The New York herald., 1868-05-23
Grant and Colfax-A Strong and Popular
Ticket-HOw is 1t to BE Beatens


national House of Representatives, the repub-
lican party has placed strong, cohesive and
popular Presidential ticket before the people.
Grant, the great captain of the age, has also
proved that in the administration OF the civil
affairs of peace establishment he possesses
those rare endowments of practical statesman
ship which qualify him for all the response
bilities of the executive head of the govern
ment in any emergency. 1t is the general i'm
preston among the American people that in
his hands their interests and the honor and
prosperity of the country will be safe. His asso-
ciate, Speaker Colfax, for one of his age, is a
man of great experience and superior abilities
and sagacity in our political affairs, and in the
event of call to the White House to fill the
unexpired term of his colleague, no doubt can be
entertained that he will give us good admin
istration. Nor is the fattering reputation of
these men limited to the United States, for it
is substantially the same abroad as at home
The news of their nomination will strengthen
the confidence of the friends in ''the great re-
public" over all the world-on the Thames, the
Seine, the Rhine, the Neva and the Danube, and
from the mighty Amazon, rolling it's food of
waters down the equatorial line to the imperial
Yang -tse- Kiang of China, ''the son of the
sea-" Nor will that honest faith in American
securities at Frankfort on Main be weak
ened with the prospect of the transfer from and
after the 4th of March, 1869, of the reins of
our government to Grant and Colfax.
The Chicago Convention could not have chosen
better ticket. The President pro tenn. of the
Senate, Mr.. Wade, who led the list of Vice
Presidential aspirants on the first two or three
ballots, would have been to Grant as heavy
load to carry as was the Old Man of the Sea to
Sinbad the Sailor; and Fenton, the next high
est competitor of Colfax, would also have been
dead weight. Colfax, on the other hand,
gives that positive strength and consistency to
the ticket which makes it unit and expands
the circle of its influence. He has had the
valuable training of newspaper edtor-a vo-
cation which in this country is the best Of
schools for an aspiring politician. 1t teaches
him all the ins and outs of the profession and
how to avoid those shoals and bars upon which
so many of our greatest statesmen have foun-
dered. The rail-splitter and the tailor were a
powerful team, but the tanner and the editor
will match them. There is ''nothing like
leather, and the newspaper is the third estate
of the nineteenth century. Grant aal Colfax
are strong ticket, and they are provided with
amovable extension platform on the negro suf-
frage question and on the money question
which will accommodate all comers of all
shades of opinion.
We come, then, to the inquiry, how is this
ticket to be beaten? From present indications
the republicans have some show of reason for
the boast that Grant and Cofax will walk over
the course. But ''the race is not always to
the swift nor the battle to the strong" In 1852
it was thought that General Scott would walk
over the course. The wings and the demo-
Gratis Of that day stood upon the same plat
form-Henry Clay's great compromise measures
of 1850. But behind Scott stood Seward
and the Northern abolition league, and
fearing that Seward and his abolition
affiliations would control the administration of
Scott if elected, and reopen the troubles Of the
slavery agitation, the people spontaneously
turned over to poor Pierce, and he was elected
by an electoral majority exceeding that of Har
rson in 1910. So now the radical influences
which lie behind Grant and Colfax may create
a reaction against them. Grant, we know, is
not like Scott, to be caught writing long letter
on politics after "a hasty plate of soup" nor
is he the travelling compaigner to be caught
.,.it, IA hoe hut fnr oil haf fh.a
power behind the throne welded by such
men as Stevens, Sumner. Butler and Wade
may weaken this otherwise powerful ticket of
Grant and Colfax.
Again, why have the republicans chosen
both their candidates from the West? Is it
because they fear that Pendleton's greenback
theory had as much to do with the last October
election in Ohio as negro suffrage, and that
accordingly it will need the combined Western
strength of Grant and Co!fax to overcome this
current of popular opinion in that quarter?
We cannot tell but there must be some danger
here, or this Chicago Convention would have
taken more definite position than it has de-
clared on the redemption of the national debt.
In the interval TO the Fourth of July we expect
to be further enlightened upon this important
subject. If the Western democracy control
their national party convention, Pendleton and
his greenback system will try the strength of
Grant and Colfax in the West; but otherwise
the strength of the democratic ticket and the
fight for it may be in the East, with New York
as the centre of their operations.
In any event, whatever may be the strength
or weakness of the republican Presidential
ticket or platform, East or West, there Will be
fine opening, cutting in here, there and
everywhere, for all the elements, including the
republican conservatives opposed to ultra
radicasm-a fine opportunity, we say, to defeat
the radicals in the elections for the next Con-