Bedford inquirer. [volume] (Bedford, Pa.) 1857-1884, 1868-07-17

| the battle he bad begun. If the reconstrue-
ton laws are unconstitutional let the man
who had vetoed them, and refused to exc
cute them, be the Champion Of his own the
CRY If impartial suffrage is a wrong to the
South, let the man who betrayed the negro
lead the legions who would claim him anew
If the President, by authority Of the Con-
stitution, has imperial powers to govern,
which the representatives of the people can
not limit, then let the man who dcfed Con
gress meet it at the polls The Convention
shrank from this; yet it has harder battle
to fight with Horatio Seymour for leader
than it could have had with Andrew John
son; for Seymour is all that johnson is, and
more BY all that he has said and done
since the end of the war, he is as thorough
" opposed to the plan of reconstruction laid
down by the North as even the President is
he IS as earnest an enemy Of impartial suffrage,
the only security which the North possesses
in the States which rebeHed; he is. upon all
the issues which are involved in reconsuuc-
ton, entirely upon Johnson's side;-there-
fore, the party has eyaded nothing in NOM
mating him, while glance viii show how
vast is the additional burden it has assumed.
Horatio Seymour not only represents the
enmity of the Democratic party to the
Northern plan of the reconstruction Of the
Uuion, but also Its eumity to the Union it.
SELF He stands pre- eminently among those
Democratic leaders who, during the war,
stood nearer to the Rebellion than they did
to the Government. As it was Mcclellan 5
shame that the South affected to consider
him our greatest general, and that rebel
soldiers protested against bis removal from
| the command Of the Army Of the Potomac,
soitis the shame of Seymour that for him the
enemies of the country had no abuse, and
| that it was to his election in 1864 that they
looked for encouragement When Jeffer-
son Davis spoke of the infamous Eandals
Of the North, it was not to Mr. Seymour
that he alluded; and when the rebel drums
came rolling up through Pennsylvania to-
ward New York, Mr. Seymour had little
reason to tremble at the sound. The in
stiRct of The South sbarpened by growing
despair, recognized him and his friends as
their allies; for though he never struck ar
open blow fer the Rebellion, who shall tell
US what honest stroke he ever made for the
Union? Grouehy when he Jagged behind
at Waterloo, was as truly the ally Of We'll
lington as if he had worn the British uni
form; and we doubt if Mr. Seymour could
have done the Union as much harm, had
he been its open enemy in Richmond, as he
| did do it, protesting to be its friend in New
York. Who has forgotten his speeches in
1861, when he blamed the North equally,
at least, with the South for the woes which
the South alone had brought upon the
country? And who does not remember
how, in 1864, when he demanded that New
York should re-elect him her Governor, he
/ openly announced that the Rebellion was as
far from being conquered then as it was at
| Bull Run, pointed to the credit of the Con
federacy in London and Paris as proof that
the Union cause was hopeless, and held the
Republican party, which in spite of his ef
forts was crushing the Rebellion, response
bic for the national debt? He, too presided
over the Convention which declared the
war for the Union failure, and demanded
"the immediate cessation Of hostihties
And even while he was making these
speeches to the Democracy, Grant was hold
ing Lees army motionless in Richmond,
grasping the Rebellion by the throat, while
Sherman was annihilating Johnston in
Georgia, and preparing for bis march to the
sea, and Sheridan was whirling Early upthe
Shenandoah. Mr.. Seymour is an orator
whose eIoQuence bewitches and persuades;
yet it needed mightier magic than his TO
convince the American people that the Re
bellion was triumphant when they bebeld it
tottering to its grave, and that the war
should be abandoned in the very crisis of
victory.
These things the people viii not forget,
and if they were willing to do 50, the New
York Convention has forced them to re-
member. By the nomination of Seymour,
the Democratic party has revived the issues
Of the war itself, and has challenged COM
parsons that will be terrible and fatal. In
placing Seymour against Grant, it has
placed the Rebellion against the Union.
This is but mere glance at the issues
made up in the nomination of Seymour and
Blair, and to others almost equally essential
we can but alludc But no one can fail to
see that this campaign Is also to be battle
between the Politicians and the People. A
dozen men, who met quietly in a parlor on
| Wednesday night, dictated the nomination
of Seymour-they made him what he is.
! But what man, what political oligarcy, what
| Convention, shall dare to claim the credit of
the nomination Of Grant? He was chosen
by the People; their irresistible might left
the Chicago Convention not even the sbad-
ow Of a choice. Grant Is the leader of the
nation itself, and represents not only its tri-
umph over the Rebellion, but its firm re-
solve that the causes of Rebellion-SIarery
in any form, and Party Spirit-shaT not be
permitted to survive WiHes Nclg York
| Spirit Of the Times
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