The Camden chronicle. (Camden, Tenn.) 1890-current, 1896-08-14
ToRYsM m POLITICS.
Tho Alarm nuii Doe the Political History
of tho United states.

"t t'ttA tH ttAs AAtHtAfAA#Hf fH tAttA ff"AHH
ment, which is found in all coun-
tries and at an epochs. And ital-
ways exhibits itself in the same
way. TO takes alarm at every ug-
gestion Of reform, and It's FIRST im-
pulse is 20 assail the motives of the |
agitators who attempt 10 end old /
abuses, and TO bury them under a |
torrent of vituperation. We have !
had three great periods Of political |
advancement in this country before |
the present one those marked re- |
spectively by the triumph of the |
Jetfersonian Republicansoyer reac- |
tionary Federalism, tho final estab- |
lishment of the widest popular gov
eminent under Jackson, and the
abolition of slavery. In every case
the voices that are now shouting
"Jacobiuism" Revolution" and
Anarchy had their counterparls
shrieking precisely the same cpl
thets. With only n change of
names, but not Of language, a Fed
eralist diatribe ia 1900 would have
passedequallywellf orananti Jack
son manifesto in 1898, a pro-slayery
pronounc amcnto in 1856, or a Nc
Kinley savior-of-society" procla-
nation in the present year.
In many cases the Tories Of 1896
are the Eneal successors of those
that libeled Jefferson and Jackson
and stirred up the mobs to lynch
abohtionists. Two of our New York
contemporaries, the Evening Post
and the Commercial Advertiser,
date back to the early days Of Amer
lean politics. They sew the same
horrors then that they see now. 1t
is the most persistent case of ire
mems on record.
In the campaign of 1900 "Mercel-
lus, supposed to be Hamilton, pre-
dicted in the Commercial Advertise
er that Jefferson, if elected, would
turn out every Eederalist Office
holder, stumble the financial sys-
tenn of the country into ruin at one
stroke" and thus of necessity stop
all payments of interest on the pub
lie debt and bring ON universal
bankruptcy and beggary." He
would dismantle the navy, so that
"every vessel which foated from
our shores would be plundered or
captured" The scared veterans of
the Revolution, deprived Of their
pensions, would be seen starving
in the streets, or living on the cold
and precarious supplies ofcharity."
The officers of the Government, I'M
able to collect their salaries would
resign, and "counterfeiting would
be practiced with impunity."
Nothing much worse has been
feared from the election of Bryan.
Yet Jefferson's election was the
beginning of the most prosperous
period this country hadever known,
and the result pleased the people Sc
we'll that the very name of the OPP
position party died out, and when.
in the course Of aquarter Of a Gen.
fury, fresh political divisions arose
there had to be an entirely new
start, since thewhole Union had be-
come Jefersonian.
Even after Jefferson's election
{ the alarmists continued their very
gloomy predictionsf fora time. The
Evening Post, which from its very
earliest days has had the habit Of
COLLECTING It's valuable opinions il
pamphlet form, putting them OF
sale in its counting room, and ther
suppressing them when it finds i
advisable to alter its course, attack
ed his first message in a series 0.
articles signed "Lucius Crassus.
The verdict of Crassus, otherwise
the Post, was that:
"The message of the President
by whatever motives it may hay,
been dictated, is a performanc,
which ought to alarm all who ar
anxious for the safety of our Gov
eminent, for the responsibility ant
welfare Of our nation. 1t makes
Grains atmaking, amostprodigiou
sacrifice of constitutional energy
of sound principle, and of publ
interest, Of the popularity of on
man."
To complete the similarity be
tween that time and this, the clerg
was as active in behalf of "orde
and property" then as now. TIL
political preachers was expoundin
Federalism from a thousand pul
nits. The Rev. John Mason. th