The Evening critic., 1884-07-31
THE "iNDEpENDENTs.p -
Judge Tourgee Defines Their PO-
sitiOn ana Leaves Them Not Leg
10 Sfnu1 on

Judge Tourgee Defines Their Po.
attion ana I,eaves Them Not a Leg
.,.
TO stand ON.
President Seelye, OF Amherst, Is one OF those
Independenta who thinlx that life md strenrth
-, 80, ..,s.' .s,,.,,aa. 80, So,a,,oa sro,,
OF high moral purpose nave departed from
the Republican party. He considers IL dead,
inert, backslidden, and only ut to be buried
with honor nr tanton into nov life with the
,, W 49,. a-.o ,..,o,,as,
sstssins Sisas.vr. my peSsiisuS .onuovs ,,s
PLAYED than in tho line OF argument adopted
by class OF thinkers represented by Professor
Beelye, They are unceaslng In their assertion
that the Republican party Is In its decadence.
Saving the blessed remnant composed of the
OF moral worth or value left ia il. they boast.
fully refer to what Il was, and modeetiy eulo-
gize themselves as the sole heirs Of oil its vir-
tues and traditions. Tho general state OF po.
lltical grace they constantly bewail, and be.
moan their sad fate In being cast upon tho
shores OF timo In such q dull and pulseiess
era.
Such people mako two Mistakes In the
nrst place they are no better than the masses
Republican party OF 10 day is composed OF the
same elements that have always mustered
under its banner. The great bulk OF the In
telligence, patriotism and integrity of the
people Of the North is to be found in It's ranks.
Tho helpless and the oppressed OF the South
those who need aid and comfort In the etrug-
glo toward light and liborty--stand with
them. over against them stands the Demo.
cratic party. Its most powerful element is
that great reactlonary force-the product OF
slavery and the rebellion-the "solid South"
The very best characteristics OF this element
are Its rnost dangerous ones. 1t has always
been the source OF turbulence and peril to tho
country. Its tendency has been backward and
revolutionary. Its ideas OF right and wrong,
OF liberty and oppression, are so radically dit.
ferent from those prevailing among tho better
elements OF our Northern life that one hardly
wonders at tho fact that It is mainly the
Ignorant and vicious OF tho North that af-
The remedy which PRESIDENT SeelYo presents
for Republican Generalization would be
laughable, II we did not know that an
earnest, candid mind stood behind the abb
surdly cautious hypotheses. He says, with
the most serious gravity;
men who can be trusted-mcn who are wise
and true, and con resist n prossure-it VIII, In
my judgment, be wise to elect them."
He we'll knows that such thing is an I'm.
possibility. No man can be made President
by party without being, or being supposed
10 be, an exponent OF that partys thought.
"If,' he says, "the Democratic party shall
nominate men who can resist pressuro"-the
pressure OF what, prayY Evidently the pressure
ofthe Democratic party-ot the power that viyi.
1es and creates--the power they represent, with
which they must co cooperate, and to which they
President Seelye thinks that II the Democrats
VIII nominate man who will sell out his
party and give himself up to the lead OF such
political nondeecripts as tho Independents,
then 1t might be well to help to elect him.
President Seelye knows full we'll that "men
too, that the Democratic party is q bundle OF
thorns.
There is hardly an element OF II that, were