Lancaster daily intelligencer. [volume] (Lancaster, Pa.) 1864-1928, 1880-01-27
THE AMERICAN DEMOS.
A MORE HOPEFUL VIEW OF THE RE'
PUBLIC.


PUBLIC.
An Antitlote to Charles O'Conor's Gloomy |
View.
From Hon. J. s Blacks letter to the INTELLI |
GEScER, Sept. l, 1879.
The American Demos, though not with
out his faults, is, nevertheless, sensible
parsonage, of good judgment, open to con-
victiOn, a lover of fair play. He Is not
as Jealous of his political agents as he
ought to be, nor as vigilant in guarding
his inherited rights but he respects the
memory of his ancestors and has due re-
gard for the interests of his children. His
blood and breeding will never permit him
to be slave in the household of which he
was born to be master. He is slow to
anger even against his worst Oppressors,
and the most atrOcious fraud does not
ruffle his temper but III the fulness OF
time, quietly and without vindictiveness,
he rights his wrongs. You need not DE
afraid that your appeals to his reason, his
conscience and his pride of race will be
| made in vain.
If you are doubtful of this, think what
the people of the Union have lately
achieved. Ten years ago the friends OF
liberty, regulated by law, had only seven
senators in Congress, and in the lower
|
two to one. They had elected president
sworn to preserve, protect and defend the
constitution, for compensation OF twenty
five thousand dollars per annum, but the
enemies of the constitution secured HIM
to their side by giving him, i'll the form OF
presents, more than his legal salary would
amount to in four years. When the
private gifts ceased, Congress presented
him with an equal amount of the pubic
treasury, and SO his administration be-
came an anti-constitutional job from
beginning to end. The army and navy,
and all the executive departments, the
whole organized physical force, all the
officers and all the money of the nation,
were in hostile hands. Every atom
of this mighty power was thrown
against liberty and justice, The
Southern states were wholly deprived
of their autonomy, their governments
crushed out, and their people placed under
the absolute domination of notorious
thieves while in the cOmmOnwcalths OF
the North, as well as in Congress, legisla-
ton was controlled by great rings organ
lied to enrich themselves by robDlnS
labor of the bread it earned. Our usurp-
ing rulers, entrenchcd in power which
they thought irresistible, asserted that the
constitution had been shot to death in the
war. that the states consequently had no
rights, and the people no liberties, which
Federal authority was bound to respect.
They claimed the power to suppress news
papers for publishing the truth, to knock
down Judges on the bench for administer
ing law, to kidnap and imprisOn free
citizens for EXPIRE ssing their honest opin-
ions. Pretending to leave us the privilege
of the ballot, they used Succe ssfully every
form the force and fraud to intimidate
voters. to stifle the expression of the popu-
lar will, and to falsify election returns.
Superadded to these indignitics and out
RACES was the pressure of a public debt SO
heavy and public expenses SO scandalously
eXtravagant that taxes absorbed all the
profits of industry, whereby the rich be-
came richer and the poor poorer; wealth
accumulated and men decaycd. Does
history tell us of any nation more deplor-
ably situated? The outlook of PrOmctheus
chained to the rock, with vulturcs gOrginS
thcmselvec upon all the lobes Ofhis liver,
seemed scarcely SO hopeless. Some of our
best patriots despaired of the republic and
greatly feared that the institutions estab-
lished by the fathers of the country were
: irrecoverably lost by the degcncracy OF
their sons.
how did the great body of the people be-
have The mighty and puissant Demos-he
of the invincible locks what did he do :
lie took up the huge burden of his debt
and walked away like Samson with the
rates of GAIA upon his shoulders. lie
soilcd his conscience with no thought
, of reputation, but worked on with every
+ limb stretched and every muscle swelled,
| until he paid the half of all he was bound
for and made the securities for the other
half as good as gold. In the meantime he
looked after the corrupt combinations that
, were squanderng the proceeds of his labor
, and determined to have government that
would pay some attention to his wishes,
his interests, and his rights. In spite
l of fraud, falsehOOd, and brute force, the
, numbers of the anti-constitutiOnal faction
l in the national Legislature decreased until
. they became minority in both branches.
Q At the last presidential election their can
f didate was defeated by an overwhelming
g majority and could only be counted in by
: most impudent fraud. Was not this much
, to be accomplished in so short a time and
: under SO many disadvantages? In similar
S circumstances the Roman Rpulus would
G have been Gas in fact it was) utterly de-
t ba,lched and the spirit Of the Athenian
s to rash and ruinous insurrection, by half OF
what we endured. Is is something to be
| proud of, that We alone of all Democratic
t peoples restored our institutions after they
were not only wrecked but rotten.
G These peaceful victories, more renowned
: than those of war, have not merely pro
= noted in n general way the great cause in
J., which they were won, but their direct and
: immediate fruits have been most bencii.
S cial Innumerable swindles have been
2 exposed and punished unlawful combina,
. tions have been broken up and many mil
/ lions saved of the public money. The
t carpet-bag thieves are son the run, OF
: else overtaken by the laws, and sent to
. the proper penitentiaries. This vena
e crew which at one time riOted in the full
= possession of ten state governments, and
0 occupied the seats of sixty representatives
0 in Congress, with twelve III the Senate,
have vanished from the political stage
and many of their official abbettors i'll the
North have been scourged back to the
pOwerless obscurity from which they
= ought never to have emerged.
Our struggles for justice in the courts,
4 the reclamation Of our rights through the
press, upon the hustings, and i'll the Legis'
E lative assemblies of the states and the
: nation, have produced a striking moral et-
feet on the minds of our adversares them
Y selves, They have not given up then
despotic theory of government, but theiI
practice is infinitely4ess cruel than it used
tn ha They still assert that they took ad-