The morning star and Catholic messenger. [volume] (New Orleans [La.]) 1868-1881, 1876-12-31
The Last Trial.

JUST give up peAceeOly now nk0 gooo Iei-
lows, they cay, and you will 90 endear your
party to the public that at the next Presi-
dental election your majority will be too
overwhelming to permit any possibility of
dispute.
That is . modest way Of saying that one
of the parties cannot expect to take the
prize without an overwhelming majority,
while the other party must be permitted to
have it whenever its minority is not too
hopeless to be supplemented by barefsced
fraud and impotence. Bnt let us see if
on such terms az these the Democratic
party could ever succeed.
Fret, the vote in this country is not go
sentimental as the peace men suggest.
There is an immense section of it which
can always be counted on for corrupt gov
ernment against no matter what appeals
of patriotism and gratitude. We speak of
the Ring. We do not mean in ttis connec-
ton any one particular ring, but the whole
ring system which extends its notifications
over our entire country. These are of
prodigious variety in individual character
istics, but generically they ara identical.
AS the myriad limbs and twigs of tree,
they all have one stem. That stem is
le1alised plumber. Sometimes it is plumber
of the State, as when the legislative de-
partment makes present of public lands
or credit to some corporation; orswhen the
Postmaster General awards q mail con-
tract to the highest instead of the lowest
bidder; or when court of claims approves
a fraudulent case because the attorney in
charge of it ia somebody's nephew or
brother in law. Sometimes it is pllnder
of the citizen, az when corporations or in
dividuais are, without valuable considera
ton, vested by law with important fran.
chises and erected into monopolies so that
by means of the tolls they are empowered
to levy they grow rich or when fat Offices
are created, mere sinecnres endowed with
immense revenues, as q reward for parti.
zau zeal.
Now, when we come to reflect, it
is clear that a heavy percentage of
the population may, by an ingenious
Ring management, be made interested
of plumber. This easy way of making o
living without work has charms for great
numbers of able bodied voters, and u cor
rupt government gains ekill in providing
places for adherents of that sort. Nor
is this vast network of plumber by any
means a mere collection of independent
and disconnected accidents; it ia en- organ
lied combination constituting the universal
Ring. This Ring will support with every
atom of its power and energy the govern.
ment which protects it, and for the Demo
cratic party to count on it's weakihing in
the slghtest degree through admiration
for Democratic forbeRrance in the present
crisis, would be q strange delusOn.
Besides the Ring, there is a large elemeot
in this country honestly in favor of q strong,
centralized government, even though it
should be called a monarchy. This ele-
ment is by no means contemplate in num-
bers and, combined with the Ring element,
will make a powerful basis for the Radical
party in it's next grand contest, supple
meuted ae it will be by the hundred thou
sand Office holders.
Theu We must not forget that immrrse
institution, the Returning Board. This is
exclusively Radical property by virtue OF its
invention, and will, no doubt, within the
next four years have extended its benign
away far beyord the carpet-hagGed States.
By that time the Board will have probably
captured New York itself, and the Herald,
the San and other submisson organe, can
study the situation at their leisure.
We really cannot fl the coloring which
the peace at any price people see in the
picture. Perhaps Northern voters may
nurse their Indignation unto such a contla-
grafton within the four years to come that
they will at the election of that date sweep
away as chat the Ring, the Radicals, the
! Federalists, the office hSiders and the Re
turning Boards. Yes, of course, they may
but from what we hear of daily conversation
around us they will have to do it without
80.