(Tljc tCcnlrc ilcmocrat.
SHIKJERT A FOIISTKR, Editors.
VOL. I.
®he Cmtrr /Democrat.
Term* tI.AO per A mm in. In Advance.
S. T. SHUGERT and R. H. FORSTER. Ed,lor..
Thursday Morning, July 31, 1879.
Democratic State Ticket.
STATE TKKASI RKR,
DANIEL O. HARK, Allegheny county.
GKN. BUTLKK has formally placed
himself in the hands of his friends as
a candidate for Massa
chusetts. Ho will he the candidate of
the reformers, and promises to make
the canvas a lively one.
THE Hon. Hendrick 11. Wright is
now on his travels, with his Con
gressional committee, to investigate
"ludustry and Trade." The commit
tee were to have a meeting at Chicago
on Monday last to take testimony, nnd
propose to continue to do so in all the
principal business marts on the route
to California.
IN one of his speeches to the peo
ple of Maine, John Sherman has the
cheek to talk about economy in the
public expenditures, and on that score
claim great credit for the administra
tion of Mr. Hayes. Mr. Sherman,
however, forgot to tell his hearers how
economical it is for a stalwart politi
cian of the present day to junket along
the Atlantic coast in a Government
revenue cutter at the expense of the
]eople.
THE Washington Pod suggests to
Mr. Hayes the propriety of organizing
A Court of Inquiry to determine both
the positive and relative honors accru
ing to Mr. Foster and Mr. Rlnine for
the services of their respective substi
tutes in the Union army, during the
•war of the rebellion. An inquiry of
this kind might develop valuable po
litical capital to the former as a candi
date for Governor of Ohio, and to the
latter as a candidate for President, of
which they are in much need—the
bloody shirt being no longer an avail
able factor.
THE Hon. John Welsh has sent in
his resignation as Minister to Eng
land. This is to lie regretted, as Mr.
Welsh is an able and creditable repre
sentative, and one of the few members
of the diplomatic corps, who did not
earn his position by participation in
tho Presidential fraud. The reasons
for the resignation are not reported.
Who is to lie the successor, will lie the
absorbing question in loyal circles.
Pennsylvania would, of course, offer
Hartrnnft, hut he is provided for and
cannot be spared from the Philadel
phia post-office. It might lie given to
Quay instead of the War Department,
and Don and his party made to boom
for Sherman all the same.
IN one of the resolutions of the plat
form adopted by the late Republican
Htate Convention, a most pitiful
call is made upon the " veteran sol
diers of the Union " to resent the re
moval of their wounded companions
from office by the Democratic con
gress, notwithstanding the fact that this
same Democratic congress has more
wounded soldiers of the Union on its
pay rolls than ever a previous Repub
lican congress had. While upon this
subject of the expulsion of wounded
soldiers from office, would it not, at
the same time, have been as well for
these indignant gentlemen of the Re
publican convention to turn their at
tention a little nearer home than
Washington, and give vent to a small
portion of their hot wrath upon the
late removal ofrßobert Rcatty, a onc
leggcd hero 6f the war for the Union,
from a clerkship in the Bute Depart
ment at Harrishurg. Mr. Beatty was
removed to make way for a stay-at
home-during-the-war who must be pro
vided with a place, for no other rea
son in the world than because he hap
pens to be a favorite and henchman of
Boss Quay. Out upon such glaring
• hypocrisy!
"ttqUAI. ASI> KX ACT JVHTICK TO A LI. MKN, or WIIATKV KK hTATK OK I-KHAUAKION, UKI.IUIOL'M OK roI.IMCAI.."— J-ftMw.B.
Tho Ropublican Platform.
