Lamoille newsdealer. [volume] (Hyde Park, Vt.) 1860-1877, 1871-05-17
Frsm ihe \. 4. Eve. Pet.
Albany and Washington.

tirely confident Of success In the national
elections Of next year. After more than
ten years spent in opposition, lis leaders
now openly boast that their hour Of tri-
umph is at hand Yet the reasons FOR
this assurance are not obvious aud il
may be worth while TO inquire seriously
whether, if the people had to choOEe be-
tween them and the Republicans, they
would choose to coufde the future gov
eminent Of the nation to them.
As a party the Democrats have brought
forward no new idea. They still cling to
the old notions which they have presented
to the country in their successive quad
rennial elections, only to see them rejected
by Overwhelming majorities each time. 1t
would seem natural that such party
should feel the necessity Of finding new
issue of abandoning the merely obstruc-
tive course they have taken, and Of ma
turing some broad policy for the future
which might promise national advancement
and arouse popular enthusiasm. But they
seem to have among them no statesman.
ship, no originality, no capacity for pro-
gress they can only encourage their hun
CRY army Of oflice-seekers with the hope
of place, and rely for their strength be-
fore the people entirely on the supposed
dissatisfaction generally felt with the Re-
publican administration of affairs.
If this dissatisfaction, however great,
is to bring them success, it must be because
the people believe that the country would
be better Off on the whole, in the hands
of the Democrats.
Even admitting that all the charges
brought by the Democratic Congressman
in their recent address were well founded,
how would our condition be improved by
the change they demand? This question
is one, We may be sure, which the people
will ask, which they are already asking
and the means for a very probable answer
to it are not hard to fnd. While the
Republicans have recently held all branch
es of the federal government, and cor
trolled its policy, the Democrats have
held, with equally unquestioned power,
all branches of our State government,
Both parties have thus had clear field
in which to display their principles and
purposes; and comparison between the
two is the natural process by which u
plain man Is likely to estimate their fit
ness to guide the future Of the nation
Where is the most satisfactory government
now, at Albany or at Washington?
Whatever complaints are made of the
recent acts of the national executive or of
Congress, no fair man has questioned the
honesty and patriotism of the federal gov
eminent, on the whole, in the hands of
the Republicans. The public revenues
are collected with energy, impartiality,
and with extraordinary economy; taxes
arc reduced year by year, and yet the
surplus of the Treasury steadily increases,
and the national debt is rapidly paid off /;
the credit Of the government, whether
measured by the value Of its currency or
by the price of its bonds, constantly i'm
proves, and its expenses diminish. No
person in the United States believes OF
suspects that any measure of actual cor,
ruption, known to be such, could find ia.
vor for moment with the President OIL
with either house Of Congress.
Again, all the accounts of the genera
government are public. The expenses o.
every department and Of every man arc
recorded where any citizen may read
them; and the summary Of all that il
done with the public money is made VI
in detail every month, and given to the
country All Legislation is framed an(
q discussed in public, and the reasons TO
/. its adoption are, or may be, known to CIV
e cry one. The machinery of administra
y ton is transparent; no secret director,
i. or conspiracy controls it, and no error i
made that is not selfproclaimed through
S out the land. 1t is fierce light tina
!, beats forever on such government, ant
every spot is magnified and darkened b.
d its glare; but we may be sure that tn
!. people appreciate at least the fact tina
A they know and understand what thei
= public servants are doing, and they pre-
i fer even an open, candid, undisguise
= mistake to an indirect and conceae
;r wisdom.
IT Albany presents a very different scenC
% The Encouragement of the finances of th
it State and of this city, under its Director
ID has become byword. The revenues fror
ID the canals have been wasted and hav
now disappeared. The prisons and othe
public institutions are grossly abused fc
political ends. The city burdened wit
taxes beyond all precedent; and hord
l. e 49, 49,. L Il -. L. Il