away from
every principle of Democracy, and
bolted ÿlown headlong into the very
cess pool of Radicalism We, who re
fuse to follow it» do not bolt. We
stand firm where our felher stood,
*e have always stood, and where we
mean to stand as long as life
laste. Democracy is not ashuttle-cock,
flying backwards and forwards as the
hand of caprice or passion may throw
k But it ia *n fixed and immutable
principle of free govornment, which
never progresses and never___
any more than absolute truth and jus
tice progress or retrogade. Those who
talk about "progressive Democracy"
have their own ignorance to thank for
the stupidity of their utienuice. All
the change ia not in Democracy, but in
themselves. The principles of free
government ureas fixed as the nature
ot man. They are not one thing to
day, and something else to morrow,—
But, like the attributes of heaven, they
are "without variableness or shadow
ot turning." Progress docs not apply
U> absolute truth, any more in the polit
ical than in the moral world. Rut, in
the name of "progress," the goven
ment onr fathers framed has been
thrown and destroyed, and the Balti
more Convention has
ht to make
er the bet,
to this stupendous crime. Tk&ae not
have
mi
over scrupulous politicians, wl
been for the lost twelve years
about in the J "
inocracy and
De
«ulduor iu Are
HOT
the latter, and with a load, im
not to say impudent demand, call upon
all those men who have never left the
highlands of Democracy, to get on
board their hermaphrodite cratt, and
set sail through the fog to the Radical
landing they have made
side, and all the honest
fused to quit the mountain of Democ
racy, are denounced as "bolters," by
the whole venal and ignorant crew of
politicians who 's warm like flies wher
ever their imagination snuffs the sweets
of plunder.
our
the other
THE PEOPLE HAVE NOT DEMANDED
TnE NOMINATION OF GREELEY.
The plea which some distinguished
Democrats have made, that the people
have demanded the nomination of Mr.
Greeley and the adoption of his princi
ples, ia the saddest excuse that ever
marred the record of a statesman. If
the people
as to demand that the Democratic party,
throwing aside its own proud record
and glorious principles, shall adopt the
principles and nominees of Radicalism,
it is the business of the statesman not
to yield to such
io fer beside themselves
infamous proposi
tion, but to combat and resist it with
all the determination and eloquence he
possesses It is a shame to any states
to suffer his own judgment, to be
broken by a popular craze and clamor.
But it is not true that the masses of
the Democratic party demanded the
nomination of Mr. Greeley and the
adoption of his platform,
than seven-tenths of the Democratic
masses it has been a "bitter pill."—
That is just what they call it, They
take it as some nauseous medicine.
IIow then,
that they demanded it? It
work of the politicians, who have been
led into them fog regions by having
their eyes too intently fixed U]>on the
flesh-pots of the political Egypt. It is,
therefore, on unjust scandal upon "the
people" to say that they demanded this
abomination ; and seven-tenths of the
Democrats who vote for Mr. Greeley
will go to the polls wkh their own
hearts smiting them iu the face as they
commit tho act of public shame. But,
it is furthermore said that the Southern
people demanded the nomination of
Mr. Greeley as the most
getting rid of the oppressions of Grant's
administration. Such a demand from
the Southern people was entitled to
other consideration than a firm and
respectful refusal, because it was evi
dently based in despair, passion and
resentment, rather than iu reason and
common sense. To seek to get rid of
oppression by placing in supreme pow
er the very author of those oppressions,
is an evidence of delusion, if
To more
it be with truth said
all the
way of
not of in
v vanity, which may well excite the
to.nishmentof the world. Gen. Grant
ither the author nor the inspirer
of the "f 8 Congress which have so
mercile*''7 oppressed the Southern
people. V Craeley i 8 more responsi
Me than auT other man fbr all those
terrible bille.* He, more than anybody
else, hae kept Dp through his widely
circulated paper, un action upon the
public mind by firing it with the fbrj*
and malignancy of Dis own temper.
What thunderbolts die.' he hurl at the
head of Gen. Grant When he brought
back from the South a report that the
people were well disposed, and, in hier
opinion, entitled to the confidence of
"the government," and the benefits at
P«Rce I And again, bow was General
Grant sneered at by Mr. Greeley when
the former declared that he "would
resign" if Gen. Lee was arrested in
violation of the terms of surrendenï
When Gen. Grant was uttering theft
memorial wr rds, "Let us have peace,'"
Mr. Greeley was trying to set tire to
Northern hatred and revenge By such,
atrocious sentiments as the following^
afterwards constantly proclaimod : —
Is
When the rebellions traitors are over
whelmed in the field, and scattered liko
leaves before an angry wind, it must not
be to return to peaceful and ooqUmtmL
homes. They must find poverty at their
firesides, and privation iu the anxiou*
eyes or mothers and the rag tef children. jp
While Gen. Grant was personally
desirous of seeing an end t>all oppress* \ *
sive legislation, Mr. Grqel^- was loadV ' ■
ing the mind ot his party with sueft
Airioua doctrines as the following \
-iriTnrSfteOi? n *7® ry P ro P or o ocaaion ;
South ; and if it does notT prove atro»
ou*b to offset its purpose, I hope itl
will be made stronger and stronger.
Now, then, for the ßoutherh people
to seek relief from wrongs, by eleva
ting to greater power the chief author
of their sufferings, is an evidence ot*
madness which no enlightened states
man and no intelligent friend of the
South should encourage fbr a single
moment. But we think it is not truer
that the ablest men of the South ar
the election of Greeley. Only a s
number ot that class in the tiouth ap
pear to have caught the "Greeley
craze," which seems to be generally
confined to a class of honest men, who
not remarkable for the clearness or
their perceptions.
for
I moll
, the soundness of*
then* judgments. We are, however,
met everywhere with the delusive idea*
that Mr. Greeley has suddenly changed
his nature and his principles. Well,
if that were true, a decent self
respect oughtto prevent an honorable
people from so suddenly bestowing the
Lightest token of affection and coufi
ho, for more than a»
quarter of a century, has been their
most implacable and most unjust
enemy. But where is the evidence
that he has either repented or changed?
It is only in the imagination of his self
duped adherents in the South. In his
speech to the "Democratic Committee'*
which informed him officially ot his
nomination at Baltimore, ho said : •*£
am no less thoroughly and earnestly a
Republican than I ever was;" and ia
his letter of acceptance he makes
profession of any change in his disposi
tion or principles. He is even careful
to forewarn the "Democrats" that he
regards himself as the nominee ot the
"Cincinnati Convention," and reminds
them that they "preferred that the
Liberal Republicans should present
another candidate for President, and
would more readily have united with.
(Radicals) in the support of Adams
Trumbull, Davis or Brown," That
is, Mr. Greeley tells us very plainly
that he considers, his adoption by the
Baltimore Convention more as a thing
of force than choice, and he then says =
"I owe my adoption at Baltimore
wholly to the feet that I had already
been nominated at Cincinnati"—ilia
meaning of all which is tliut Mr.
Greeley regards the small and fiery
faction of soreheads who met at Cincin
inaignificant in num
bers that the Republican party couldL
well afford to treat it with couteinpt>
as bis kite, and tbo Democratic paity
as nothing but its tail. He is really
the nominee of the Cincinnati Conven
tion, and the great Democratic paityr
only comes in to give a convenient^'
[CONTINUE!* ON FOURTH l'AO*}..
donee upon
□ati (a faction