The Tiffin tribune. (Tiffin, Ohio) 1868-1887, 1872-08-29

a ~ MIlllu feAcl nova true r6cOuGlli
o alton Of the past with the present
= which shall shape the future OF peace
, contentment, and progress in every
= intellectual, moral, and material ele
e ment of prosperity. What is needed
S oil the part OF the South IS not 4 rec
5 OnciliatiOn which consists in fusion
of political factions that have no sin
= gle object i'm common but the acquisi-
= tiOn of political power, und whose fu'
e ture rests upon no tradition or prinei-
t pie by which its destiny can be calcu.
. lated; but n reconciliation with the
sentiment Of national unity and indi-
vidual freedom, embodied in the his.
tory Of the Republican party, which
shall see and practically acknowledge
the common good that has grown and
T is yet to grow out of the victories that
= extinguished the heresy of secession:
? that abolished slavery and established
. universal suffrage; that, i'm restoring
the States TO their normal relations 10
T each other and the federal system,
have established the rights Of individ-
. ual citizens on a footing Of perfect
equality under the egis Of national
protection.
THE EU KLUX LAWS.
The offer of peace 10 to the South in
1865 WIS based upon the recognition
by its whole people of the civil rights
of the emancipated slaves to their
freedom, their political right as their
necessary defense 10 the ballot, their
right to education to fit them for the
intelligent and useful exercise of their
citizenship. 1t was met by the or
ganiZatiOn and Outrages Of secret
bands of maTauders and murderers,
burning schOOl-hOuses, driving away
teachers, and assaSsinating negroes
and their friends. The Fifteenth
amendment to the Constitution had
been made these unOffending people
the wards of the nation. Congress
legislated for their necessary prOtee-
tiOn by laws which, ,if they were strin-
gent, were not more SO than the ext
/ gency Of the occasion required; and
| which, if it went too far, as / think it
did, in cOnfeFring on the President
| the power to suspend the writ of ha-
beas corpus, has given occasion for the
/ praise To which il justly entities him,
Of having, in no single instance yet
/ pointed out, abused this great and ex-
| traOrdinary authority. 1t is this leg
| islatiOn which alone has given ground
| for the Outery against Imperialism
and Capitalization i'm the powers of
the Federal government at the ex-
pense Of the proper local jurisdiction
of the States. Even in this respect it
/ does not travel beyond the limit as
| signed in Olden times by strict con-
structiOnists of the straitest sect. For
/ NH 1nD r1,v,r..Fg.a
/ ton in the interests of which the doc
trine of the sovereignty Of the States
was invented and pushed to the ex-
tremitY of secession and war, there
was found even 5y Calhoun and 9TH
ers of his sect power in the Federal
/ government, under the constitutional
/ provision for the rendition of fugitive
slaves, ample enough to overthrow in
all the free States every guarantee of
personal liberty, including that Sc
cured by the writ Of habeas corpus.
| Now the tables are turned. Slavery
no longer exists rs a domestic institu-
tuition or otherwise. Freedom is both
a State and national Institutions and
congressional legislation in its support
is merely an aid to the authority of
the States when weakened by dOmes-
tic violence and lawlessness. A cor
dial acquiescence by the intelligent
white people of the South in the
rights of their cOlOred brethren, which
though newly acquired, are firmly Sc
cured, and Sn earnest effort on their
part to ameliOrate their condition and
fit them for the exercise of political
power, will soon heal sehism i'm our
social and political organizations left
by the war, and place the reins of gov
eTnment in their local jurisdictions i'm
the hands legitimately entitled to hold
them.
CIVIL SERVICE REFORM.
The next topic of objection to the
Republican administration under
Gen. Grant is that of the rafnrr1l of
tire cfvtt service. ] am certainly and
heartily in favor of some thorough
and well matured system for REFORM
ing the civil service. The country
greatly needs it, perhaps, more than
any single improvement in public af-
fairs now thought of. 1t has felt the
same need for forty years-eyer since
the introduction, with the original
access to power, of the Democratic
party, of its baleful and cOTrupting
policy, expressed in the maxim of its
constant practice-'TO the vietors be-
long the spOils." And there is no
reason apparent To my mind why
such a scheme may not be devised
and put into operation why the civil
service should not be placed upon a
footing similar to that on which is
based the military and naval service,
rs to permanency of tenure and
grounds of promotion, excepting, of
course, such high offices as are in their
nature pOlitical-why not only our
consular and diplomatic service, but
that of the bureaus i'm the executive
departments and that merely clerical
should not be administered by a per-
manent body of public agents trained
specially for their work and advanced
to fill vacancies rs they occur, accord
ing to experience and superior merit
why the habit of the nation should
not be changed so as to make office
holding, instead of office seeking, a
regular profession.
There are perhaps immense diff
culties in the way OF such reform
perhaps greater than can be fOreseen.
| 10 undoubtedly involves n change in
the temper, habits, and political edu-
cation Of the people, and from them
and in them, first, the reform must
spring. 1t certainly involves, also, q
complete change in the relation be-
tween the executive and legislatsve
departments of the government rs to
the dispensing of official patronage.
AS it is, il is a means of mutual cor
rpptiOD, whereby the President may
seduce to executive views Of policy a
plant Congress, and whereby the ne
| cessities OF Congressman to reward
| political partisans, furnish the excuse
| for appointments which degrade and
| iniure the administrative depart
| ment. The corruption goes further,
stretches wider, and extends deeper
/ than this. 1t infects the whole at
mOsphere of our party politics, and
/ pOIsOns every vein of the public life.
! 1t anticipates every election, and
binding together the fortunes Of the
highest and the lowest, from the Pres
/ ident to the pettiest cleTkship in &
/ village or township, by means OF 4
/ series Of party caucuses, and cOnven-
| tiOns, and secret combinations to
control it, places the control Of public
affairs, 50 far as they are dependent
/ upon the selection o. public agents,
executive, legislative, and judicial, EN-
tirely, or almost so, in the hands Of
! irresponsible, selfish, and corrupt in
triguers and denagOgues, without a
single aspiration for the public good,
or any desire or motive for public i'm
provement. 1t creates a body of men
who live by their profession as pOliti-
clans, and who hold Office a. a means
of plumber, or are supported by subsi-
dies, from those whom they assist in
their schemes. Party hatreds are in
famed and personal scandals invent
ed, as part Of the machinery Of their
success, to secure n nomination and
promote an election. The tendency
is continually downward, and the de-
moraIiZatiOn is so fragrant and direct
that, if not checked, it must result in
rendering it impossible for the best
men to exercise any of the functions
Of political government. IL such q
system can not be displaced By a bet
ter, there is no hope for the perma-
nenee Of Republican institutions
They can only be perpetuated upon
s basis Of an elevated public morality.
So deeply impressed am / with q
sense Of the dangers which menace
our highest public and private inter
ests from this source, that l freely