The Democratic press. [volume] (Ravenna, O. [Ohio]) 1868-1901, 1873-01-16
WHOLE No: $50.
The Easy Road to Absolutism.

way. We are making progress. Not
by fierce political commissions, but
slowly and surely. Accordingly we
have great cause for gratitude. 9th
er countries and people have beenaob-
liged to pass through the ,throes OF
revolution and the agony of strife to
change their form of government.
Seven years of war were needed to
give us the republic which we are
now casting aside; France never chan
ges from a republic TO an empire
without bioodshed in all other coun-
tries the shock ofpolitical convulsions
accompanies transformation. But in.
this regard how signaliy blest we are
We are passing by such easy stages to
an absolute centralized government,
that the change is hardly noticed. Let
us be very thankful for it.
We began, in the usual way, with
military leader. And with 3 leader
whose strongest characteristics were
his reticent behavior, and the habit of
pursuing his purpose in dogged, per-
sistent silence. Nothing in history is
more striking than the ease and cer-
tainty with which President Grant
so far made and is continuing his ap-
proaches to the form of government
1lG iACSlt CSs LIS sup w DO thC
very natural one of appropriating to
himself, personally, the presidential
Office, and dividing the patronage
among his family relatives and de-
pendents, and the military hangers-on
at his court. Following this was the
announcement that he should be in
dependent of politicians, under cover
of which he made his choice of those
~; ~ hrrn l.
serviceable, and united them with his
military adherents. in ring more
powerful than the Persignys, DeMor-
nys, and St. Arnauds of Louis Verhu-
ell. Then to test the temper of the
people he broached, of his motion
and independent of his cabinet or
Congress, his annexation policy, from
which he cautiously seemed to recede
for time when he discovered that he
was little too fast. He made anoth-
er tentative movement toward abso-
lutism when, under the cover of NOV
ing the crops, he took the money Lar-
ket of the country in his own hands
ry. His allies bungled, and he eau
tiously withdrew. In his manage
nent for reelection he was equally
CIV u anu Col Cl AClO w 90 AOlAl-
ing to shock the ordinary citizens in
any of the methods or means by which
he swayed the convention of his party.
They were as smooth and beautiful-as
an assessors notice, but they meant
business. -.--..-s.-
And now having been reelected by
smaller vote than before, he inter
prets the result as Indicating first,
thousands of citizens have so far lost
their interest in political affairs as not
to vote for president, consequently
that they are Indifferent whether they
shall live under the government of all
or the government of one; and sec.
ondly, that those who voted for him
and who alone have any voice in the
government or any rights under it,
are entirely willing that he should go
his own way to the end, According
ly we find MIN in his first message te
Congress after the election proposing
syst EN- of internal improvements
grander than the widest conceptions
of any European monarch, and cost
Ing if carried out, hundreds of mill
ions of dollars; subsidies of twenty
five millions to private corporations
the c0nfiscation of the telegraph lines
of the country so that all postal and
telegraph communication shall be con-
trolled by his government, and every
letter and telegram be subject to the
oversight of his office holders and
through hts secretary of the treasury
the adoption of q financial policy
which will give him absolute power
over the money market in order to
move the crops He sends troops
into Arkansas and directs the legis-
Iature of that State, and his retainers
in the Senate rebuke the senator from
Arkansas for inquiring the reason for
it. He sits in, Judgment upon the
qualifications of members of the Ala
bama legislature, and his law officer
decides who shall be United States
senator He steps in with federal off
flee holders and United States troops,
and, in order that his brother-in-law
may be elected United States Senator,
sustains q man as governor of Louisi-
ana whose only official existence was
as State senator whose term of
Office has expired. Under Grant there
are no State governments, aud State
authority is extinct.
He is doing his work well. With
all his family in office; the army I'M
der bis hand, and no one allowed to
call him to account or ask reason for
his disposition oft; State legislatures
made or uumade by him; the legali-
ty of State governments and the quail
ification of United States Senators
subject to his decision; millions at his
disposal for subsidies. and government
works; aud the whole correspondence
ofthe country, by mail and telegraph,
open before him, what is to prevent
his making the government in name
as well as in fact absolute and per-
sonal? i eaasT9iI35 ggstiiiai
% BY all means double his salary.
None of his predecessors ever accom-
plished SO much as he. The man who
can carry the country through so qui-
ct and so sure transformation as
that we are experiencing earns what
ever he chooses TO exact