The record-union., 1892-02-22

glad TO efface. We should be unlike all
great peoples of the earth if we did not
mark the ebb and flow ofpublic virtue, and
the consequent struggles between the good
a a eVll elements of society in which
I T IS, at times, debased to license.
We have had
SEASONS OF WAR AND PEACE.
We have had tidal waves of passion
with their sweeping Generalization. We
nave enlisted the national pride in the
peflloqs line of conquest and vindicated
~ py the oenehcent fruits of our civiliZa-
tloh. we have had the tempest of ag-
erosion and the profound calm that was
the conseryator of peace throughout the
world. We have reyolutionized the
poilcy OF the Government through the
Dltter conflicts of opposing opinions, and
IL has been strengthened by its trials.
THE STRENGTH OF THE NATION.
The extreme power of impeachment
has been invoked in the midst of Intensest
political strife, and its judgment patriot
lcalIy obeyed. We have had fratricidal
war with its terrible bereavements and
destruction. Our Chief Executives have
not escaped the assassin, and the loss of
one man has not stayed our destiny. We
nave completed the circle of national per-
lis, and the virtue and intelligence of the
people have ever been the safety of the
republic. He who despairs of free insti-
tutons because evils have been tolerated
would have despaired Of every admins
tration the country ever had and of every
government the world has ever known
If corruption perVades our institutions TO
an alarming extent, let it not be forgotten
that it is the natural order of history re-
peating itself. 1t is but the experience of
every nation, and our own experience re-
turning to us, to cal into vigorous action
the regenerating power of patriotic peo-
pie.
The educated citizen cannot fail to be
profoundly impressed with the multi
piled dangers which threaten free gov
eminent. They appear not only to be
lnnumerable, but to be of modern crea-
ton. 1t is common to hear political lead
ers declalm against the moral and intel
lectual degeneracy of the times, and
especially against the decline in public
morality and craftsmanship. They would
make 1T appear that the people and the
government in past times were models OF
purity and excellence. while we are I'M
worthy sons of noble sires. Cur Gov
errors and Presidents are pronounced
lmbecile, or wholly devoted to selfish
ends. Our lawmakers are declared to be
reeking with corruption or blinded by
ambition, and greed and faithlessness are
held up to the world as the chief char
acteristics of our officials.
WERE THERE BETTER DAYS THAN
THESE?
Let US turn to the history of what some
call the better days of the republic, and
we will find but little consolation. Much
of the complaint against the political de-
generacy of the times may be Just, but
in the face of all that can be charged
against the present it is the very best age
this Nation has ever known. The despair
Tt or I, l
servants are not the peculiar creation of
the times in which we live, and the allie
cations of widespread decentralization in
the body polite was no more novel in
any of the generations of the past than it
is now. We say nothing of our public
servants that was not said of those whose
memory we revere.
License is the sole defect of liberty. and
it has asserted its prerogative with
tireless industry. 1t was irreverent
with Washington and Grant. 1t racked
Jefferson and Jackson. 1t scarified Lin
coin and Chase. 1t criticised the cam
paigns of the revolutionary times as
we criticise the heroes of our day.
1t belittled the statesmen of every epoch
in our national progress, just as we be-
little those who are now the guardians
of our free institutions. We may have
had more provocation than they had, but
they were the less charitable, for the tide
OF ungenerous criticism and distruSt has
known no cessation. We can judge Of
THE TRUE STANDARD
Of our Government and the people only
by q comparison with the true standard
of the men and events which have passed
away. There has ever been a widespread
distrust OF our political system. 1t is the
tavorite theme Of every disappointed am
bition, and the vanquished of every i'm
to- r,t,.v IL.
terness OF defeat, to despair Of the Gov
eminent. Whence comes this chronic
political despair? Let US turn back to
the graves of ages, for it is as old as free
government. Let us look upon the pages
of the better days of the republic. They
tell Of the matchless PROJECTIONS OF
those who gave us liberty and or
dained Government of the people.
Study the journals of a century ago
and the personal letters and diaries 81
good and wise men, whose examples are
earnestly longed for in this degenerate
present, and despair and indignation al
current events will be softened and tenn
pered by the luminous fact that history
is steadily repeating itself, and that with
our many faults we grow better as we
progress.
WASHINGTON DISTRUsTED.
Our forefathers questioned the just dis
tinction Of him who was ''first in war
and first in peace" and he had not a
lieutenant who escaped distrust, nor a
council of war that was free from I'M
worthy jealousies and strife. The pre-
dietion Of the early destruction of our free
institutions Is an old, old story. Il is the
''babbling echo which mocks itself" 1t
distracted the Cabinets of Washington
and the elder Adams. 1t assailed Jetfer-
son and Madison. 1t made Jackson's adj
Mi, fe-f, ion To
foreign war under Polk. 1t was tenn
ing fountain of discord under Taylor,
Pierce and Buchanan. 1t gave us
deadly civil conflict under Lincoln. II
convulsed the nation under Johnson.
The promise of peace, soberly accepted
from Grant, was the crown of an I'M
broken column Of triumphs over the dis
trust of every age that was attacking free
government.
COMMON ERROR.
No error is so common among free peo-
pie as the tendency to depreciate the pres
ent and all its agencies and achievements
Hamilton, the favorite statesman OF
Washington, was the author of laws
enacted in time of peace which could not
have been enforced in our day, even
under the necessities and passions of war:
and when the Judgment of the people re-
pealed them, he sought to overthrow
the popular verdict, because he believed
the Government was overthrown.
JEFFERSON,
The chief apostle of government of the
people, did not always cherish supreme
faith in his own work. He trembled al
the tendencies to monarchy, and feared
because of the ''dupery Of which ouI
countrymen have shown themselves sus-
ceptible." Dream of the men of better
days. rs we may, they were but men
with the same ambition. the same love oil
power, the same infirmities which we re-
gard as the besetting sins of cur times
If you would refresh your store of dis
trust of adj political greatness, study JEFF
ferson through Burr and Hamilton, OF
Washington and Hamilton through JEFF