The Morristown gazette. [volume] (Morristown, Tenn.) 1867-1920, 1882-10-18
POLITICAL PERDlTION.
THE APPALLING DEGRADA-
TION OF POLITICS SEEN BY
MR. TAETAGE.


De Witt TaImage, pastor of th
Brooklyn Tabernacle, preached thi
morning OH the Degradation {
Modern Politics." his text bein
taken from Jeremiah xix, 6: "Thi
place shall no more be called Topic
nor the valley of the son of HInnou
but the valley of slaughter. I'll
said: This was Gehenna on th
suburbs Of Jerusalem, place wher
the carcasses of beasts were cast ant
the offaI Of the city. Perpetual fire
were burning there to hinder i
from breeding pestilence. 1t was
God-forsaken spot and has by relig
ious writer's and speakers ofall ages
been used as a symbol Of perdition
| shall use it as symbol of modern
politics. But instead of being in the
suburbs Of this Gehenna is now in
the center Of all our towns and cit
les. Its carcasses rot on the steps
Of the city halls andits fires siss and
simmer and crackIe through the
long night of political corruption
/ and those who have seen the bodies.
the minds and souls of men Going
down under its pestiferous influence
can see that, like the valley of Hin
uom, spoken of in the text, it may
well be callen the valley of slaught-
er. The present degradation of
State and National politics is appall-
ing.
The purity of American politics
has never been anything to boast
Of 1t has been a long scene of
scurrility and defamation.
But the last year from October,
1881, to October 1882, seems to me
to Lave been the blackest year of
American politics. | give some IL
Illustrations. First, the Yorktown
carousaI. On the 18th of October,
1871, the British forces under Corn
wallis surrendered to Washington
and the long agony of our revolu-
tionary fathers was ended. Last
October the centennial was to be
celebrated. The descendants of
eminent foreigners, who had assist
eG US in the achieving Of American
independence, arrived as our guests.
Appropriate ceremonies were prom
ised, and at the quaint village of
Yorktown many people assembled
The Congress OF the United States
had voted moneys for the proper
observance. Many good people
went and came, preserving their re-
spectability. With many of our
public men it was drunken ca
rousal. They smoked and drank
and insulted unofending men and
women until the scene of 1881 was
not more glorious than the scene of
1881 was infamous. They saluted
the French flag and the English flag
and the American flag But all the
flags of all the nations there pres
ent could not cover up the shame Of
that debauchery Look at the wine
bills and the whisky bills and the
cigar bills, and then look into the
columns of your daily papers of last
October and read the story Of that
occasion, gotten up by politicians,
controlled by politicians and ended
by politicians and everlastingly be-
smirched by politicians.
[ draw a second illustration from
the Garfield funeral carousal, reach
ing from Washington to Cleveland.
While the whole nation was sick
with sorrow after the worst disaster
that ever befel any country, there
were public men who at public eX-
pense guzzled and swilled and stag
gered on the way to Cleveland, af-
ter they got to Cleveland and on
their way home from Cleveland. |
Read the wine bills and the W hisky |
bills Of that occasion which you and |
l helped to pay for If we have paid |
our taxes. Cleveland, one OF the
most beautiful cities OF all tho earth,
never had so much drunkenness
and debauchery as the night before
Garfeld's burial, when the mayors
and common council and Congress
men of cities and States were there
waiting for the obsequies.
1t is to me an encouraging sign
that the two political parties seem
split beyond reconstruction. That
the Republican party has very Sc
rious split no one will deny. For
the present the split in the Demo
cratic party seems healed, but if
you have any idea that because
is silent Tammany is
dead, you make grievous miscalcu
lation. Wait till they come to
OF offices. ! think that
1884 will begin a new order Of
things | wish that a new party
could be organized. | would have
Its first principle the recognition Of
the eternal God in the affairs Of
men and governments The trou
bic is we have no God recognized in
politics. We have a dey
il yea a whole cohort f evil spir
its the devil of Office seeking, the
devil of wastefnlness, the devil Of
the devil of injustice but
no God. Plenty of gin. plenty of
old rye, plenty of schnapps, plenty
Of fraud, plenty of legislative out
rage and Congressional swindle,
but no God. | never want to see
any unioa between church and
state in this country, but do want
to see a party who viii openly and I
any disguise or can't recog-
nize the God IN whose name Colum-
bus took possession of this country,
and in whose name Washington