The Dallas daily herald. [volume] (Dallas, Tex.) 1873-1887, 1877-12-02
FAllfn IRON lIs MAJ fsTArf.

FAllLN FhUN 10 mum tolHlt'
To the thoughtful patriot, the scene
ln tho senate, on Friday, suggests a
comparison with the times when Clay,
Calhoun, McDilllo Davis, Beuinn, aud
other home grown southern gentlemen
represented the south IN the senate
and the comparison wounds tie amour
prlprf Of the sou herner Of today, 4
senator from tho once proud state
Of South Carolina n under arrest for
various crimes at home, and occupies
his seat and votes, under the
surveillance OF the officers OF the law,
The grave situation which calls this
Paladn of the later south from his
chamber Of legal restraint is a struggle
Of peculiar nature, grounded upon
partisan selfshnessand themere trckery
by which pettiloggng obsourity wins
It's bread In the inferior courts Of the
land, The senate is tie on any test
question, Two men from as many
different states, the one q democrat and
the other republican, are olomoring
for admission, If the democrat gets in
first, the republican is defeated, and
Vicc pnSd The cause Of the democrat Is
first on the list and olcourso is entitled
TO precedence, and all the struggle for
the last two weeks in that body, has
been had on the part of the republicans
to reverse this order and get their man
first, while on the democratic side the
struggle has been to defeat this pur
pose. What is peculiarly humiliating
is that this man Patterson, reelS
ing with fraud announces his
purpose to support the democratic
precedence, The scepter is passing
stormily away from the republican
grasp and is eagerly clutched at by the
democrats, The contest has degener,
ated into mere squabble worthy only
Of pettilorgery itself Personl, senato-
rial and national dignity and decency
are lost in the contest and forgotten or
disregarded,
The direct effect of this unseemly
squabbling is deplorable enough, God
knows, but its secondary and permanent
effect upon the popular mind and NOR
ais is or will be- infinitely worse. The
second political power in the land, the
conservative body standing farthest but
one from the passions and preiudices
of the masses, exhibiting all the trick,
ry,nayroguery OF the ward election pre-.
cinct, or the ward caucus has no prom
ising features about it for the future
purity and dignity of the representa-
tive form OF government
Henry Clay, in his time, preferred to
be right rather than be president. To>
day some Of his successors in that cham
Der, which he and his God>iike cons
peers made illustrious, had rather be
senators than to carry the reputation Of
honesty and purity out Of it, Behold
how the mighty have fallen and the
certainty that they have not even yet
touched bottom is one of the dis
quietingcircumstauces OF to>day. Where
will it all end, is the anxious inquiry OF
honest people from Maine to California
and no man can answer
So long as the executive department
Of the government and the supreme
court maintained even semblance Of
nonspartizanship in the exercise Of
their functions, men felt comparatively
safe, but since the death of Lincoln
mere partiaanship has been the rule
rom the president down, and corrup'
ton, public and private, high and low
has distinguished the people and gov,
eminent of the United States. Loving
the policies and traditions of the democ
racy with deatnless passion, yet W,
would see it perish, rather than see i
owe its return to power, to the vote Of
Patterson or any other of the crew o
cormorants which have iattened upor
the dead carcass of state sovereignty ii
the south, and who have climbed to tn,
senate upon the bayonets, and over tn,
money bags of the nation We don
want power at such a price, nor woulc
we owe present ascendancy to sucl
cattle. We can afford to wait another
decade or two, or until corruption
ceases to be respectable.