American citizen. [volume] (Canton, Miss.) 1864-1890, 1872-04-20

ing later years is not altogether inviting t.
Republicans, who feel some responsibility TO
what transpircs. Abroad, the repute of thu
tst'on has not been sustained, our diploma
cy has been frequently scandalized, the OLD
friendships with nearly every foreign pow
er haye been chilled, and the graves
Implications have been hastily appealed t.
an arbitration where the very preliminarie
seem yet to be involved in dispute. On
commercial marine is swept from the ocean
soon to be driven likewise from the lakes
and after having n few years since closed
thousand miles OF sca-coast against thu
blockade runners of The world, we are nov
tainted by Spanish officials with inability t.
defend the harbor of n single principal city
Sinister objects, selfish schcming, womanl,
intrigues, personal antipathies master tn,
Department of State, ard lassitude feebl,
initiates courage. Thus it happens that
! while the patriotism of Cuba, without pro
test, Is being stamped out in blood, the
| vaunted Monroe doctrine pcddles down to 8
projected land steal at San Domingo.
Another subject that has never ceased tC
claim absorbing interest has been the rela
ton sustained by the government to the
| emancipatcd race. Proud of the achieve
| ment of having liberated 5000, 900 of human
beings, Republicans have felt sohcitous to
see them so incorporated with the commune
ties in which they dwell that their newl y-ac
quircd citizenship should work no disturb
| ance and incite no umbraGe. Resuming sus
pended labor, mingling in local concerns,
| giving the cause of good government a free
support, attached to different parties as indi
vidual judgment might determine, it was
| recognized that the rights of the colored
| race would be respected by all, and that
| question pass finally out of politics. Its
safety would lie in division of its suffrage
its division would come from being let alone.
But it may be well asked, Has such consider
alton for the welfare of the freedmen obtain
| ed with those in powerg Has not policy
| the very reverse been pursued with regard to
| them: has not an active partisanship been
| demanded of them; has not their vote been
welded, absolutely Il unit, and has not the
result of all this been protracted alienation,
| disreputable government, and endangered
| liberties? The external control which,
by teaching political dependence, uses a
race thus emancipated threat and a
| means of dominating the suffrage of all OPP
| posed to its continuance in power, substan-
| TALLY puts the achievements of the war at
| the peril of single Presidential campaign.
1t thus does in its own person that very thing
which constitutes its gravest charge against
| former adversaries, and does it from purely
selfish considerations. 1t regards the col
be only administered in spirit of
force, and to be taught to rely
upon external force for maintenance.
Must they not, however, be protected, you
ask, against outrage and crime, in person
and in rights? l answer, yes-a thousand
times, yes. But is military terrorism, that
| only, our best protection? Does all our civil
cation andgenius of government embodyi itself
plying shuttle of civil law, carrying its many
colored threads, and weaving beautiful pat
terms of order for society, lost all its cum
ming? Protection! Yes, say protection to
them as others, whether in Missouri or New
York, but let that protection come of agen-
cies and admin istrations powerful by virtue
of the confidence they inspire, and repressive
of wrong because founded upon unimpeach-
able justice.
Civil-service reform has been largely de-
mandpU enllDltpnpd
voice of public opinion. The press, that re-
fleets so truly, with all its partisan bias, the
general thought, has been unit in denounc
ing the present modes of appointment, and
calling for methods of intervention that
would lift the Differing of the departments
above the much reprobated spoils system.
How far has its voice been listened to, or re-
form been success? a feeble attempt,
never earnestly prosecuted has lapsed under
the eXigency of campaign purposes, and the
very appropriations to that end are voted
down by a Republican Congress and de-
nounced i'm a Republican Senate. A personal
wrangle, instigatcd by the Administration,
as to who made the largest number of recon-
mendations, is the miserable fiasco of the
whole proceeding. The country did not
quarrel with recommendations The people
would have been glad to see Senators, who
are charged by the Constitution advisers
of the President, sending in the names of
the best men of all their constituents, and
eager to see the places of public trust thus
filled. What commentary therefore, it is,
upon the service and futility of such advice,
when those who might otherwise feel it
duty, consider it necessary to prove them
selves not amenable to such charges.
But detain you by enumeration of causes
which have alienated so many Republicans.
1t is sufficient to reaffirm that such loss of
confidence on their part betokens serious
change. They feel like the Hindoos, who,
finding that their idols, though ever so much
prayed to, would not abate the plague,
started inquiry and discovered them all to
have been manufactured at Manchester. That
these impressions are not the disturbed i'm
aginings of mere disappointments, am will
ing to confide to your own consciousness.
You know that the criticism is a true or in
all its parts, as true as that the French were
supplied with ammunition at Springfield, or
that Leet was gaZetted As a general order
upon the customs. You have, however, still
other warrant when you find the protest
championed by names that command the
respect of the civilized world When the
great leader of the educational interests of
New England, Mr. Woolsy; when the first
journalist of the Republican organization in
the East, Mr.. Greeley; when that brilliant
ornament of the legal profession of the West,
sets; Il Clay, of Kentucky; Curtin, of Penn
sylvania; Grimes of Iowa, now, alas, dead
and may the good angel scatter flowers upon
his grave; when So many Others, lllustrious
for purity, talent, and culture draw like CON
illusions, then, may you rest sure that your
judgment is not morbidly biased. And
when behind the flashing and the cleaning
thus shot forth, sombre cloud of jespond
ency is seen to brood over half the nation,
when an unusual depression burdens great
and heretofore triumphant party with formal
candidates, while its ancient rival awaits
with bated breath tie coming of events,
when the accustomed market places of poll
tics are scarcely noted i'll the up-looking at
a strange portent, then tell me not that there
is storm upon the blast, gathering its
strength to scatter all this darkness and let
in once more the clear light of Gods sun
shine.