Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1868-09-25
JOHN A. DIX.
Letter from Paris Reviewing
SeymOur's Course.
" A Very Weak Invention Of the
Enemy

/ FAhlsI september /, l565.
MIy Dear Sir It was my hope that my
distance from home would have saved
me from sll participation ia the political
excitement prevailing there, but notice
in one of the newspapers that Rm heart
and hand with Mr.. Seymour. I am not
aware of anything in the present or past
which could Iightfully subject me to such
| an imputstiOn.
/ have been acquainted with Mr.. Sey-
| mour for more than a quarter of q CEN
| tury. He is an amisble gentleman of
unexceptionable private character and
! respectable talents, but you know IS well
! as that he has not single quaiifiea-
ton for the successful execution of the
| high official trust for which he has been
nominated, and he is especially deficient
in that firmness of purpose which, in
! critical emergencies, is the only safe
guard against public disorder and oalam-
| ity. He has been at two different times
| Governor of the State of New York, and
/ he in neither case had talent or tact
| enough 10 keep the Democratic party
of the State together more than two
years.
1 should regard his election at this
juncture, when steadiness of purpose,
decision, and self-eOntEol are so much
needed, as one of the greatest calamities
that could befsll the country. Moreover
he has been put in nomination by con-
venticn which has openly declared the
purpose of those it represents, to pay the
greater part ofthe public debt contracted
to preserve the Union in depr reciated
paper. Such 9 measure would, In my
judgment, be palpable violation of
public faith, pledged under circumstances
xuhi ioh GhoulH haUa haan hindiuos oil
honorable men.
Seymour has made public speecaos to
show that it is right to pay err debt in
specie. In accepting this nomination to
tie Presidency he adopts the declaration
that it ought to be paid in paper. l
know nothing so humiliating in the his
tory of American politics as this tergiv-
ersstion. 1t was, perhaps, not unfit that
MIR. Seymour, after presiding in 1854 over
the Chicago Convention, which declared
the war failure, should preside over the
convention in 1868 in which PROPOSE
ton to diseredit the debt contracted to
carry on the war was received with tre.
mendOus cheering, and that he should be
the chosen instrument to execute this act
Of national turpitude,
do not hslieve that the wishes or
opinions Of the great body of r." =, -, -
cratic party are fart, expressed in tbess
oroceeSSuIugs. They have nothing in COM
mon with the statesmanlike views OF pol
Icy and the high sense of national honor
which guided the party when Martin
Van BureB, William l.. Yancey, Silss
Wright, Lewis Cass and Stephen A.
Douglas were among its most eonspleu-
Gus members.
Isee but one course of safety for the
country under the existing cIrcum-
stances, aud that is the election of Gen.
Grant. On his decisiou of character,
good sense, moderation and disinterested
patriotism, believe the South will have
far better hope of regsining the posi-
ton in the Union to which it is entitled,
than under q man whose political career
has been in nothing more conspicuously
marked than Ia an utter infirmily of pur-
pose.
Independently Of these considerations,
l should be greatly surprised If the peo-
pie of the United States were 20 elect as
their Chief Magistrate man who was
making at the Academy of Music on the
4th Of July, 1868, a speech deficient in
ali the characteristics of an elevated love
of country, at the very hour when Gen.
Grant was carrying the victorious arms
Of the Union into Vicksburg, and when
thousands of our rfellow-counIrymen were
pouring cut their blood on the plains of
Gettysburg in defence of their homes snd
the government which Mr.. Seymour was
doing all ia his power to embarrass and
discredit.
1 am quite willing you should show
this letter 10 any friends who may take
an interest in my opinion in regard to
the coming election, and | am particu-
laTly desirOus of removing the impress
siOD, if it exists, that l am in favor OF
Mr. Seymour or Reputation CT any por-
tion OF the national debt.
/ am, sir, yours very truly,
mo A my