St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1881-07-15
Lessons Of the Nations Grief

III tne. udN Oh university, consider,
are words of the preacher which now
enforce themselves. His other saving
''By the sadness of the countenance
the heart is made better" throws across
this clOud of evil portent some CLEANS
of hope. The nation comes to itself
1t is shocked into thoughtful retro
spect into no less thoughtful out
look. One cheering omen and full of
touching significance is that, for this
sad hour and while in the house of
mourning, the deeper fountains of our
common humanity are so profoundly
stirred. As we behold the PROSTATE
form and imperilcd condition of our
President we bow our heads together
and our tears flow in the sacred pres
encc of that wife and her children, and
the gray-haired mother. 1t is no lon
ger Democrat or Republican, northern
OF southern. We all grieve, "without
partiality and without hypocrisy" The
wisdom that is from above comes
down, ''gentle and easy to he entreat-
ed :" and the fruit of righteousness is
Sown i'll peace of them that make
peace. The charity that suffercth long
and is kind wells up from the foun-
tains of our better nature and reasserts
its sway. 1t is the time for sowing
broadcast good seed. The soil that is
mOistencd with nations tears lends
opportunities well worth while to seize
What il solemn hush came at once with
the reverberations of that pistol
over the ''envying and strife and con
fusion and every evil work. at Albany.
Arthur and COnkling are no more
there. The disgraceful squabble for
the present ceases. The Legislators of
the Empire state will doubtless be dis
Greet enough to cease from their own
works and do the peoples bidding to
see to it without delay that New York
is represented i'll the national Senate
and then go home to await the verdict
of II watchful and thoughtful people.
The ''stalwartSn will he less eager for
the name and less tenacious of the pol
icy it signifies. Oflice-seekers, lobby
lists and spoils-mOngers will observe Il
season of Lent, and read the news
papers with mwonted seriousness.
Public opinion once aroused, and when
its currents begin to set, is fcarfully
OmnipOtent, and none have kecner in
stincts to discern it than those greedy
aspirants whom it makes or unmakes.
The vision of Roscoe COnkling was
too much blurred, and it is now of lit
tie consequence what he sees or how
he feels. But it seems quite likely that
Mr.. Arthur, brought to the front of Il
great eXigency by such an event of
such supreme significance, and with
the lightnings of public opinion
aroused to its sharpest scrutiny play
ing about him, will he sobered into
his presence. He will hardly become
another Platt. Even i'll the worst
event he will hesitate to lift into the
saddle 'the man of destiny" He will
not carclcssly throw away the financial
prestige of Secretary WINDOWS au-
spiciOus beginnings. He will be slow
to thwart the investigations of AttOr-
ney-General MacNeagh and of Post
master-General James. The growl of
the spOils- will be angry and
mcessant, but the muttering thunder
of the people must be also heard. Be
tween the pistol of the office-mad
assassin and that thunder, Mr.. Arthur
and his crowd will he compelled to
listen. They will hardly go for any
show of revolution, at least for some
time to come. If their heads are at
all level they will make haste that way
very slowly.
And meanwhile, the "spoils system"
which makes Guiteaus, pestiferous lot,
whether sane or crazy, and which,
mania and pistOl-shots aside, has been
the dread and curse, and living if not
actual death of so many Presidents, is
doomed. 1t may fight long and die |
hard as it did in England. The spoils-
mOngers and ring managers are tough |
and numerous and powerful guild. |
Partisan leaders from the caucus up
will not easily surrender their football |
game and its heavy stakes for any rad
zeal reform of the civil service. But
as the first gun fired at Sumter, that
holiday performance at Charleston, was
the knell of slavery and secession, so
the pistol-shOt of Guiteau, the crazed |
ot1ice-seeker, count it brain accident
if yOu will, discount its political sig
niticance as you please, is the knell of |
that "spOils-system" which begets
dead-lOcks, Albany tiascOs, whisky
rings, and star-rOute frauds, and the |
reckless diekering of Presidential tick
4 ID