New Orleans Republican. [volume] (New Orleans, La) 1867-1878, 1874-11-08
Our MfsfOrtunes.

fact that the people who have hitherto sup
ported it are taking a very practical way Of
expressing their disapproval of it. and the
question is whether We shall fairly try tC
meet this fact, or pick ourselves up and &C
as if nothing had happened. Before adopt
uuire if q refusal to face unpleasant facts
| has not had something 10 do with the dis
aster of November 3. If this is 80. it car
| hardly be worth while continuing the same
| futile policy, and it may even happen thai
| the situation frankly studied, may appear
| less ominous than it would if We tried tC
| evade the contemplation of it.
The burden Of our sins we must take upon
ourselves, and back-pay grabbers. Credi:
MObilier statesmen and gag-law trainers We
have sustained until the country has said
that if we would no. get rid Of them we
would be spared the trouble. In no yespec,
were we any worse than our Democratic
competitors, and it hardly seems fair that
Fernando Wood should flourish like green
bay tree. while Poland is exiled to the po
| litical Siberia of Salt river for life. But. as
We had the power, we must take the respon'
! sibility, and we have no right to complain
for 80 much of the defeat as lies at the door
of Butler and Cakes Ames. Sanborn and
Jayne, and the Washington real estate ring.
For our share in these iniquities, and for a
part of our nelghbor's share has full yepara'
ton been exacted.
Then we were heavily handicapped, cum.
bered and impeded by all the isms and
ologies that lunacy could devise. Every
political vagary and every political "a.
grant, sheer lunatic in every other respect.
has had the intelligence to gravitare to the
party in power and then to stick like burr.
Movements that were laudable in their OBJ.
iects and movements that were farcicaf in
4 ns,, nd q z
that the Democracy was not the party OF
movement, that the Democracy was incapa'
BILE of accepting new ideas, and they have
brought their WIRES to the Republican
party. where they should have been vel.
come had they been properly controlled.
But they should have been promptly turned
out of doors whenever they adopted the
'.rule or ruin policy: they are not yet
strong enough to rule. but they have done a
great deal in the way of ruin.
Then there is large account to be settled
with the third-term bugaboo. The manner
in which this empty and meaningless topic
has been kept alive is an Illustration of how
much easier it is to do mischief than to pre-.
vent it. The thing was so absurd that the
utmost that was called for from any Re.
publican paper or politician was simple
expression of opinion at the outset, and
silence afterwards. Our readers will bear
witness both to the unqualified opinion We
expressed a year ago, and to our subsequent
reticence: and if others had been equally
discreet, it might have been better. But.
after all, silence 10 merely a negative wea.
pom, and can not be expected to kill sub.
iect which is kept alive by witty cartoons
and epigrams on the one side and interested
evaporation on the other. An eruption of
that kind has got to run its course, and no
matter how unpleasant it may be for the
subject. he has nothing to do but to grin
and bear it.
But even if we should Acknowledgements
into the most hidden recesses OF our hearts.
weigh upon our conscience, make public
profession of all our iniquities and of our
contritiOn therefor, we would DO still free
to saw that the revulsiOn of feeling which is
telling against the Republican party is due
not so much to the faults OF the party or to
the inevitable Accomplishments Of power as
TO accidental and extraneOus circumstances,
The people are holding the Republican
party responsible for evils which it did
nothing to bring on. which it could have
done nothing to avert: and though it is our
misfortune that such evils have happened
during Republican administration. it
i. not all our fault. We have saved
the Union, but we have not yet l;quidated
the frightfuI cost of the wasteful struggle:
and though we have brought back peace.
prosperity has not come back with it. We
are working hard. but we are not getting
rich as fast az men should who work a. hard
as we do. Our enterprises lie in Improbable
fields, and our work ends in naught. and,
as result of overtrading and specializing.
of building railways that would not pay.
and using q currency that would not re-.
main steady. we have had a panic. a dis.
turbance Of industry, cessation Of EN-.
pigment. loss and disappointment to all,
misery tc very many. 1t is very hard that
a mere administration should be held re-.
sponsibie for this. and perhaps, it is not
just to say that the administration has
been held directly responsible. But even
it the feeling caused by the panic extended
no further than a vague dissatisfaction
feeling would have been heavy burden on
an existing administration.
When we look at it in this light. the de.
feat we have encountered furnishes US with
the consolation not only that it can be
remedied, but that in it has been swept
away great deal of the rubbish and of the
impediments under which we have !abored.
If. in getting rid of Butler. we can get rid
of Butlerism, and if the time servers and
place hunters. who nave used the Organiza.
ton of the Republican party for their own
stupid ends, can be made to learn that the
people will not endure them, even for the
sake of Republicanism. and if we can get
rid Of the notion that every local and
transitory outbreak Of fanaticism can also
use the Republican party as freely as the
handle of the town pump, we shall not only
be better party, but a stronger party.
purged not only of our sins, but of the rO-
tent causes of our blunders. which are the
worst sins. after all. in politics.-!S:. Louis
Globe.
English Ignorance Of Americn.
1t is we'll known that the English are
wonderfully ignorant Of American geo.