The Sun.
London, England, 1867-11-07 00:00:00

Effect of the Republican Defeats.

One result of the recent elections has been to
administer a needed check to political and legisla-
tive corruption. Those who attentively read the
leading organs of the Republican party must be
gratified at the way in which this lesson has been
received. They frankly acknowledge the cause—
they honestly proclaim the necessity, and they
vehemently urge a reform. Nothing could be
more becoming to the great ruling party than the
spirit in which they have received their defeats.
They maintain that they possess within their ranks
the larger portion of the intelligence and honesty
of the country. They assert that the nation must
look to them for the true reform in political corrup-
tion, which their opponents by reason of their forma-
tion cannot hope to effect. They allow that a long
tenure of office has demoralised many of their
leaders, and attached to their ranks all the floating
scum, through whose action places are bought,
legislative acts sold, and other villanies perpetrated,
which have tended to bring into discredit the
politicians of the United States. It is not, they say,
by placing the Democratic party in power that the
corruption so deplored can be remedied, nor do the
people believe it will. Disgusted with the abuses
openly displayed by the party, the people have ad-
ministered this check, and many of the best Re-
publicans rejoice in the fact. None seem to dis-
pute the inferiority in point of character and
standing of most of the Republican candidates in
the late elections. It was considered, as the Tribune
says, that " anything put on the Republican
ticket could be elected ;" and the defeats resulting
from the attempt have taught the wholesome truth
that the voters do not choose to be driven like sheep
into any pen the Republican shepherds may select, but
that they will exert their judgment, and refuse their
support to such who enunciate the most noble prin-
ciples of Liberalism, and embody them in the per-
sons of dishonest or disreputable candidates. The
more enlightened the voters the less easily are they
deluded. If the antecedents of the person put
forward by their party prove jobbery and vice,
while the candidate of the opposite party is a man
of known integrity ani intelligence, the elector is
placed in an unfair position, being compelled
either to vote against his principles or to
aid in handing over the legislative power of the
country to men in whom he has no confidence.
Now it is most gratifying to see the way in which
so many have decided this question. The first duty
of the people is to elect the most able and honest
men for all public offices. It is better to have bad
laws well administered than good laws badly
administered, and it is better to have good men to
make and to execute the laws, however erroneous
the principles they embody, than jobbery and cor-
ruption in elevated posts, however beautiful the
theories advanced by the incumbents. The first ne-'
cessity of a nation's welfare is to establish a high
standard of honour among its public men. This
is far beyond any political principles in im-
portance. The cry of the people when the
question lies between integrity and corruption
should be " Men, not measures ;" though when fol-
lowing a leader who attempts to rule with a des-
potism, and override by his own will the opinions
of his followers, the cry might well be " Measures,
not men." The reform most required in America
is the reformation of political leaders. If the people
could by a great effort of the national will select
from amongst them not the most able men only,
but the most able who had earned the respect of
the community, with a total disregard to any poli-
tical consideration whatever, the effect would
be astounding, and the United States would take
a start from which its citizens might date an
era. The late elections have distinctly sig-
nified that the candidates shall be judged by
their antecedents, that character shall be consi-
dered as the most valuable force, and that
henceforth it will be vain to label a man " De-
mocratic" or " Republican" to insure his elec-
tion, for the label required by the people is the
stamp of probity and honour. In the first place,
then, those who earnestly desire the welfare of the
Great Republic are gratified to see the strong ex-
pression of opinion coming directly and unexpectedly
from the people, that they will not tolerate the
insolence of thrusting on them candidates who have
no personal claim for the posts to which they aspire,
and can only be useful as tools when elected, to the
wire-pullers to whom they owe their places. Secondly,
the intelligence and independence of the Republican
party have been distinctly marked. They know
that the principles for which they contend are safe
with the nation, and that the best means of main-
taining their party in strength is by reforming it,
and purifying it from its corruptions. That they
are right in the action taken is seen by the result.
They have stopped the drift—they have checked
the downward tendency, and they will be rewarded
by having the best men of their party brought to
the front, and extravagance, extremes, and corrup-
tion at least scotched. We refer our readers to
an article from the Nation, transferred to our
columns, on the " Political Prospects," which gives
an able resume of the position. The Republican
strength is overwhelming, and that strength will
be materially increased by the way iu which the
check has been received, for there is no change in
the political principle of the masses, but disgust at
the open and audacious effrontery of the wire
pullers of the party in thrusting on them candidates
they did not choose to receive, and in coupling with
principles local measures they did not choose to
adopt. —Anglo-American Times.