New-York tribune., 1876-04-07

that was nothing; 1t would be the merest par
tisanship in the world to object to the change
on that account. "Sink partisanship" they
said; "Put these fellows out, and"-insinu-
atincIy-"put us in.n We've been doing it,
In q tentative experimental way we've trusted
them. They seemed so earnest about it; they
promised so fairly; they were so scandallzed
by the excesses, the recklessness, ana
the corruptions of the party in power
so forgetful of self. so catholic and
broad in their views; and we were all so tired
of the mismanagement and corruption OF the
Republicans, of their speculations and their
Rings, their extravaganza and waste. their in
tolerance and their greed, that We said with
many misgivIngs and in sort of despair,
"Well. let lis give these yirtuous people a
"chance to show what they can do in the way
" of REFORM"
They've been trying it. And what meas
they have made of it, Reform! Heaven help
us! Imagine the reform the locusts brought
to Egypt after the frogs or the lice after the
locusts Why these fellows hadn't virtue
enough to last them through the cloak rooms
and on to the floor of Congress. The last vote
that gave them majority in one branch OF
Congress had not been counted before the
van of as hungry and disreputable an army OF
Office hunters "a ever sacked a treasury en-
tered Washington, and began discounting
their chances wherever they could blk land
lord or bambOoze n barkceper The country
stood aghast at the irruption. 1t seemed, not
as though The sea had given up its dead-for
these men bore no sign of having been in contact
with water, or Of ever having known its uses-
but it did seem rs though the CROSSROADS
taverns of n continent had been lifted up and
spilled upon the capital. To make places for
this hungry horde, the Congressman who
had been SO clamorous for reform and
so urgent that partisanship should be
laid aside, and who had got into
Congress thereby. deliberately turned out COM
pctent and honest officers, against whom no
complaint had ever been uttered. Did 1t with
ont so much as an apology or an explanation
They spared nobody. They considered nothing.
except that these fellows wanted places. SO
out went everybody, regardless of age, ex-
perience, faithful service, integrity, ability or
fitness, and in came the crossroads and the
slums. Il is dreadful stomach-full for the
American People, AMI the country Is very
very sick of il. But i,s tho way this party
truth is they haven't even low cunning enough
to restrain them from grabbing the first thing
they can reach. though they know that by
waiting little they can bag cart-loldS oi
plunder They cant get by the hat-raca III
the hall. Sink partisanship indeed Why,
they mike no preten'e of doing it, while they
are talking most loudly about it.
And as for their sincerity in dcnouncing bad
appointments-lo1k at that vote III the Senate
on the confirmation of Mr. Dana. 1t was one
of the best appointments ever sont III 10 tho
Senate by President Grant. Conicssedly so.
And what did Democratic Senators who have
been so loud i'll their denunciations OF the
bad appointment, of the Administration,
and so clam0rous III their demand for
a better class of men in Office, do DO
They voted against it, every mothers son OF
them. They could not afford TO have the Re-
publican party strengthened by the moral
effect of one good appointment and so they
went over to the Butler side, and voted with
Cameron Morton. and the rest against it, And
Mr.. Eaton Of Connecticut, who in the next
campaign will howl himself hoarsc over the out
rageous conduct Of Republican Senate Ill de-
featng such a nomination, was absent, IA was
his colleague, VT. EHbHnh, Nho III % N'''i w
President Woolsey, as we hear. promised to
do all he could for Mr. Dana's confirmation.
There's pretty picture for tho peo-
pie TO look at Every Democratic Sem
ator voting against an appointment for tho re-
lection of which they will hold the Republi-
can majority responsible in the hope of making
political capital out of 1t. 1t Is moro bare
faced than the trick played in the back-pay
grab, when Democrats enough voted for the
bill TO carry it through, and the whole
party Immediately joined in howl against
it as Republican measure. Some Democrats
did vote against that, but not ono voted for
Mr.. Dana's confirmation. Some Of these re-
forming statesmen will bo talking upon the
stump by and by about the bad character of
Grants appointments. We beg the people to
remember then that when Grant made good
appointment every Democratic Senator from
Bayard down voted against it.
THE BALANCE or TRADE.
The "baancc of trade' is often given as