Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1867-11-13
POLITICS.


One of the hopeful signs Of the times
is the decrease Of rancor in our American
politics. It is evident that while men
are not less tenacious of political opinion
than formerly, they have very widely
learned to hold and maintain that opinion
with less bitterness of spirit than they
were wont to do. Let any man compare
the last Presidential compaign with those
of forty, or even twenty years ago, and
be will be convinced of a very great
change in the manners, not to say the
morals of our politics. Men then hated
with an envenomed bitterness. The can
di lates of the opposing parties were re-
ciprocally regarded as monsters of wick
edness or Of folly. A man attributed
every virtue to his own candidate and laid
every vice to the charge of his opponent
There was division among the ranks of
the community, as of cid between Jew
and Samaritan, SO that those opposed in
politics had no dealings one with another
For men to be politically opposed was
simply to be at enmity with each other
and this enmity was sternly maintained in
social and business life. Men visited and
dealt with men of their own party
When members of the same family took
different political positions, the family
unity was sundered, at least its cordiality
was broken up.
History tells US of the intense bitter
ness with which party strife was carried
on BY the Republicans and Federalists O
the early days of the Republic. Men
still living, remember how later the par
tizans of Jackson and Adams carried OF
war against each other to the knife, anc
the knife to the hilt. The contest be
tween Clay and Polk was carried on with
a great deal of asperity. Mr.. Clay wa
the idol of his friends He was hated al
cordially by his enemies as he was loved
by his friends.
But political amnesty has rapidly
waned since the election of IL. The
Fremont and Buchanan campstgn of sc
| called out much animosity, but the tide O.
bitterness was on the wane, and the ex
traordinary circumstances Of that cam
paign could not bring it up to the point
it had held in the conflicts of other days
There are obvious reasons why oul
politics should not be as intense as for
merly. We I've a broader life than We
did thirty years and more ago. With the
opening up of our country from the At
lantic to the Pacific, the American minC
| has found new theaters for its activities
Much of the intensity Of thought and
feeling that a generation ago found vent
only in the venom Of politics is now
turned into schemes for material aggran
dizement, is bent to railway building, tc
mining and to commerce. Then we are
a more widely educated people than for
merly. Perhaps we are not more thor.
oughly educated, but we are acquainted
with many more things and subjects, an6
this in its very nature, forbids the con
centration Of all our mental power upor
the one subject of politics.
We do not suppose that as men are
more fully educated they will cease to be
patriots, but they will learn to brook po.
litical difference with more equanimity
We are glad the day Of hate and rance,
is passing away. We are soon to be called
upon to engage in another Presidential.
campaign, and we can but hope that the
tide Of party feeling will retreat still
| further In its ebb.r 49,. s.e....