The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1869-12-14
SPIRIT OF THE PRESS.
editorial Opinions of the Lending Journals
Upon Cnrrent Topics Compiled EverV
DaY for the Evening Telegraph.
THE FUTURE OF PARTIES.

The tone of the Presidents Message and of
the opening debates in Congress sufficiently
indicates the future policy sof the Republican
party-if we may call thar policy which is
rather an accident or the natural consequence
of foregone events. The party of great
moral ideas"-and there is n substantial truth
as well as sarcasm in the phrase-proposes
now to settle down into the stern yet neces-
sary. the honest yet wearisome, task of pay
inc off the national debt, of restoring and
improving the dignity of our relations
towards foreign powers, and of introducing
into the Government civil service something
of that purity and esprit de corps which have
characterized, as rule, the service OF the
army, the navy and the judiciary.
These are praiseworthy purposes. pThey
embody that which is most essential in re-
publican government. But they make no
appeal whatever to passion or to popular
vanity. Even in the case of Cuba, in which
vivid appeal might have been made to the
sympathies of the masses, O calm statesman
ship and rigid observance of international
law, addressing only the cooler judgment of
enlightened publicists, take the place of hot
invective and of grand apotheosis of the
Monroe doctrine and the Bird of Freedom.
The Darien Canal carries with it some ele-
ments of popularity; beyond that all is hum
drum duty and quiet resolution to lessen the
burdens of taxation while the national credit
is made sure. There are to be sure, some
fag-ends of reconstruction left to be COM
pletsd, but reconstruction is now SO nearly
an accomplished fact that both parties are
willing to let it have free course and run, in
the confident assurance that the good in
volved In the general result will ultimately
overshadow all defects in the agencies en-
ployed.
We have employed the phrase "a party of
great moral ideas, for nothing can be more
descriptive of the Republican organization,
of the impassioned zeal with which it will
fight for O principle, of the persuasive and
proselyting power it can exert when grand
interests are at stake 1t has unswerving
courage in the front of battle, but it detests
the tiresome drill, the irksome discipline, and
the long march that leads up to the enemy;
to carry out the army comparison-it has its
inert main body its guerillas who, like the
Ku-Klux Klan, insist on fighting after the war
is over, and its camp followers and suffers.
The latter were large and influential class,
and the Republican, like all other parties, has
its corrupt element, of which nothing save
continued defeat can purify it. So long as it
has the prestige of victory and spoils, it
can rely upon the voice and vote of host of
worthless who are sure to leave it in the day
of its adversely.
We argue, therefore, that the Republicans
are in a position altogether different from
years of that wonderful career in which they
have achieved successes and reforms which
seemed, even to themselves at the outset tt
be the work of q century. They have NJ
longer hold upon the ordinarily Indifferent
class who vote only for ideas their theory Of
administration is too honest for the camp fol
lowers, and they are deficient in mock thunde
and claptrap. More than that, patriotic dut
compels them to enforce onerous fiscal obi
cations with none of the usual 'ops to Ger
berus in the shape of glory, armed acquisition
of territory, or other violent wavings of tn
American flag.
This is a sorrowful statement; for it in
wolves a confession that many good mel
)nly support a cause in its emergencies
hat many weak men desert it except unde
he stimulus of high examples and that tn,
.orruptionists who follow its march to victor
are willing to fight upon the other sid
when the spoils are no longer forthcoming
Is the Democratic party in any better posi-
tionp SO far as affirmative political doctrin
is concerned it has done. It's mission
for years past has been to prophesy tel
rible results from the continuance of Repub
ican rule. These predicted results hav
never come to pass. If they had 1t woul
have made little differences; for the De
mocracy has no claim to any polio
of its own-no distinctive theory as to th
payment of the national debit no scheme
reconstruction, save to fall back upon th
status existing before the Rebellion, an
which caused the war; no purpose an
hardly pretense of honesty and economy
expenditures; and no power of appeal to til
populace in any bold, aggressive mode
handling our foreign relations The Dem
cracy has nothing affirmative left. What lit
of principle it may assert is but sapless al
withered thing of the past-an old man
memory of great contests over petty affair
1t only exhibits itself as a drag upon Il
wheel of progress. Its conservatism has deg
nerated into Bourbonism.
How will it be in 1872 when all the
causes in both parties will combine to centr
another Presidential election? The Dem
cracy will have no record save that of Il
vilest and most thievish of State and muniC
pal governments; but that record alone W
be of magnitude enough to rouse the indifft
ent element among the Republicans and tea
1t that "great moral ideas" are continuous a.
not spasmodic in their action. At the saI
time the Republicans will come before t
people with story Of national credit restore
of debts paid, of economy enforced, of ter
tory acquired, of peace and goodwill es
blished between lately warning sections,
commercial prosperity, and of great mater
enterprises accomplished. In the meanti
sundry causes of discomfort will have bt
removed. Gold and paper, we may hope
he equivalent in value, the rough fuct
tions in the price of gold which now imp
the importer and the merchant will b
passed away, taxation will have been
duced and q compromise will have bt
effected upon the tariff question by VIII
iustice to the consumers shall be reconci
with reasonable encouragement to dome