The Irish standard., 1905-02-11
In 1872 the Republicans Were Jublant,
Exultant, Domineerine, Arrogant in
Their Victory.
In 1904 Victory Almest as Overwhelming
Was Scarcely Mentioned When Con-
gress Met Last Month.

The less men know about thing the
more apt are they to quarrel about 1t.
Hence it was that there was the mas
sacre Of st. Bartholomew. Neither
Guise nor Coligny knew anything
about the true spirit of Christianity:
the Sermon on the Mount was all
Greek to them, and that degenerate
monster and irresponsible madman,
who was king of France at the time.
knew even less about it than did these
heroes, says correspondent Of the
Cincinnati Enquirer. The massacre at
Glencoe, more than century later,
was as political as the affair at st.
Bartholomew was religious, and both
were mixture of religion and poll
tics. There was infinitely more atroc-
ity, all things considered, In the Scot
tish butchery Of Catholics and Jacob
ties than there had been in the French
slaughter of Huguenots and Navar-
rcse. In those days wars grew out of
differences Of religious faiths more fire.
quently than were due to conflicts of
political interests. though the two
were often commingled.
The world has outgrown that sort
Of thing. A religious war is an impos-
sibility in the Christendom of the
twentieth century, and it is much more
difficult to start political war nova
days than it was two centuries ago,
when the Powers had to fight every
dccade to regulate the balance Of DOW
or in Europe. The less men knew
about religion the more ready they
were to fight for it, and the less they
know about politics the more certain
they were to fight about it.
In 1872 the Republicans gained as
great victory as that they achieved
in 1904. but when the last session of
the Forty second congress convened
there was little good fellowship be-
tween the members of the opposite
parties in the two houses. The Demo-
Gratis hated Benjamin r. Butler, the
real Republican leader, with all the
| hatred of fear and all the hatred Of
loatling. George r. Hoar was rep
rcscntativc from Massachusetts, and
he marched under the folds of the
bloody shirt. John A. Bingham was
yet prosecuting, in fcrvid terms and
dcclamatory tones, traitors and doing
his utmost to make treason odious
Even Dan Voorhees,, n most lovable
man, was not welcome on the Repub-
lican side, and Lewis d. Campbell, an
old Wing, Republican of an earlier
day, but now Democrat, who had
dcfcated Robert G. Schenck in the
Dayton district, was looked upon as n
renegade, as bad as, If not worse than
Vallandigham. Garfield had never said
word of magnnnimity in speaking of
the PROSTATE South but with all his
splendid talents he had promoted re-
construction and was guilty of the
stupendous folly of supposing that a
people Of the same blood as himself
could be ruled by their former slaves
Of the lowest and most inferior Of all
the races Of the human family.
How different it is now: In 1872 the
Republicans were jubilant, exultant,
domineering, arrogant in their victory.
In 1904 they scarcely mentioned it
when the Fifty-cighth congress con-
vcned last month. 1t was not that
they were no longer partisans, for
within a few weeks they were to make
a party issue of this question. Shall
we have a pure judiciary? and they
took the negative side Of IT, too. That
showed that if they were magnani-
nous in victory they were also de-
moraliZcd by sense of Irresponsible
ity. Had Roosevclt's election been as
| closely contested and his victory no
greater than Garfield's in 1880, or
TIarrison's in 1888, this would have
been all the better for the Republican
party and the country
And thus the asperities of politics
have been immeasurably softened
since the time that Grow, of Pennsyl-