, 1875-04-25

| evils, haught, perhaps, with the utter de-
strnction Of our ibertes he remarks that we
now enjoy ssa closer md more perfect union
for the establishment Of Justice and the Sc
curity Of the blessings Of liberty than these
States have ever known" Why? We fail to
see any reason stated, although Mr.. CuR71s
seems to have thought it sufficient to say that
the spirit Of cynicism, which forebodes the
possible failure of our institutions, ought to
be s'met and conquered"! This is much as
if tho men of Concord, q hundred years ago,
had casually remarked: "It is only heart
less cynicism which tells us our liberties are
in danger; let us go home to meet and con-
quer' said disgusting cynicism and had
then gone home to Concord aud to be con-
quered.
Suppose we add to Mr. CURTIS catalogue
the epidemic of embezzlement which now
RACES in America !; the fact that 3" irreg-
u1arities (Which is American for defalcation,
grab, and theft) have become regular the
ever-growing necessity for safeguards against
legislative corruption, which wero unknown
and unneeded in our fathers. days, but which
now have to be increased in number and
strengthened every year; the spectacle OF
q the great religious newspaper of America
selling its bribed editorial columns to scala
wag corporation, and so running widows and
orphans by wholesale the Credit it-Mobilier
management Of many Of our great railroads
for purposes Of dishonest profit, and the re-
sulfng Granger organization, with its results
of degrading the Legislatures and turning the
law into sn engine Of oppression side
by side with, its many good effects
the existence in every great city
of an organized criminal class who
defy law, corrupt Sheritfs and police,
juries and magistrates. The management Of
great cities by the Tweeds aud the Barnards,
the bummers aud ta1-enters, the thieves and
the blacklegs, and the gamblers and the
shysters the widespread distrust, too well
founded, in the stories which stuffed ballot
boxes tell and the despair, which Mr.. CUE
It's calls the "cynicism Of good citizens,"-
suppose We add these evils and give the
needed intensity to those ho names and does
little more than name, shall We then hasten
to assure ourselves that everything is MI right
and lovely; that We enjoy 81 closer and
more perfect union for the establishment Of
Justice and the security Of the blessings Of
liberty than these States have ever known;
and that man who does not believe this is 4
3" cynic who should be dumped into tub
and have the top Of it boarded up forthwith ?
This is no time to hedge and protest that
we are not a1armists- Alarmists! We ought
to be a1ar1nists. The Nation is indulging in
bastard Saturday Rerieso-ism over the ab-
surdity Of worthy citizens taking part in
municipal affairs, and trying to destroy the
evils that are eating out the heart Of the Re-
public; and Mr. CURTIS, mild as ever, sznooths
over these Ills and evils, calls the manly indig-
nation and the manly fear they excite s'cym-
cism." ST we fail, said DANIEL WEBSTER On
Bunker ELL, "popular governments are in
possible" The wey to insure our failure is for
the thinking and cultivated classes to say that
the evils are past cure as the Nation. does, orto
assert that they are righting themselves, and
that only cynics will fancy the past better
than the present, as Mr. CURTIS does.