THE FORUM.

EDITED BY LORETTUS S. METCALF.

VOL. V.

NEW YORK:

THE FORUM PUBLISHING CO.

COPYRIGHT, 1887

BY THE FORUM PUBLISHING CO.

Press of J. J. Little & Co.,
Astor Place, New York.

CONTENTS.

The Forum.

MARCH, 1888.

OUR POLITICAL PROSPECTS.

THE two great parties which have of late largely divided the suffrages of the nation are now quietly preparing for another struggle. There is little noise or tumult, scarcely any excitement as yet appears, but the forces are, nevertheless, setting themselves in array, with clear indications of the coming conflict. Whatever doubt may attach to the immediate issue, the ultimate outcome need not be obscure. A battle may be doubtful, where the issue of a campaign admits of sure prediction.

It is obvious, from all our past history, that any party likely to gain permanent success among us must be the party of popular sovereignty. Our government rests upon the sovereignty of the people. The President does not rule; neither does the Congress nor the Supreme Court. The people are our only rulers, and the legislative, the judicial, and the executive departments of government are but the instruments through which the people express and execute their will. I believe this was never elsewhere true in any such sense as it is here. Other peoples have had leaders through whom they have been guided and whom they have obeyed, but the American people have followed their own instinct or inspiration, and have never been governed by their great men. Our great men have never made our great movements. Nor have they led them, except as they have been taken up and and put in the van by the power of the movement