In another column wo* publish the
resolutions adopted at the Republican
State Convention, held at Harrisburg.
on the 2drd instant, and which con
stitute the platform of the Republican
party of Pennsylvania for the coming
campaign. We publish this document
that our readers may read and fully
judge for themselves how much truth
and honesty there is in these oflieial ut
terances of the leaders of the Republi
can party. Our neighbor of the lie
publican sjKut nearly two columns
last week in misrepresentation of the
Democratic platform and yet refused
to permit his readers to see it and
judge for themselves. It is by keep
ing the average Republican voter in
ignorance of the actual sayings and
doings of the Democracy that the
managers of that party exject to keep
alive the passions and prejudices en
gendered by the war, and thereby hold
the mass of their followers to the sup
port of doctrines and policies at war
with the licst interests of the whole
people. Un the other hand, the De
mocracy appeals to the intelligence of
the voters and is anxious for its mem
bers to see and know what the radical
managers are saying and doing. The
platform is so very long and contains
so many gratuitous and false state
ments that it would occupy entirely
too much space to attempt to point
them all out in a single article. We
shall take up tln-sc resolutions one by
one and dis.-ect them during the cam
pairm. The first resolution reads as
follows:
"F\ril. Th< Republican pnrtv again
forced to stand forward for the defence of
human right* ttfler a struggle lasting
through a generation, find* itself confron
ted with the -ame ofT< deral unity, po
litical freedom and national honor, which
Tt ha* o often overthrown in civil coAtasU
and armed conflict."
The amount of impudence and fnl-e
-hood contained in this one resolution
is almost beyond description. The as
sumption'that the present radical par
ty and the army which fought the bat
tles of the Union are one nnd the same,
or thai the Democratic party and the
Confederate army are the same organ
zntiou is as far from the truth as it is
possible to get. Not one in ten of the
delegates in the late radical conven
tion was ever in the army. Not one
in fifty of them ever acquired any rep
utation as a soldier. Not one in ten
of the entire Republican party of
Pennsylvania or of the Union was
ever in the army. The Republican
party of today has not among its list
of voters one-half of the living officers
and men of the Union army. A large
majority of all the officers who were
real soldiers and made honorable rej>-
utatiuus for themselves, and who, when
the war was over, retired into the
ranks of citizens, have left that party.
There is scarcely a reputable officer of
standing who has not been kept in
public office, or who is not a candidate
for political preference, who l>elongs
to the stalwarts to-day. It is true that
the great army of shoddy contractors,
ami camp-followers, still adhere to the
radicals. We know of no iustance
where a mule contractor or au army
thief of any kind has left them.
The majority of Lincoln's cabinet
left the party before they died. Tho
leading, controlling men of the Re
publican party during the war, in each
Slate in the. Union, have forsaken the
fortunes of the organization now con
trolled by the stalwarts. On the other
hand, they have the Longstreets, the
Moebys, the Ackcrmans, the Keys,
and all the guerillas and skulkers of
the rel>el army shouting vociferously
for loyalty and the stalwarts.
Their struggle for "Federal unity"
is good. They are now nnd ever have
been the foes of "Federal unity," and
instead of it desire "National consoli
dation." The " political freedom,"
they have fought for, was manifested
in the mobbing of Democratic news
papers, military arrests of civilians
for expressing political opiniops, try
ing civilians by courts martial, and
other like devices, Their conflicts in
lIEL,I,EFONTE, PA., THURSDAY, .lUEY 111, 187!).
support of the "National honor" was
in the scheme to impeach and depose
President Johnson, whom no one of
them now alleges was guilty of any
violation of his duty or the law ; the
acquittal of Helknap ami Ruhcock,
whom they all admit were guilty; the
protection of Minister Seward in pecu
lation and corruption ; the credit mo
lilicr fiasco, and the electoral com
mission outrage by which they stole
the Presidency.
When a party has been in absolute
control of ull departments of the gov
ernment for a generation —with two
thirds majorities in both houses of
Congress and control of three-fourths
of the Stale governments, so as to en
able them to adopt any amendments
to the constitution they might propose
—why have they not entrenched "hu
man rights" so securely that they
should IK! secure even from the people
themselves? Rut the truth is, so long
as there Is a public office to fill or a
dollar of public money to steal, this
"struggle for human rights" with
them will go on.
