Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1868-1875, 1874-11-20

as the widespread protest operating equal
and with equal significance in Massachu
sets and Texas, in Michigan and Ala
bamas shoes, is the great fact that tn
country, the whole country, has becOm
alarmed at the reckless disregard Of consti
tutional limitation, and the absolute
almost admitted, corruption and extrava
gance of every branch Of the Federal Gov
eminent, from the Chief Executive dow
70 the lowest subordinate. An inyestiga
ton into all the facts, and an exhibit ofth'
books and accounts is demanded.
DANGER OF DIssESaONs.
The Democratic party has been entrast
ed with the control of the House of Repre-
sentatives in the next Congress of tn,
United States, for the purpose of having
these investigations had and these exhibit:
made, and when they are they will be o.
such character as to drive forever from
place and power all who have so shameless
ly violated the great trusts confided 10 them
The Radicals would be glad-indeec, it L
their only hope, II we avoid reactI0nary
legislation-for US to waste our time and
exhaust our energies in quarrels and dis
sessions among ourselves over contraction
or expansion of the currency and other
kindred subjects, or in making platforms
for the party in Congress instead OF In our
/ National Conventions, knowing, as they do,
that we are absolutely powerless TO legislate
On any subject while they have the Senate
under their control and the veto of the
President at their command.
| But neither the Senate nor the President
can shield thepublie plundereTsfrom the ex-
pose winch competent committees appointed
by Democratic Speaker will certainly
make TO Congress and the Country, nor
save them from the punishment due for the
crimes committed. The country does not
expect impossibilities, but it viii not toll
crate evasion of duty; it will not hold us
responsible for failure 10 effect general
| legislation in the next Congress, because
we are known 10 be powerless. 1t is will
ling to wait for a general convention 10 lay
down our platform of principles for the
| future; but it will, and it ought TO hold US
to strict responsibility if we do not, in
the next Congress, demand aud insist up
On.the most thorough economy and hon.
esty in the collection and disbursement of
the money of the people, and on the most
rigid scrutiny into the past conduct of pub
lie affairs. If we do our duty we viii soon
know (what has been so long and so art
fully concealed>, what has become of all
the proceeds of the sales of our ships and
munitions of war; Why customhouses
and Internal Revenue Bureaus have
little; by what manipulation straw
bids and fayoritism in the PostOffioe
Department have cost the country so many
millions Of dollars; why such shameless
and unblushing robberies have been per-
-, - l.
process the lands Of the country have been
transferred to railroads owned by govern
ment officials and their pimps; how the
Attorney General and his secret service
thieves have plundered the people and the
Treasury alike, and degraded the army of
the United States by using it for the basest
Of purposes; IN short, bow all the powers Of
government and the taxes wrung from the
sweat of the poor have been prosiituted and
permitted to sustain and enrich the admin
istTatiOn and its friends. 1.-THE Democratic
party fails or comes short Of its duty in
these great matters, it will, as | said, meet
the just reprObation Of the country.
RADICALIsM WILL DIE HARD.
We must not conclude because of our
recent success that the Ra Iical leaders will
acknowledge defeat, or give up the contest.
Reckless of the means they employ, and
fully aware of the terrible exposures .yilich
q transfer Of power viii bring; with over
500, 900 annually placed in their hands;
with nearly ninety thousand Office-hOlders,
the personal reputation as well as position
OF many Of whom is at stake; with the
army and navy at their back, and with eve
~ great subsidized corporation and pro-
tected monopoly, including the banks and
bond-holdeTs TO sustain them; they will
fight with the desperation of despair, and
debauch all that is cOTuptible in the land.
They know as well as We do, the diSorgan-
lied condition Of the opposition, and I'M
derstand, fully the advantages organized
and drilled bands have over militia. They
have seen our folly and weakness eXhib-
tied too often, not to hope for such repiti
tiOnS of il, as will enable them once more
to snatch victory from the jaws Of defeat.
Indeed they have justly boosted more than
once, that they have retained power, not by
any wisdom of their own, but by our want
of it. Even in the late great contest we
had no leaders, no great master minds
guiding and directing the game-the powers
moved themselves, the swell came from the
bottom, and we were as much astonished
at the magnitude Of our victory as the
Radicals.
THE LESSON OF THE VICTORIES.
II was all The more glorious because it
was so won. The lesson it teaches Is plain
and emphatic An oppressed and justly
alarmed people have, almost by instinct,
risen in their might ard declared that CELL
tralization and consolidation of power, per-
sonal government, oppression and robbery
Of State and people, will be tolerated no
longer. They have spurned the dishonest
officials who fostered discord and strife
while proclaiming loyalty and peace. They
refuse longer to throw their sweaty caps in
the air and sing peans to those who seek at
once TO rob and enslaye them. They de-
mand the restoration of equality Of rights,
and fraternal relations 10 and among the
States and the people, regardless Of whether
they wore the blue or the gray. They pro-
test against subsidies, mOnOpOlies, class
legislation and exclusive privileges, and
demand equal rights and exact justice to
all. They emphatically require the subor-
dination of the military to the civil authori-
ties, and trial by jury under the State laws,
the equality and integrity of the States,
with fair, free elections, conducted under
State authority, and an honest count of their
votes by Congress i'm Presidential elections.
They ariH hare, hereafter, honesty, capacity
and fidelity in public officials, economy and
strict integrity in the management of the
money taken from them by the tax-gather-
er. 1t is because all these things have been
ig, Ored and disEegarded by the party in
power, and because they hope aud trust
that they will all be enforced and upheld |
by the Democratic party that the people |
have risen, as it were by magic, from The |
Atlantic to the Pacific, and from the lakes |
10 the Gulf, in great, grand effort to re-
store pure and honest administration of |
The Government under aud in obedience to !
The Constitution.
THE CONSTITUTION AGAIN SUPREME.
Nothing like it was ever seen before. Il |
throws the mind back, away beyond our |
own declaration of Independence to the
lays when the BaronS of England wrunr |
.he great charter of their liberties from a /
.yrannical King. | travelled last summer |
)ver several of the countries of Europe and |
saw many of the splendid monuments they /
mad erected to perpetuate the great epocls or |
events in their history, but | saw nothing
which so impressed me, as that old charter
which is carefully preserved in the British |
Museum. As stood, uncovered. and look
ID reverently at the rude marks and crosses
made by three untitled men, and saw their
'eals upon the wax, made with the hits of
heir swords, l felt, although South Caro-
ina was PROSTATE in the dust, and Louis
ana in chains; although eleven States and