Weekly Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1853-1861, 1856-11-13
rhs Defeat Of R.pablicani.m-1t. Cause.

Inc telo4L OF 6epaoucdnAsm-Aps Oause
The Madison Courier, as we have shown,
attributes the defeat Of its party in this State
to the unskillful and bungling management
of the leaders. The Cincinnati Commercial
attributes the defeat of the party in the ma
ton 10 the same cause. The back of Black
Republicanism was loaded down with Know
Nothingism until it was unable to sustain it's
self To Horace Greeley is assigned the
principal share Of the blame in bringing about
a result so unexpected and fatal. On this
point, the Commercial says :
On the twenty -second day of February
last, q body of men assembled at Pittsburgh
to lay the foundation of Republican party.
To that Convention came Horace Greeley of
the New York Tribune, bearing, as he said,
a message, not of his own, but from older
and wiser heads than himself, whose words
of wisdom he was deputed to deliver. He
desired that there should be great caution,
and that, above all things, measures savoring
of precipitation should be avoided. He rep
resented the times as exceedingly critical, and
gave his hearers to understand that nothing
but the most consummste adroitness could be
relied upon To accomplish the end in view.
He expressed belief that coalition of all
parties and persons opposed to the present
administration would be necessary in order
to accomplish its defeat, and advised that
communication be opened with Know
Nothing body then sitting in New York,
and that the doings at Pittsburgh might be
in correspondence with those of the body at
the commercial metropolis. This was the
message of Horace Greeley, by whom dicta-
ted we will not pretend to say. The evil
that has followed it is before the world.
Here 1t was, and probably by the only per-
son in the world who could have done it to
an equal extent, that Fusion was inaugurated
and made a part of the tactics OF the Repub-
lican party. It's first effect was the revival of
Know Nothingism, which was then expiring
under the influence of free republican senti-
ments, and making it, what otherwise 1t
could not have been, material element in
the campaign
The Commercial says that '.just in proper
tien as the advice of Greeley wa, adopted,
the Republican party failed. That Mr.. Gree
ley and the body Of New York politicians
by whom he was accompanied, and those
whom he represented, had no faith in the
Republican sentiment--none in the people.
They appeared to be capable of but one
idea-that Of composite party-and Of but
one wish-to succeed. By their too great
anxiety for success, they prepared the way
for defeat. They have 1t, and the full credit
of the result should be theirs"
This must be very consoling to Greeley &
Co., who have worked as never men worked
before to give victory to a bad cause. If we
have any correct idea of what the result
would have been had the Black Republicans
kept themselves aloof from the Know No
things, we should say that they would have
experienced much more signal defeat than
they now have. fit is elsewhere as it is in
Indiana, the larger portion of the party are
members of the Know Nothing order. But
very few of these men would have fallen into
the Black Republican ranks, had the course
so clearly pointed out by the Commercial,
been adopted by the Philadelphia Conven-
ton. They are Know Nothings still, and if
they find that the cavalier treatment which
the Commercial seems disposed to give them,
is to become general with the Black Republi-
can press, there will be some most prodigious
back-sliding before another election takes
place. Take from Black Republicanism its
Know Nothing element, and the Giant of to-
day becomes the Dwarf of tomorrow.