Fair play., 1875-04-29
The Advancing Revolution.


haps il should be called inability, on tht
part Of Republicans to recognize the vas
/ political change now in progress. They
hate to believe that their party as a ma
tional organization has had its day, and is
approaching its end. They resolu,ely
fight their own perceptions, and viii even
doubt that the elections went against them
last fall. or are going against them now.
There is a great impiety in thus resist
in" the leadings Of Providence. We are
taught TO believe tina: We are all instru-
! nents in the hands of the Supreme Power,
some of greater and sCmic of less cOn.e-
qience: and While the skeptical may
doubt this as a general proposition. how
can ahy one fail to see in recent political
results that certain prominent persOnages
among us are such instruments and OF the
most significant character:
Take Gen. Butler for example: has he
not been made the jawbone 10 slay seventy
thousand Massachusetts Republicans. and
throw that State temporarily into the
hands of the unterriiied: Who can
thOughtfuilv regard the uncxampled over
turn in the old Bay State. and not recoy-
niZc Il mysterious. uiira-naturai instru-
mentality in that notorious individual
There is even a fair prospect that what j.
now temporary may become permanent
through the same agency in that disgGsie'!
State. 1t were blind and hea'henish not
10 recognize 4 higher wisdom shaping
these ends by this sharpe dyed tool, whose
chief defect is tnat it is without handle.
But take an instance on 4 larger scale ;
take Grant. In what possible way could
the Republican party be SO si,afen up. and
dislocated. and divided. and disntegratcd.
h.,, ~ FL Ia, irl
term aspirations and his personal and par-
tisan rule Of the South: The party might
have been put to bed and carefully nursed
into Il tOlerable condition, even after the
severe handling it got last fall. if it had
not been predestined to ruin. Nobody bu;
Gen. Grant could have inflicted upon it
any such deadly mischief. Others might
have ruined the party III individual States,
but Grant alone was competent Ia do it in
the whole country. And will any body
deny or doubt that he is the one great,
conspicuous human agency in carrying on
to completion the mighty political revO-
lutiOn that began with his second term?
Is he not the one instrument without
which the perfect fulneSS of this revOlu-
tiOn could not be- secured. In the very
aralOr Of our condemnation for his uniuS-
tifiable actions and his diSrepntable pur-
poses. should We not be sustained and
>oothed by an unfa!tering trust III the
Hidden Power Of which he is but the base.
instrument?
II the Republican party were in the
hands OF It's wisest men. or rather il ii had
been so for some time past, perhaps its
Fate might have been temporarily averted
or delayed, but it got its death blow when
It's managers deliberately oiic l,lcd ami
lefied the mora! sense oil the nation and
with its moral power shattered. its doom
was sealed. When the party ceased TO be
honest, honest men lost their interest in
t: and this is its great and fatal weakness
IO-tiay. To be sure, it could not have
lived forever ON dead issues. The objects
or which ii was created having been ac-
tine organization must have
disappeared with the lapse of time. but its
loom is precipitated Ion" before the lI:itu-
al period.
The political situation seems now very
lear. We have abolished slavery, but we
l;.ve not abolished the negro. He still
ives. and ne controls the politics OF the |
southern country to-day rs much rs he !
.ver did. Politically he again makes the !
south substantially a unit: and that. for |
he present at least, is fixed condition.
The South re>istS negro domination. Ii |
lOes this under Il powerful impulse. Ii |
here is any thing which may be regarded |
$ permanent in our politics. it is the de-
OF the property and intelli-
.ence. the conservatism and the respecta-
'iiity of the South. To get the control Of
heir affairs ont of the hands Of the ignO-
ant and corrupted negro. and to keep it.
{ the whole North We're united against
he South, as was the ease during the war.
hey would he power!eSS. Eut it is far
therwi>e. The Republican party has
one into the minority in several North
i'll States where it had triumphant ma
critics during the war and has had since.
'he States in which it has lost control are
New York. New jersey, and
ndi'ina; and it is nearly on poi>e with
$ opponents in the great States Of Penn.
ylvania and Ohio.
With the South comparatively unit
nd tie North divided. political control
lmOst necessarily changes. The ciyiliza-
ion Of the North is too high. and its ma
rial interests too dominant, to long keep
live the revenges and the hates of an old
nj dead civil war. The North cannot at
ord to 'c forever partisan. on these an
lent and settled questions. \ political
may b. fought over Il few times
I! the war passions. but every time they
row weaker; and at last they become no
niger available for political Use. After
le experiences Of last year. it is but rea-
,nable to conclude that the Republicans
ave fought their last fight and won their
ST battle. OF course there will be nu-
lerouS struggles with varying results.
nd many stronshOlds will be- slow in
elding. and Others vii. never yield. But
le general result is. in the nature of
linys, assured.