The Caucasian. [volume] (Alexandria, La.) 1874-1875, 1874-11-14
THE REPRoot.

Republican party which had in 1872
achieved SO signal a victory ove1
all opposition and received an un
QUALIFIED endorsement at the hands
Of the American people, came before
the same people in the State cleo
tions just now passed. Confident
OF victory, eagerly counting on thu
renewal Of its lease OF power tt
plumber and Cypress at will and
gloating over the spoils which were
to be it's portion with Congress and
the State governments all in it,
hands, it has met with a terrible re
proof Itsrecent overwhelming de
feats in the great States where il
had its strongest hold, teaches it q
lesson which may be read by him
who runs. That lesson is that
while the underlying basis or foun
dalton Of that party under the ad'
ministrations of General Grant, has
been a firm conviction that the
great American people were at
heart corrupt and dishonest, that
they are not only in theory but
practice too, both upright and hon.
est. The fact that the people Of
Massachusetts have repudiated Ben
Batter, the nominee of that party
and elected General n. p. Banks,
an independent, but honest candi.
date, leaves no room to doubt that
the revulsion Of feeling was not on
ly wide spread but deep rooted.
The party of protested high NOR
al ideas, which taught that it was
no harm to steal and no crime to
lie, has come to grief, and the great,
honest heart of the American peo-
pie thr0bs with delight at witness
ing it's discontinue. Drunk with
success, rushing madly on course
of which the end was Imperialism
and the beginning the uprooting Of
the very foundation of all civil lib.
erty, and common honor, honesty
and decency, it has been checked
midway in its career by the warn
ing voice of a power it is impotent
to resist and powerless to disobey,
and we behold it now as it stag.
gers, halts bewildered, and looks
around in amazement. If we were
to ask if it is not a fact that this
party has been corrupt for six years,
we would be compelled to answer
that it has been. Truth compells
the admission BY every candid mind
that it has been overbearing, un-
scrupulous and reckless since the
very beginning of General Grants
first administration. 1t was noto-
rious then ard hardly denied by
his partisans that the sure and GER
tain road to his favor was through
costly presents. Witness the do
nation to him of the $4,000 dwell
ling house, the gift of the Long
Branch Cottage, etc. Nor was this
craving for the wealth which was
TO bring with it all other blessings
in their opinion, confined to the
President. Congress was no less
corrupt as is evinced by the Credit
Mobilier and other money making
schemes of the Congress under
Grants first administration. If
chen, as is a fact, the Republican
party has been dishonest for six
years, it is pertinent to enquire by
what means, why is it that it is on
" now defeated I? If it has been
corrupt all the time and the people
honest, why have they not before
now risen in their might and driven
The thieves and plunderers from the
high places held by them
By one who has attentively OBJ
served the course of events during
The last six years the question is
easily answered. First of all the
great financial panic of last year
had great deal to do with the fin
II downfall Of the party upon which
fell all the odium for that panic
And when the masses of the people,
the working people, laboring mas.
IS went before a Republican Con-