Democratic Sentinel, Volume 4, Number 30, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 3 September 1880 — What Do the Signs Portend? [ARTICLE]

What Do the Signs Portend?

We write not in the strain of the soothsayer,-nor in sympathy with the superstitious oracle, .A political canvass of great moment is pending. It so happens that to Indiana is given the opportunity to point the way to a great triumph for civil libetty, and the re establishment of this government upon the original sufe basis planted by its founders, where, rest ing, it will be perpetual. The great heart of Indiana throbs in unison with the patriotic aspiration for such un achievement. A mighty struggle is being made by many of her misguided sons to divert her voice against the heroic struggle to get the ship of State back to her original moorings. All tho appliances which cunning and intrigue can suggest aud employ will be enlisted and recklessly thrown into the scale to warp the minds and mislead the judgments of many whose avocations give them scant occasion to fully consider the immense interest at stake. Official patronage, covering a multitude, an immense army of over one hundred thousand retainers, whose money, with their time and their influence, are aii embarked in perpetuating the grip they have held upon executive power for twenty years. For nearly Tour years they have been in possession through.the boldest fraud over oerpetrated in the history of govern merit, and that needs the most signal rebuke. One of the active and most •unscrupulous a'gents in effecting this usurpation is seeking to b the successor of the man who is now rioting in possession as the receiver of the stolen property. The rings which made the country a stench are by common consent all fed to tho forces

which seek to maintain and perpetuate this oligarchy. They have, by hook or crook, so long maintained their hold upon the administration of the government that they' have come to regard it’as their peculiar property, and exercised its functions to enrich their own coteries. Ail the corruptionists of the past two decades are combined to maintain in perpetuity the party committing these high crimes. This is no exaggeration. It is only too ’jjildly painted. It is no slander upon the chosen chief of this horde of political vultures, for it is out of their own mouths ho is condemned—their words when they were in their right minds, and had no contemplation they would ever bo marshalled under James A. Garileid, whoso corruption they then so vigorously exposed—whose venality they so vividly denounced. Indiana, not alone because her power should be exercised for the right--her voice should be heard in no uncertain tones uttcied for justice, conciliation, peace and prosperity, but for the common countiy and for mankind, now that she holds the key to the position, from her relation to the canvass, should relax no exertions to make for these ends. “Eternal vigilance is the price as liberty,” and liberty, as contemplated under our benignly formed institutions, is a jewel whose preservation secures and protects all the rest of the blessings of good government. The tendency of the few to grasp power and hold it for selfish ends. has been intensified by the success that the republican party

has been allowed, largely from want of reflection by many who aided it. How they have abused it has grown more familiar than a ihrice-told tale. We certainly do not need to illustrate it anew. Less than two months remains for the great work which is to be done. There should be no laggards —no lukewarmness in a struggle so momentous in its consequences.— The skies look bright—are positively cerulean, and they invite that confidence of success that tempts to relaxation of effort. Then comes the enemy, always on the alert, to undo the work you have done. Re not deceived in that manuer, even though it be at some sacrifice. Your reward will come in the triumph your vigilanoe and zeal will surely ac complish, and it will be enduring. The secret of success, said Demosthenes, is action, action. Victory is in the air, but it will not come through inaction and neglect of the means to accomplish. Work, only another name for Action. will achieve it. Let it be ceaseless’ untiring, earnest work from now un- i til the hoar for closing the ballot boxes arrives. “They who would be free themselves i must strike the blow.”