Democratic Northwest. [volume] (Napoleon, Ohio) 1869-1894, 1886-08-19

deposits seized upon by these corporations
| and held In defiance of public law, and the
Nation emphatically told that submission to
this state of things, or n surrender OF the Gov
ernment, of liberty. and even OF hope, are the
only remaining alternatives.
| Such is the condition, such the arrogant
language addressed to our misfortunes, and
such the alternatives, by one OF which we
must inevitably abide, II, instead Of seeking
the prime causes of existing evils, we look
only to those OF a secondary character. For
| 1t is in vain that we ascrIbe our calamities TO
the banking system, while we leave unex-
| plored the secret power which first engen-
dered and now sustains that system, with all
| Its machinery of organized despotism. But
where is the source of that power? By what
| agency has the whole frame of society been
| shocked and disordered?
To these questions foIled ambition returns
its accustomed answer. The measures of the
late and the fnfiexibllity OF the present Ad-
mi ministration of the General Government in
refusing to reverse those measures-those are
the causes of this strange conjuncture In our
public affairs. Such is the charge-such the
answer proclaimed in the face of the world,
and in contempt of truth, by men who brave
the peril of detection and claim the first office
| In the Republic as the reward Of their hardi-
hood. Is this charge true? 1t IL a charge pre-
I6TTeu Dy Lne same lnQlN1uudlb WhOh JOA
have often rebuked for like charges against
the very same officers; made then, as now,
upon the assumption that you might be
duped, and they promoted through your Gre
dulity. ask, is this charge trueR II 1t be,
then fellow-citizens, is our condition melan-
choly indeed; for 1t disclcses the frightfnl
fact that our Government is poised upon an
impracticable basis. 1t demonstrates that
the American people have, through long
series of years, misplaced their confidence In
agents selected by themselves, mistaken the
effects of all public measures, or persevered In
sustaining them in utter disregard of their
disastrous tendencies; that, in the election
and reelection of those agents, they have
shnmefully abused or basely prostituted the
elective franchise, and that, therefore, the
only remedy for the evils of the times is that
by which this franchise. thus abused, may be
wrested from the hands of imbecility or
guilt. II, on the contrary, this charge be
false. then most criminal are they who give it;
publicity. They are criminal, not only As re-
vilers Of the innocent, but also because their
Efforts most manifestly tend, not merely to
shake the confidence of the citizens in the In
tegrity of their agents. but to impair likewise
their confidence in the sutiiciency of their
own abilities to select those agents and Judge
OF their measures. In announcing these
gloomy tidings to the Nation, these men, in
effect, appeal to the voters to surrender the
right of suffrage. as the only hope of avoiding
the repetition of former follies and Of defeat
ing the recurrence OF misfortunes emanating
from them. Are we prepared to comply with
this demand9 II this be our purpose, let it be
done in form and without confusion. 1t is
due in reverence to the memory Of our fa-
theirs, that expired liberty should. at least. be
decently inurned. 1t is due, also, in Justice
and mercy. to the world of mankind, that its
funeral should be solemnized In q manner to
impress the living and coming generations
with tine ruinous. fruitless, unavailing folly
OF attempting to plant, upon the sanguinary
soil of revolution, q tree indigenous to no soil.
and which. in the course OF nature, must
wither and die, short of q longevity commen-
surate with human existence.
But. II we are not prepared to make this sur
render. and If it shall appear that the embar-
rassments OF the times, so far from having
originated in the causes assigned by these
men, are, in fact, deducible from the opera
tion OF the very principle they now urge as
the only remedy, then you can more Justly
estimate their sincerity and patriotism. No.
felIow-citizens, the affairs of great nation
are too ponderous and unwidldy 70 be disar-
ranged from their parts or diverted from
their accustomed course by Temporary or for
tuitous causes. They move onward in their
natural channel with the general momentum
of society, obedient to certain universal laws
OF inva-iable uniformity. When, therefore,
as at present, any great irregularIty is observ-
able in the ordinary condition OF things,
its cause is to be sought in some gen.
eral principle proportionate to the effect, and
which will usually be found to have acted
long, openly or In secret, to produce 1t. To
what. then, is to be aseribed this wreck Of the
monetary System-this stagnation of irre-
deemable paper-this simultaneous seizurei
by the banks, upon the whole revenues of the
Governments Such effects, SO wide. 80 calam+
itous, and extending. as they mnst, 40 deep
into the future, could never have resulted
from causes comparatively limited. Society
would cease to exist IL its affairs were thus
subject to versatility, confusion and disorder
from impulses SO disproportiopatea a. these, |
So far from this is the truth, that our
condition is to be traced, and traced |
only. to the workings OF q principle CO.
eVal with the Republic itself. This .prin-
ciple is the principle of aristocracy, |
which, arising In the pride and nurtured |
by the prosperity of men, affects To view with |
horror the unchecked freedom of the people, |
and seeks to limit the dominion of the public |
will by establishing over all the empire of q
privileged few. In the structure of our Gov
ernment the genius of Democracy nnds no |
antagonist. 1t diffuses power through the
entire mass with indiscriminate equality to |
all the parts, thus rendering the means OF
protection from wrong coextensive with the |
susceptibility of injury. Instead of an aris- |
tocratio order of Individuals, our system has |
substituted what may be termed an aristoc-
racy of States, not with the privilege of op-
preston, but for the purpose OF guarding
more effectually the sacred rights OF the citi-
zen against the possible combinations of re- |
mote interests acting through the General
Government. This system is no compromise.
resulting from a conflict of hostile orders |
pre-existIng among the people themselves II |
was, rs IL has been said the British Constitu-
ton was not, struck out at . single heat by !
men who at the time stood upon a level and
intended to remain SO. But the principle of
aristocracy is inherent In the nature Of asso-
ciated man. Excluded, therefore. 40 It ID, by
the positive forms OF our fundamental law,
It stiil struggles TO ingraft itself upon our In
stitutions-not, indeed, as yet by open vio-
lence or specific charge. but by Influences
com bined. secret and insidious.
Yes, fellow-citiEens, to such q depth has IL
struck into the hearts Of men, so many are
the Dosoms in which IL abides that IL forms
at this moment the ample basis of q party.
strong in mum bers, strong in resources high
in hope, and of purposes desperate and deter
mined. such, be assured, Is the party now in
opposition-a party, Inc natural, the tnvet-
crate enemy Of Democracy, of equal righta, of
equal obligations; party, the fostering
parent of all those monopolies that already
darken the face of the land, and which,
should this country ever be doomed to thraIl-
dom. win be pointed to by an enslaved pos
terity as the sepulchral monuments of de-
parted freedom. Call 1t by what name you
will, Il Is the same, unchanging party that
arose with the Government. 1t Yields to the
Same impulses, moves to the same object,
mploys the same means now as then. Our
system being already liked, the wall is up, I
and these men can not therefore, openly
plant the balefuI standard of their faith. But
they are not the less determined upon their
object The very difficulty of the enterprise,
far from aIlaying, tnfiames their ardor and
enforces their purpose. Their efforts have
been, and still are, first to control the public
will in the periodical delegation. of power,
and aecondlY to corrupt the reDreseu tatiye