THE Republicans, eager to find au
excuse for the revolutionary position
of their leaders in Congress in efforts
to clothe the National government
with unwarranted ami dangerous pow
er, say that the war obliterated Htate
Rights. How, they do not inform us,
only that it put down secession. Well,
it diil put down secession, and there
are probably hut few persons now liv
ing who regret that it did so. Rut se
cession was not a Htate right under
the reservations of the Constitution.
It was an attempt at revolution, and
iis suppression can have no weight nor
give any force to the declaration that
the "war obliterated state right.-." If
the Federal power succeed in ineoqsi
rating this idea into our system of gov
ernment, consolidation will lie a re
ality ; the sovereignty of the State- in
all matters not delegated to the Fede
ral government, a thingof the past, and
State laws a nulity whenever the Fede
ral Executive may so proclaim them.
Rut did tho war confer ujsm the Fede
ral government ativ additional pow
ers not previously enjoyed? (krrtain
lv not. It aliolished slavery and de
cided that secession wa not a right re
served to the States, or justified by any
consideration of the compact. It did
not change a letter or a syllable of the
Constitution. That great chart of lib
erty stands now as it stood In-fore the
war, the guardian alike of the delega
ted power* to the General Government,
and the reserved power* of the States
and the people, which neither can in
vade without injury to our entire struc
ture of government. This constitution
provides that "The powers not delega
ted to the United States, nor prohibi
ted by it to the States, are reserved to
the States respectively, or to the peo
ple." Among these reserved powers
—thgse "State rights," are theexclusivc
right to pass laws and make regula
tions for the election of memliers of
Congress. Did the war change this ?
Wherein, indeed, did it change any of
the reaerved rights of the Slates or
confer any additional privileges upon
the National government ? Then why
do the Republicans assume that the
doctrine of "Slate rights" is an explo
ded theory, not to lie respected since
the war ? Simply because it now suits
them to repudiate the Constitution in
order to justify frauds already com
mitted against the rights of the peo
ple, and retain the usurped power in
the Federal Executive to use the
army, and employ the Federal officers
to supervise and control the elections
in the interest of frauds yet contem
plated. This grand doctrine of State
rights—these rights guaranteed to the
people to make their own laws to se
cure to themselves free elections and
independent ballots connot lie surren
dered without committiug A great
wrong.
THE third-termers must look out for
the Bherman-Blaiuc alliance. It bodes
no good for them.
Ewing and Shormari.
The political ball, says tin; Ilarris
burg Patriot, has been put in motion
both in (lie cast and west, and from I
now until the ides of November, the '
country will reverberate with elo
quence and gush. Roth parties are
in the field and in Ohio •and Maine
giants have spoken. Gen. Kwing, who
has been distinguished as the stand
ard-bearer and leader of the Democ
racy in Ohio, has responded to John
Sherman, who next to Grant seems to
IH: tin: ruler of the de-tinies of the i
Republican party. Kadi has sounded
keynote- from whence all the lesser
lights will derive inspiration and draw
their texts.
These two men, each aide, in their
well considered efforts, are remarkable
no ItSH Ibr the differences in their con
clusions, than ill the wide diversity of
their premises. Mr. Sherman alleges
that one of the great sources of dis
tress U that appropriations have Wen
too great, while < icneral Ewing shows j
by actual figures that a saving of
8*1,72,000 lues been fTt• d in the
expenditures of the government since
the Democrats came into power in the
lower house of Congress four years
ago, notwithstanding that each item
in the amount was strenuously resisted
by the Republican party and Mr.Slur
man during the last session of hi* sen
atorial service. Mr. Sherman boasts
of a reduction of the burdens of gov
ernment to the extent of ? 10.000/HKt!
a year hv the funding proco* while
General Ewing shows that the intcre-t
on the public debt is marly $8,000,000 j
greater in I*7o than it wa- in 1*77,
caused mainly by bonus* * paid to
favorite hankers and syndicates. Mr.
