Year: 1874

ton we may look for . political party
without faults. The best organization |
ever devised by man has had its weak
points. Even the church, an organiza-
ton where purity and excellence
should be found, if anywhere on earth,
has its shadows which at times darken |
the light of its holy teachings. Yet
no one abandons the church because q
few of its followers prove unworthy of
its name and become stumbling blocks
in the path of religious truth; few
fall but many press on, holding aloft
the standard of truth. The ignorant
and vicious may sneer at the church
because its robes cover at times hyp-
ocrite and rascal. but the intelligent
and virtuous look, not to the one who
disgraces himself by falling short of
his profession, but to the ninety and
nine who add to its glory by living up.
right and Christian lives. What we
are apt to call the faults of the church
are simply the shortcomings of few
of its members. The church is no
more responsible for them than the
sun is responsible for the clouds that
occasionally darken the earth. Its
teachings tend to elevate, purify, and
if practiced by all would transform a
world of wickedness into q perfect
garden of love, peace, and benevolence.
But in the face of human depravity
we must accept things as we find them.
We must bear with the faults of our
neighbors, remembering our own. We
must do the best we can. Perfection is
beyond our reach-improvement with
in it. To 50 live that by our exam.
pie we shall do good, elevate mankind,
make the earth better for our having
lived and acted, is the sum and sub
stance of mans duty to himself, his
country, and his God.


AS it is with the church ard all
moral organizations so it is with politi-
cal parties. We must judge them, in
the aggregate, by the results they pro-
duce on the community, State, and
nation. 1t is possible for bad men to
lcreep into power i'll good party, and
equally possible for good men to be
found within the compass of bad
party. There is no rule known by
which the one can be kept out or the
other prevented from staying in. A
thief may break into a sanctuary and
despoil its altar; saint may labor
in a prison in hopes of converting its
inmates. We may punish the one
when caught, and urge the other to ex-
tend his labors of love, but the facts
remain the same, and can not well be
changed. To judge the Republican
party by the character Of few rascals
that have been caught plundering its
altar would be as just and sensible as
sit in judgment over the Creator be-
cause a few of his children have. gone
astray. Never since the birth of the
nation has a party been as quick and
willing to Investigate whatever had
, the appearance of wrong, and to- pun


ish with event. handed justice the wrong
doer, as the Republican party. 1t ha'
carried this spirit of justice far be
) yond the demands Of political neeessi
| ty, and has been eensursd by its owl
friends for prosecuting its investiga


tions beyond the requirements Of ii
A invetsrate enemies. But it stands jus
tilted before all men for purity of it


intentions. 1t came into power t.
# watch over and preserve the Gvern
ment, and it has never lost sight Of it
!, original mission. We challenge tn
political history of the world for I


party equal of merit; for a party tina


has done SO much to elevate mankinC


and secure personal liberty for par


ty that has left SO broad an impres
for Justice and humanity on the civil


zation of the age in which it had ex


istence. To permit ambitious politi


clans, soured statesmen, or the ope
!, and avowed enemies of the Republi


to break up this grand organizAtio


would be to welcome a calamity who's


approach would be ruin, whose pres


ence would be death to our peace an


prosperity, whose end no man is wis


enough to forecast. 1t matters littl
= whether it falls before the sword {


democracy or goes down by the treacl


erous blows of those it thought il


friends its fall. will be the same-th


breaking down of the only loyal bal


rier that guards the liberties of th


people from the encroachment of ths


despotic power that once held in tt


chains of slavery four million huma


beings.


. We would sound the alarm througl


out the length and breadth of Il


land. We would summon every X


publican and every true friend of lii


erty to their post of duty. Our en-
Or mics are active, INSCRIPTIONS, dete
* * mined by threats or promises to brea