The Louisiana Democrat. [volume] (Alexandria, La.) 1845-1918, 1871-08-02


in the cities of New York and Phila-
delphia. Who can mistake the mean
ing of these preparations for the next
Presidential election ? Who doubts that
warning and rebuke are needed now to
prevent the Administration from carry
ing out its purpose by force If the
warning be not given by the people or
fail of Its proper effect, can we hope for
peace ? 1t seems to us an error to sup
pose the American people tame enough
to be knicked under the yoke of des-
potism, or ignorant enough to be Jug
gled out of the great inheritance of free
government which their fathers left
them.
RoTTENNEss OF THE ADMINISTRATION
We complain Of our present rulers
for lawless usurpatioE of power. Pow
err not delegated is always abused. In
this, as in other cases, usurpation has
been accompanied and followed by
corruption. Frauds without number,
and almost without limit, have been
committed on the public. Men of the
worst character for common honesty
are permitted to occupy the highest
places. Of the money collected from
the people, and not stolen before it
reaches the Treasury, large portion
is squandercd by Congress on party
favoyites or corrupt rings, and on base
combinations of public plunderers.
The enormous extent to which this
financial corruption has been carried
will become manifest to any one who
compares the expenditures of the Gov
ernmcnt during the six years which
followed the civil war. Both were
periods of peace, and there can be no
excuse for more than small increase
corresponding to the ratio in which the
population has advanced. But where
the ordinary expenditures for the fiscal
year ending juno 1, 1870, exclusive of
Indian annuities, pensions, and interest
on the public debt, were $l4s, 66s, 1929,
43, for the year ending June I, 1860,
the expenditures for the same purpose
were but $55,91s,lsS ~. Here is
shown the difference between the ordi-
nary cost of carrying on our Govern
ment when its agents are honest, and
the cost of the Same thing when its
officers are so destitute of moral prin-
cipal as to disregard all legal limita-
tons upon their own authority. A
free, unperverted representative gov
eminent is simple in its machinery
easily maintained, and "dispenses its
blessings like the dews of Heaven
unseen and unfelt, save in the beauty
and freshness they contribute to pro
duce;" the secure tranquility of a regal
establishment may sometimes be q
compensation for the burdens it, i'm
poses, but rotten republic is at once
the most costly, the most oppressive.
and the most unsteady of all political
structures
THE ISSUES.
1t will surely be admitted that al
American citizens who sbelieve these
facts to be true are bound by the
sacred obligations of patriotism, honor
and conscience to oppose this state o.
things, and by opposing end it. The
persons interested in preventing {
change will ask how, to what extent
and by what means we propose tt
make reforms. The question is fail
one, and we will answer it briefly. i
will be the duty of the Democratic
party, and, to the extent of our au'
thority. original or delegated, we here
by pledge ourselves and our associates
so far as in us lies
/. To put the ship of State onc'
again on her Constitutional tack ant
hold her head firmly and steadily tt
that course.
2. To protect the individual either
of all parties, classes and creeds in tn
enjoyment of life, liberty, property
reputation and the pursuit of thei
lawful business, by an imperative ad
ministration of justice in the ordaine,
and established courts.
3. To preserve the power of tn
general government in their Who'll
constitutional vigor as our sole defens
against foreign aggression, the safes
bond of union between different sec
tons of the country, and the only sur
promise of general prosperity.
4. To maintain, unimpaired, the re
served rights of the States, not onl
because they are guaranteed by til
g Federal Constitution, but because tn
States alone can safely be trusted wit
the management of their own local COZ
Germs.
S. To reduce the expenditures of tn
Government by combining its apprt
priations to legitimate objects, by
rigid system of accountability an
economy, and by abolishing much ,
: the unnecessary and pernicious ma
chinery with which it is now encum
bered.
6. 10 moderate the burdens of IL
people, not only by economical admir-