The Wyandot pioneer. (Upper Sandusky, Ohio) 1853-1868, 1868-10-01

Gentleman-HlS unfitnesS for
the Office Of President-His
Weakness. Indicision and Dis
honor.
New YORK. Sept. %.
l. Gen. Dix, American Minister to
France, has sent the following let
ter to a friend in this city. 1t was
not written for publication, but the
gentleman to whom it was address.
ed has consented to give it to the
public:
PARIS, Sept. 4.
My DEAR SIR: 1t was my hope
that my distance from home would
have saved me from all participation
in the political excitement prevail
ing there, but I notice in one of the
newspapers that 1 am heart and
hand with Mr.. Seymour. 1 am not
aware of anything in the present OF
which could rightfully subject me to
such an imputation.
l have been acquainted with Mr.
Seymour more than a quarter of q
century. He is an amiable gentle
man of uneXceptionable private
character and respectable talents
but you know as well as I, that he
has not a single qualification for
the successful execution of the high
official trust to which he has been
nominated, and he is especially de-
ficient in that frmness of purpose
which, in critical emergencies, is
the only safe-g guard against public
disorder and calamity. He has
been twice, at different times, Gov
ernor of the State of New York, and
he has, in neither case, had talent OF
tact to keep the Democratic party
of the State together more than two
years. I should regard his election
at this juncture, when steadiness ol
purpose, decision and self control
are so much needed, as one of the
greatest calamities that could befalI
the country.
Moreover he has been put in
nomination by convention which
has openly declared the purpose OF
those it represents, to pay the great
er part Of tie public debt contracted
to preserve the Union in deprecia-
ted paper. Such a measure would,
in my judgement, be {, palpable vio-
lation of the public faith, pledged
under circumstances which should
have been binding on all honorable
men. Seymour has made public
speeches to show that it is our duty
to pay the debt in specie. In ac-
cepting his nomination to the Pres
idency, he adopts the dec
laration that it ought to be paid in
paper. 1 know nothing so humiliat-
ing in the history of American poll
tics as this regeneration.
Itwas perhaps not unfit that Mr..
Seymour, after presiding in 1864
over the Chicago Convention, which
declared the war q failure, should
preside over the Convention of 1868,
in which a proposition to discredit
the debt contracted to carry on the
war was received with tremendous
cheering, and that he should be the
chosen Instrument to execute this
act of national turpitude.
I do not believe that the wishes
or opinions of the great body of the
Democratic party are fairly express
ed in these proceedings. They have
nothing in common with the states.
manlike views of policy, and the
high sense of national honor which
guided the party when Martin Var
Buren,, William L. Yancey, Silas
Wright, Lewis Cass, and Stepher
A. Douglas were among its most
conspicuous members.
l see but one source of safety fol
the country under existing circum
stances, and that is the election OF
Gen. Grant. On his decision OF
character, good sense, modera ,ior
and disinterested patriotism, I be
lieve the South will have a far bet.
ter hope of regaining the position
in the Union to which it is entitled
| than under man whose politica
career has been in nothing more
conspicuously marked than in al
utter infrmity Of purpose. indie
pendently Of all those considera
tions, I should be greatly surprised
# the people Of the United States
were to elect as their Chief Magis
trate, man who was making at the
Academy Of Music on the Fourth
of July 1868, a speech deficient in
all the characteristics Of an elevated
love of country, at the very houl
when Gen. Grant was carrying the
victorious arms of the Union into
Vicksburg, and when thousands Of
our fallen countrymen were pouring
out their blood on the plains Of
Gettysburg in defense of theil
homes and the Government which
Mr.. Seymour was doing all in his
power to embarrass ana discredit
I am quite willing you should
show this letter to any friends who
may take an interest in my opinion
in regard to the coming election
and 1 am particularly desirous to
remove the impression, if it exists
that I am in favor of Mr.. Seymoul
or the reputation of any portion
of'the public debt. I am, sir very
truly yours,
JOHN A. DIX.
Hon. r. e. GriselI. 4"