Democratic Sentinel, Volume 5, Number 20, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 24 June 1881 — EX-GOV. SEYMOUR’S VIEWS. [ARTICLE]

EX-GOV. SEYMOUR’S VIEWS.

Decadence of the Republican Party. Ex-Gov. Seymour was interviewe d on the political situation. He looks upon the Albany contest as affording evidence of the disintegration of the Republican party. “ I see in it,” he said, “ a conflict between elements whose struggles foretell the early dismemberment of the party. Recent exposures of corrupt practices at Albany prove what the people have long suspected, and I would not be surprised to hear of still further aud more damaging disclosures before the investigation is concluded. “ The Republicans are tearing themselves to pieces, and, as you may imagine, we Democrats do not feel like interfering. The result of the wrangle that is now going on will, in my opinion, be the redemption of the State from the control of the Republicans. New York is naturally Democratic ; it is traditionally Democratic. Its greatest and most distinguished men have been Democrats, and the best part of its history is that part which was made while it was under Democratic rule. Last fall the State was taken from the Democrats by false pretenses. The tariff issue was raised to frighten short-sighted men, and the Democratic party was considerably divided. Prospects are brighter now.”

The venerable ex-Governor was quite free iu the expression of opinions about President Garfield. He thinks that the President has made a great failure thus far. “I have very little faith in men who quit preaching for politics,” he said, “and Gen. Garfield is no exception to the rule. He has carried with him much that is impracticable. It was a great mistake for him to have left the Senate. There he would have made a better impression than he can hope to as President. He is a man of very fair general information and education, and a ready and forcible talker; yet he is a very yielding man by nature, and since he entered upon the discharge of his duties as President that side of his character has been turned to the public oftenest. It is best for a man iu public life to be himself at all times, and not try to be like somebody else. Some men are firm aud self-willed and accustomed to having their own way. Gen. Jackson was that kind of a man. Garfield is entirely different. He is weak and anxious to please everybody, and, when he sets out to be a second Gen. Jackson, the effort is unnatural and must end in failure. It'was natural for Jackson to command obedience ; it is not so with Garfield. More men have been ruined trying to belike Gen. Jackson than from all other causes combined.

“ Since Gen. Garfield lias been prominent in public life, and more especially of late years, his constant and unceasing prayer has been that he might be led into temptation. He is the first man I ever knew who is praying all the time that he might be tempted. Every speech he has made is full of that prayer. He is oppressed yvith a great fear of centralization; yet he invites the growth and development of the idea by his every act. “After the war there was a strong reaction against State rights ; nevertheless States have rights independent of the General Government, and it is in the recognition and preservation of these rights that the safety of the people lies. While recognizing the danger of an increase of centralized power, Gen. Garfield has been and is doing all in his power to centralize the governing power in Washington city. One of these days the people will take the Republican statesmen who are struggling to obliterate State rights at their word. To-day one-half of the population of the United States is embraced within the boundaries of nine States. These nine States have eighteen Representatives in the Senate, or less than one-fourth of the whole. New England, with a population of 4,000,000, has twelve Senators, and New York, with a population of 5,000,000 of people, only two Senators. The great States of Illinois and Ohio, with a population as large as New England, have one-third the Representatives. Some time the people will become so infatuated with the idea that the Republican leaders are preaching but not practising that they will take into their heads to change existing forms and have a uniform representation in the Senate. Then where will Maine and the other little States be ? They will be swallowed up. This is just what the Republicans are inviting, if they could see it. The constitution protects the States ; but the constitution has been changed, and it may undergo additional modification when the people want it. The Senate is the controlling body, and the Senate, influenced largely by the New England representatives, has put a heavy burden on tne West, and, for that matter, upon the whole country, by subsidizing monopolies and giving them growth. The great producing regions may become tired of this and make a change. ”