The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1867-06-11


From ate Herald.
Our citizens should Immediately, by grand,
universal, resolute expression, put General
Grant before the country as their choice for
President. He is the man whose name should
stand against the world with the American
people. Tried in the terrible ordeal of war
that would have carried TO irretrievable ruin
any Government but our own, the nation was
sifted through and through for its best men;
and to the last trial this man alone stood so
well all tests, that his qualities and achieve
ment have needed no other assertion or de-
fense than the perusal of those great chapters
of our history in which his name is the domi-
nant word. Rising from absolute obscurity,
from the unchronioled ranks of the masses,
from the sympathy and fellowship of the ster-
ling common people-stepping from beside his
wagon-load of wood on the Missouri roads to the
first place in the marshalled genius and prowess
of the greatest people of the age-neither the
wondrous figures of fable nor the remarkable
characters of history supply adequate parallels
to his career.
Besides his story the stories of Theseus,
Horatius, and Cinoinnatus become tame and
puerile; Casar's battles and victories were
small to his. He carried the country success
fully through a contest more tremendous than
that which destroyed the power and empire of
the first Napoleon. Nor did patriotism and
modesty show with more splendor and purity
in the career of Washington than they will
shine in the history of the soldier who, hav-
ing done so much, has given the most indu-
btable evidence that it was all done for the
country-that the glory of his actions was
never stained by thought of advantage to
himself at the expense of freedom.
Shall we so far wrong ourselves, do violence
to our history, and swindle posterity, as to
put any other man than this at the head of
the nationY We cannot answer for what will
happen if the people wait for the party pettifog-
gers or show any unwillingness to dance attend
ance OH ringleaders, lobbymen, jobbers, and
other vermin of our political system. Conven-
tions should not be given time to open their
mouths on this great topic, either on the one
hand to scandalize the nation by opposition in
favor of some other candidate, or to come
between the people and their great leader, to
cheat them of the chance of honoring him, and
to galvanize the convention system into new
life by the credit of this act. Conventions are
the packed juries of our history. Standing be-
fore the world with the pretense of hearing
and trying impartially the great issues of the
time, it is notorious that their verdict is always
made up in advance, and we have had too
much evidence that it is as a rule atrocously
and shamefully wrong. Shall we suffer Grants
chance to take his natural place at the head of
the nation to stand upon the action of packed
jury-a deliberately prepared cheat Shall
we suffer the one grand opportunity to pacify
the nation by giving it a head who can COM
mand the respect of all sections to be dis
gracefully traded away in the barter for small
offices five would not, the people must ig-
more the politicians, and move themselves;
and the movement should begin with the
people of this city, the national metropolis,
the vital starting point of the great actions of
the country, whether for defense in war or de-
velopment in peace.
No one can positively say how the South
stands on the Presidency. 1t is so full of the
imperative necessities of social reconstruction
that it has no disposition or time for discus
sions of less obvious interest to itself, however
important and will hence follow in the course
that may be distinctly marked as the will of
the mass of the Northern people. This is,
perhaps, the condition of the Southern white
vote. Undoubtedly the negro is in the hands
of the party that has made him the most eX-
travagant promises, and that must not be
trusted with the destiny of the nation. We
must not stand to be swayed by any
indications drawn from thepossible control
of the nigger vote. That is the only oppO-
sition that can be raised in the South
to bold expression of the Northern people,
made in the interests of peace, harmony,
and honest reconstruction. Grant is the one
man whose election will give North and South
confidence and faith in the future and will
insure to the country that permanent tran
quillity which is now the real want. He is the
man for the occasion. His elevation will be
the logical end of the war, will destroy fac
ton, will gather around the Government all
the elements of our national strength, and by
invigoratng our foreign policy with something
of the spirit that put down the Rebellion, will
enable us to take our proper position as one
of the leading powers of the earth. Let the
people, directed by the substantial men of the
city, take steps to initiate this real movement
for the nomination of General Grant. Now is
the time. Let New York declare her will, and
the country will echo the utterance with one
magnificent acclamation.