The Hickman courier. [volume] (Hickman, Ky.) 1859-current, 1882-12-01
A Republican Crisis.


Republican Crisis.
That the result Of the elections marks
a crisis IN the history of the Republican
arty there can be no doubt and that
TINS Crisis IS lar more grave and deci-
siVe than the party has ever con ronted
De ore. is equally certain. There have
Deen many Republican defeats during
the last twenty-one years, but none OF
such sweeping and crushing chara ter
as this; none which indicated such
tremendous revolution in popular senti-
ment, such unmistakable and emphatic
condemnation of the principles and
practices that have so long controlled
the National Administration. After
making all due allowance for Republic
an dissensions there still remains
wide margin of defeat, which cannot be
attributed to these, and which must be
charged TO the sins and shortcomings
that patient people have endured un-
til patience ceased 10 be a virtue. The
dlssensIons themselves are unimpeach-
/ able and unanswerable witnesses against
the power they have helped to break.
1 They were caused. not so much bv the
eoniilctlng ambitions and INSCRIPTIONS
4 lntrigues OF party leaders, as by the de-
moralization and rottenness of the party
itself. which, disgusting the better por-
/ ton of the rank and rle, either drove
them into o en- and active opposition or
kept them away from the polls. 7 he
intelligence and honesty Of the people
as whole, are. and we may hope wiz
always be. the salvation OF our system
OF government; and no polit cal organ
lzation, however old and strong. how
ever firmly cemented BY drill and dis
ciDline and the cohesive force of patron
age and plunder. can persistently insult
that intelligepe e2I7d honesty without
provoking 2 ate punishment.
Circumst y aop~pire TO delay
this .png Eer to avert il
and sew asoae sssf7 I
the postpoH,
The Reputa, n began business
on single iss} Ia q ter one failure
in 1886. establis ed tself in 1851, only /
through the su cdal blunder of the /
South. That section, had it cordially I
united with Is Northern friends, could +
easily have elected a Democratic Presi-
dent; and If Southern Senators and Rep
resentatives had remained in CongreSs
after the Inauguration of Republican
Admin stration, Democratic ma ioriiy
in the Natlonli Legis ature won Id hive
been all-su cient protection of Southern
rights. ut it W : not so to be, and the
one Republican ssue re ched its con-
summation by the terrible processes Of
ciyi war. No sooner was the war over
then the p rty dropped tn m sll OF pat
riotism and phil nthropv it had so sue
cess ullv won Inste d being con-
tent with the restoration of the Union
and the destruct on of avery, and set
ting about the hea ing o the wounds
the sword had made, it Immediately
proceeded to consol d ne and perpetu-
ate its pol tical power by comforting CT
lZenshiD upon those who hardly knew
they were free, and certainly had no
sponsibiltes of freedom-much less,
citizenship. Military government in
the South accompa MED African enfran-
ehisement, and en- bled it to be util-
lied at the ballot-box; and fol-
lowing in the same train, as natu-
raj and legitimate result, came So
called "Southern reconstruction, in
which negroes. earpet-baggers and Fed
eral bayouets were the dominating Gle
ments. OF the fruits os this desperate
effort TO Republicanize the South we do
not care TO speak. Enough to say that /
they fixed an indelible stain upon the
American name and Nation, and cul-
m mated in the greatest political crime
VI lut C6iOuI I-IIle TIC VI tAtC 1cSl- |
dencv. Ibis crime, however, compelled
the usurper who had profited by it to
lit the oke from Southern necks; and
since then Republicanism in the South I
has maintained a precarous and COM {
paratively harmless existence only
the influence of Federal patron I
are and the shameless treachery of such s
men as Malone If the Republican {
party had nothing to answer for except ]
its action in the South from 1865 to
1877. it would still deserve even more I
than it has received from the people: G
but when we remember all that c
is meant by "Hrantism, 'Stal- a
wartism'' and "Bossism;" all that is I
in the reign of abuse and cor v
ruption from 1877 to 1882, the wonder =
i that the " off year did not bring an ,
avalanche of popular rebuke to extin- r
guish the guilty party at once and for G
ever. :
If there has not been such an ay- i
alancbe. there has been most unoues- h
tionablv a combination of earthouake =
and tidal wave that shakes and Skaters r
The Republican party from turret to h
foundation. No explanation will ex- h
plain the result in New York. Pennsvl- !,
vania, Massachusetts and elsewhere that +,
loes not recognize the great and essen +,
ial fact that the party in its present n
shape is hopelessly rent asunder; and j
"a house divided against itself cannot (
taud. There must either be radical n
from bottom to top. a q
complete turning over of an entirely new +
eaf. an uneauivoc and absolute new n
departure. or Republicanism is dead n
md buried. If the s.Stalwarts'' and
.Half-breeds who now hate each
,ther much worse than thcY do their d
ommon enemy, the triumphant Democ- e
acy--cannot come together on oI
,roader and better platform than the in
,artv has ever occupied be ore andcon- b,
ince the people of the sincerity of their :.
epentance and reformation-ihe party W
must inevitably perish has perished al b.
eady. In other words, unless Repub- n,
canism can discard everythinpthat has A
haracterized it for the past Seventeen b,
ears, and rebuild from bedrock ND, h.
ne country has seen the last of it. q
Vhen the smoke clears away, and :