National Republican., 1882-11-28
Good BCllnYior.

elated at their recent success, as OF right
they may be, their reflections lead to a
tone of soberness which is good deal
of n drawback TO the enthusiasm of the
more impetuous. The governor-clect of
New York, with popular majority of
two hundred thousand Mt his back, cx-
pressed the idea when he told his friends
that the trust they had received was en-
tirely contingent upon their good be-
havior. This remark has been received
all round as evidence of remarkable good
sense in Mr.. Cleveland, but why it should
be is not little funny. 1t implies dis
trust of the ability or intent of the party
to behave well that must be very dis
heartening to those who have been in
structed to think the old party is fore
runner of the millennium and incapable
of going amiss. Itseems to hint vaguely
that in some past experiments in the
exercise of power it has not shown so
much wisdom as will entitle it to a Ger
tiiicate of character without further pro-
baton. The hint is intended to incite
an examination of the point whether on
the whole there is probability that the
party can behave well when it has the
responsibilities of power'in its keeping
In our view of the matter the negative
of the proposition can be most easily es-
tablished. As a minority party Democ.
racy is q success. 1t can stand all day,
living on husks, and shout "ruin," i'm
possible" outrageous" unconstitu-
tionnl," and other catchwords of party
currency used to discredit real statesman
ship, but when it comes to act, or even
to get ready to act, confusion dominates
its councils and paralysis seizes its func-
tions, bringing all its long line of prom
ises to naught in most astonishing man
ner. So palpable has this been that no
intelligent Democrat for many years has
been able to look upon the prospect of a
Democratic victory without a shudder,
and every disaster of the party at the
polls has been received with hearty
thank God" that the people have been
wiser than the party leaders, 1t was
said by a prominent Democrat two years
ago that Hancock failed of an election
because the business men of New York,
| hliliOhb VI pdi SOp
at the uncertainty of what policy might
prevail, and, he might have added, pre-
ferred the steady, stable, and beneficial
rule of the Republicans, which they could
understand, to the crude and probably
disturbing measures of the Hancock
party.
| Distrust then defeated Hancock, and
| f{n ictr H. {vnuala IL q
Mt the moment of victory. The reasons
: for this are obvious. The Democratic
: party went out of power twenty years
ago because its craftsmanship was not
equal to the exigencies of the time. II
fell so far in the rear of the spirit of the
age that it got badly left, and it has
never caught up. A few of its leaders
seem now and then to have spasm o
S sense and a comprehension of what j.
S wanted, but it is too feeble to amount tc
$ an actual force, and usually subside.
S when the crisis arri'.>e.;; 1e;lving them
4 ~" w"n~c.s side of the fence at the Ia
III moment. The actual and efficient lea
es ers of the party have denounced Il
ss Republican measures one by one whe
they were proposed as either uncons
tutional, impracticable, or perniciou
-, but the people have seen the measur
I passed and put into effect, while IL
:, country has progressed in manner u
!, paralleled in human history. 1t is sa
"' to say that in no single instance of il
- portance has Democratic prophecy
y. evil through Republican policy been fl
ae filled. 1t is equally safe to say that Il
business men of the country do N
- point to single failure to carry al
~ Democratic scheme as cause for Al
w special regret, and are abundantly sati
~ ~ fed that Republican rule has been VIII
=, the country needed.
The Democratic party therefore stant
- in history as the party of obstruction
!! barrier to progress, q menace to the pu
= lie good, and dangerous organization
J. American politics. Itsnumerical streng
- " is furnished by the low elements whic
- predominant in the large townsand citi
allied with Bourbons in all sections, al
M. which easily unite in considering che,
tic whisky the one vital moral and polite
be question of this generation. Well IN:
rs, rs Mr.. Cleveland say that good behavior
nf need for which he is looking with de,
ed concern.
nd The difficulties in the way of good
0i havior are somewhat appalling. TT
Democratic mind is exceedingly foggy
!, relation to what good behavior actual
~ is, 1t knows that Republicans are ba
9" and has felt during twenty-five years til
~ another year of Republican rule wou
~ ruin business and destroy our instit
y. tions, but the people are now so accu
toned to ruin and destruction that dou
is raised whether all virtue consists
hostility to Republican policy, and the
ial doubts are so great that perhaps IN
he iority of Democrats would agree to COZ
n promise by allowing Republican mea
Mt ures to remain unmolested, provided Il
,el Offices be surrendered TO their keepin
he We guess our good-natured neighbor
an the Post would deem that fair settl
do ment of diff culties.
is, Bourbon Surrender OF Virginia.
1t The Louisville Courier Journal says tn
to "there will be four hundred and o.