The Republican journal., 1874-08-13
Is Republican Government a Failure.


editorials which renew the hopes of all
true citizens in the regeneration of the re-
public, says "the most startling and dis
couraging fact in American politics at this
day is the profound and emphatic disap-
pointment of intelligent republicans rs the
result OF thirteen years trial of the repub-
lican policy"
BY this it does not mean merely the
common dissatisfaction with the intrigue
and special legislation for influential and
favorite parties which is connivcd and
disguised under the name Of a "protective
tariff" nor the revenue farming and bare
partiality prevalent everywhere, nor the
partisan anarchy prevailing in the south
and the undoubted and natural fruit Of
what, by one of the grossest misnomers,
is called republican legislation at the
south
II merely refers in passing to these grave
subjects and to the popular discontcnts
growing out of the fiscal management,
the reconstruction measures, the personal
corruption OF its leaders, and other separ-
ate measures and acts Of the party.
The evil of which it complains is greater
than all these put together-it is the sum
and substance of them all, and much more
besides. Ii is the apprehension, not only
of the democrats but of the so-calrd re-
puhlicans themselves, wherever they are
manly and truthful that the whole policy
of the party which has so long been
entrusted With the reins of government is,
as the Republican says, AN irretriavablr
failure--an irreparable disaster. 1t has q
conviction that the party has been forced
by the stress Of cxigencies to do things
that never ought to nave been done and
which can never be undone that It has
been driven into mistakes which, though
clearly seen TO be disastrous, il dare not
attempt to repair; that ii has lost control
Of itself and of the situation, and must
drift helpless on ill the republican era
shall close either in furious reaction to
democracy or the downfall of free govern
mcnt. The traces Of this isappointment
are to be found in all the journals which
were :once republican but are now indie
pendent: indeed it is this disappointment
that has made them independent Other
traces OF il are to be found IN the retire
ment of so many able republicans, sore
and disheartcned, from public life: in the
refusal Of republicans to defend their
administration from attack, and in the
despairing view which even steadtast
republican journals take Of The condition
of or politics.
Attention is specially brought to this
subject by the Cincinnati Gazette, a strict
ly republican organ, for although it keeps
some sort Of a conscience it can only af-
ford to do so by invariably supporting the
republican ticket and is generally fore
most in the task OF whipping stragglers
back again into the republican ranks 1t
sorrowiully sums up the net result Of
thirteen years Of republican rule in the
simple heading of an article-"The Fail
uo of Popular Government" The article
itself opens with this declaration and ques-
ton; "No people in the world have so
little respect Tor their government as the
people Of the United States. Is not this
fact OF much portent 2
Thirteen years ago, when the govern
ment fell into the hands OF the republican
party, it was called "thc best government
on earth, and We all know now what was
then one of the most common Of all cur
rent phrases, this is q free country" has
by general consent passed ont of Use and
ia now seldom heard, as ii once was. in
ordinary conversation.
The Gazette enye that the government
has now become deservedlv an object of
contempt and, in substance, that there is
danger lest under this feeling the people
will change its form, and thinking no
change can be for the worse. submit TO
military rule and dictatorship. 1t adds:
What prospect has 4 government for Der
petuity which the people despisc? How can
the sentiment of patriotism exist without re-
spect for the government? What is there ia
rally the people against either external or inter
nal danger, when they have no government
which they think worth savingf Is not general
disgust With the government the always ready
opportunity for the coming man on horseback:
Among the causes of the new and
strange contempt of the people for a goy-
eminent to maintain which they lately
sacrificed 50 many hundreds of thousands
OF lives and so many millions Of treasure,
the Gazette specifies the comforting uni
versal suffrage on the negroes, an act now
accomplished and beyond recall. OF this
it says:
The muddling Of reconstruction by state
rights theories, Andrew ,johnson's pcridy the
uprising OF the confederate leaders in the hope
OF regalnlng power, and the apparent necessity
created by al this to give the emancipated
blarks the means of Selt-protectiOn. brought the
c1ohlerring OF governing power on near Il mil
lion OF men OF a race degraded in their native
Our politicians said they would know enough
10 vote Tor their own friends. Here was the
party gain that is always upl ermost in these
strokes OF state. They said, also, they were as
capable OF voting as Il large class of the foreign
ers we had made voters. This WI; true enough
ana IT shows how one step OF degradation fur
nlshes the lever of another. No one Mi3.Gs il
1roTh 'thae 10 stop at auy thing. In fact, no
one thinks we have anything in thu government
worth preserving, save The chances of a party
i'll il.
And again, OF more recent and rs we
think, far worse events, incapable of hay
ing one just word said in their favor, the
Gazette most justly says;
At the last session the house passed bin 10
erect New Mexico into q state, with voice in
the senate to ncutrali2e that of Ohio. Yet il
mas not 10000 English speaking inhabitants,
and Is mixture of MeNicans, Indians, and
negroes, with scarcely any Of the conditions of
civilization. The house did the same with the
Wild territory of Colorado. These are the
oo1ngS Of q people erAo hare lost all rcspert
toT the7' gocernmlent. 1t is much worse in
local governments, for there the scalawae. the
hummer the adventurer, whose trade is to de-
grade, is preferred for public trusts to the bes1