New Orleans daily crescent. [volume] ([New Orleans, La.]) 1851-1866, 1853-11-19
A GLORIOUS VICTORY.

A GLORIOUS VICTORY.
In eouthey's pretty and certainly very moral
ballad of the Battle Of Blenheim, he makes an
old peasant, living on that half-forgotten field
Of fight, attempt to explain the battle to his
grand children who have found and brought
to him certain large, round, smooth, spherical
bony looking object, which they are unsoquaint-
ed with. He tells them that hs often turns up
such with his spade that it is a skull; and
that vast numbers of them were buried there,
some hundred years ago, from the bodies of the
Freuob. English and Germans, who fell in the
glorious victory won there by the great Duke OF
Marlborough and the good Prince Eugene.
The children, with that natural curiosity Of
their age which often puzzles with its inquiries
older people, are anxious to know what these
people killed each other about The old man
cannot exactly tell them; and indeed 1T is
thing which much better historians would find
it difficult to tell He assures them, however,
that it brought great laud to the Prince and
high titles and grand palace to the Duke;
and that, in short, it was famous victory.
Still, the inquiring minds of the children are
not satisfied; and they insist-being, apparent
ly, very practical children-upon being told
"What good came of it, at last'"
In the city of New York, there has just been
. great conflict, and Gas frequently befalls in
such cases) grand defeat. As is also usual in
such cases, there has been a glorious victory,
which will get this General land and that Cen
eral palace Still, we ourselves are in little
better condition than were Southey's children !;
we want to know " what good came of it all, at
last
"Oh!" they will answer us, "'twas a fa-
nous victory No doubt. one side usually
beats the other in q fight But it was great
victory of Reform in our city government, in
which monstrous abuses and peculation and all
sorts Of corruptons existed" Well, is your Re-
form accomplished. "Oh, not yet butt is 60
ing to be-" All, is that all Are you sure, then,
that it ever will be- Or that, if made to any
purpose, it will stand Wait for the end, be-
fore you call it a glorious victory. See what
good comes Of it at last. Remember the great
jackson " Retrenchment and Reform!"
Such are, almost ever, these State reforms
always cheat in their execution For, in the
first case, they are q mischevious change; and,
in the second, it is merely new set of bad
men, who avail themselves of the popular cry in
order to get into power by joining it, and, once
in, will repeat or double all the crimes of those
whom they ousted Perhaps they will, for a
while, affect to correct the practices which have
given scandal; but, if they do, they will take
care to compensate themselves by large intro
duction of new abuses; and mend the State as
gypsy thinkers proverbially do old kettles, by
making three new holes for every one they stop.
Nothing easier than to raise this cry of Re-
form; nothing commoner, therefore; and yet
nothing (no matter how often repeated and how
often found eheat) which is more sure to
please. And yet what SO rare as to see any sin
cere attempt at large reforms or what SO diff
cult as to make body of wise ones'
The only safe reforms are those which come
about gradually and quietly. These have no
heat in them they are careful to hurt nothing
good, to set up nothing bad and, proceeding
thus, they become reforms that have not like
the great majority to be presently reformed
over again.
But again: men talk about great as well as
sudden reforms in their Government Yet what
is more to be distrustedi For, in the first
place, there can never, in popular government
like ours, be any just occasion for large reforms,
except out of precisely the causes which leave
1t hardly possible that real reform will be eff
fected. For when, under such Government,
there have come to prevail wide and fragrant
eorruptions, how can this be but because the
people have, for series of years, preferred bad
men to good: that is, the people have chosen to
act badly and foolishly themselves Now, when
they have been habitually doing this, with their
eyes open, merely to indulge their party or
their mob passions, where's the likelihood but
that they will continue to do the same thing
In democracy, the Government must of ne
cessity be complete reflection and represen-
tation of the deliberate public taste and will of
those who elect its agents IT. then, the represen-
tative is bad or foolish, how can he be so, but be-
cause knave or fool is most to the popular
liking, and therefore will continue to be SO?
Your reforms, then, can only be accomplished
by good men: and to get these, you must go
back further and begin by reforming the pub
lie mind
For these reasons, looking on, in New York, a
year ago, when the present movement of City
Reform, that hal now ended in the glorious
victory" began, we viewed it, certainly, with a
strong conviction of its needfulness, but with q
melancholy persuasion, that it would probably
fail in the hands of those to whom it would be
entrusted, or that, if rightfully made, it would
speedily fall back into the old practices and
have to be reformed In truth, the very city
government which they are now reforming, is
itself reform of not many years standing.
Demagogues, who had no other recommendation
but that to the popular affection, had gotten
possession of the old government they have
now got possession of the present government
they will get possession of any future one. Ii
word, there has been and there will be no rea
change until the people itself shall correct its
own follies, refuse to obey its own passions
When il shall have done this, it will get true re
form: until it shall do this. it will have gov
eminent no better than itself Indeed, what
right has it to expect that How is a govern
ment bound to be any better than those over
whom it is set, and who, if they have not Gre
ated it, can change it at their pleasure' Let
the people, then, in this country at least, be
told the truth and learn that they themselves
are responsible for all that they Law upon others