The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1871-03-08
GreniMa Telearaph
WEDNESDAY, MARCH 8, 1871.
THE COMMISSIONS.

I'M mLOOIONO.
FROM the indignation manifested by theu-
sands of the citizens of Philadelphia at the
infamous proposition to bind them hand and
foot as the Submissive slaves of a few legis-
lative favorites, it is clearly apparent that the
passage of the Commission bills, in their pre-
sent shape, will utterly destroy the ascend
ancy of the Republican party in this munich
pslity. No Registry law, no Metropolitan
Police Commission no amount of corruption
in the CANVASS or of cheating in the
returns, can save party which
repays the confidence of a confding con-
stituency by robbing it of the last semblance
of local self government and by fastening
upon it tet of merciless cormorants. 1t is
unfortunately too true that many minor legis-
lat We outrsges have been quietly submitted
to, Tut the indignation that has 80 long been
pent up cannot possibly be restrained If the
legalization of petty pilferings is to
be succeeded by the authorization
of gigantic robberies and the
in Il rsement of scheme which will make
Philadelphia taxpayers glad to exchange their
lot with that of the most oppressed citizens
of the most tyranDical country on the face of
the globe The Republican party is nomi-
nally party of freedom, but if it endorses the
Commission bills now pending at Harrisburg,
this pretense viii be such Haunting lie that
thousaI DIS and tens of thousands of Philadel-
phians who have hitherto voted lis ticket will
seek the restoration of righteous rule and
revenge by joining any organization that
promises to bruise the heads of the Shiny
serpents Republication has nourished in her
bosom. Too long, oh, too long has mighty
municipality suffered itself to be deluded,
betrayed, outraged, aud wronged.
No future event can be more certain than
that it will rise in wrath as sweeping rs the
whirlwind against all who are actively con-
cerned in the greatest and most fatal of all
betrayals. AS party of freedom, Republ-
canism was supported by Philadelphia; as
par Y of the worst form of local slavery, it
will be annihilated. AS party of patriotism
and purity, it commanded the support of
tens of thousands of honest
voters as party of plunder, and
as the serviceable instrument of Tweed, the
most notorious and most unscrupulous of
Democratic partsans, it will deserve the in
dignant condemnation of every citizen who
has not lost all self-respect all love of local
self government, and all confidence in the
ability of the American people to regulate
their own affairs. If it is the deliberate in-
tention of the Legislature to give fatal stab
to the Republican party of the city and State,
it can devise no better surer means for attain
ing that end than by passing the Commission
bills in their present shape, having them
signed by the Governor, and putting their
commissions In full blast, so that tax payers
may see at once how voraciously King Storks
can devour them. Republicanism will then
be crushed; taxation on city property will be-
come SO onerous that popu alton will be
driven away, and its growth and prosperity
be fearfully impsded, and the people, forced
to choose between absolute ruin and such
local popular uprising as has never before
been witnessed on this continent, will
find means to strike terror into the scared
souls of the Legislators who are plotting
against them, and all their aiders and abet-
tors.