Rensselaer Union, Volume 10, Number 36, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 23 May 1878 — Does it Mean Revolution ? [ARTICLE]

Does it Mean Revolution ?

There are'snffy-flye Confederate Brigadiers in Hie present Congress. Many of those men took their seats with a determination to practice, as a mntter of policy, a wise conservatism of action on extreme party measures. The very circumstnnces of their return to public life, the character of their constituencies, and their own sympathies, all combine to make them, in any crisis in which lines are sharply drawn between the old Unionists and their opponents, tho supporters of the latter. They may talk about keeping out of the fight, but on final appeal they cannct and will not go buck on their constituencies and pust affinities. They may at tbe outset condemn as contemptible some democratic intrigue, bul in the end they will be effective instruments to carry a dangerous measure to

an extremity. That they constitute positive elements of danger while the democrats control the House, bus received most striking illustration within the last year. With sharp eyes •for the prosperity of tho States they represent, nnd depreciating any political excitement that would interlere with this prosperity, the Southern members of Congress took advantage of the conciliatory policy of the administration to forward the material interests of their section, and sought opportunity' to declare that the S»uth wauted more business and less politics. They had all tlmy asked iu the way of concession; and, just as the country at large is feeling the influence of returning business activity, and entering, apparently, on another era of prosperity, they become the efficient aids of a few unscrupulous nnd intriguing democrats to unsettle all, And to replace Hie feeliug of returning confidence by distrust and feverish uncertainty, in themselves fatal to the business interests of both the North and the South. Self interest, the interests of the people they represent, nnd every feeling of common fairness, would have arrayed them against.the effort of the Tilden managers to reopen the Presidential question; but, as we have seen, they abandoned their recot-d, and acted with the extremists of ’heir party.

They may sny now that they mean no attack upon the Presidential title, and that they will not be panics io any measure to unseat the President. But, from the very nature of the case, the scheme of the democrats is revolutionary. They cannot legally unseat the President, and if they mean anything at all they mean revolution. That this is the design of those who inspired the lute action of the H01&.1. every development of the plot shows. Undoubtedly the Southern democrats, and many Northern democrats, have given countenance to the scheme, with the thought that when there are of going too far they cun call a halt. They may believe now that they will be nl-le to do this, but they will not" They will be most susceptible, under the impulse of revolutionary movement, to dnngorous influences, and under appeals to prejudice, and faced by the parade of peculiar principles, will play the part of mere adventurers under the leadership of ]K>litical tricksters. The wise conservatism of American citizens has detcrmindly and persistently frowned down every attempt to Mexicanize our institutions or in any way unsettle our politics! system, Pfiblie op,inion met snd crushed the rebellion, and public opinion met and silenced the throats of the democracy two years ago, when they boasted of resistance to law and hinted at aqareby. The old spirit animates the democratic leaders in the present move. The disreputable, intriguing, aud irresponsible element of th*jparty inaugurated this revolutionary scheme, and has found means to whip into line as their supporters the respectable and circumspect leaders. If they can do this much now nad carry their point, they will carry their point when it comes to the most extreme measure, unless repressive and corrective pressure is applied «t once. The quickest war in which tro people can reach the case is through efforts to change the constitution of the present House of Representatives, mul through efforts to have State Legislatures .reflect the strong Union sentiment ot the people. If the South must be represented by Confederate generals let the- Norfh send equally pronounce!! men whose loWfoe tho old flag has never been displaced by devotion to a rebel ensign. The protests from the business men of the Muntry, and the outspoken fears of the people at large, may deter the democrats from extreme measures until after the fall elections, jbot they liavo given such evidence of their spirit and purpose that the people should feel the great need of ndmblistering a stinging rebuke. The record is unmistakable, and it is opposed in every line to the spirit of our institutions nnd to the prosperity of our country. Thu way to avoid the threatened danger is to commence v-ork now to secure a republican majority in the next House.-1- Inter Ocean.