not up to this time extended to the formal Constitution. Schemes
of radical rearrangement of the political institutions of the
country had not yet been agitated. New party movements were
devoted to particular measures such as fresh greenback issues or
the prohibition of liquor traffic. Popular reverence for the
Constitution was deep and strong, and it was the habit of the
American people to impute practical defects not to the
governmental system itself but to the character of those acting
in it. Burke, as long ago as 1770, remarked truly that "where
there is a regular scheme of operations carried on, it is the
system and not any individual person who acts in it that is truly
dangerous." But it is an inveterate habit of public opinion to
mistake results for causes and to vent its resentment upon
persons when misgovernment occurs. That disposition was bitterly
intense at this period. "Turn the rascals out" was the ordinary
campaign slogan of an opposition party, and calumny formed the
staple of its argument. Of course no party could establish
exclusive proprietorship to such tactics, and whichever party
might be in power in a particular locality was cast for the
villain's part in the political drama. But as changes of party
control took place, experience taught that the only practical
result was to introduce new players into the same old game. Such
experience spread among the people a despairing feeling that
American politics were hopelessly depraved, and at the same time
it gave them a deep yearning for some strong deliverer. To this
messianic hope of politics may be ascribed what is in some
respects the most remarkable career in the political history of
the United States. The rapid and fortuitous rise of Grover
Cleveland to political eminence is without a parallel in the
records of American statesmanship, notwithstanding many instances