New Orleans Republican. [volume] (New Orleans, La) 1867-1878, 1876-04-23
TEE COMING nAI.

n THE COMING NAH.
We zee that in all parts Of tho countr,
there is . good deal Of inquiry about tha
mythical person in American politics
.'the coming man." The idea that sug
gests such an inquiry is founded upon
political system which has never prevailed
to any great extent on this continent I
presupposes the necessity for . personal
dynasty, and is antagonistic to the motto
of some of the earlier fathers of the re.
public = Measures, not men," o.
course, we can have no measures Of gov
eminent without men to devise and exc
cute them, and it has occurred in our his
tory that men have rode into power on
popular measures and abandoned them
the moment there was no longer any ne
cessity for false pretenses. Tyler. Fill
more and johnson, all Vice Presidents
who came into the succession, subse-
quently departed from the principles of
the parties to which they owed their cleo
ton. Tyler thought he could build up q
personal party by judicious distribu-
ton of the national patronage. He had
great promise of success during the first
year or two of his administration, but
the gradual dropping off of friends
toward the last convinced him that
he had built upon an unsubstantial foun-
dalton. Fillmore, who vas nominated as
Northern free soiler to Offset the pro-
slavery pfoclivities of General Taylor,
his colleague on the ticket, joined the
Southern statesmen in their demands for
the enactment of the fugitive slave law,
and other measures in the interests of the
peculiar institution. He made the eyre
gious mistake of supposing he could con-
ciliate the Southern sentiment of his day
without alternating his former political as
sociates who had made it the business'of
their lives to make war on the pet institu-
ton of his new found friends Mr.. John
son suffered himself to be elected on sem
timent and went out on "policy," the
most complete failure, perhaps, in Ameri- +!
can history of man who had been
thrown by q combination of events into |
such conspicuous position.
When Messrs. Douglas and Lincoln
contested for the palm of superiority on
he prairies of Illinois, there was little or
,othing Of any coming man" in the
thoughts Of either at the outset. The
contest was for the comparatively insig-
lificant Office of State Senator, but the
Joint in dispute between those giants of
he Northwest was national in character,
nd involved principles upon which the
'ation speedily divided. Personally, Mr..
douglas was the more popular man of the
wo; but the measures which he proposed
nd which he showed good capacity to
xpound and administer were at last re-
ected by his own State, though he gained
be first success. He was chosen Sena-
d, but failed even in his own party to
ct the nomination for the presidency,
Ihile Lincoln's speeches found such re-
ponse in the hearts of the people that,
and unpublished though he
'as, they chose him to be the leader !.
the system he had so well explained.
[e was accepted for that work because I
ne people knew by instinct he could be l
expended upon to build up the nation 9
pom new basis. He, without his ascer- I
lined craftsmanship, would have been i
othing; and while he was at once a sin ,
re and able apostle of liberty, yet it
as demonstrated that the principles {
pom which he was elected to Office, so c
+ from being endangered by his death, t
ecame all the deeper imbedded in the '
inds of the people by that lamentable i
'ent.
At present there may not be any neces- t
ty for such political revolution as that 9
1860. Perhaps it will be sufficient if O
70 rulers who are to be chosen next No
'mber simply address themselves to the 4
lsiness of perfecting the system which c
ought the Republican party into being,
lded four millions of citizens to the popu- 8
lion and changed the whole character of
Q nation. We can look only to the Re- Z
lblican party for men who are fitted for
is great work. Democratic politicians =
. bound by their education, their tradi- \
ms, their errors and their record, to op- :,
Sc and destroy all that has been accom- n
shed. Aside from general opposition :,
the present American system, none of y
. leaders of that party have national +
licy. Their motto is, ''Men at all
yards, and any measure for success" 81
10 Republicans. on the other hand, will r.
ntend for the perpetuity of their tried f
d approved policy, and at the same N
,e take care to secure men who at once Il
derstand and are attached to them.
we have many such a,
n of character and admitted abil- h,
whose names are a synonym W
the living principles for which c,
1coln, Seward, Sumner, Wilson and as
great men Of their day toiled and Il
ny Of them suffered. No coming st
H." be he prominent or the "Great Ir
known" will have any chance to sue N