The New York herald., 1876-08-22
The Democratic Canvass-should Tai
den stoop 10 Conquer


plain one. The whole country. the demo-
Gratis contend, is honeycombed with corrup-
ton. In every department. not only Of the
government, but of society, false ideas have
won recognition. Corruption taints the ad-
ministration of affairs and truth has given
place to charlatanism. In Washington we
have Belknapism, in the South we have car
pet-baggerism, in religion we have Beecher-
ism, in society we have follies and false
pride, in business we have bankruptcy. All
of this, according to the democratic leaders,
comes from the war. from the mad finan-
cial policy since the war, and more
especially from the course of the ad-
ministration-an administration that has
no parallel in our history for its
venality and baseness. To remedy these
evils, the democratic party have gone back
to the principles of jefferson, to the simple
methods of the fathers of the constitution.
They propose to reform the whole country.
They will restore specie payments, pay the
debt, concillate the South, revive our
shipping, employ labor, give healthy
tone to business and make the Re
| public what it was intended by
| the founders. To do this they have,
thanks to watchful Providence, who not
only determines the hour but discovers the
man for reform, found in Samuel j. Tilden
| leader who seems to have been raised up for
the express purpose of saving the country-a
wise, learned, experienced man, whose
whole life has been given to works OF re-
FORM who, in warning upon the Canal Ring
and the Tammany Ring, shows that he values
reform as far above the success Of any party.
This man, if elected, will be the wisest of
all Presidents-wiser, according to MIR.
Hewitt, for instance, than Washington, JEFF
ferson, Adams, Buchanan or Lincoln. This
man will, according to Mr.. Goodwin, SO ar
range the finances in three months that we
shall have no more trouble with the cur
rency or the debt. In electing him to the
Presidency we are, according to our demo-
cratic friends, not merely choosing Presi-
dent who may do well or do i'll, as oppor-
tunities serve, but accepting from Provi-
dence Heaven-born leader, who comes to
save us in our trying hour.
This is the democratic programme Us seen
by democratic eyes. If we were to accept it
there would be an end of the campaign.
We do not question the general truth Of the
picture. 1t is a caricature, but, like Carl
catures, dependent upon truth for its apt
ness. The country is in need of reform,
and although we are under no illusions
to what MIR. Tilden or any new President
would do, there is no change that would
not be an improvement. The mere putting
of new men into Office would be sending
! fresh blood into withered veins. The re-
publican party has outlived its usefulness
almost outlived its fame. This noble, this
historic party, founded on the principle of
freedom and the aspirations for union
this party which was proud to fol-
low Seward, Sumner and Chase, has
now become an Office hunting league,
and finds its leaders in Spencer and Shep-
herd. 1t is simply military cohort de-
pending upon power. Under its sway we
have seen the Presidency become as abso-
Lutte as the autocracy of Russia. In Russia
the despotism was ever in awe of q rude
public opinion, which might at any time
assert ITSELF which was, as Talleyrand ex.
pressed it, an absolute monarchy, tempered
by assassination. In America public
opinion, reverencing the law, has no control
Of q President, whose prerogatives were
above the law; upon Cabinet whose
members were responsible to the President
and not to the nation; upon Senate which
had become a mere vassal TO an office-be-
slowing Executive; upon a House whose
members never knew how to vote un-
til they had their share of plunder.
Although many of these evils-the
degradation of the public service,
for instance, 60 back to other times, and es-
pecially hourished under jackson, Pierce
and Buchanan, they became rank and
aggressive under Grant. jackson defied
public opinion when he created the maxim,
"To the victors belong the spoils y Pierce
detied public opinion when he used the
power Of his administration to pass the Ne
braska bill, with its violation of the Missouri
compromise Buchanan deiied public opin-
ion when he prescribed every democrat who
would not support the Lecomp,on constitu-
ton. But none of these violations can be
compared to the persistent disregard of the
Will of the people and the best interests of
| the country which have marked the repub-
licans in power. and against which the coun-
try rises in protest and proposes to remedy
by the election of Mr. Tildcn.
The country proposes to elect Mr.. Tilden,
| if such an achievement can be attended with
safety to the Union. This is the canvass as
it stands to-day. The Southern States have
passed into the control of the democrats
We fear that in most cases they played most
foully for their mastery, but their power is
unquestioned. The vote in most of the
| Southern States is simply the recording of