New-York tribune., 1868-07-03
CONCERNING POPULARITY.


! criticism upon the article we saw proper to
write in reference to the removal of Gen,
! Pope. We make this reply:
The only thing we have ever known to
achieve popularity and constantly retain it, is
The Weathercock There is as much peril IN
inconsistency as consistency. When a man
speaks of the leaders of party, he Is gen.
orally found to mean himself Who are the
leaders" of the partyf Let us go to Con-
gress. Mr.. Bingham is a leader. Suppose we
| follow him. Here we arc high and dry, stamping
our feet at Impeachment, and denouncing it as
a crime. Mr.. Stevens is leader, and yet we find
| him demanding Impeachment and Confscation.
| What leader shall we followf We may go East,
or West, but we cannot go both ways at once
! Mr.. Sherman is "leader" on financial qucs
tions. We find ourselves insisting that the bonds
| shall be paid in gold, and happy we are that 1t
is so. But look Yonder is the Oritlamme OF
Buder lie demands the payment OF bonds in
currency. Gen. Butler is d leader also-but
which banner is the right one We enter the
Senate and greet those two worthy Republi-
cans, Grimes and Cameron. Good friends,
ave come to you for counsel! You are leaders
"of the Republican party. We were once IN.
DEPENDENT but, seeing our error, we desire to
"folow You and be wise What shall we do
" on the tariff question: 2" "Acccpt protection"
saws Cameron. Demand free trade" shouts
Grimes We cannot do both, and here we are,
all in a heap, and as far from knowing our
duty as before.
There is yet another difficulty Have the
leaders in the Republican party 1--WE mean
leaders in the numerical 'sense) always been
wisei Have they been freer from mistakes
than THE TRIBUNE2 Have they been always
courageous, far-seeing and patienti Have they
been governed by the highest wisdOm2 Is
there anything in their plea, or in the plea of
any politician, to commend to the confidence
of the party7 We remember one serious diff
ference we had with the "leaders" of the party.
1t was on the question of the Vice-P Presidency
in 1884. We held that it was best to demand
Republican candidate. We were told that the
South demanded recognition, and that Repub-
licanism had no lusticr champion than that
noble son of Tennessee, Andrew johnson. When
the war ended, that noble leader shouted that
treason should be made odiOus, and traitors
hung. We felt that the American people had
too much of blood and massacre, too much of
the dreariness and desolation of war, TO follow
the battle with the scaffold. We held that there
were o hundred questions more immediate and
pressing. A great race had come into our arms
| from the gloom and wretchedness of Slavery.
| The South was TO be TecOnstructcd-FreedOm
was to be guaranteed by Justice, and Liberty
secured to all. "No, no." said the leaders you
"are weak, cowardly, chicken hearted. We must
| chang somebody-we must make Il moral ex-
"ample-and as for the negrO-we cannot give
him suffrage-that would be the creased car
"tridge of the Sepoy." And so these men-
leaders in the Republican party-went on
denouncing THE TRIBUNE, demanding the ex-
ecution of Rebels, indOrsing the President, and
insisting that suffrage was not a condition of
Reconstruction, until Mr. Johnson one day made
speech, kicking the whole party from his
! presence.
| Then came Reconstruction. Let u.s." said
| THE TRIBUNE, lend this business at once by
granting the universal amnesty which must
"be given, and compelling universal suffrage,
which will give us the political control of the
South. We can trust the white man if we
make the former slave his equal" What
would have resultedi The South is to-day q
seething, trOublous cauldron of anarchy and
/ chaos, by reason of the men who were driven
| from the suffrage. The power which under our
| plan would have been expressed in votes, is now
manifest in endless fever and unrest. Oil and
| water will not mix. Chemistry can unite them
| by third agent, but that agent is not fire.
| So that, while Universal Suffrage and Universal
| Amnesty would have fallen upon the South as
a blessing, and instantly united its people,
rebel and loyal, the leaders" said "NO-we
"can only do il by an armyn That is dead now.
| The leaders have seen Amnesty pass from them
without the compensation which we demanded,
and which most assuredly would have come,
and the Reconstruction which should have been
consummated year ago seems as far from
the end as ever. We are fighting o laboring,
weary, uphill fight. We might have conquered
the enemy in an open field. We allowed him
to intrench, and are compelled to drive him
from his works.
Well, now say the leaders," we must have
Gen. Grant. On this point there is great ado
Grant y" Grant y" Grant, they shout, and
toss their caps in the air. We have several
respectable members of the wagon-load of rich
men which Mr.. Weed once drove to Philadel-
phia, together with many factors and jobbers,
| wholesale, retail, and on commission, and nu-
merOus soldiers, and about ten thousand candi-
dates for the Vice-Presdency, also Montgom-
cry Blair and Daniel E. Sickles. They insist
that Grant shall be made the immediate and
unOpposed candidate of the Republican party.
| We venture to ask the reason. Here we stand
with hat in hand, ready to shout, and only
too happy TO find something to shout over
What is the reason of the hurrah business
"Well," says one, Grant is soldier" Good"
we reply; "three cheers for Grant, The Soldier,
"the great soldier of the war" And SO we 90