The Eaton Democrat. (Eaton, Ohio) 1875-1903, 1885-07-09
Offensive Pnrtisans..
The Washington Post, a strong
administration paper says:

s.Ofensfve Pnrtfsans."
The Washington Post, a strong
administration paper says:
"If it be true, as stated, that Ger
Jain departments Of the Government
have inaugurat.dthe practice ofhear-
ing and acting upon charges against
without giving the latter
any opportunity to answer, or even
the nature of such charges. we
wish to remark that the practice has
our cordial and enthusiastic disap-
W. can imagine nothing
more cruel, more revoltingly tyranni-
cal than this star chamber processing
which was abolished centuries agoas
being out of place in an era ofjhuman
liberty. To receive, nay, to invite a
preparation Of charges against an Of
fetal, to receive and consider those
charges in secret, and to pass upon
the final condemnation without his
having been informed-without his
having an opportunity to refute or
ever explain-and to add to this
frightful injustice, the cruelty of ex-
pulsion for an unknown crime-this
is a barbarism which belongs to the
middle age, not to the nineteenth
century.
"Things we're managed thus blythe
Council Of Ten when the life and hon.
or of the noblest in the land were at
the mercy of every anonymous as
sassin. Such methods fourished in
the days of Torquemada;' even later,
when malice, tyranny, hatred, savage,
ry nursed into life the lettre de each.
ct. But civilization has long ago con-
demned them, and every fiber, of a
free mans heart protests.against that
restoration. - .cs q.
eff civil service reform is so poor a
thing as to need such aids; if it must
shun the light of day, crawling
through the slums of secrecy, work.
ing by stealth, and fearing, beyond
everything, the bright u Of Heaven
If these are the methods we have
brought to our assistance in the sac
red name of reform, then the sooner
we repudiate reform and put on an.
other garb, the better for the fra.
GRANGE Of our memory and for every
decent and reputable cause through
out the land.
"But this is not reform; it is the
sick, distorted nightmare of some
dreamer who thinks he dreams Of re
form. 1t is o earicature, q sarcasm, 9
grinning mask from the dark age, 6
relic of Eoyola. 1t is impossible that
the Democratic Administration really
means to father and to nonrish ths
unwholesome thing. It is incredible
that into this free county and en-
lightened age we intend to transplan'
the most loathsome meahness ant
cruelty of the Inquisition.
"Surely the transfer ofthe Govern
ment to the Democrats can be effected
without resorting to methods so I'm
wholesome and abhorrent. The vic
tory vas fairly, openly won, by hon
orable means, with the whole worlt
looking on. We are entitled to it,
fruits; no one questions our right t.
take possession; on the contrary, i
is expected of us. Is there any rea
son why we should approach b,
stealth and compass by brutality tina
which we are free to take in peac'
and honor? ~
1--WE wish to repeat-and we speal
in the name Of eyery fa;r-minded maj
of either party-that this practice Q
discriminating, prosecuting, and con
demning Republican Office holders
trying them without hearing an
casting them out branded with
nameless crime, is the most repulsiv
things to which our politics has eve
given birth. If persisted in it vii
disgust and ALLEVIATE every mani.
soul, and it will bury its authors an
contrivers fathoms deep in odium.
mi L