The Republican journal., 1873-07-31
THE LIVES OF PARTIES.

1t is an ndisputable truth in natural
philosophy that the stream cannot rise
higher than its fountain. Equally true is
the assertion that in the philosophy of
politics a party cannot continue after the
reservoir that supplied its vital current
has run dry. Political parties have their
lives of various duratons-their birth
from small and feeble beginnings, the full
tide of sweeping success that carries all
before it, and the feeble dwindlng that
precedes nothingness One of the most
difficult things in politics is to make the
leaders Of a dying party believe that its
time has come, and that their sceptre has
departed. They like not to acknowledge
the waning power of Il force that they
have SO long directed. They refuse To be
lieve that the army which has moved to
battle and victory at their command, is
to be disorganized and scattered And
most of all do they abhor that the spoils
of the victors shall no longer come to their
Golfers The rens of power do not drop
from their hands-they must be wrenched
away.
The present condition OF the republican
party is an example of the truths to which
we have alluded. Brought into power ON
single issue, which was for long years
feeble and unpromising, but which sud-
denly swelled into one of tremendous inn
port, it was borne on the wings of the
storm rather than directing it, and owed
its most recent successes to the meXpect-
ed impetus it then acquired. Like its
predecessors known as the Federal party,
the Wing party, the Know Nothing par
| ty, the organization which elected the
present administration has expended it,
vital force, and has nothing to live upon
taken away the very breath of its nos
| trils, and ii must perforce die, Those
who cling to it and its fortunes are re-
| luctant to believe this. But the facts OF
to-day and the truths of history alike de
| clare it. The Credit Mobilier swindle and
| the salary steal furnish abundant evidence
Of the fact that the leaders of the republi-
can party are not sensible of their re-
| sponsibility to the people and to the de
mands of public opinion And we fur
Their believe that few Of any party are
| aware of the tremendous influence which
the latter measure is having. 1t appears
now to be the last feather which is Il
break the back Of the peoples patience
No party that was not already pervadel
by the elements of dissolution would evel
have sanctioned such measure, and com
mitted itself to the blunder by the APP
proval of its Congress and President
An article by Mr. Parton, in the Angus
number of the Atlantic Monthly, draws ;
sharp contrast between the Presidents o
former days and the one Of the present
The contrast is perhaps not intended. bu
still the reader cannot help making it
And this contrast defines Just as strongl,
the difference between the party that elect
ed and sustained jefferson and the one tina
elected and sustains Grant Mr. Parton say
the democratic party governed the coun
try for sixty years, because it was RICH
on every issue except that of slavery, an,
on that one Issue it went to pieces. LIE
the reader note the features Of jefferson
administration as Parton lays them down
! ono Inv ono ac followC
He was faithful to the party that elected him
He did not attempt to conciliate federalists b.
appointing them to office he intended to bur
| federalism forever and he did it.
/ He would not appoint men to office merel
| because they We're conspicuous partisans.
He took great care to get the right man TO
the right place, and to this end he relied upo
5 the unsolicited recommendation of men in WHOM
he had confidence.
, | He would not give an appointment to a rela
tive.
He would not exempt friends from the opera
ton of a general rule. He thought foreig
minister should not remain abroad more tina
f seven or eight years, because in that time on
. country was so changed that the minister woul
l be too ignorant of it to justly represent it. H
therefore recalled two of his oldest friends, VIII
where admirable foreign diplomatists.
e He turned no man out of Office because he wa
| opposed to him in politics he would not put an
restraint upon the right of suffrage by punish
| ing man for exercising it.
lie reduced the patronage of the governmeI
to a minimum He wanted to pay the men aC
| equatey whom the government did employ, bu
\ not TO employ two men to do one mans work
He endeavored to simplify the operations {
government, especially the financial, so that
his constituents could understand them. H