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Show PARTY DEGRADATION. In the Christian Register is a partial review of his own work by Dr. Edward Everett Hale. He tells of the stirring work of 1861-65, and in the course of it says: "Whatever "What-ever I could think of which I could do for my country, I tried to do." That sentence gives an idea of the man. It was that disposition which caused the men of Boston to rise up and celebrate the venerable man's eightieth birthday (April 3rd), with imposing ceremonies. Senator Hoar went up from Washington to make the congratulatory address, and the best and brightest of Boston's men and women drew near to do him reverence. That disposition made and has more than once saved this country. That disposition is what keeps the Great Republic running on an even keel, it makes our country the world's wonder and admira- Ition. All over it, by the humble hearthstones hearth-stones in the country, in the libraries of clergymen, in the shops where cars and ships are built, in the factories where the ; looms are humming everywhere the real : Americans are planning how they can do something for their country and are trying , to do it. This spirit has made of our country a world's splendor; in a single century it has advanced from nothing until it is today the foremost of the world's nations. That i spirit causes the world's oppressed to turn i with outstretched arms to us: that spirit is ' the very opposite of the one which is seen j daily now in the Congress of the Nation, ! and which in the hope of creating a little ' party capital is declaring to the world that the army of the United States is made up of i ruffians; that the Government is steeped ' with corruption and cruelty. This has been a trait of the Democratic party ever ' since 1861. No matter how honorable and m honest the rank and file of that party may , be, as a political organization it relies upon slander and appeals to the baser passions of ; men for success. It clings to this too, not- ' D withstanding all its manifold defeats. The Republican party has held power so long H because the great mass of the people feared to give power to men who rely upon success H through the attempted degradation of their I country before the world. The Republican party has made mistakes more than once, which ought to 'have ousted it from power; H it has been saved through the debased H course of its chief adversary. |