Sherman claims that hi* admiui?rn- j
tion* of the finances ha* ls- ti -ignal
ized by a great reduction of the public :
debt, ami General Ewing bring* tin*
reports of the treasury to Is-ar unwill
ing testimony that the Winded d bt
has been increased during the jeri<sl
in which the funding scheme ha* Wen
in process to the extent of SBfi,OGO,(MK).
Thus, throughout the entire fabric
of figures constructed by Mr. Sher
man, Gen. Kwing follows him and ex
pos*.* the fallacy of the claim which 1
he advances for himself and his party.
Abundant crops, and an eager foreign
market duriug the past three years
have been the gift of a kind Provi
dence to relieve the a*jierities of the
distress inflicted by the theorists of the
Sherman school, but notwithstanding
these propitious circumstances unpar
alelled, the industries of the country
have languished until they are well !
nigh destroyed. These arc the argu
ments which Mr. Sherman advances
as a basis for a continuance of public
confidence, hut the review of Gen.
Ewing so completely exposes its fal
lacy that a poor foundation remains
upon which to rest the claim.
Upon the real question in issue,
however, free lmllots, free juries, ami
freedom of the people in the exercise
of their individual rights ami fran
chises, Mr. Sherman touches niengerly,
while Gen. Ewing gives to it the prom
inent place it deserves. The great
fraud, by which 'through the instru
mentality of deputy marshals, tho
army and the electoral commission,
the express will of the people was sub
veiled in 1M77 U referred to in lan
guage becomingly strong ami |rdon
ahly vehement. The lessons drawn
from that great erirao are made a jus
tification for the precautions of the
Democratic statesman against its repe
tition, And the result of the struggle
during the special session of Congress
is alluded to with proper pride. The '
total repeal of the oil ions system of
packing juries, the prohibition of pay
ment of money to send or maintain
troops at the polls and the withhold
ing of foes of marshals until Congress
can see what services the remuneration
ia intended to cover is certainly a
great achievement, and when the peo
ple record their voices in fnvor of
popular right* the victory which now
seems only temporary will Is- made
permanent, and the reprehensible her
esies of centralization will he strangled
us they were by our forefathers when
the ancient enemies of popular govern
ment attempted to raise them years
•ft. ,
SEC RETARY SIIKRMAN'H speeches in
Maine are heralded by the New York
Tribune, ami olln r stalwart organs a*
a most triumphant assertion of the fi
nanrial principles and policy of the
Republican party. The New York
'limit puts the following extinguisher
on all this gu-h :
Ms. Shcnmn's speeches arc disap
(minting and unsatisfactory. They leave
unsaid the very thing* which a Secre
tary of the Treasury identified with re
sumption was expected to say. They
trifle with the public intelligence in the
matter of the silver coinage, Htid they j
contain no allusion to other obstacle* to
resumption. The evasion is cowardly ;
the silence is not honest. Roth ongi
nate in that miserable truckling to the
lowest standard of partisan expediency
which is the curse of our politics and
tin- shame of our public maw. Platforms
are had enough as expositions of prim 1
ciple. Tiieir sonorious platitudes pass
for W iiat they ate worth. Rut tbe states
man cannot divest himself of his indi- :
vidua! responsibility, lis- cannot jain
der to the desire to catch votes by dis
ingenuGu* without com pro
nosing lum-eir. When, therefore. Mr.
Sherman indorses an unworthy attempt
to turn tin-silv.-r craze to Republican
account, and keeps out of sight the
perils which surround the financial |tol
icv of whose success fie Leasts, he is as <
unjust to himself and to hi* office as to
tho party which ha- (rusted to ins in
tegrity and courage. Ihe financier is
sunk in tho politician ; the statesman
becomes the e0.,0 of parti-an managers;
the candidate fur the j residency throw*
away the qualities which alone could
render his nomination desirable.
