Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1882-10-20
senator Edmunds ON the Republican
Party,

HNAANNA VIZ AHo AANNuHANNh
Party.
tFrom the New York Times 18th inst.J
In response to an invitation to take part in
the Republican canvass in New Hampshire,
Senator George +. Edmunds has written a
short letter in which, with characteristic pre-
cison and oarnestness, he gives the reasons
why, in his judgment the claw making pow
err should be kept in the hands of the Re.
pubicans. In the first place, the Republican
party saved the nation from destruction /"
in the second, il 'has passed all the good
laws of national importance that have been
enacted, and defeatedallt the bad bills thathave
been defeated in the last twenty years, against
the general opposition of the so-called Dem
ocrGtc party" The Senator adds
ITO those who know the real history Of parties, as
shown In the proceedings Of Congress, the Republican
party falling think it sometimes has in its duty
stands in regard to positive results in the making and
execution Of laws beneficial to all the states and to all
the people far In advance Of any party since the Revo
luton. Il has earned the confidence Of the poo
things that some Of the members have done, for as
the world is now constituted, there will be no party
that will carry the Government with Of good
or less Of evil doing than it has DONE
So far rs these few sentences contain state
ments of fact as to the past, they are unques-
tionably correct The Republican party has
been and done all that the veteran leader of
its columns in some of its ncblest victories
imagines of it. It did, with the aid of many
loyal Democrats, save the nation from de-
struction. 1t has passed many good laws,
some Of them with like aid from independent
Democrats. 1t has defeated many bad bills
almost always with this same help. Il has
been splendid party, and its actual achieve
ments are such as will be read in history with
pride and gratitude by our chidren's children
No man who has been with it in the heat of
the long battle for national existence and hu-
man freedom and equal rights can reflect on
its past without deep and honest satisfac-
ton. 1t is an honor to any man to have been
a steadfast Republican on principle for the
past twenty years.
But the triumphs of the past are secure. 1t
does not necessarily follow that those who
won them can make the future safe. New
occasions bring new duties" was line that
steadied the Independent action of many a
Republican when he cut loose from the Wing
or the Democratic party because they had
outlived their usefulness. The Republican
party is still magnificent organization. 1t
numbers moro sincere and able and upright
men, with high ideal of public life, than
does its rival. But it is q question yet to be
solved whether it will do as well in the future
as it has done in the past. 1t may DO true
that no party will ever do better. 1t is not
necessarily true that the Republican party it.
self will do as well. The question which the
voters of the United States have now to set
tie is that of the present fitness Of the party
for its actual immediate work. In deciding
that question, they will weigh not only the
good which the party has DONE but that
which it has failed to do not only the bad
work it has defeated, but that which it has
not defeated.
There was moment some eight years since
when the country was compelled to decide a
like question, and decided it against the Re
publicans. That decision, we beg leave to
note, was made by Republicans themselves.
1t was from the Republican ranks that the
votes were cast, after the miserable salary
grab and the shameful Credit Mobilier scan
dial and the thefts and populations in tho ex-
ecutive departments, which turned the Flaw
making power" over to the Democrats Those
votes were cast by some of the best men in
the party. Similar votes are in great danger
of being cast by the same sort of men from
like motives now. Enough of them have al
ready been thrown in Ohio to deprive the
Republicans, in all probability, of their ma
jority in the House of Representatives. and it
is not at all improbable that the Senate also
will in the next Congress be anti RepubicRn
To the men who cast their votes in this way
it is quite idle to talk about the grand past of
the Republicans or the unsavory record of
slider, and they argue that if the country is to
be bled by monstrous taxation, its substance
wasted in river and harbor and pension steals,
its name disgraced by the prominence in its
councils of such men as Robson, its civil
service debauched and degraded by the
abuses of the spoils system and the hideous
robbery of Hubbell and his gang-if all this
is inevitable 'as the world is now constitut-
ed, )" then they will decline responsibility for
it they will turn the government over to the
Democrats aud 80 squarely into opposition.
They don't care fig for the doctrine of av-
erages extending over long periods, as APP
piled to politics. What guides their action
of to-day is the present condition Of their
party and its probable course in the imme-
diate future.
This may not be broad view, but it is
very practical one, and, on the whole, it is
entirely just. The Republican party has
been betrayed by leaders who have dome
evil things" in its name. Those leaders will
not voluntarily get out They will stay just
as long as their followers, drawing general
comparisons, say that it is better to let them
stay than to run the risk of losing the cleo
tons But thousands of Republicans in Ohio,
in New York, in Pennsylvania, and all over
the country are saying that it is not better to
let them stay, no matter what the risk. II
they can be got rid of without running the
party it would be infinitely better. If they
cannot, then the party will be ruined, and it is
they, and not the men who revolt against
their evil rule, who will be responsible