The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1860-05-24

Of our p s2erisy ard progress. ealaos m-et
longer exi (, "a becoming familiar 10 ever
mind; sec. onAl interests take precedence over
national on 9; the churches are divided tn
public socie ties are sundered. Aad political
parties are rent, all with geographical line
running through them. Herein lie revelndos.
civil war, and death to our national existence
This state Of things cannot 20 on wishou, re
sistsnce from the sentiment Of national life
and it Is plain that the contss. vAieh
is to mark the next coming era Of our his,ori
cal DEVELOPMENT Ia one between that senii
ment and the spirit Of destructive insovxsioe
The political party that In the preseat Prcsi.
dental contest places itself In harmony with
this rising sentiment Of national life VIII be
the one that will secure predominance during
this generation. just a. Jefiersonian republi-
canism and Jacksonian democracy, respectively.
secured 1t during the pest sixty years. The
leaders Of the old democratic organization have
now an opportunity TO secure Q new lease Of
political existence. by throwing aside their sb-
stractiops, burying their personal quareas,
and uniting at Baltimore on national platform
and national wan. But II they perpetuass
these present strifes-H this man or that per-
sists In claiming the Presidency - q personal
concession to himself, or II this clique or
that clique endeavor to force man OF their
own on the public-the sentence Of the PEG
pie will be final, and they will all be consigned,
with their past merits and present claims, 10 .
we'll deserved oblivion. II two candidates are
run By severed democracy, the result viii be
to diminish the strength Of each before the
people, giving larger electoral vote respec-
lively to the Union and the black republican
pominees, and sending the election into the
House, where the contest will lie between Bell
and Lincoln. In the present composition OF
the House of Representatives, this will be
dangerous contest, in which the country can
look for safety only from the faithfulness and
the power Of the independent press.
A MucH NEEDED REFORM IL CoNGREss-BUS-
coMBE AT DIscotSr.-Ore Of those reforms
which We have go long advocated has been ct
length carried in the House Of Representatives.
Henceforth only those speeches actually de-
livered in the House will be printed In the
Globe. Hitherto the practice has been to pub
lish in that journal, at the expense Of the coun-
try, long speeches never spoken, and for the
most part Of the most stupid kind. There they
stood on the record, with their lame and impo-
tent conclusions unanswered, because never
heard in the House, and thus history was per-
verted. Many of these speeches were not only
not spoken by the members to whom they
were attributed, but were not even written,
and probably not even understood by them.
II Is notorious that literary men make
living at Washington by writing speeches
for indolent and ignorant members Of Con-
eress, some of whom cannot put two SEN
fences together dramatically, and these
speeches for Buncombe, after appearing in the
Globe, go to the constituencies Of the members,
who father them as their genuine Offspring.
This system was, therefore, calculated to de-
ceive the people.
Again, 1t was common practice for mem
bers TO materially alter speeches after being
written out by the Congressional reporters,
which was both an injustice to those gentle
me and falsificstion Of the record. II was
time that so gross al abuse should be put an
erd to, and We are glad to zee that the eyes Of
Congress have at length been opened on this
point, which is only preliminary to a still
greater reform in the zane direction--the abo-
lition Of the whole system Of Congressional
reporting, which is only mockery and delu-
sion; for who ever reads the Globe, or would
for any inducement read the dull unspoken
essays, called speeches, which 1t contains
The true method is to leave the reporting to
the Independent press, whose representatives
viii take good care to report all that really
oecurs-all that is of the slightest importance
or interest-and omit all fabricated speeches,
and all the wearisome trash that no man bat
lunatic viii read or ought to read. To this
complexion We hope twill come at last. Such
reform would not only be for the public late
rests, but for the advantage Of every man OF
talent, whose speeches are now smothered
amidst promiscuous mas OF rubbish, while 1t
would cut of one OF the most prolific sources
Of public corruption.
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