The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1884-10-10
TiLpEN'S LETTER.
An Independent Republicans Views of the
Production and It's Producer.
To the Editor of the Indianapolis Journal:

70 the Editor of the indianapolis Journal:
man handicapped by preiudee is like gan
dor with a yoke on-he couldn't get on the other
side if he wanted to. An independent thinker is
like the prudent gold hunter who washes the
dirt from his ore before he weighs it, and who
carefully inspects everything that glitters
Samuel J. Tilden's letter Of Oct. has a glitter
about it that a little scrutiny reveals to be the
gild of rhetoric and the tinsel of sophistry He
handles political history as the defender of a
burglar handles the written law. The Sage of
Cipher alley is not philosopher who writes
for ali time. He is political shyster with bad
case on his hands. Each of his public letters
presents fresh test of his inventive resources,
and each test results in an exposure of his maud
lin stupidity.
In his letter of last June, declining a prof
fered martyrdom, he made one declaration that
suggested a cartoon representing an old man
with his foot in his mouth. When he charged
the Republican party with twenty years of
NAL administration he certainly must have
| skipped a couple of decades and anticipated a
! fact barely possible.
| Surely he did not intend to denounce the war
| policy Of Abraham Lincoln, OF censure the
! march to the sea, or depore the capture of
| Richmond, deprecate the surrender at Ap-
pomattox, or condemn the killing of Lincoln
assassin, or disapprove the indelicacy of irritat
| ing a confederate President in pettieoats, or
cast odium upon the amendments to the Con
| stitution, or sheer at the resumption act Oh,
no; certainly not
The tone of his recent letter to Barnum, is
| husky with antiquity. 1t is like a voice from the
| Tombs, or Sing Sing. Mr. Tilden is the epitaph
| OF dead issue His epistles smell of the mold.
! There is a plausible suspicion afoat that he has
| been dead about eight years Another rumor
| hints that the old Rip went cunning among the
| Catskil mountains some twenty years ago, and
only recently turned up. The latter theory is
the only one that accounts for his mumbling
about restoration of the government"
| Will Mr.. Hendricks be kind enough to shake
the drowsy old man and assure him that the
government is perfectly safe; that it was re-
| stored in spite of Democratic treason, about the
| time he went to the mountains
w no can tell what this queer old chap means
| by 1.-The noble historical traditions of the Demo
| cratic party} Can it be that he alludes to the
anti neutrality factions that arose in opposition
| to Washingtons foreign policy during that great
mans last administration This was the origin
| of the Democratic party. The allusiOn recalls
! the schemes of jefferson, Burr d CO., who sec
onded the Vaccinations of the French minister,
| Genet who sought to embroll the infant Re
public in a with Great Britain. Washing
| ton, while in full sympathy with the struggling
French deplored the folly of interference, and
issued a proclamation of neutrality. Citizen
Genet backed by Jefferson, the Democrat and
Burr, the traitor, threatened to appeal to the
| people, whereupon Washington demanded his
| recall to France.
Ten years later, in 1900, jefferson and Burr
were elected President and vce-presdent of the
| United States By this time the policy of
| Washington had become popular. jefferson, in
his inaugural address, pompousy fathered it and
| ignored it's orginators
| Since the late rebellion the Democratic pos
terity of Jefferson have faithfully copied his eX
ample, insomuch that they now actually think
| they licked the ursa major of the Southern Con
| federacy and restored the missing cubs Had 1T
not been for the guilty intrgues and-vaulting
ambition of Aaron Burr, tine first Democratic
| president, it is doubtful whether the Demo
| cratic party would have ever gained the ascen-
| dency in this country This scheming revo-
lutionist in fit of political jealousy after
wards murdered his great rival, Alexander Ham
| ilton man who knew more about government
than the Democratic party has ever learned-in-
| Guiding Samuel j. Tilden.
But what does this man of Greystone mean
by ''the principles in which the Democratic party
has been educatedP Does he ailude to the in
| famous doctrines of State sovereignty taught by
| John c. Calhoun and Jeff Davisl This was the
| pabulum which nOurishcd the Democratic party
| for forty years, and finally poisoned its blood
and made it drunk with the frenzy of treason
| Mr.. Tilden asserts, with an astounding pre-
tense of sincerity, that 1.-The Democratic party
had its origin in the efforts OF the more advanced
patriots of the revolution to resist the perverson
| of our government from the ideal contemplated
| by the people"
have shown that it had its origin in an at
tempt to resist the neutral policy of the Fed
eralsts The attempt was defeated, but the
party lived on. and, by the aid of Burr's
! intrigues, finally succeeded in producing
a rupture in the Federalist party,
thus boosting itself into power Notwithstand-
| ing this, however, the foreign policy of General
| Washington was adopted generally, and to-day
it survives the wreck of Democratic virtue. This
was the policy which Mr.. Tilden describes as a
''perversion from the Democratic ideal" Had
this charming ideal prevailed in its revolutionary
resistance" our country would have been
plunged into endless complications with the
swallowed up in anarchy, or fallen prey to
vengeful conquest
| Observe the attempt of the man from Cipher
alley to account for the prevalence of the bob
tail element in his party. His argument pre-
sents a theory of social discrimination that
ertinism. Abiding to the well-estab-
lished claim made by the Republicans that their
party contains "a disproportionate share of the
culture and education of the country Mr.. Tilden
after admitting the fact, retorts that such reas
oners forget that the same claim has been
made in all ages oy the defenders of old wrongs
against new reforms" His remarks in the same
connection that 'even the Divine Author of our
religion found his followers not among the com
placent Pharisees but among the lowly minded
fishermen"
Think of this equity old millionaire posing as
frouzy angler, the companion of wayfaring
men, dead beats and river rats.
Again Mr. Tilden has contrib uted a subject
for the campaign cartoonist. Behold him and
his crowd-Beecher, Curtis, Carl Schurz, Jeff
Davis, e. B. Wheeler Tom Hendricks. Five
Points and a solid South-all looking to the
Nazareth of Erie county for a common political
Messiah! j. 9. OCHILTREE.
INDIANAPOLIS, Oct g.