The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1892-01-03

MINI. = . secretary o. sac Il or t1s-F
ever subsidized an editor WITH government
funds 30 artack the administration Of
when he vas member IS did Jefferson.
jefferson opealy charged Hamilton With
using the treasury % build up monarchy
party: Hamilton II lis anger attacked
Jefferson with equal violence. and both
these great statesmen Used such a31siys
and libesoas Languages that Washington
had 70 beg Ehezn 20 Gesist.
In the matter CT religion the upper
classes were Is much perneated with il
difference IS a. present II Richmond,
Va, then plaoe q $50 people, .he-s vas
10 charch I'D years aga. Among public
men John jay seems 70 have been The only
nan who had sny deep abiding faith o
religion. James Madison. al ag1ostic,
was 3 type q TIE religions indifference
among leading men Bishop Meade d.
plored The nuloer @: ruined churches n
Virginia
Tee fed Of politics IS purer today in
both England and America than It vss
10 years ago. Bribery a. elections is IS
Cd IS 159 B. C., when Rome punished
b-.oe-givers By exile. The Roman Law
subsequently construed giving the people
banquet or gIad1atori2l show as bribe.
Bribery was common practice with courts
and ju-ies under Henry VIII. When Lord
Bacon vas disgFaced for b-!be taxing M
der James the First, he pleaded TIA. It
vas the custom; lie simply oo1fo-ued 70
the universal practice OF the judiciary.
Political bribery became an organized sys-
ten under Charles the Second II the
time OF George the Second his great min
every man had his price. The father Of
tie great English statesman. Fox, was
conspicuous for his peczlations and for
his corrupt employment Of he money Re
was allowed 70 steal TIE corruptzon
Practiced under the leadership OF the Duke
o. Newcastle vas notorious In IS57 the
election expenses Of William WiIberforce,
the p1rest parliamentary figure Of lbs
tine, we're $1,000
The diary OF John Adams describes the
horrid -ancor Of the press. and the terrible
hate between men Of different parties, 70
the poin. that families were divided for life;
Den cut each other in the street. Ham
lton died IN duel; 50 did his son; so did
several New York editors Of that day.
Hamilton was great man, but IS q moral
figure il politics he was full OF serious
blenishes. James Callende-, in pam
phlet, called Washington "a traitor, 3
ro35eE and periure-," and John
Adams - hoary-headed incendiary," and
Calender further declared that for this
pamphlet Jefferson paid him 500. Wash
ington was bitterly reviled in his coffin BIZ
the hostile press. From 17S9 10 Jackson's
day the public press vas full OF rancor and
political obscenisy beyond anything in OR
own day, In. the worst and neanes. Of
this indecency was from 1769 10 ISQa The
ballot-boxes were stolen IN Ulster county,
New York, in the days when George and
Dewitt Clinton ruled the Jefferson party,
and the unpublished correspondence Of
Chancellor Kent from 1870 10 iSi5 Is full OF
illusions TO rascality, duplicity and VII
lainy in politics and greed for Office or the
part OF men OF the highest historical reputa-
ton. De Witt Clinton was duellist, and 3
IL
The times Of Washington. both before and
after the Revolution, were not comparable
with our own in the general prevalence of
patriotism, religion, political purity and
social morality. Here is passage which
Nathaniel Hawthorne was inspired 10
write By reading some old colonial news
papers.
fe
was higher then than now: or, indeed, tha.
morality was so well defined Is IL has since De-
come. The ptliory, the whipping post tie
prison and the gglloEs each had thai. use in
those Old tines; and, II short, as often ss our
Imagination lives Il the past, We find I. rudsr
sud rougher age than our own, with hardly suy
pe-ceptib.e advantages, and much TIA. gave
lie gloo1ier iirge-
An avalanche Of dirt was poured upon
Jackson's family life; he was caricatured
IS hangman, and Jefferson was accused
Of having negro mistress, and the pair
were csricatur-d in the political prints IS
LONG Tom and Dusky Sal" Washington
was charged with having made money BY
corrup! real estate speculation n Wash
ing.on City during his las, term OF Office.
4; President Jacks0n's public reception.
wanted II. When Governor Seward was in
augurased al Albany. New York, in 1883
. he. Ike Governor Hill Of Cur dav. gave
great banquet which four thousand 10 I'VE
thousand people turned into & drunken
carouse 50 violent that the supersr-
tecaents Of the feast were obliged 70
call II the civil authorities.
These facts 80 % show that the charge
Of the political pessinists and clerical
croakers o. the hour that We have fallen
away t-ightiuIy from the public opinion
q the days when the fathers Of
lie republic ruled orr politics, has
no historical foundation. Our po.it-
zeal manners, methods and morals
are far less bsrba-ous than thev were in
those good old days" when political
hostility p-scipita;ed due.s. a.5enate3 rbs
closest friends n society. business and e.
lgion, when fathers refused % Sneak -
sons and no social ties Of blood were
strong enough 20 resist the pressure ~
political hates. The clerical croake- a. 70
dar do not seem 70 comprehend thar TIA
PEG Pc of today are f.! n sdvance OF tbo.a
or century $50 IN devotion n
mora. and .igious p-inciules. They need
70 be reminded that the great Methods,
preacher, Whitfield, t2.l his friends in
England that IN the American colo1is.
Righteousness seemed 70 Re universe and
there IL overwhelming testimony that the
ri-vfi-r hSb5. wes cCr~ro, 49,. i,