Martinsburg herald. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1881-1920, 1888-01-07
NO POLITICAL RoAD.To ROME.

conveyed to the President of the
United States upon "the success OF
his administration" Mr.. Cleveland
in return has sent a handsomel,
bound copy of the Federal Constitu-
tion to the Pope as jubilee gift.
Thus great men are united in a CON.
mon bond of sympathy in success.
and the quiet waters of the Potomac
fondly embrace the tokens of peace
and good will sleeping therein, OF
the years that are no more. The
Pope may well extend the hand OF
fellowship to the presiding officer OF
the American nation, for his people
on this side OF the Atlantic have re-
membered him this year in the sum
of nearly 100000, good and lawful
money of the realm. But when he
talks about administrative success.
our people do not understand the
meaning of the royal courtesy to
W bich he is used at the Court of St.
James, with Kaiser aud Koenigen,
aud he puts his diplomatic foot in
American politics. Mr.. Cleveland
has his failures as well as his success,
and the weakness of politics is his
weakness as well as the strength Of
politics was his strength. The one
brought him out of obscurity, the
other will return him whence he
came, whittier many more great men
have preceded him. History will
deal honestly with him. But while
he presides over US, no royal or &c.
clesiastical bowiDgs can weave a
halo of meaningless glory around an
uncrowned head in this free country.
For all the good he has done we
give him full credit, and render him
that respect which his exalted posi-,
ton demands. But as judged by
the grounds upon which he became
1 our chief magistrate, his admlnistra-
ton has been a failure; in its own
way it may have been success. II
| turned no rascals out except those
that were blackened by its own hand
as political necessity; it discover
ed no frauds except those which it
helped to cover, 4" the spoils ;"it found
no deficiencies except those it created
by the removal of efficiency as "of-
fensively PARTISAN The reform
that was to be the guiding star to
the Bethlehem of Democracy, was
soon ecllpsed by political shadows
as dark as any that clouded the hor-
lion of State under Republican adj
ministration. The tariff for revenue
only policy has bad an equally check
cred career, and until the admins
trative interpreter let's in more light,
the party itself must continue to
grope IN factional darkness. Life,
liberty and the pursuit of business
and happiness, as witnessed to day
by the condition the country finds
itself in, are no more glorious pos
sessions of American citizenship
than they were before the advent OF
this administration that has called
down special blessings from the
friends of papal sovereignty.
The courteous action of the Presi-
dent itself is commendabl', and the
gift most appropriate,-repres
tive in the highest degree Of the senti
ments and institutions of this coun-
try,-the very foundation of them.
But when the religious enthusiasts
grind it into party pulp, let them eat
their own hash. The soul-grinding
organs of ecclesiastical arlstocracy
scramble for the honor of it's first
publication, as they did for the doom
that sealed fellow-mortal's fate.
They think they are doing God a
service. In that they are no better
than the burners of heretics of two
hundred years ago. The sanction of
their superiors is the best proof of
what would be done had they the
power in this country instead Of the
people. Every American owes it as
a duly to himself, his God and his
country, to maintain as supreme the
voice of the people, aud crumble in,
to dust every petty kingdom of tyr
amy of mind, soul or body.
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