upon principles as communistic, socialistic—­what shall I call them—­populistic as ever have been addressed to any political assembly in the world.”  Mr. Justice Field in the name of the Court replied:  “The present assault upon capital is but the beginning.  It will be but the stepping stone to others larger and more sweeping till our political conditions will become a war of the poor against the rich.”  In declaring the income tax unconstitutional, he believed that he was but averting greater evils lurking under its guise.  As for free silver, nearly all conservative men were united in calling it a measure of confiscation and repudiation; an effort of the debtors to pay their obligations with money worth fifty cents on the dollar; the climax of villainies openly defended; a challenge to law, order, and honor.

=The Republicans Come Out for the Gold Standard.=—­It was among the Republicans that this opinion was most widely shared and firmly held.  It was they who picked up the gauge thrown down by the Populists, though a host of Democrats, like Cleveland and Hill of New York, also battled against the growing Populist defection in Democratic ranks.  When the Republican national convention assembled in 1896, the die was soon cast; a declaration of opposition to free silver save by international agreement was carried by a vote of eight to one.  The Republican party, to use the vigorous language of Mr. Lodge, arrayed itself against “not only that organized failure, the Democratic party, but all the wandering forces of political chaos and social disorder ... in these bitter times when the forces of disorder are loose and the wreckers with their false lights gather at the shore to lure the ship of state upon the rocks.”  Yet it is due to historic truth to state that McKinley, whom the Republicans nominated, had voted in Congress for the free coinage of silver, was widely known as a bimetallist, and was only with difficulty persuaded to accept the unequivocal indorsement of the gold standard which was pressed upon him by his counselors.  Having accepted it, however, he proved to be a valiant champion, though his major interest was undoubtedly in the protective tariff.  To him nothing was more reprehensible than attempts “to array class against class, ’the classes against the masses,’ section against section, labor against capital, ‘the poor against the rich,’ or interest against interest.”  Such was the language of his acceptance speech.  The whole program of Populism he now viewed as a “sudden, dangerous, and revolutionary assault upon law and order.”

=The Democratic Convention at Chicago.=—­Never, save at the great disruption on the eve of the Civil War, did a Democratic national convention display more feeling than at Chicago in 1896.  From the opening prayer to the last motion before the house, every act, every speech, every scene, every resolution evoked passions and sowed dissensions.  Departing from long party custom, it voted down in anger a proposal