Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1876-07-09
GEORGE W. GORDON.
POLICYAND RULEKs

ACHANGE OF POLICY AND RULERS
THE great political work Of the hour
is a return to the principles Of the gov.
eminent, IS proclaimed in the declara.
ton Of independence and defined in the
Constitution of the United States. To
do this we must have a complete change
In the administration of the govern.
ment-nOt change merely of men, but
a change Of policy, and a radical
change in the working, result-produc-
ing elements OF The government. 1t is
evident to every man, even OF the
humblest capacity, that our country, IN
der the influences and control Of what
is termed Grsntism, has lost, to q very
great extent, the vital force of republi,
canism, as Tepublicanism was known,
fought for and established by our an
cestors one hundred years ago. To the
student Of history this decline in the
spirit Of true republicanism is not sur
prising, because history teaches him
that the tendency Of all republics that
have preceded our own! was first to GEN.
tralism, and then TO monarchy and
despotism. This was the case with
the ancient republics of Europe and
Asia, and the later republics Of Central
America. Nevertheless, 1t was and is to
be hoped that the republic of the United
States, having within itself the correct
i've principle Of popular sovereignty, ex-
ercised at local and general elections by
the removal of incompetent and dishOn-
est officials, and the election of compe
tent and honest men in their places,
would prove an exception to the rule
that all republics must needs end in cen.
trsllsm and despotism. 1t is crafty
ing fact to know that the people are ON
nipoIent, and that with that weapon
the ballot-they can at one general cleo.
ton right the body polite by the re-
moval Of dishonest or inefficient public
servants. The danger lies in public
apathy to official corruption-in
quietly or psssively scquiescing
in wrong in high places until
official corruption, mslfeassnce and mis-
feasance have completed the werk of
destruction TO civil liberty, and the peo-
pie are bound hand and foot by the gives
and shsckles Of corruptly ambitious
rulers. There is no denying that the
present party in power-whether the
masses Of that party appreciate the fact
or not-aims at a radical change In the
essence and spirit, if not ia the form, of
our present system Of government. "The
tree is known by its fruits" and judging
the Republican party by this scripturaI
rule Of construction, we are forced to the
belief that that party means the destruc-
ton Of Tepubiicanism in the United |
States, in everything but the name. Out
OF the partisan zeal for "the govern
ment," born Of ianaticism and the war,
the rights Of the States under the consti-
tuition are being rapidly merged in the
Federal authority, and that essentially
democratic doctrine of local
self-government, without which
repuDlicanism is a delusion and a
snare, is fast being Iegislsted
out Of existence. Congress-st least
that branch Of it yet remaining to the
Radicals, the senate Of the United
so legislate as to leave
little for the "loyaln State legislatures to
do beyond ratifying its own action in
the premises. To correct this danger.
Gus departure from true republicanism,
and to bring about retrenchment and re.
form, and with retrenchment and re-
form a sound currency and good times,
the people must turn the whole bach of
Radical office-holders adrift and elect
honest Democrats in their stead.