Los Angeles daily herald., 1876-05-02
HYPOCRISY.

OF all the offences against a COM
munity or our fellow men that one
can be guilty of, the meanest and most
contemplate is that of hypocrisy, and
if ever most diabolical specimen of
this crime has been exhibited in our
day, it has been presented by the late
State Republican Convention at Sac
ramento. Hon. w. G. NORTON of
Placer was chosen President of that
honest body, and on accepting the po-
sition delivered speech which was as
full of eloquence as of sophistry. Mr..
NORTON is always eloquent, but in all
his forensic efforts when on the stump
is as full of special pleading as when
before the bar. AS hired attorney
he always aims to make out good
case, and presents his arguments in a
plausible manner, his ideas being de-
livered with both force and the
gliding of graceful oratory. The Con-
vention adopted series of resolutions
that are full of what some may term
patriotic sentiment, but were in fact a
mass of inconsistencies, not to say
perversions of truth. The resolutions
declare the loyalty of the party, pur.
pose to rid the administration of our
Government from all suspicion Of evil,
assert that the party is everywhere
united, and that it is to endure for all
time in the control of the Govern
ment. Mr.. NORTON, coming forth be-
fore the assembled virtuosoes, know
ing the nature of the platform to be
presented, with a pleasing grace and
brazen effrontery asserts that there is
and can be no division in the party;
that it is cemented beyond the possi-
bility of disintegration; that it will
endure for all time to come and work
out the political salvation of the coun-
try. He further alleges that the
crimes and gross misdemeanors
that the party is called upon to rem
edy are the legitimate inheritance
from the defunct Democracy. The
only answer to such an exhibition of
bare-faced hypocrisy is statement of
the simple truth. In the first place,
for the majority of the sixty years
prior to the accession of the Republi-
can party to power the Democracy
ruled the nation; for the twenty yes RS
prior to- the election of Mr.. LINCOLN
the Democrats held the reins of gov
ernment, and during the whole of
those terms the administration of pub
lie affairs was conducted in an honest
and economical manner. With oppor-
tunities ample, inducements as strong
as were ever presented to party for
corruption, the Democratic party can
point to its record with pride. Dur
ing the last month there have been
more charges of fraud against promi-
nent officials in the Republican party
than ever were made during the en-
tire career of the Democracy, from the
time of ANDREW JACKSON to the pres
ent hour. The Spirit of the Times, the
most radical of the Republican jour-
nails, echoes the resolutions and the
speech of Mr.. NORTON. In honied
words it assumes to tell the truth, but
in mass of falsifications labors to i'm
press upon the people the idea that
harmony reigns within the party, and
that it is the embodiment of political
honesty; that its intentions are pure
and its purposes honest. 1t must
be that the divinity that shapes
our ends has turned the brains
of these honest lagos to hurl
them to their merited and
self : sought doom. The hypocrisy
of the assumptions and protestations
of the Republican party is too appar-
ent for any sane man to believe they
will be accepted by the voters of our
State or by the nation. A merchant
will not hire clerk to serve him who
has once been convicted of robbing
him, nor will professional thief be
intrusted with the management of
important fiduciary responsibilities.
Thus stands the Republican party by
its own record, and we warn our
friends in that organization that it is
at this moment disintegrated. and is
not trusted nor respected by the peo-
pie.
-
The new Spring rect railway will
be laid with fat rail which will be
no obstruction to travel. It will start
on First street at Los Angeles, from