Litchfield enquirer., 1879-07-03
Gbe fitfbhelo Gnquirer,
 LTCHFlELD. CONN.
The Curtain Drops.

10 other sources of amusement till the neX theatrical season in December. The perform ance was loudly advertised as Democratic 'sbenefit," |" but the result has not at all answer ed the expectation of its projectors.
 In fact the extra session had no just occa sion. So pleased were the Democracy at ob taining control of the Senate for the first time since '61, that, out of pure wantonness, they have seemed determined to make some notable display of their newly acquired strength They began by picking quarrel with the President who, whatever his faults, evidently means to give the country as far as possible, g non-partisan Administration. Having placed themselves thoroughly in the wrong at the outset, they have allowed themselves to be bullied, badgered and hustled from one blun. tisanship of their own leaders, sometimes by the cunning partisanship of their opponents, till it has seemed doubtful whether there was discretion enough left in the party to get them out of their miserable scrape, and away from Washington without having committed some absolutely Suicidal error.
 Now that they have gone at last, it is worth our while to find out if possible, what could have induced party which, as individuals, seem neither altogether stupid nor ill-nieaning, to make such an exhibition of themselves col lectively. It seems to us to grow out of the lamentable want of candor which pervades all American politics, and perhaps the politics Of all times and countries. Not only every party, but every politician, seems to consider it ruin out to acknowledge an error. The true parti- san never admits that either he or his party has ever done anything wrong. Take for in- stance the case of Senator Ben Hill. He is a man whose courage, ability and frankness we greatly respect. He fought Secession, he fought the Union; he was Confederate Con- gressman, then Union Congressman; never theless, he was always right. always consist ent Not only that, but the South had always been right, always consistent; the North, per- haps always consistent, because always wrong. The South is now glad that the Union is re- stored, Slavery abolished, the negro enfran- chised; yet, in the same breath he proclaims his eternal hatred of the party which restored the Union, abolished Slavery and enfranchised the negro! Now the majority of the Northern people dislike Stalwart Repubicanism they disapprove of Blaine, Conkling, Cameron, Union feeling like that of Mr. Hill which can see nothing wrsng in Secession-a loyalty which can see nothing wrong in treason!
 MT. Hills position is unsatisfactory because it is plainly untenable The War, Emancipa- tiOn, and Enfranchisement, were either right or they were wrong If wrong, the South has been unjustly denied it's liberty {: it has been forced to accept as citizens men whose true position was that of slaves. Is such the be- lief of the South, today? especially is such the belief of it's abler men Lamar, Hampton, Johnson, Hill? If so, can the men who hold fast to 30 gross an error be safely trusted with the government of states, much less with prac- tical control of the nation? For our own part we do not imagine that such is the belief of the South, especially of the intelligent, pro- gressive South. Unless we are greatly mis- taken, Mn Hill feels to-day that Slavery vas wrong, that Secession was wrong, that the South made unjust war on the Union, and was justly beaten, and that enfranchsement was a necessary sequence of emancipation but he is not quite man enough to acknowledge his in- dvidual sin, the sin of his party, the sin of his section, with the taunts of Blaine ever ringing in his ears, and the insolence of Conkling ever before his eyes. Yet, until the South grows candid enough to make that acknowledgement, the North will, for generations perhaps, remain justly suspicious of Southern influence, doubt full of Southern loyalty. It is because the South and its statesmen fail in this most inn portant particular that Stalwartism is finding renewed favor in the eyes of the North. When a Southern statesman shall arise, noble and far. seeing enough to acknowledge the real sinful. ness of Secession and Slavery, the man will have arisen who can win the confidence of the Nation, and perhaps put down forever the party which now thrives solely on the errors its adversary committed half generation since.
 Nor can we boast of any superior candor on the part of Republication. For years the sin of Carpet Baggery weighed it to the earth. Finally, to the regret of many, President Hayes has shook that Old Man of the Sea off his own shoulders, and off those of his party. Yet, in the face of all the disclosures of tyr. amy, robbery. and ruin, which marked the supremacy of the Carpet Bagger in so many reconstructed states, what Republican states man has the candor to acknowledge the wick edness and selfishness with which his party excused and maintained that ghastly iniquity Indeed Republicanism, if it is to deserve and hold'the power the blunders of the Democra cy seem likely to throw into his hands, must remember that the North, while it distrust the loyalty of the "Rebel Brigader," prefer him, on the whole, to that utterly detestabl, nuisance, the Carpet Bagger. While the coun try may not be satisfied with the penitence o Senators Hill, Lamar, and Hampton for theil old treason they see still less reason to grant ooooiueioh oo AOSoh, SoiiOiouS ououukCI duO Conkling for the manifold sins grouped under the comprehensive term of Grantism. Just now, the follies and indiscretions of the extrs session have made people most afraid, not per haps of revival of the actual treason of 1861
 but of Democratic reaction against the issue. decided by the war. A few months hence
 perhaps, we may be most afraid of reviva
 of Grantism. It is characteristic of these evi
 times that the party which wins in 1880 il
 likely to be, not the party which the country trusts most, but the one which it fears least. The Springfield Republican comments upor the reduction of interest and correspondins reduction of dividends by the leading Saving Bank of that place, as marking the last dreI of a gradual descent from imitation to hard pan. While borrowers pay six per cent, it il expected that depesitors will realize but little
 over four. This is much too great difference
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