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Show WHAT TH8 REPUBLICAN PABTT j has done. j , The Republican party started on j . its national mis-ion in l&jO, declaring j war against the " twin relics of bar- , l bumm sliivery and polygamy." ; Through a terribly bloody contt-.-t, j wiii-ii destroyed many of the ruiisli- j ' Utlioiial landmark!, impoverished the i country, and sen- millions of s.ml-i to j premature graves, they sueeedd in! giving freedom to th? negro. Th- y ! would nut have U-jcn able tu uccciu-j pli.ili this result had nut the Sjuthern , 1-5 tales, in hot blcod, precipitated the j conflict and forced the isue. A lit-, tie patience would have avt rted the calamity, given time for an appeal , from the moral fanatics to the people of the North, and paved the way for the peaceful and gradual extinction of slavery. When we reflect wlmt this cruidc has cost the Union, and witness its sad results, uot only upon the Southern States, but upon every State and section, iu the building up of castes and classes, in establishing a miserablo shoddy aristocracy and huge, monopolies, iu pulling down the working classes to tho lowest level they have yet reached, in tho reign of extravagance, corruption cor-ruption and bribery in private life and in tho government, jve have good reason to doubt whether the Republican party, instead of being a national benefactor, has not proved the greatest curse that the Almighty over permitted to afllict a lreo people. peo-ple. Wc may be premature in this statement, but we prefer to forecast public sentiment; not lo lag behind it. The fact is now admitted that Southern reconstruction has been a signal failure, and that wo must go back to the beginning, and allow the Southern States to stand in their legitimate legi-timate constitutional position, taking away the mailed hand altogether, and leaving their people to manage their local governments. Any other treatment treat-ment can only prolong and aggravate the local disease and correspondingly weaken and disgrace the Union. The country demands peace, economy econo-my and prosperity; the Republican party has given it war, extravagance, debt, waste and poverty. No other organization since the world began has taken eo much from the people and given them so littlo. Not satis-tied satis-tied with wholesale robbery they have subverted the fundamental law, destroyed de-stroyed the work of the founders of the government, and set up the shams of their own invention in place of those safe and noble institutions which cost the early American patriots pat-riots years of toil and self-denial. The Union has been weakened lather than strengthened by the party of 1SG1-74. At this fearful coit the abolition of African slavery has been accomplished. accomplish-ed. Fortunately, the country has vitality enough to commence and rebuild the structure of government upon a firm foundation. There is evidence that the majority of the people have become disgusted with moral reformers as statesmen and legislators, le-gislators, and are preparing logo back to the principles of free government, leaving the regulation of moral and religious questions to the pcoplo of every locality. By this method alone can the Union be maintained in its integrity and the constitutional guarantee guar-antee of popular rights be carried out. Patience will bring all things out right for honest, law-abiding men and women. It has taken many years to bring the people to understand under-stand the fearful mistake committed in entrusting this great country into the hands of a party of politico-moral fanatics; but the reaction against them has now evidently set in, and we cannot tell how far it may reach. It is to he hoped that it may be sweeping enough to eradicate every trace of centralized despotism, and while accepting whatever real roforms may have- been accomplished or suggested, sug-gested, that it may not stop until a broad free popular government shfll have been firmly established. |