The New Orleans crescent. [volume] (New Orleans, La.) 1866-1869, 1868-10-23
ARADIoAL FORGERY .

It is an old saying that ga lie well stuck to
is as good as the truth"-a maxim which the
Radicals have been so accustomed to regard
as guide that they seem now to consider
lie much better than the truth. In fact, the 1
conscience of the Radical party has become
SO scared and distorted by the habit OF falsl-
fication, and by persistent violations OF all |
kinds of law, that it is no longer capable OF
distinguishing the true from the false. Ii
ever there was clear case of t,tcus a non
lalcendo, it is that of the Republican party In
assuming the name which it disgraces. II
ever the Hegelgian doctrine of the identity OF
contraries can be practically illustrated, it is
in the professions and practice of the Radicals.
The "party of progress" returning to all the
exploded dogmas of past age; the "party OF
liberty" suppressing all the guarantees OF
freedom and establishing ruthless military
despotisms in ten States; the party of NOR
atty" deliberately contrivingffalsehoods and
publishing bare-faced forgeries to discredit
its political opponents, almost compel one to
believe.that Hegel was not so far wrong, after
all, when he declared that "to be" and "not
| to be" are equal and the same.
| The Radicals have displayed remarkable
| talent during the last three years in the in
vention of facts and the contrivance OF false
hoods but they have surpassed all their
previous achievements in recent forgery OF
| n Massage purnortino To be extracted fro''
| General Blair's speech in St Louis. The
following is the language attributed to him:
Tho point to which desire to bring you is this,
that in this struggle we have everything at stake
10 fbaf final md iac IA
| walton of free constitutional government In
America that if we fail 10 it the republic falls
| with us IL becomes mere appendage OF the
military chieftain who is lifted to power in the
name Of the president. but who never will leave
the presidential mansion alive.
Upon which, with due parade of suggestive
italics and copiousness Of startling headings,
the Radical organs proclaim to the astonished
country that Gen. Blair has predicted the
assassination of Gen. Grant, when that fated
candidate finds himself in the presidential
mansion. 1t is of no sort of consequence that
in making this assertion they are forced either
to accuse Gen. Blair of unparalleled idiocy.
or to assume that their readers are more
asinine than Dogberry; it is of no conse-
quence that it is impossible for Gen. Blair to
have said such thing, and equally impossi-
BILE for any sane person to believe that he said
it; the opportunity for fslsehood was too
tempting to be rejected. And so Gen. Blair,
who was at first charged with a latent design
to assassinate Gov Seymour, in case of the
success of the Democracy in the approaching
election, is now accused of publicly pro-
claimed intention to become the r lvaillac
of General Grant But, of course, General
| ~ l. L. 4
papers attribute to him-of course he never
said anything like it. What he really said is
contained in the following genuine extract
from his speech:
The point 10 which desire to bring you is this,
I at in this struggle have everything at stake
that is the final and last struggle for the preserya
ton offree constitutional government in America !;
that if fail In it the republic falls with us. IL
becomes the mere appendage of the military chief
| tain who is elevated to power in the name OF the
| presidency. But he will never leave the presiden-
tial mansion as long as he lives. Ihave nothing to
| say against him personally; have no intention OF
derogating from his great merits as soldier and |
have no desire TO tarBish eny Of the lsures which
he won in the services that he gave the country
during the late war. But have just as little de-
risn Of rurranaArine ahsoints rnwer into the hauds
of any man, no matter how iliustrious he may have
made bis name in this great war
1t will thus be seen that instead of the fero-
| ClOUo VI NhAOA AAO 10 dOSuoCu, OOACAdA
Blair simply gave utterance to a thought
which has been rife in the bosom of almost
every thoughtful man since Gen. Grant was
nominated for the presidency-a thought
which, unhappily, has too much to Justify it
in the history of the Republican party-that
the election of Gen. Grant would be equiva-
lent to the conversion of the government into
military despotism. From the despotism Of a
congressional majority TO the despotism of a
military tyrant, the transition is easy, and,
perhaps, the country would not be dissatis-
fed with a change to the irresponsible rule of
Grant from the irresponsible rule of Sumner
and Wade and Phillips. Hateful as both are,
the one is at least as respectable as the other.
Disreputable as both are, the one would be at
least as endurable as the other. At all events
the inference, based upon the experience and
the common sense of mankind, would not be
illogical, that party who are determined to
tyranniEe over others, are ready to accept
tyranny for themselves and that people
who could sanction, by their votes, the de-
spotic policy of Radicalism, would readily
yield to the despotism which is the necessary
evolution of Radical doctrines.
|