ON our seventh page will LA- found
a full history of tin infamou* ojx-ra
tioii* of Morris Mark-, Interna! R* ve
nue Colli ctor. ami tin toba- co ring, at
New Orlean*. Marks was one of the
Electoral thieve*. He wa- hand in
glove with John Sherman and all the
other Presidential thieves,ami no mat
ter how much evidence is collected
and forwarded to Washington a* to
In* stealing the revenues of the gov
ernment, Mr, Hayes, rememliering
Mark- valuable services to him in his
time of need, refuses to heed it.
THE yellow fever still continues to
spread at Memphis, and the excite
ment is very great. Most of the peo
ple lia ve fled, anil arrangements are
in progress to encamp those remain
ing some distance from the city. The
fiver has also broken out in New Or
leans. Several rosea have IK-CII re
ported in the same locality where it
originated lo*t year.
AFTER filling the conditions of his
contract to make four speeches for
Rlaine and the Republicans of Maine,
John Sherman re-embarked on the
United States revenue cutter Grant'
and steamed for other parts, whether
on a mission of politics or pleasure it is
not stated. The public treasury will
nevertheless foot the hills.
The Defeat of the Zulu*.
Lord Chelmsford celebrated the 4th
ol July by what ap|>ears to have been a
considerable victory over the Zulus.
He advanced upon Ulundi, the chief
military kraal of the savages, and was
attacked by a force estimated to num
ber about fifteen thousand men. After
a sharp contest, in which the British
lost ten killed and fifty-three wounded,
and the Zulus are supposed to have suf
fered to the extent of eight hundred
men. the savages broke and fled, pur
sued by the cavalry. The British, when
attacked, formed a hollow square, and
the Zulus are reported to have charged
with great desperation, but could not
stand the devastating fire of the re
peating rifles, flatting guns and artillery,
lord Chelmsford subsequently advanced
upon and burned the kraals at Ulundi.
Tho impression is general that this
victory will end the war, the more es
pecially as the new commander-in-chief,
Sir Garnet Wolseley. seems disposed to
entertain any equitable proposition (or
peace.
During the storm of Saturday last
two passenger train* collided on the
Pennsylvania Branch of tbe Beading
railroad between Edge Hill and Handy
Bun, Pa. The engines and several oars
of each train were badly damaged, and
several passengers bad* limbs broken,
but none were latally injured.
Lavinia Fry. aged 20, wa* gored to
death by an infuriated bull, near Eph
rata, Lancaster county, Pa.
TERMS: Xl.oO jar Annum, in Advance.
GENERAL NEWS.
Ten persons repose in the Clearfield
jail.
Business i* increasing in William
*j>ort.
Bishop Lynch, of South Carolina, in
on a visit to Harriiburg.
The Wisconsin Democratic Htate Con
vention will meet at Madison on tho
'Jtli of September.
Williamsport can have the free deliv
ery of letter* in that city if responsible
citizen* make the application.
1 tie National Educational Association
wa* in session in Philadelphia, Tuesday
and Wednesday, and will terminate to-.
day.
Bishop (J Kara, of Scran ton, laid tho
corner -tone of the n< w church for St.
•ej-lißoman f.'atholit j *ri*h at Mid
die tow ii, N. Y., on Sunday.
Peacock Furnace, st Lancaster, send*
smoke heavenward, as another evidence
of increasing prosperity, and the jjeo
ple thereabout- are heartily rejoiced.
A young man languishes in jail at
Montreal who ha* just inherited from an
uncle in Han Kranci*oo the handaome
fortune of $104,000. He ha* four
month* yet to cerve before he (an be
gin the task of dissipating hi* inherit
ance.
Judge Robert Ould, a prominent
lawyer of Richmond, Va., and well
known as a I Confederate commissioner
for ihe exchange of prisoners during
the war. and Dr. A. S. Peer* George,
also of the same place, were arrested
on Monday evening, charged with be
ing about to engage in a duel.
