Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1889-05-12
some msrchsnsas,e Ideas
Fcr the Dispatch. !

TOR the Dispatch.l
Ranseckiug the annals OF our Father rs
wc have been doing for the last few montns.
busy and withdrawing aesiduify would tain re-
produce the scene. the scenery. the situation o.
hundred years ago. IL 10 AZ though out OF .no
liniaments Of living mcn we would iain pIVuuce
another Washington. We may disinter we v'sn
ished draperies. we may revive tho stately MIN
net. We may rehabillts,o tho old scenes, Du, we
march OF a century cannog be halted OF reversed
aud the enormous change In the SITUATION con
neither be disguised nor ignored. Tnen locas
ruled the hour. To-day there arc Indeed IDEAS
that rule our hour. but they must be mercnhhth-
bio IDEAS The growth OF wealth, the prefnienee
OF luxury. the massing OF large material Iotcoe,
which by their very existence are btanui ns
menace to the freed and integrity OF the inol-
vidual the infinite sVagger oil our American
speech and msnners, mistaking bigness LOT sroa~
noes, and sadly confounding gain and godiiness-
all this is q contrast 20 the susiero simplicity, INC
unpurchasable integrity, OF the nret days hno
hrst men OF our republic, which make u iunpos-
sible 20 reproduce to-day either INC tempot or
the conduct Of our fathers. As we turn the
pAres backward and com7 upon tho story OF the
sOth Of April IN tho year Of our Lord l1bs, tnere
is certain stateliuess In the air. certain ceie-
mon o lsness In the manners. which We nave oen-
iAhed long ago We have exchanged the WASH
ington dignity for Jefforsonian simplicity. which
was in truth only another name for Jacssonian
yulgarity. And what have We got IN exchango
rit7 In tho elder states and dynsstles they
had the trappings Of royalty and the pomp and
splendor OF the Kings person TO MI mons nearts
win LOYALTY. Well we nave dispensed with tho
old ttular dignities. let us take caro- that We
do not part with that tremedous force for which
they stood IN
So SAYS Bishop Potter in his late cen
tennial sermon.
This "ransacking the annals OF our
Fathers" discloses things that contra
dict this sonorous and somewhat pre-
tentious homily of the Bishop of New
York. In contrasting these, l have
neither hope nor wish to make any i'm
preston upon him or the class OF people
he represents.
young gentlemen" said the late
Professor Southall, on resuming that
branch Of his duties at the University OF
Virginia after the war, eve have now
arrived at the stage in our course which
we call lectures on constitutional law.
But in entering upon it, am bound in
candor to say that L look upon it only IN
the light of poSt-norten examination.
To such men as Mr.. Depew and, as
far as he understands it, TO Bishop Pot
ter what l am about to say would have
that and no other significance. But it is
we'll to preserve our record from mis-
representation for our own sakes. And
letting alone these Jeshuruns OF
New York, [ shall be content to find
eft audience though few" in my Vir-
ginis countrymen, who have had no sym
pathy with the late advertising dodge
which New York shrewdly named the
Washington centennial inaugural ami
versary, and saw nothing but falsehood
in any OF the suggestions or accompani-
ments OF that parade.
Such suggestions the Lord Bishops
remarks afford in part; though there IS
truth in good deal that he says.
Leaving his Reverence to settle whether
or not it was good manners, or as the
nopveduc riches now call 1t, good form,
TO discuss his selected topics in the pres
ence of Mr.. Harrison, the special guest
OF the occasion, and himself the most
notorious OF all the Presidents for prac-
ticing the vices rebuked by the Bishop,
and in terms which must have ranked III
him like poisoned arrows, it gives me
pleasure to admit that in what he said
of merchantable ideas and plutocracy L
fully concur. But when he undertakes
to draw comparisons and bestow all
his praise upon what he calls "the austere
simplicity, the unpurchasable integrity,
of the first men of our republic, " and
to inform US that "we have exchanged
the Washingtonian dignity for the Jefier-
sonisn simplicity and the Jacksonian
vulgarity"; getting in exchange for it,
merchantable ideas and plutocracy, why
then, saving his Reverence, beg leave
to say that he does not know what he Is
talking about. For the exact opposite
is the truth. "Ihe annals" prove that
not 10 the same extent or amount
indeed as now, but still as a fact,
the ideas" Of that day Dere "pur-
chasable %; and as far as the evils de-
scrlbed depend on the theories of gov
eminent OF principles or practices OF adj
ministration, they are almost wholly the
result of Alexander Hamilton's policy as
adopted by Washington after consulta-
ton with his Cabinet.
Hamilton, the idol of the North and
East, was pecuniarily no doubt as honest
a man as King George the Third. But
he had as fixed an opinion as that obsti-
nate monarch that the way to rule men
was through their compatibility. purge
the British Government, said he, and
there is abundant corroborative testi-
mony to prove the truth of this state
ment. Purge the British Government
of its corruptions, and give to its popu-
lar branch equality Of representation,
and it would become an lmpractlcable
government. AS it stands at present, with
all its supposed defects, 1t is the most
perfect government that ever existed.
All his leading measures were built
upon that merchantable idea" Al.
most the first thing he did after the
Federal Government got to work was,
in 1880, to recommend "the merchant
able idea" of funding the debt of the
old confederation. That debt had been
bought up by spectators at 1.-THE OF
its face value from the impoverished sol
diers of the Revolution and others, and
| bondsfo lit at its face value were issued to
| the SPECTATORS. The crooked means by
which this was well known to have been
accomplished against the protest and ac-
tive parliamentary opposition OF MIR.
Madison and other members of Congress
can be seen, by any that choose to ran
sack the annals of the period, in works
of established character. 1t WAS intend
ed, as Hamiltons admirer, Mr.. Henry
Cabot Lodge, admits. "to create 9
strong and, as far as was possible and
iudicious, a permanent class all over the
country. a class already in existence,
which controlled the capital of the
country, bound to the government as q
government by the strongest of ell ties,
immediate and personal pecuniary inter
est" TO accomplish this members
OF Congress were permitted TO become
interested in the speculation in league
with powerful lobby, they worked
upon all that they could approach. and
means were adopted (Which" as one
member said, "would have made g
Hastings blush"
Next Came the "merchantable idea
of the assumption by the Federal Gov
eminent of the debts of the several
United States. That was fought as the
other measure was by Mr.. Madison and
the rest of the Republicans, as they were
then chilled. But threats of secession