New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1892-12-03

prtLrTY And FICTION ~ ELECTIONS
In an article on the new House Of Commons
and the Irish question written Immediately
after tho last general election in the United
Kingdom. but only just now published IN thc
current number of "Thc North American Re-
view, the Right Hon. Mr.. Balfour makes
these sagacOus observations
An Administration which holds Office tor six years
cannot bu, dlsapport many hops cannot but arouse
many cpmltios: cannot but give occasion 20 m''i
hostile comment vel or 81 founded. During MI thi
,ori9d Il is always she object - criticism "'"h %
instrumentation sometimes Of cn'miny. VINE Us
ou,, shortcomings are frce ln Tie memory 81 all MAJ
n. SHORTCOMINGS 81 is pcedcccs)r have faded in,o
historic past: DE performance Of It's members Is com
,orcd not With tho performance 81 tn rivals "a"fn
hev haye s7lrriantcd bot With The promises Of th'
rivals who hope 80 supplnnt them. The comiArA'n'
therefore f. never made between two realities, "l' J.
always between reality darlcned by H'T'if'S'''''
lion auf dclion nlumned by hope. II need oN"t"
o cre,. surprise that the Seton s. very commonly
preferred.
This is an admirable statement Of the con
dirons which always operate in politics 70 rem
der it infinitely more easy 10 attack than To-
defend. The party Of opposition has the adj
vantage Of all the ten thousand influences 'ha'
are raised against the party OF administration
as the inevitable result OF IFS daily necessity
~ mako choices and come to decisions. II i
generally the fact that comparatively few oil
such influences would ndorSc the ayowed pol
icies Of the opposition Their hands, never
! tbclcss are always raised against the party III
| mower. II aggrcved and disappointed them
| and they are prepared 10 witness It's humlla-
ton without u great deal of sadness These
influence, are often powerful, generally active
and ALWAYS ycnomous and their number IN
croascs in about the ratio Of ten to one with
cvery choice and every decision at which the
Government is called upon to coniH. Mr. Bal
fonr's remarks applicable with great force no
doubt. in England and to the contest in which
his party was vanQuished, are especially ap-
plicable in this country where criticism Is much
frccr than anywhere else, where the suffrage
/ i more extended and where the expression
Of popular sentiment is only slightly affected
by the power of great employers and corporate
wealth.
1t has been sixty years since President OF
the United States has been reelected under
normal political conditions, and there arc many
able politicians who believe that such an oc-
currcnce is now almost impossible. Tho " iic-
tion illumined by hope' is far moro potent with
| the average voter 5 Imagination IMAM lnc Itdl-
ity darllened by misrepresentation" The
cleveland Administration Of 1Ss4-S was dis
tinguished by nothing that rendered the coun-
try morc prosperous or powerful. Its Samoan
negotiation ended in collapse. Its Behrng Sea
NEGOTIATION broke down completely. Its fish
cries treaty was rejected as an abandonment
Of nearly everything for which we had been
contending. lis efforts to solve the tariff and
the silver questions were utterly aborive. lis
Treasury management was distinctivcly its OWL
only by the creation OF surplus by refusing
to pay debts due and by the farming out OF
the money thus improperly withheld from
circulation 10 favored banks. Its Interior De.
partment made wreck OF tho Land Office and
plaved havoc with the rights and interests OF
thousands of settlers. 1t undertook to build
Navy by brutally destroying the finest ship
building plant then existing in America and
by condcmning fleet OF vessels which arc ad
mittedly the finest of their class ailoat. IL
administration of the Department of Justice
was disgraced by a shocking scandal affecting
the integrity of the Attorney General. What
it did that it should not have done and wha
it failed to do that it should have done are
both volume.
On this record Mr.. Cleveland was defeated
but it was not with this record that the RECORD
| of his successor was compared in the last cam
naiqn. President Harrison adjusted the Samoan