Nellie Cox. aged -ix year*, daughter
of < rosby M. Oox, of Cheater, l'a., died
on Saturday afternoon from hydropho
bia. caused by the bite of a rabid dog
about two months ago. She had suffer
ed greatly from convulsions for the last
four day* previous to her death.
(, ne sultry afternoon last week a
tramp, about thirty five year* of age,
walked into a tavern at Tremont and
called for a Ix-er. The landlady, a bux
om widow of fifty, with many silver
threads among the gold, found her affin
ity in the strangi-r. and a Justice of tho
Peace made her Mr*. Tramp four hour*
afterward*. He now I-oases the ranche.
'in Saturday evening Captain Daniel
Del- n. of Petersburg, Vs.. auditor of
the Petersburg railroad company, with
ins uife, five daughter*, two grandchil
dien and cook, were made seriously ill
by eating ice < ream, the custard of
which was loi]ed in a brass kettle.
Neighbor* to which the.same cream
had been sent were also taken ill after
eating it.
By a recent ntder emanating from the
Church of Rome lowa will be know n a*
the Eastern and the Western dioceses.
The new Bishop, who*e confirmation ia
daily expected front the Pope, will to
stationed in Council Blutls and known
a the Bishop of Council Bluffs. The
Other, i'o-hop 11 i niiensy, will lie retained
at Dubuque. A handsome cathedral
will soon ne a necessity at Council Bluff*
in view of the new order of thing*.
A prayer wa* answered in tbe late
tenije*t, in New England. The story
is vouched for that aConnecticui woman
who own* a lot in the cemetery went to
the authorities the other day for leave
to cut down a tree upon it, to make
room for a monument, but wa* refused.
She asked a second time, with no let
ter success. Then *he aaid that *ho
had prayed them to grant her request,
but had been refuted, and she should
now ask the lord to remove the tree.
It wa* torn up by the root* in the course
of the great storm.
The Em press Eugenie it going to
fpend the rest of the Hummer in the
< a*tle of Sabacx, in Croatia—a residence
which she bought lately while staying
at \ tetina. An Italian clergyman in
London preaching recently on the
death of the Prince Imperial aaid:
"Whenever he wa* induced by his
ydung friend* to take any indulgence
and live for a abort time as other* lived,
according to tbe world, he put on a
severe countenance and sent hi* com
panion* sway saying. 'lt i* not time
for me to enjoy myself yet; the day
may perhap* come when I may be able
to do so.' Before he took leave of his
mother.afler be had offered to join the
English at the Cape, his first duly was
to go to church snd make peace with
hi* God. When he went the priest did
not know him, and after the Sacrament
was administered the clergyman wa* so
much struck with his pious demeanor
that he hsd tbe curiosity to ask his
name. And one might be'able to judge
of his sstooishment when the answer
received was, 'I-ouis Najoleon.' "
A very violent storm of wind, accom
naoied by a deluge of rain, passes! over
Pittsburg and vicinity. Saturday morn
ing, occasioning much damage. Hewers
were burst, houses had their founda
tions loosened and cellar* were filled
with water. The cellar of the Union
railroad depot was flooded. The car
track* and tbe roadbed of the Pitts
burg. Virginia and Charleston road were
swept awy. The track of the Penn
sylvania and of the Pittsburg, Fort ,
Wayne and Chicago railroad was also
washed out. At Elisabeth, ten mile*
from there, the water was six and eight .
feet deep in some of the streets near
the river. The Monongahela river rose
at the rale of an inch an hour neer
Pittsburg. The sform extended up
both the Monongahela and Allegheny
rivers, and great destruction of prone.-
ty is reported from both source*. The
greatest losses were at Petrol is, were
twenty five houses were swept away by
the rapidly rising flood. The loea at
Pet to lis will reach $lOO,OOO,
NO. :N.