Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1882-08-19

In recent editorial the New York
Tribune says
'.'rhe great past of the Democratic
party was when it was simply the instru-
ment of slavery extension. 1t has no
other great past. Aside from its des-
perate and finally futile efforts in that di-
rection it has never accomplished, hardly
even attempted, anything"
Jay Gould's young man, who, since
the death of Horace Greeley, has direct
ed the ''leading American newspaper,
never penned more concentrated slush
than is embodied in the paragraph
quoted above. A well informed school
boy could disprove the cheeky assertion,
but it will, doubtless, be accepted by the
T5i5unes readers as a solid fact.
The past of Radicalism mirrors
peaceful land rent in twain, tie slaughter
of thousands of its bravest sons, bereaved
households, the almost total humiliation
of the wealth of one section of the cOun'
try, the creation of a public debt counted
by billions, and the subversion of the
cherished principles of the Republics
founders In its past are pictured the ty-
rannY and brigandage of reconstruction,
the corruption of the Grant regime and the
seating of Hayes, a crime against liberty
for which the records of the race furnish
no parallel. It's present, too, is worse than
its past just in proportion as Keifer, Robe
son, Reed, Horr, Cameron, Logan and
the rest of its present leaders sink in
comparison with the men that led it a
decade ago. Its future it is blind to.
"After us the deluge" is the consolation
its leaders take. Other lands have had
their revolutions, but the generations
that followed them were better than their
fathers. The Radical leaders of the
war epoch were daring revOlutiOnists;
those of to-day are simply thieves or
apologists for thieves.
Six years ago the centenary of the
Republic was celebrated. Its grandeur,
power and prospects were the themes of
the world What contributed most to
the realization of the dreams of its
founders, if it was not the wisdom of
Democracy, which unorganized gave it its
surest safeguard in the sovereignty of the
States, and which as a party shaped its
policy and guided its destinies well nigh
uninterruptedly for sixty years of its ex.
istence? What procured the splendid
empire of the great Mississippi valley, if
not the COnsummate foresight of Jeffer-
son? What the great commonwealth of
Texas, California and Oregon and their
future sisters Arizona, and New Mexico?
Its past is glorious, and the years that
the apostles of Radicalism would have
reckoned as marked with disgrace are the
proudest in its annals.
Whether dominant in the legislative
halls or a meagre minority, denouncing
the tyranny, excuses and corruption of
Radicalism, Democracy has ever
been the same. Its dead counsellors are
numbered among the noblest and
best of earth's benefactors. 1t
has lived through the century of
the Republics existence and numbers
to day vast majority of the intelligence
of the country. Whether it shall again
be called to the full enjoyment of power
or be denied the reward its devotion has
earned, it will endure while there re-
mains among the people true under
standing Of the structure Of our pcliti
cal system. 1t saw the birth of the Re
public and will witness its graud matu-
rity or its death