Jasper Republican, Volume 1, Number 25, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 5 March 1875 — The Next House of Congress. [ARTICLE]

The Next House of Congress.

The mere fact that the Democrats will control the next House of Congress does not convey any idea of the great change that will take place in the political cast of that body. The present House of Representatives is controlled by men who stood by the Union in its dark hour of peril, many of whom shared the- privations and the dangersof the field, while the next House will be in the hands of those who were personally, officially and actively engaged in carrying on the rebellion and seeking to destroy the government. This is a startling statement, but nevertheless a true one. Let us look at the facts. The Democrats have 163 members of the House, being a majority of 60 over the Republicans. Eighty-two will make a clear majority of this Democratic strength, and of this 82, the actual fighters or officers under the rebel flag have at least SO, possibly the full 82, certainly enough, as the Albany Evening Journal says, with the help of one or two Northern doughfaces where a score could easily be had, to give them ah unquestioned majority on the Democratic side. . Now what follows? The House of Representatives, with its power over legislation and all the appropriations, is under the control of the Democratic members; the Democratic members are under the control of the caucus which determines the policy of the party; the caucus is under the control of the majority of its members; and that majority, as we have seen, is made, up of those who served in the rebel army or under the rebel Government. Thus it comes to pass that those who were only the other day fighting to destroy the ’ Government have now, thro’ the Democratic party, secured possession cf the popular branch of- Congress, and have the power to say wha‘. it shall and what it shall not do. It shows first of all that the Government whose litigation permits such ■ possibility has been anything but “oppressive” and “tyrannical” in its treatment of the defeated rebel foe. It shows iu the mere practicability of such a result a magnanimity unparalleled in the history of the world. But it also raises other questions of the most suggestive character. Whether the appropriations for carrying on the Government shall be made will depend upon those who are just fresh from the attemnt to overthrow the Government. Whether the principal and interest of the debt incurred in saving the Union shall be paid will depend upon those who fought to break up the Union. Whether the pensions of the maimed and crippled Union soldiers shall be continued will depend upon those who struck the wicked blow. Whether the true and loyal men of the South shall have any protection will depend upon their bitter foes. Already the threat has been made that the appropriations for the army and for other vital national purposes shall be cut off. And whether they shall or not is for those who fought under the rebel flag to say. ?. Had any one, on that great day at Appomattox Court House, predicted that in less than ten years the American people would put the control of the Hous°- of Representatives in the hands of rebels there defeated, would he not have befcn pronounced am: dman? And yet this is precisely the result we now see, as the fruit of the Democratic success. Many who shared in. bringing it about doubtless had no thought of such a conclusion. And how do they like their work?