The Ottawa free trader. [volume] (Ottawa, Ill.) 1843-1916, 1880-05-01


have Us believe that if Governor Robinson OF
Governor Mcclellan was transferred from Al
bany or Trenton to Washington, nine.tcnths OF
their supporters will be men so bad, so reCk
less so unprinciplcd and so desperate that they
will accomplish their fendish work with an
energy OF purpose 10 which any resistance
they Governor Luclus Robinson save the
mark would be likely to interposc would
he u feeble barrier" And Just before that cx-
traordnary uttcrance Mr.. iioar had been lee
turing us on our lack of capacity to see things
in their true propurtons" ask you, can par.
~ spirit 20 any further than il lately has and
not come to blows? Let us see how far il has
gore, Through returning board made up
IUi low poIltlcal adventures who acted through.
out in contemptous disregard Of law, The great
Republican party four years ago stole the cleo
tora vote OF Southern state, aud through it
secured the Presidency. The party was and Is
the receiver of stolen political goods, and con.
lsequenlly just as bad as the thieves It's mem.
bcrs know 1t perfectly well. In private life a
majority of them never would have listened TO
"A proposition to do anything of the sort They
would have resented it as an insult Yet when
it came to consummaling the theft, TO pocket
ing the stolen goods, such was the binding
power of party spirit that believe, scarcely
single Republican paper IN the whole coun-
try, and but two members of congress had sui.
| ficicnt individuality to refuse to be part ana
parcel to the theft, So much for Republican
scrupcs. Three years passed away and last
autumn Il Democratic Governor and his coun-
Gil pat their heads together to set aside the
popular verdict and secure the asceLdanCy of
their party in the state of Maine. 1t was ex.
actly such scheme in point of morality as
hand Of burglars might concoct to break into
a bank vault Just about as respectable
| ri 4, hot
| through. Their action was as bad as immoral
as that OF the Louisiana Returning Board
1t could not be worse. Again party spirit
swept every scruplc away The Democratic
press of the State rallied as one man to the
lconspirators and of the seventy and more leg.
islators whose active cOnniyanCc was neCes-
sary to COnsummate the crime, those who
showed any scruplcs were in number not half
enough to have saved Gomorrah. The single
| Democratic member of the Supreme Court Of
Maine was a selfrespectlng mantle Lord be-
thanked Tor that! AS for the rest companion
ship at the carts tail and in the pententiary
with Wells and his thevng crew was what
they richly earned But what would Wash
ington have said at all this? Washington was
u gentleman. | do not believe he ever stole
anything in his whole life--not even an cleo.
toral vote. And now, among all his country
men, he would have found not a handful IN !
both parties sufficiently free from that party
Esprit against which he so solemnly warned
them to stand up and denounce a theft The
individuality of each was merged and lost in
1.-The party. do not hesitate to say that it is in
! the long run utterly immaterial whether Re.
publican or Democrat sits in the Presidential
chair during the next four years or which par
ty in Congress is IN the majority and which IN
opposition, If We only have rcacc and civil
nrIp Il i
and transfers of power and strong men theo-
rics, and selfinaugurated Presidents; if wei
only have faith, even AS gram of mustard
seed IN discussion and education. Happily
for Us the future destiny of this country is not
TO be read at Washington, or worked out
through those political dispositions which are
forever buried in the Congressional RecOyd |
And most fortunate it is that this is so As an
obstacle to intelligent progress the National
Government is an unquestionable success 9th.
erwise, | do not see how 1t can be looked upon
as anything but II necessary evil. Aside from
the late rebellion a good deal, both inelcctu-
ally and materially, has been done in this coua-
try as II whole during the last twenty years Il
work of which, as people, We have no cause toI
be ashamed. No assistance whatever IN accom-.
plishing this result has at any time come fiom
Washington as a political ccnrre--nothjng but
obstruction, ignorance, passion and confusion
Our tariff legislation Is monument of Congress.
sional insigh and knowledge Chinese monu.
ment well calculated to draw the gaze of aston.
lshed specialists throughout the civilized world |
Our civil service, again, shows conclusvelyl
what Congress ana the politicians can do when
they try. Finally, take the return to specie
payments, that superb national tour dc force of
the last fifteen years, thing unequalled else
where in the worlds history-how was i'll
It about by driving all competitors of our
farmers-'thc grangcrS from the food mar. |
kets of Europe, and thus reversing the ex-
changes OF the world; ANA to this grand result
Washington contributed the twomlllon-a
month silver dollar bill! And in the face OF
such record rs this, we specialists, educators
scientific men, merchants, bankers, farmers |
mechanics, we who have wrought these great
results IN spite of all the bunghng obstacles
which the Washington flies on the wheel have
been able to throw in our wayne are now
told that the whole thing will go TO eternal
destruction if one set of flies IS made to glvel
way to another set, In this country we are al
ways talking of the centre of political power !
We have watched it through the cnumcraionsI
and seen it cross the Alleghauics and the Ono
and the census of the coming summer will, II
suppose, carry it far towards the Mississippi
| THIS il the material centre of power. Twenty
ana thirty years ago speech in Congress by
certain men was an cvent-it was "A cOntribH-
| ton to a cause 1t was looked for with inter.
est and read with avidity The arena of dis
Icussion was there. 1t was the same with Par
! lament Both IN England and here the grow
! ing power of the press seems To have changed
all this The centre OF influence is removed
! from Parliament and Congress to the Constitu-
cncies The legislative body is becoming
more and more mere recording agency OF re
suits bat,led out on wider field For instance,
the other day, when Mr. Gladstone wished To-
get the ear of all Britain to his arraignment of
the Beaconsfeld Ministry, he did not rise in
his place in Parliament, but went up to Mid
lothian. The man who could do that cannot
be kept out Of public life. His rostrum is in
every town hall. We do not want more organ
j iznilnn-mnrc dlscinlinc-mnre .machine' In