The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1867-11-14
WHATNEXT ?

NJ ~. ". ffh0NHtItueNes
a oreat many people still like whisky, and
am hate negroes. This is the solemn warning
Al the recent elections. The question now
arises, What is to be the next move Of the Re
publican partyi
Negro suffrage, as a political issue, never
before was put 80 squarely to certain portions
of the Northern people as during the la'e
aampaiens. The result shows that the
ueero is still an unpopular man. In fact,
In the estimation of nearly all the Democratic,
aud Of nearly half the Republican party
a human being may better be white-faced
bepearly and drunken vagabond than
black-faced orderly and thrifty gentle
nan. Let a political convention meet at
svracuse, pass a noble series of resolutions,
sst,ipp forth the negros just claim to all the
eivil and political rights which belong to other
American citizens; and the consequence of such
a manifesto is, that the Republican party
joses votes. What then Shall the Republi-
can party abandon the negro for the sake of
retaining the votes Never Better let the
party be shipwrecked and go to pieces than
haul down its colOrs from the mast. II 1t be
the object OF the Republican party to win an
election then the Republican party might
with advantage change its principles to suit
each caprice OF the popular mind; but if pa
triotc men choose to organize themselves into
to have purpose worthy of their heads and
hearts.
II the Republican party is not TO stand for
the negro's rights, then it has no better mis-
sion than the Democratic. Every national
question, save the question of the negro, might
De Just as safely trusted to the Democratic
party as to the Republican. IT, therefore, the
Republican party throw overheard the negro
we shall straightway move to throw overheard
the Republican party.
We observe, with mingled pain and indig-
nation, that many conservative Republican
journals, in various Northern States, are
putting forth tentative articles with a view to
the framing of Presidential issue in which
the negro shall have no place. But the glory
Of the Republican party will end in shame, if
such counsels be followed. This nation has
no indispensable need of the political success
Of either of its great political parties; but it
has an aching need Of an unfaltering devotion
to principle by that party which pre-emi-
nently processes to be devoted to principle
II Republican leaders are preparing, in view of
next summer, to purchase party triumph at
the price of moral principle, we hope their
banners will fall before they can be lifted and
that the battle will be lost before it can be
fought.
But the noble men in Ohio who shaped the
Republican issues of that State with full ex-
pectatiOn that devotion to impartial Justice
would cost a dminution OF the party vote
the equally courageous men in New York who
did not fear, at Syracuse, to demand for the
negro all that white men demand for them
selves the gallant radicals of Maryland, with
Judge Bond at their head who have Just won
for their cause more honor by defeat than
their opponents could win by hundred victo-
Iies these Republican leaders are not likely
to head the Republican party in backward,
but only in a forward, march.
The Democratic leaders, elated with their
unexpected victories, carry in their cheeks a
rosy hope of winning the next Presidential
contest. But they do not hope to win by
electing a Democratic candidate. The most
sagaciOus men among them entertain no such
saDguIne expectation. The utmost of Their
dream is to force the Republican party TO elect
a conservative instead OF a radical President.
Judging by the career of Andrew Johnson,
these leaders justly say that conservative
Republican, after a judicious process Of cor
ruPtiOp, will become as completely their in
slrument as if they were to elect, at the begin
ming, Democratic nominee. And all those con
serVative Republicans who helped the Demo-
Orats carry the recent elections are getting ready
to help the same Democrats carry the Presi-
dental election, with conservative Republican
for candidate. By such Republicans General
Grant is claimed to be such a candidate. This
is a mistake; General Grant is not what they
would call a cOns ervative. On the contrary,
he is as much of a radical as a majority of So
called radicals. But he is a man who does not
represent either conservative or radical
opinions; he does not represent any opinions
at all; he would rather lead an army than an
administration; and he ca es more for a cigar
than for an idea. If General Grant were
elected to the Presidency-a position to which,
for his own sake, we hope he does not aspire
nobody could tell in advance whether his ad-
ministratiOn would be radical or conservatives
nay, that practiced soldier, but Impractical
civilian, could not even tell himself
Now the Republican party, before it shall
next 60 to the people, must supply for itself
two great needs first, the need of banner
bearing the legend, Equal Rights for ALI"
and, second, the need of standard bearer
whose whole life has been a pledge Of devo-
tiOn to this principle.
Out of every three Republicans whom one
now meets, two are chiefly anxious for the sue
cess of negro suffrage, and the third for the
success Of General Grant. On further inquiry,
this third Republican will most likely he
found to have either refrained from Veting at
All in the late elections, or to have voted with
the Democrats. 1t is needless to say that the
future issues of the Republican party ought
not to depend for their shape on this listless
fraction of its members.
Three-quarters of a year remain for the pre-
paratlon OF Presidential issue and the noml-
nation OF a Presidential candidate. We trust
that every Republican who loves principles
better than men will meanwhile resolutely
oppose any scheme for surrendering impartial
justice to partisan success. The true rule III
American politics ought to be-hrst, nave a
vnr;Do;v,la ,,,orth 6obtinO for and then fight for