Year: 1879

1t Has Been Too Long in Potyer-A Change


Needed for the Good of the Country.


During the closing hours of the re-
cent extra session of Congress Mr..
Charles Nordhoff sent the following
significant dispatch to the New York
Herald: ~ az 3 .u 3


The course of the Republican leaders in the
Senate this week has been atrocious. They
have fought the army bill as though they were
the rump of the Grant movement fighting for
the last chance to secure an els ction; or as
though, as is commonly conjectured, there
were some secret motive In their opposition.
The Importance of what they have said has by
no means justified their intensity and despera.
ton of purpose They have transcribed all
regular and Legitimate opposition, and they
have not shown any reasons that the bill ought
not to pass. Their conduct has Afforded
q curious spectacle Of men, who have been
too long in power for their own or their
country's good-who have become intoleEant
of opposition from any source, either
outside of, or within, their party, and
who have forgotten how to submit to defeat,
and are capable of seizing on power by any
means, however violent. The display which
they have made is of spirit entirely and dam
gerously evil, and no thoughtful man can read
the Senate debates of the last week and consid-
er the tone, the temper, the spirit and the
wide disparity between the subject and the Re
publican treatment of it without perceiyIng
that it would be we'll for the country if these
gentlemen could be for awhile retired frCm
power, and that it would be an extremely haz-
ardous thing to lease of it, which they seem
determined at all hazards and by any means to
seize. 1t is the Grant movement which has
displayed itself in the Senate in these days, and
has, with extraordinary arrogance and mtoler-
ance, insisted on troops at the polls. Ii noth-
ing else justified the Democrats in insisting on
their extremely mild prohibition of the use OF
troops for election purposes, the language and
spirit of the Republican leaders in the senate
this week would give them abundant justitica-
ton, and it is not too much to say that rather
than trust these Republicans-Sehators Conk-
ling, Blame and others-with troops at the
polls, it would be far better and safer to
the country to disband the army. In
this aspect the Senate debate of this
week may and ought to serve useful and i'm
portant purpose The Grant movement has its
center In that Senatorial coterie which has
aimed to control the House, has tried and is
now trying to intimidare the President, whom
it hates, and which, with unerring instinct
makes its desperate stand for troops at the
polls as the true ground for the Grant move
ment to maintain. The Democratic determiaa-
ton to keep troops away from the polls has
seemed hitherto 10 be inspired by foolish and
ridiculous fears, but the apparition of the Grant
movement in the Senate justifies them and
ought to secure for their aims the support of
! all judicious voters. The spirit of the Repub-
ican leaders in the Senate shows that it is high
| time for the security and peace of the country
to have change of parties Like the Demo
cratic party in 1869, these men have been toe
long in power. They are drunk with an un-
patriotic ambition. They show plainly thai
| they do not mean to let go of the Government
that they regard the country as their posses
sion, and political defeat as personal wrong
4 and robbery of themselves.


The impression which this debate has made


upon many thoughtful attendants upon it Il
/ that no party can be SO dangerous to the conn


try as party led, inspired and controlled by


these men, and that if the Republican part


appears in the Presidential canvass under theil


leadership, it will be the duty eff every maj


who values the country's safety and peace t


oppose it and them, no matter who is on tn,


other side. The Republicans uttered q foolisl


cry of revolution early in the session, but you
| correspondent, whose duty it has been to watcl


all the tedious debates of the extra session, ant
\ who has not fafledz 70 EXPOSE To you the foil


and weakness of the Democrats, has seen moth


ing on the Democratic side, when among tn


worst elements of that party, which at all com


pares for wickedness of purpose, for despera


lion and evil spirit, with the course and tempe


of the leading Republican Senators during thi