The Jeffersonian. [volume] (Stroudsburg, Pa.) 1853-1911, 1874-07-30
Republican Address.

Inc hepubllcan Congressional Commit
tee has just issued long address to the
people of the United States, setting forth
the relations of the Republican party to
the country during the last fifteen years,
and demonstrating the Importance of its
continuance in power. The document.
though extremely interesting to those who
take an interest in politics, is too long for
immediate publication, and we can now give
but summary of its principal points.
The committee address themselves to the
task of giving review of political events
since the accession of the Republican party
to power The work is performed with a
vigor which could scarcely be looked for
in midsummer, and we should think it no
Republican who will not feel deep interest
in recalling the great incidents in which
his party played so conspicuous a part
The course of the Democrats prior to 1861
is traced, not without many caustic touches,
and we can quite imagine that the Demo-
cratic press generally will pronunce this
address to be one of the worst ever issued
The awkward point about it is that there
is no getting round its statements 1t
deals with facts, and there is no answer to
those facts
1t is shown that the Democratic party
did not provide us with either capable
powerful or an enconomical government
1t left multitudes &C errors to be corrected
and on every hand had work to be undone
The great improvements demanded by the
progress of the people were neglected, and
1t WIS not until the Republican party came
into power that these improvements re-
ceived adequate attention. There were an
army and navy. but the first was officered
by men who 'had been educated in every
sOldierly grace but that of allegiance, and
the latter was scattered in remote seas"
when the nation most needed it, I'm all
these years, says the address, 1.-The nation
al character had not been raised an inch
On the contrary, through them all it had
fallen constantly lower and lower" Then
came the remarkable treachery of 1861
and the Rebellion. From that period the
record of the Republican party has been
one of almost uninterrupted success. The
Rebellion was crushed, slavery suppressed
public credit has been maintained, the de-
velopment of the country has gone on with
out C sSatiOn. and at rate never known
before 1T viii require a great deal of
rhetoric, remarked the committee, ''to
persuade the country that it is being ruined
by a government which in thirteen years
has advanced its credit throughout the
money markets of the world fully thirty
three per cent, and has nearl y trebled its
surplus productions.
The address deals with these great
changes in trenchant and animated spirit.
The course of the Democratic party III op-
position is afterward traced, but not in a
way which will be satisfactory to the Demo
cratic leaders But as before, the facts
presented are undeniable-if there had
been any answer to them we should have
been favored with 1t long ago; but there is
no answer The Democrats do indeed cry
out that the Republican party is no better
than their o~n-that dishonest men are
in our ranks as well as in theirs. But this
kind of talk is effectually disposed of by the
address Every time rogue has been
punished the opposition has shouted, See
how corrupt Republicans are. 1t is as if,
whenever a doctor removes a tumOr from
his patient the mob shout, How very rot
ten the doctor must be- All this has
been pointed out many times before, but
the work is done once more, with almost a
superabundanee of force and imagery in
the present address.
Finally, the committee make very
strong appeal for the renewed support OF
the people. They show the absurbity OF
the cry that the ''missioT Of the RePubll-
can party has been accomplished. They
show how much remains to be dOne-ln secur-
ing fast what has gained, in reforming the
currency, in dealing with the vast question
of transportation. Into the latter subject
the committee enter at some length, and II
would be unjust to the argument made tc
attempt to condense it here. The address
can hardly fail to have marked effect Oh
political affairs.