New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1855-12-05
COUNTRY AED CITY POLITICS.

Milwaukee, the Republican party has met Win Ill
success; in the rural dstncts on the contrary IL
has generally prevailed; the contest in ono WIS
consin and New. York has turned upon this simple
question, whether the Republican majoriae' oil
the country districts were sufficient to outweigh
the adverse msoIities of the cities. Between 'he
country gentlemen and yeOmanry Of the North ana
its civic residents there's permanent schlsm' tue
nature of which it may be worth while to aoaiyze
The Republican is truly liberal party "
appeals to no popular prejudice and that mop
which hates nigeers and Abolitionists. as well as
that other mob which hates the Pope, Paddles aud
Foreigners finds i. uDpalatable and slow. The Re-
publican party has no headquarters so sllurng to
the lovers Of free fight as Tamnany Hall 1t dis
play no flags, it expends and very little gun
powder. How can it be popular in any large city
The Republican party is free from the machinery
of secret councils AMI escbews the delicious mys-
teries of osths, signs and ceremonies Keeping
its eye fixed upon The past, present and prospective
suggestions of the slave.breeding and save-tradlpg
Oligarcby, and determined to prevent the exten.
sion of Slavery over ground consecrated to Free
dom, the Republicans is eminently party OF
principle and not Of pre- udice. Itspeaks well for
the moral elevation and intelligence OF our rural
population that such party should find favor with
them. The cities are mainly the strongholds Of
the Sham Democracy-the party of Negrophoba,
Slavery extension, intempersnce and war. In
them municipal and judicial corruption nestles in
safety. No greater calamity could bef,ll our body
polite than that the large cities should rule the
country. Under the actual circumstances every
true lover of Freedom, Peace, Temperance and
honest government must wish to strengthen the
hands of the country party"
In this reipect our political system diff
fers totally from that of the Old World The
dawn of political liberty and modern civilization
dates from the time when the chartered cities of
Europe gained representation in the National
Councils as an integral estate of the realm. 1t
was this national element which, by siding with
the kingly power, enabled the Louises the Ferdi.
hands and Henrys Of the Fifteenth century to quell
the nsolence of baronisl tyrants and robbers.
Ecclesiastical power was struck down in the Six
teenth century by the same hand; the doctrines of
Luther and Zwingle found their earliest home in the
free cities Of Germany and in Zurich, Basle Berne'
and Geneva. Imperial power received its first shock
at the close of the same century from the resist
ance of the burghers of the Netherlands, and its
second shock from the middle class of England;
and it underwent its third and last cOnvulsion when
the third estate of France humbled it in 1889.
-Four large cities, Amsterdam, London, Plymouth
and Bristol, originated those enterprises which
eolonized the Netherlands, Virginia and New.
England. At this day every humanitarian reform,
as well as most of the inventions of civilized
life in Europe, is Indebted to municipal activity
for realization and diffusion. The great cities of
the Old World are the foci of high culture and in
telectuL freedom. Thus it happens that the Lib
erals of Europe look toward rendering tho policy
of the cities dominant that of the territorial
lords and rural clergy, who singy or jointly eIer
else supreme sway over the dependent and un.
awakened rustics. The watchword of European
proeressionists is: LET the cities rule the
country"
One need not search far for the causes Of this
contrast between constitutional Europe and Re-
publican America The statement of them con-
sttutes pretty accurate measure of the distance
which separates the political systems of the best
portions of the two hemispheres. The main con-
sideration in the case is the very superior indie
pendence and intelligence which characterize the
masses of our rural population in comparison with
the rustics of the Old World. Here the land 10 in
the hands of the many. We have perfect system
of local selfgovernment and district schools, a
cheap press, every facility for locomotion and
long training in public affairs. In France the
al ali -.
but her yeomanry and peasantry, if not peer-rid
den, are priest-ridden, and remain in melancholy
state of ignorance and superstition. Scotland,
again, has district schools local selfgovernment,
respectable press, political training and freedom
of inquiry. but Scotland is afflicted with land mo.
nopoly and caste distinctions.
We must further take into account the fact that
we have dared to concede, to the whites at least,
the principle of universal manhOod-suffrage; and
in every city that numbers $4,000 souls there is
a proportion of rowdy, drunken and adlydisposed
individuals who exercise . deleterious influence
upon the character of our city politics. The tide
of immigration, which carries the more intelligent
class of immigrants upon our wide unoecupied
lands, and deposits it's vicious elements in the
large cities. does much to intensity this evil In
the most liberal portions of Europe the civic suf'
frsge is limited one they do not venture to put
political power into the hands of every male per-
son of full age who struggles, suffers and sins in
the pestileutial alleys and squalld dwellings that
there abound.
These considerations afford clue, We think,
toward explaining why it is that the lover Of social
progress in constitutional Europe has to take sdes
with the municipalties against the country