The New Orleans bulletin. [volume] (New Orleans [La.]) 1874-1876, 1874-04-08
THE TRIBUNE ON THE ADMINS
TRATION.

The New York Tribune, of the 4th inst,
has the following scorchng and truthful
arraignment of the Administration
Do we need to recapitulate how this has
been done! 1t has not been effected by any
single act. The repute of the party which
elected Lincoln twice was too healthy and
robust to suffer materially from any one
error or fault. Parties, like individuals, do
not grow suddenly infamous. 1t has been a
constant, incessant series of illegal, dishonest,
sOrtlid and vulgar Offenses against the moral
sense of the country, that have destroyed
the enviable prestige of the Republican par
ty and made its management a reproach
and shame. We will say nothing Of the
points of which the opposition night COM
plain. These columns have borne repeated
witness of acts which we're not only dis
graceful to the Administration, but which
involved treason to the best interests of the
Republican party. A few conspicuous in
stances are:
l. The violation of law in abetting an
audacious conspiracy by which the State
of Louisiana was given over to a band OF
knaves who had plundered the public treas
ury and had been defeated in a popular
election;
2. The systematic debauching of the poll
tics of several Southern States, by which
they have been rendered bankrupt, and the
very idea of legislative government made
Odious and contempti5le;
B. The creation and support of a cOmbi-
nation for plumber in the District of COlum-
bia which has loaded the City of Washing
ton with an intolerable load Of debt, en-
riched cabal of politicians, and disc iedited
the capital;
a. The steady, persistent, and shameless
persecution of the merchants of this me-
tropols by an army of spies and execution
ers, assisted by United States officers, who
divide with thieves and infOrmers the price
of their degradation
5. The recent unheard-of conspiracy be-
tween the Treasury Department and an
obscure politician. by which the latter was
enabled to steal out of the public revenue
some hundreds of thousands of dollars, and
the officers of the Government were ordered
to assist him in these depredations;
6. A management of the natiOral finances
so made up of dishonesty, incOmpetency,
and gross carelessness that nothing like it
has ever been seen in misunderstanding one
day the criminal and the next the burlesque,
vibrating between the Idiot Asylum and the
Penitentiary;
7. A contemptuOus disregard of the SOL
emn pledges of the conventions of the party
in reference to retrenchment, honesty in dis
bursements, and the reform of the Civil Ser
vice;
8. And finally an open and cynical inter
ference with popular elections in every
State where the Republican party is divided,
in favor of the corrupt and immoral element,
and in bitter hostility to those who stand by
the ancient ways and desire to give to their
States capable, honest and reputable ad-
ministratiOn.
We think no intelligent person can can
didly deny that the Administration has been
guilty of these acts, and that in most of
them it has had the support of the majority
in Congress. We hold that they cannot be
excused or condoned. 1t passes our compre-
hensioD, therefore, how any Republican, if
he has conscience enough to take the
trouble to inform himself of the truth, can
support such an Administration in course
which can only lead to the grave>t evils for
the country, and the utter and shameful ruin
of the Republican party.