Year: 1877

We do somewhat dimly remember, now,
several occasions durinS the past eight or ten
years when THE TRIBUNE has been taken to
task severely for its free criticism and ont
spoken condemnation Of The methods OF the
statesmen who managed the Republican party
duripg the Administration Of President Grant.
The means by which they undertook TO per-
petuate Republican control in the Southern
States, and the instruments which they used for
the purpose, were especially condemned.
TIE TRlBUyE's course in this regard gave
mortal offence to some of the noble spirits who
set party supremacy above all other considcra-
tions. and deny the rights of free discussion
and honest criticism within the party The
readers of THE TRIBUNE will perhaps remem-
Der the fierce dsnunciation it encountered
whenever it objected to the rule of
carDet-baggers, or protested against the
use Of official patronage and the favor
Of the Administration to prop mp a
system which could not otherwise he main
tanned. and which, as everybody knew, was a
burning shame and disgrace. We were told
that the Pattersons and COnOveFs and Spcncers,
ef id Omne genus, were patriots and statesmen,
and deserving of the public gratitude for their
noble and self-sacrificing labors in behalf of
Repnblicanism in the South. The sOundness
of their Rcpublicanism was put forward as the
sufficient cloak for their multitude of sins, and
any reference TO their corrupt practices and
their general bad character was said to be
mIschievous and disOrganizing.


Now, that we are drawing near the end of
that strange hallucination, and the carpet
Dagger is about to retire unregretted and un-
honored from the field on which he has been so
long conspicuous figure, it is pertinent to in
qulre, as he goes wrggling away, Did it pay to
keep thosefellows in public life in order to NAM
tain the party organization in the Southern
States Take Mr.. COnOyer, of Florida, and
Mr. Patterson of South Carolina for instance.
Were either of these men ever Of any service to
the party that sustained them They have
been members of the United States Senate
during period in which the Republican party
has not needed their votes or their influence.
their counsel or advice. On the contrary, the
odmm of sustaining them in Office and Of
being represented by them has been mcacu-
lably damaging to the party from the moment
they took office till now. There has come
time now, apparently when they might by
simply continuing to act as partisans-fOr they
have never acted otherwise-shOw at least
some sense of party loyalty as well as of
gratitude for past favOrs Under these circum-
stances what do they dot Precisely what such
men might be expected to do aud what they
always do in similar emergencies: turned tail
and went over to the opposition. We speak
of these men simply as partisans, because
they have no claim to any other consideration.
The questions upon which they have shown
their willingness to betray their party are not
such as these men at least would have any
scruples about acting with their party upon.
It is absurd to suppose that they are actuated
by conscientious motives in the matter. That
suggestion would only excite a smile of de-
rision where the men themselves are known.


The simple truth is, that after the Republican
party has dishOnored itself and forfeited the
confidence of the country to an extent suli-
cient to ehdanger its supremacy, by upholding
and defending these men, they turn around at
the only time when they can give it any ser
vice in return, and deliberately betray il. Is
it not pretty clear that it does not pay to up
hold such gen1 1t has cost the Republican
party several Northern and all the Southern
States and what 1t has got for it in return.
the present condition of things III the Senate
shows.