Year: 1874




with the. political situation. But it is not
noisy. Zoo much is At stake. There IS no
disposition to c5mplieste matters and yet
there is no power to prevent such = result
There are causes, which lie hidden away,
now gradually unfolding themselves, exer-
cising most powerful and subtle influence
upon the policies To be selected and adopted
in the coming campaigns. Never were the
leaders of one party so much befogged, and
SO utterly at a loss to know how to move
out and plant their banners upon the field.
Looking to the future, they dread the past.
If it were not for the written data which
are piled up, as it were, mountain high,
they could muster strength enough to decide
upon the gage of battle. But they fear
the shots in the rear. The guilty conscience
causes fear. They cannot say with conf
dence "thrice is he armed who hath his
quarrel just" While they would feign 81
lence the secret monitor with general dec
laTations Of the country's prosperity, there
is long list of black acts OF commission
as well as the vacant stare Of those of omis-
sion which rise up like Baneuo's ghos znd
create the most unenviable feelings. The
Credit Mobilier scandal, the Sanborn con-
tracts, the peculations and defalcations of
prominent officers, even though white
washed over as in the case of the General
of the Freedmen's Bureau, O. o. Howard,
the awful, disgusting and outrageous eondi
tion of South Carolina, Louisiana, Missis-
sippi and Florida, States which have been
given over to the tender mercies of the
advocates of Voudooism, and have been
plundered and ruined until the voice of
humanity, almost spontaneously, sounds
out all over the and in laundering tones of
condemnation. The failure to provide any
plan to lift those States out of the "slough
of despond, " and place them once more as
civilized communities on the high road to
good government and national prosperity,
all have created such looking forward to
the storm of popular indignation which will
surely sweep over the country when the
minions of power shall have been fully
arraigned by the leaders of Democracy,
that there are halts, forward movements
and counter-marches, which show how
sadly demoralized are the prominent men
of the dominant party.


Knowing that their acts will qssuredly
unite the friends of good government in
opposition to their party, the attempt has
been made to divert the public mind into
new channels, divide and conquer. A third
party, the peoples party, the Grange party,
the Liberal Republican party, all are earn
estly talked of, and their merits discussed.
Why9 Because it is known that if only
two parties appear in the political arena,
viz. /: the Democratic and Radical Republi-
can party, that the result viii notbe doubt
full. Therefore the attempt is made to dis
tract the good honest people by the presen-
tation of various plans for improving
their condition financially and poiti-
cally. They are told that the Republican
party has done the work for which it
was organized; and that as the issues which
were before the country at the time of its
formation have passed away, there can be
nothing gained by continuing the party.
But they are not sincere; they are only the
spies who are sent out to discover the
strength of the opposition, and then draw
off numbers into the traps which are cum
ningly laid for them; the leaders, in the
meantime, look out from their retreats
upon the results, and calculate the chances.
They are also told that the Democratic
party can never win another general blttle;
that its war record is bad that there
were too many Copperheads and rebel
sympathizers in its ranks; that they
were the enemies of the Union, who
sought to break down the government,
and cannot be trusted. Knowing the
prowess of Democracy, having, upon many
q well-contested battle field, tested the
frmness and fairness of Democratic princi-
pies, they are afraid to meet the only peo-
ple's party in fair and honorable discussion,
and hence the effort is made, in advance, to
poison the public mind against our time
honored principles with the cry Of hos
tility to the government. But this senseless
accusation has lost much of its power. It
is now known that no party can possibly be
more hostile to the interests and wel-being
of the people than the Radical party; that
their good has had no consideration; that
the leaders of that party have only studied
the most successful plans for plundering
them and the Treasury, and putting unholy
gains into their own pockets.


Such being the case, the Democracy viii
go before the country with fair prospect Of
being heard tor their cause, and of opening
the eyes of the people to the enormous
frauds and peculations which have robbed
the government Of fabulous sums of money.
Grant, the most sagacious and far-seeing Of
his party, knows that the load is too heavy
to carry, and has, for some time, been cast
ing about in order to find out plan which
will enable him to retain place and power.
But he, too, has been weighed in the bal
ances and found wanting. The people view
him with suspicion; for it is known that
he has been the most unrelenting foe Of
Democracy, and particularly Of the
South. Louisiana was directly crushed
by his orders and the poor men
who now languish in Northern jails
convicted as Ku-Klux and sentenced to
long years Of confinement in the cold eli
mate of that section, owe in a great degree
their present helpless condition to the rigid
manner in which Grant had them prose
cuted. And even now, knowing, as he does,
the enormous wrongs that were heaped
upon them by the miserable so-callea gov
enments Of their States gOading them to
desperation, herefuses to exercise the Exec
utivc clemency-refuses to pardon and send
them home to their poor, impoverished fam
lies, who 50 sOrely stand in need Of their
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