John Harrison Wilson, The life of Charles Henry Dana

[464] The newspapers of the country took sides according to their convictions, and the discussion, which was a spirited one, covered the entire period between the election and the organization of the new House. Foreseeing that a free-trade policy would split the party, and if followed by free-trade legislation would so disturb the business and prosperity of the country as to bring on hard times, which in turn would bring the Republicans again into power, Dana placed Randall on a simple but comprehensive platform of his own framing, and advocated it as the only one by which the Democratic party could hope to maintain itself before the country. It was clear and explicit, but it would be difficult to-day to decide whether it was in any partisan sense either Democratic or Republican. It advocated:

I. A Radical Reduction in the Expenses of the Government.

II. The Return of Every Superfluous Office-holder to Private Usefulness.

III. The Abolition of the Internal Revenue System.

IV. The Radical Reform and Simplification of the Tariff.

V. No Subsidies; no Jobbery; no Stealing; no Waste.

But with all Dana and those who stood with him could do, Carlisle was elected, and the party started on a policy that in four years ended in the double event which had been predicted. It is not the purpose of this narrative to decide whether this was due to the action of the Democratic party or to the operation of economic laws independent of both parties, but merely to point out that it was a signal vindication of Dana's judgment.

With this explanation, and the fact that the two chief offices of the government were in the hands of men he had opposed, it is easy to understand that Dana felt under no sort of obligation to give either his support. He regarded