The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1879-04-21
The Republicans and Standing Army.

N%%N~~@
The Republicans and Standing Army.
Mr.. DAWES has framed feeble indlct-
ment against the majority in Congress, be-
cause they propose TO repeal some of the
odious legislation which the Republicans,
in their day OF power, put upon the statute
book as a means OF prolonging misrule and
corruption. His chief count runs thus
They had not been In power in the House OF Repre-
month before they struck the army itself
and undertook to reduce 1t TO ten thousand men
So far from this charge being n just
ground OF complaint, the very reverse of
Is true. In their whole line Of acts Of re-
trcnchment the army stands out as an eX-
ception for which the Democrats are par
TALLY responsible 1t was the weak point in
the programme OF Mr.. RANDALL in the
Forty-fourth Congress, and has stood ever
since, as il to stultify the professions Of
economy. 1t Is true that attempts have
been made to reduce the standing army 10
the actual needs OF the country, but they
never were pushed with zeal aud purpose,
such as We're witnessed in regard to the
navy and other branches OF the public
Service.
The Senate always stood as an obstruc-
ton to this particular REFORM but. with its
control OF the public purse the House was
In position to have exacted terms, had the
demand been pressed resolutely. A COM
binaton OF fortuitous circumstances favored
the army at the very time when reduction
might have been carried against all or
binary opposition. And subsequently, when
It was possible to have passed bill cutting
doNyn tho fnrea from tuNapf y-iiNa fbpu sand
to seventeen thousand men. the delegation
from Texas deserted the Democratic side
and turned the scale
The Republicans have consistently and
dehantly sustained large standing army
as part OF their political policy. They
used 1t to set up carpet-bng governments in
the South; they used it in elections; they
used 1t as posse comiidias; and they en-
grated it Oh their systcm of rule as a ncccs-
sity which must be maintained at any cost.
Between the close OF the civil war and the
passage OF the first appropriation bill by
the Democratic House OF the Forty-ioui tn
Congress, they voted away fully four hun
drcd and fifty millions of dollars for the
army or about one-illth OF the whole ma
tionnl debt.
The Republicans may be properly called
the party OF the army. because they are
wholly responsible for the legislation by
which, under different partisan pretexts this
enormous expenditure was made. In the
midst OF general suffering throughout the
country they have constantly voted to i'm
pose this burden on the people, already
grooming under taxation, and they are now
struggling with every possible energy TO
prevent the repeal OF a clause in the Re
vlsed Statutes which allows the presence Of
troops at the polls under pretence OF keep
ing the peace
How different Is the attitude OF the party
to-day compared with what it was when
great leaders-SEwARD, CHASE, FEssENDEN,
WADE, SUMNER, and others like them-illus-
trated its principles. The very question
which now vexes Congress and disturbs the
public mind was debated by the best intel
Iects twenty-three years ago. Mr. SEWARD,
from his silent tomb, seems to rebuke the
small demagogues who are sitting in the
places that the giants Of tho party then
filed. He said on that memorable occasion
orr liberty and a saaipg amy i,r N, fiiTa> o, -iri
police like keeping peace al the pols-Enl hue u''r
YET stood t9eisr, dHf stand tashsr II am u
choose between UNFOLDING laws in any part OF this re
public which cannot be maintained without standing
army or renqushing tie laws themselves give up thC
laws at once. by whom,oeyer they are made and b'
whatever authority for either our system Of government
Is radicay wrokg such laws unjust unequal ant
perncious
III tho founders Of the Constitution had been told tina
within seventy years from he day which they lai,
Its solid foundations and raised its majestic columns
standing army would have been found necessary an,
Indispensable merely to execute municipal laws, thel
would have turned away shuldering from the massive
despousm which they had erected.
The time and III at not long when proposition
TO employ the standing OF the United states
domestic police would have been universally denounce,
asa premature revelation Of plot darky contryed II
The chambers Of conspiracy, TO subyert the liberties 0
thc PEOPLE and to overthrow the republic its,lL'
These words are worthy OF the statesman
who uttered them, and who, first Of ALL wal
American TO the core and republican in th'
proper sense Of the word. He knew VIVA
standing armies had done in the Old World
aud the danger that besct free governmcn
IN the New II they were permitted to Obtain
such foothold rs the false republicans
have sought to establish since the close o
the rebellion.
Stripped Of all the DISCUSSES which parti
san policy has assumed, the plain livinl
issue IN Congress is. whether the army shall
he continued as a political force, and TO &C
as police in the States regardless Of thel
local laws. The Republicans have bee
foolish enough to take their stand for