Eureka daily sentinel. [volume] (Eureka, Nev.) 1871-1887, 1884-04-17
SOLEMN WITHDRAWAL FROM
THE POLITICAL ARENA.
TiIden's Letter.
ESPECIAL TO THE SENTINEL

TiIden's Letter.
CHICAGO, April 16.-At the third annual
banquet of the ~Iroquois Club, held last
evening, the following letter was read
NEW YORK, April IL, 1884.
GENTLEMEN: I have bad the honor to
receive your invitation to the third annual
banquet of the Iroquois Club, to respond
to the sentiment of 1.-THE Federal Consti-
tuition" I have also received private let
ters asking a written response to the senti-
ment, in case I am prevented from attend
ing. I have been for some time and am
still exceptionally engrossed with business,
which / have no power to defer or to aban-
don, and I must therefore communicate
with you in writing, and my answer must
be brief. On the formation of the Federal
Constitution, Governor Morris, who had
been a conspicuous member Of the conven-
ton, being asked what he thought of the
Constitution, replied s'That depends
upon how it's construed" The Demo-
cratic party originated in the resistance
by the more advanced patriots of the revo-
luton to the efforts which were made to
change the character Of the Government
by a false construction of the Constitution,
impressing on the new system the mon
archical bias. Mr.. Jefferson's election in
1900 rescued our free institutions from
the peril which surrounded them and
secured go years of administration mainly
in harmony with its design and true char
acter. When an attempt was made to
! break up the Union and dismember our
| territorial integrity, the people were com-
| PEELED to make a manly choice between
| these calamities and the dangerous in
| luences of civil war on the character of
| the Government. They periodically and
| wisely resolved to save the Union first and
to repair the damage which the political
| system might sustain when the more i'm
minent dangers had been provided against.
The first work was successfully accom-
| plished, but 20 years have since elapsed
and the work Of restoring the Govern
ment to its original character has not yet
been accomplished. Our wise ancestors
had warned us that if we fell into civil
discords our free system was liable to
perish in the struggle by the insensible
change of its character. Not only have
the best traditions Of those patriots who
won our independence and established
freedom lost their authority, but even our
cherished political system is slowly losing
its hold upon life under ~thefungus growths
OF false construction and corrupt practices.
The Government itself has become a
menacing factor in elections. As long ago
as 1876 / expressed the opinion that the
opposition must embrace, at the beginning
Of the canvas, two-thirds of the voters to
maintain a majority at the election. His
tory repeats itself in most countries. The
Government maintains itself by force or
fraud. Even the comparatively popular
system of the English monarchy has un-
til lately controlled the majority of Par
lament and frequently decided elections
by court favors and jobs and by money
taken from the public treasury. This is a
hard saying, but a recent publication OF
papers Of a deceased statesman leave no
doubt upon the subject. In bur country,
the Government, instead OF standing as
an impartial arbiter amid the conflicts of
maturing opinion and c~ontending inter-
ests, has itself descended into the arena
equipped with the weapons Of partisan
ship. Its myriads Of ofice-holders; its
alliances with or against vast ~pecuniary