The true northerner. [volume] (Paw Paw, Mich.) 1855-1920, 1872-11-29
The Party or the Future.

The Democratic and Liberal papers
comfort themselves, in this hour of ter
rible affiiction, with prophecies concern
ing the Party of the Future. Man
never is, but always is TO be, blest.
They are confident that present defeat,
which no one of them foretold, albeit
they are prophets, means ultimate
triumph. They are certain that the
Liberel party, whatever they mean by
that, is the Party of the Future.
Perhaps it is probably it is not. One
thing is certain-the Democratic party
is not. The organization has been
killed out OF the pale of popular
thought II is an outcast, an lshmael,
that will never again be taken inside
mems doors. Nor is that TO be the
Party of the Future which bears the
slightest resemblance to the Democratic
organization, whether in principles. OBJ
stinacy, or in the personnel OF its leaders.
ANY organization into which notorious
minority of Democratic leaders is
drawn, will founder. Any organization,
of which the Democratic rank and file,
and the mass of Democratic leaders,
will take possession, will meet the fate
which the country has awarded the
coalition so recently sent to its death.
Neither as its own carcass, nor as the
spirit. nor as the soul and body of any
new organization, can the Democratic
party evee attain again popular hold
in the United States. The bewildered
Liberal leaders who do not see this in
the half million ballots cast against
them on Tuesday last, are either blind
as posts, or have not the courage to tell
what they know.
The Party of the Future, in every
country and at every period, has been
the party which has led all others in
safe, progressive principles. The his
tor, of every constitutional government
has been the history of parties risen and
decayed; but every victorious organiza.
ton has slain its predecessor by strength
of radicalism on the popular side, and
has not been itself slain until new
organization arose more radical and
more progressive. This is true of every
country in which the people have been
recognized as possessing any rights lndc-
pendentlv of the Government. Occa-
sionally, when the progressive party has
been carried TOO far beyond the intel
lectual advancement of the people,
gross excuses have produced temporary
reaction, and conservatism thus snatched
brief days OF power. The history OF
civilized society has been nothing but
race after a perfect human government;
and as a man weary with running to-
ward a goal will fall upon the grass dis
couraged by fatigue or alarmed lest he
be approaching an abyss, so have ma
tions sometimes paused. France was
glad to rest after the revolution. The
Commune produced a slight recoil. If
she permits herself to be whirled 10y
revenge into a new struggle with Ger.
many, her hope OF popular government
will be temporarily thwarted, for into a
conservatism and "a strong govern
ment" she will inevitably relape. In
England, the progression of parties has
been singularly smooth since the days
Of the debauchee John. The party that
has constantly triumphed there has
triumphed at the constant expense of
the crown, and to the constant advan-
tage of the people. Since the Carlist
revolution nothing has transpired to in
terefere with the steady growth of
radical principles. 1t was believed that
the daring which disestablished State
Church would have resulted in a re-
Mobilization Of the Tories {; but the peril
Gus phase OF popular surprise was safely
passed, and now the disestablishment
of still another church is more likely to
follow.
There is This difference, too, between
the Conservative party Of England and
the Democratic party of the United
States. The former, after riding to
pace on the ruins of a Liberal Cabi.
net, have immediately stolen and prop
agated the measures which their oppo.
nents would have been certain TO adj
vance, and have thus been able at inter
walls TO keep long administration leases
under a conservative name because they
are doing radical work. But the Demo.
cratic party has never had the brains
even to steal better principles than its
own; and it proved in 1860 and for
twenty years before that il had not
the courage to adopt better ones when
ii could have got them honestly. The
party in England which tried TO main.
tain politica! distinctions on account OF
differences nreligion, and which upheld
the divinity Of the King, made strug.
gle for life more pertinacious than that
of the Democratic party; both were
killed for exactly the same reason
their countries had outgrown them.
Neither revolutions nor nations move
backward. The Party of the Future in
the United States will be that which
will lead the country on farther in the
realization Of free government than the
Republican party has done. Perfect
human government is, of course, ideal
but the irreversible trndency is to get
nearer to IL. This tendency has thus
far been the animation of the Republi
can party; and while its spirit remain.
unchanged, 1t, and no other, is tn,
Party of the Future. There need b,
no limit to party's life. 1t lives il
deeds, not years Chicago Post.