Knoxville Whig and chronicle. [volume] (Knoxville, Tenn.) 1875-1882, 1875-12-15
POLITICAL BoURBoNIsM.

uttered the remark now grown into 9
proverb-a proverb which has found
recent illustration in the stupid pre-
tensions of the Count de Chambord
in France, and Don Carlos, il Spain
and which applies so aptly to the
spirit and temper of the Democratic
party in this country, that its leaders
have not inaptly been stigmatized as
political Bourbons. The essence OF
Bourbonism is a steadfast adherence
to Che old superstitions of the divine
right of kings, symbolized by the
white flag and feur de lis in France,
which the Legitimate pretenders would
not abandon for a chance of restora.
ton, and upon appeals to the Sale
law excluding women from the throne
for its re-establishment in power in
Spain. There is at least this excuse
for the existing pretenders, both in
France and Spain, that without these
pegs to hang their prctensions on,
they would have no claim to the lead.
ershlp Of party at all hence, being
insignificant in themselves, they de-
rive 4 certain amount Of Importance
from the accident of birth, which
makes them the representative of an
idea, DO longer powerful enough to
control, although it may clog the
wheels Of government in their re-
spectiye States. They both live in
and upon the middle ages, not only
asserting doctrines long since explo.
ded, but depending upon instruments
which have ceased to control the pub.
lie opinion of Europe. They both
are ardent devotecs of Rome,
and rely upon its spiritual
thunders and popular super
stition torestore them to lower. Their
kingly ancestors having, by the acct
dents, which, in the midst of civil
sometimes leave the
potatoes on top Of the pile,
foHad themselves in possession of
power and pelf; and, satisfied with
the distribution of this worlds goods.
so far as their share was concerned,
endeavored to perpetuate the same fer
the benefit Of their posterity, by call
ing in the Pope as general king
maker and Gods vicegerent on earth,
who could set up and putdown rulers
at his pleasure, to pronounce in their
favor as divinely appointed, with a
right Of perpetual succession; for
which service the Pope was
handsomely paid in honors and rev
enues. But the discovery of print
ing, which brought the Bible to bear
against the hierarchy and was so soon
followed by the Reformation, soon
set at naught the pretensions of the
Papacy and the Divine Right of
Kings. Nevertheless the vitality of
DID superstitions is still attested even
in this 18th century by the claim of
3 dethroned Pope to be infallible, and
Of such men as de Chambord in
France and Don Carlos in Spain to be
to the throne of their ancest-
DTS, rot because they can serve the
State, but because their great-great-
grandfathers helped to Cypress and
plumber it.
Just so it is with the Democratic
party in this country; and it relies
very largely upon the same element
for success that its Bourbon proto-
types do in Europe, namely: the
compactness Of that ignorance and
superstition which blindly swallows
the dogmas of Rome and the dictates
of its agents. Itnot only holds with
in its membership all that is ultra.
montana in religion in America, but
is itself as ultramontane in politics.
Its primaries are dominated by the
active ultramontane element, which,
claiming over six millions of our
population, and working as a single
man, makes nearly all the nomina-
tions that the party is compelled to
vote for, and which in New York,
Iowa, Ohio and elsewhere is actively,
and where not actively, is passively
attacking our public school system,
and the liberty of conscience and
speech.