The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1869-07-27

Editorial Opinions Of the Leading Journals
TJpon Current TOpics-COmpilcd Every
Dny for the Evening Telegraph.

Day for the Evening Telegraph.
DEMOCRACY ON A MORAL RAMPAGE
Fyoro the NJ y. Commercial advertiser.
The dead level of journalism during the
sbeated term" has occasionally been en-
Iivened by the most orthodox advice concern
inc poitical morality from Democratic sources,
and very pointed and ponderous philippics
AGAINST fhe corrupt distribution of patronage
nv the administration in power Our hearty
Uamen" goes with all crusades against vii
loinv. wherever such crusades originate; and
our benedctions follow every criticism of
scoundrelism on whomsoeyer the criticism
falls We are not over sensitive, or thin
skinned. and if a Republican miscreant is un-
masked. or a Republican scheme of plunder
ovnosed the righteous exhibition receives our
annroval So refreshing is 1t to see Demo
cratic organ undertake the T0ye OF virtue, and
affect the phrase of piety, that we forbear
TO touch too rudely any symptom of regene-
ration in that quarter. Certainly iniquity
must assume. fearful proportion, when 1t can
stortle our Democratic friends, and we have no
words to express the condition the rest of
the world should be in, when their sense of
propriety is shocked. What excites our curl
osity is that sin has no terror for Democrats,
unless committed by Republican officials, and
SO far as they are concerned, shame seems
utterly impotent in fixing its mark OF lnfamy
on any but recreant Republican foreheads.
Are our politics in such a lamentable strait
that pollution, fraud, and depravity are so iden-
titled with one party, that we are only aston
ished when they make their appearance in the
other? Some things seem to indicate this.
For weeks the leading Democratic paper in this
city has been pouring out the bitterness of its
bile on the head of the lately appointed Minister
to Spain The choicest specimens of editorial
rhetoric have informed the public of the
Viciousness of that gentlemans life and man
ners The resources of spleen and syntaX
have been exhausted to depict and disparage
the character of General Sickles. The deca-
logue records no moral obligation that he has
not violated if the lV0Td is veracious. Lar
ceny in all its stages, interspersed with the
finer arts of arson and burglary are laid to his
charge. We will not rehearse the filthy cata-
logue of vice which the IYoHd heralds tri-
weekly as making up the career and marring
the conduct of the ambassador to Madrid.
What seems remarkable Is, that this TRADE
and traducement come So Ldte. Why did we
not hear of General Sckles as the 'chief of
sinners" when he was the pet and pattern of
the fierce Democracy When Tammany
sheltered him, and shOwered its darling with
unnUmbered hOnors his alleged experiments
at perjury and forgery did not disgust or
even trouble our high-toned opponents. If
NDlShlSo ONCl llllClCh SlNlS oltIAOll Mtlo 'LlS
reward he received from his Democratic asso-
cates. If he ever contemplated the dan
gerous pastime of incendiarism, the Demo-
cratic party did not seem to regard the fiery
weakness with discredit, for it lavished on
him legislative promotion. If in bygone
years Sickles fitted himself for a permanent
residence at the penitentiary, that party gene
rously changed the direction Of his location
and gave him European retreat as a member
of our diplomatic corps. If he was a muir
derer, and if he basely compounded with
lechery, he was a Democratic Congressman
and high priest in the Democratic church
when the foul crimes were committed. AS it is
only after heroic service in the field as pa
triot and the most vigorous defense of liberal
ideas as a Republican, that the Democratic
press have discovered General Sickles' un
worthiness to be a recipient of public favor,
we must infer that, according to the ethics of
that party, no amount of criminality units an
American for wearing Democratic laurels anC
leading Democratic masses. 1t is only when
Republicans see fit to endow men damaged
with early blemishes and tainted regulations
that the inconsistency is entitled to mention
and censure. We know of no greater compli
ment that could be paid to the party with
which we have the honor to act, than the fact
that the elevation of public men with dubious
histories, while it provokes neither compli
ment nor condemnation, if coming from oui
enemies, becomes dishonor and marvel if
perpetrated by us.