Saint Mary's beacon., 1876-11-16

"After 1877 The Admistration went
steady On from bad to worse. Il was
surrousded By schemers and tsieksiers
and greedy pl0tters who brought ulpn
10 fr1ndsl esd disgrace for wkeh Ae
ReposIicsn party was held respunsible.
President Grant permitted himselfto be
hedged ID by esil advisers and b cling
to them with determination that We
remarkabIe in man who was never
even -sccused OF personal dishonesty.
The scandals Of which the Administra-
ton and the party have had to bear the
brunt form long and shocking LIST
The Credit Mobelier and Whiskey Ring
exposures, the robbery Of the Freed
mems Bank. the many disgracefnl scts
and the tremendous stealings Of the
District Of Columbia Riag, the virtual
expulsion of Bristow and Jewell from
the Cabinet-what intelligent American
has not viewed them with shame and
disgust: Faithful advice-even the
ordinary teachings Of experience and
the warnings that the people were turn
ing against the Republicsp- Party-had
no effect on the powers that had asurped
the control Of Il. II was an evil hour
for it when the President tsrned away
from Sumner and took Boss Shepherd
to his bosom. Shepherds combination
of scoundrels for purposes oi public
plunder and the Presidents faycritism
towards them has cost RepubIicanism
thousands upon thousands Of votes
J General Babcock.. the Psesident's con-
idential secretary, was bid In the
minds -oi men to be guilty Of completely
in the bogus safe burglary and the oper-
atoms of the Washington Ring, and only
to have failed of conviction because OF
the skiliul suppression of evidence by
hired purjurers, and still the President
would not renounce him. Harrington,
while under trial in connection with
the safe burglary, was an honored guest
at the White House, and the moral
sense OF the country was shocked al
the spectacle. The tone and atmos-
phere of public life at Washington had
become thoroughly demoralized and
POISONOUS, and the nation waited in
vain to see the administration endeavor
to purify it by first purifying itself.
eve venture to say that there are
many Republicans who voted the ticket
on Tuesday who will acknowledge to
themselves that their party has been
defeated because it deserved to be.
They cast their ballots for the candi-
dates because they hoped for reform
within the party, and they felt that they
had a chance for success only in so far
as the people believed that vote for
them was not vote to approve the
errors Of the Administration which had
caused the defeat in 1874 and the grave
dissatisfaction which has existed ever
since. There was something of an ef-
fort made to appeal to the conscience
and intellect of the nation in behalf OF
Gov. Hayes, and he owes the largest
share OF his vote to it. One OF the
causes that operated in producing his
defeat was the suspicion that the party
would not be able to free itself from the
influence of the present regime or the
copdition Of affairs produced by it,
We believe that Gov. Hayes would
have called to his aid all the best ele-
ments of Republicanism and would have
restored the party to its former stand
ing, but it was not possible to induce
a majority Of voters to take this view,
and in their alarm they threw the pow
er into Democratic hands. 1t might
have been different il Republicans had
taught the administration that it must
be representative oithe integrity and pu-
rity of the party and conduct the Gov
ernment on the basis of honor and in
telligence. When they failed to do this
they lost their opportunity of winning.
What was forfeited could not be re-
gained even by preaching reform
throughout the campaign and nomina-
ting a candidate who has borne himself
with dignity and self-re spect, and all
OF whose actions and words entitled him
to confidence