The Portland daily press., 1875-05-04

accorded the exceptional honor of seat in the
Senate, tribute paid ather to the Germans at
large than to himself Individually.
BE ginning his senatorial career with the ad-
vent OF Gen. Grant to the Presidency, he was
in full fellowship with bis party associates, and
be, ond an inc dinate hungering for patronage
show ed no signs of detection for consider able
time. He asked for so much in the way of ap-
po,ntments that it was absolutely neces .ary to
rrlus some of his requests, and his faith in the
administration waped with each fresh rejection
of bis demands. He bad bro bel iu-aw who
held a revenue office in Chicago. Complaints
of his uuitness poured in upon the President
on unqueslionable authority. When they be-
came so importunate that Gen. Grant could not
disregard them he notified SchurZ>of his nten-
ton to supersede his relative Thereupon the
irascioe German stormed and threatened That
was the worst course he could have pursued. 1t
is easy TO coax Gen. Grant but impossible to
drive him. He made short work of the incom-
petent brOther-in-law and Schurz stepped out
of the ranks and pouted like a sulky school
boy.
1t was in this unhappy mood that the On
cinnati pilgrims found him, and took him cap
claim against nepotism and executive selfish
ness. Many and many an essay he wrote and
read to audiences composed of disappointed
deserters from the Republican camp and ex-
pectant Democrats on the decentralization
wrought by office holding and the shamelessness
of a President giving place to his own broth
erin law. 1t did not take long to bring the
fact to light that the brother-in-law he really
had on his mind was Schurz's not Grants. 1t
was clearly shown that not only the Missouri
Senator but every one of his boiling comrades,
ouarreled with the administration simply and
solely because they did not get what they CEN
sdered their share of the federal Offices
But the cream of the joke is that in the face
of the record Schurz's little knot OF admirers
set him up as great exemplar and model OF
political purity and faultlessness. They COM
mend his desertiou and betrayal of his party as
manly act of independence" In the go-
tesque extravaganza of their adulation, they
point to him not merely as the peer, but as the
superior of such senators as Edmunds, the
Morrirs, Hamlin, Boutwell,, Anthony, Conk-
ling, Frelinghuysen, Sherman, Howe, Thurman
Bayard, Stevenson-Republicans and Demo-
crats-who have kept faith with the party
which elected them and respected the obliga-
tions implied by their acceptance of their office.
If such views were to obtain general accept
ance there would be end of every thing like
representative fidelity.
But it is impossible to make treachery excus-
able BY sugar coating it with the name OF lnde-
pendence. That answers very well for news
paper puffery but the sentiment finds no echo
in the hearts of honest men, no matter to which
political organization they belong. The best
evidence of the truth of this proposition is ad-
duced from the fate of Schurz and the desert
ers who bore him company. Every one of
them has been carried by law as certain as
gravtaton, beyond the hope of political resur-
recton.
Parties in the state are like armies IN the
field, only to be maintained and kept efficient
by discipline and esprit de corps. If the leaders
in either become disafected, they may retire.
but they cannot remain with their corps and
fight against the cause they enlisted to defend,
withoutsdshonor. No specous reasoning can
relieve such conduct of the odium which obVl-
ous, attaches to it. But when they go over
and try t. lead their rank and file over simply
because they think they have not had their
share of the booty of a campaign. feeling OF
contempt mingles with the reprobaton due to
such perfdy.
1t is because of the universally of this sense
OF what is due to good faith, no doubt. that the
entertainers of the ex-senator were so incon-
siderable in numbers and so anonymous in their
political belongings. 1t was not to be expect
ed of course, that Republicans would attend
feast at which there were SO many renegades
l.1t,, 70, ha
extolled as meritorious. But the Democrats
were debtors to Schurz. He did all he could to
turn over Missouri to them. And that too was
at a time when they sorely needed help. But
they evidently felt that they had no more as
sistance to look for in that quarter. aud that it
would be sanctioning dangerous code, 10 give
even quasi encouragement TO political apos-
tasy.
But the gathering though somewhat hybrid
in complexion, was unit in self eomplacency.
They thanked God they were not as other men
with pharisaical JUNCTION. They disported
themselves like men conscious moi merely of a
sublime exaltation of virtue, but as entirely
monopolzing that article. They looked with
as much compassion upon their unfortunate
fellow beings who had not rated from their
party, as that proud animal VINO had MS tal
clipped off in trap, felt, as he surveyed his
less favored fellows who still wore the caudal
appendage. They had small charity or tolera-
ton for anybody who still remained true to his
order. But their chief pity reserved for
that most awful of heresies which they de-
nounced under the name of Grantism! For
that there was no forgiveness in their hearts.
They may have been laughing in their sleeves
all the while. But they kept up the show ap-
parently to the end. And if these statements
are TO be accepted, there never was SO much
purity, disinterestedness, patriotism and lofti-
ness OF spirit covered by one roof as that scene
witnessed, nor such dearth of every one of
those qualities in every other place in the land.
And yet Schurz is out and his brother-in-law is
out, the pageant is ended, the requiem sung,
and the sepulchre sealed. YARMOUTH.
Noxvc ond Athor rtnmS