National Republican. (Washington City (D.C.)) 1872-1888, 1881-04-12
The Hostile Canns.

4
the public mind. That reason we now
restate. 1t is, that In each House OF Con-
gress the Democratic party has great
power of obstruction, being made a
minority in the Senate only by the cast
ing vote of the Vice-President, and in the
House being within a very few votes of
half of the whole. If the minority party
was one that could be counted on for
peaceable acquieseence in the decision of
the majority, after ample time al
lowed for debate and for the opera
ton of public opinion in the
decision>of questions, there could be no
danger. But, unfortunately for the peace
of the country and for the stability of free
institutions, which are about to be sub
jected to their greatest strain, the Demo
cratic party, as now organized, is not
patriotic party, nor one which respects
the constitutionally-expr will of the
majority. 1t has as its basis so much
of the late Confederacy as refuses to hon
orably submit to the fate of war, united
to so much of Northern disloyalty as
blindly and Indignantly adheres to de-
feated cause, which it never had the
courage openly to espouse. In its ranks
are to be found many good, easy people,
who honestly believe in Democratic plat
forms-people whose credulity always
leads them to sympathize with the cul-
prit, instead of the court which condemns
him. Also, there are to be found malcon-
| fhn Il1
mercenaries who always guess wrong as
| to which side will win. This party has
nothing to lose. 1t must tolerate-nay,
justify-the Solid South, well knowing the
| barbarous methods by which that grim
power was created and is sustained. 1t
yields not to majorities-no, not to fate.
1t thrives upon disorder, and it often
wins by defeats Itlaughs at obligations,
and what its opponents would yield as
the fair result of an election it holds until
wrenched from its grasp by force. 1t
has so often dishonored itself by refusal
to yield obedience to election results, to
! Constitution, and to laws, that only its
fear of being injured as party can at any
time induce good behavior. False
tongued, hypocritical leaders speak for it,
and their crafty falsehoods deceive the
people sometimes too long for the public
safety The cruel claws of the tiger are
concealed within their velvet paws, and
when they flwn they bite.
With such party as this the Govern
ment party is now confronted in each
House of Congress They have stolen the
most of their power. A free ballot and a
fair count would have been fatal to the
aspirations of Vance, Ransom, Butler
Hampton, Hill, Brown, Call, Jones of
Florida, Morgan, Pugh, Lamar, George,
Jonas, and perhaps others. But for
a despotism in the States misrep-
resented by the Senators, which admits
of no elections that are not a burlesque,
thirteen Republicans would occupy their
seats, and the Senate would stand 81 to
%. The House would be proportionately
changed. The desperate faction which
usurps SO many seats in both Houses can
not be looked to for moderate, constitu-
tional and lawful action. 1t is turbulent,
destructive, and revolutionary. Whether
it roars through Ben Hill, rants through
Lamar, or purrs through Bayard, it has for
its aim only the resolute endeavor to die
tate or to destroy.
Therefore, we say that the party of the
Government and the party of revolu-
tionary resistance are at the commence
ment of parliamentary stuggle which is
not likely to end until one side is consid-
erably reinforced from the other. A pusil-
luminous and dough-faced policy would
be for the majority, composed of nearly
all the North, fairly chosen, to yield to
the Solid South, unfairly seated where
others should sit, and let harmony come
through the rule of a blood-stained and
fraudulent minority. This policy aviU not
be adopted!
We do not now allude merely to the
skirmish going on in the Senate to
test the right Of the majority to govern
the organization of that body. We mean
the broader field in which both Houses
are to figure The Congress of the
United States is yet to 60 through
struggle of which the Senate deadlock
is but forerunner. The friends of the
administration cannot allow the lawless
minority to rule. There is no limit to the
cruel tyranny Of the Bourbon Democracy
if once they find themselves unresisted,
and thereby made irresistible. The
President has no policy but the enforce
ment of the laws. This the country will
sustain him in. The minority, of whose
inclination the Senate proceedings are
giving us a foretaste: will struggle until it
breaks under the pressure of an outraged
public opinion. The present Congress
will be divided within year into OBJ
structionists and anti-obstructionists.
The men who break away from the Bour-
bon element will be leaders in their
States of a new departure, as is Malone
! in Virginia. If these reflections and pre-
dictions are correct-if we are to see
prolonged and dangerous parliamentary
contest, not only over ordinary and indis-
pensable legislation, but over contests for
seats in the lower House, and even over
the organization itself, ought it not to be-
gin before December?
Forewarned is forearmed. What the
Bourbons can do they will do. What can
be done to break their power requires
time Why should time be lost?
FaIsifying the Record.
In the New York Times of yesterday is
an editorial article headed " Mississippi
Mail Scandals" which declares that the
Government and people are being swim
died" by unscrupulous contractors"
Who " seem. to be at leastindirectly in col
luSion with the post-office officialsD This