The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1868-10-24
THE PRESS
Saturday Morning, October "a, 1858.



Seymour took the stump as a last resort.
He went ike criminal to the scaffold, with
the lash of the World fastening his steps and
now that he is there he talks like criminal.
There are three points in his speech at Bunsio
on Thursday evening, unless the abstract Sent
over the wires by the Associated Press ooe'
him injustice, that do little credit 10 MS s'''''
mapship or his ss9scity :
He says to begin with that reoonS'i
a failure because order IS hot fee'oie -0
South. a nd that the fnancial pohcy Vi 'no ne
..,,:.., Ut, /. a failure because taxation
r.. ,,r+ hoen reduced and the national debt has
NOT been diminished. The last assertion Is
simnly a falsehood. The papers recently pub
lished by Wells and Atkinson show that more
than q fourth of the national debt has been
paid, and it is a matter Of common knowledge
that the taxes have been removed from raw
cotton and from more than ten thousand manu-
featured articles. But when he argues against
the success OF the Republican party in recon-
struction on the ground that disorder and riot
ing continue at the South, ne does thing that
~in schcol-boy would be called "cheeky," but
as Seymour is Statesman" it will perhaps be
better to call it Machiavellian. False and bind
leader OF the blind; does he not know what has
sharpened the knife and loaded the revolver
of every Rebel desperate from the Potomac to
the Rio Grande? Is he alone ignorant that
the riyulets of blood that flowed from the
veins o. the Union men of the South have be-
come rivers since his own nomination? Does
he not know that it is only the hope of his
own election 10 the Presidency that makes
Rahali.1p Mt p. that his name
calls out the Rebel yell whenever it is men,
toned at the South 2-that it is by the names
of Seymour and Blair that the fire-eaters
swear that ou the morning o. the 4th of No
vember the "carpet-ba2gers'' and "scalawags"
shall take up their march for the North?
The;position of Gov. Seymour ON this ques-
ton Is like that OF a rogue who persists in
stealing, yet impugns the wisdom of the laws
that forbid his ing 50. "Sse," exclams the
thief, "your law against stealing is failure.
steal as much as choose"
But there is yet more edfying matter in
Seymours speech. He must be smarting still
from the stripes he has recently received in the
house of his friends. He argues against the
possibility of any harm from the election OF
Seymour and Blair, because the Republican
enough to check any revolutionary movement
We quote
If Gen. Blair should reach the Presidential
chair, how would the case stand? He would
lie confronted by a Republican Senate, by IA
House of Representatives lull of Generals, by
the United States army and by thu Loyal
Leasua and the Grand Army of the Republic
under the command of their candidate for the
Presidency whom they declare to be the first
int sffhn Ofrn Vnf In in.
formed that Blair, standing alone, can crush
out all opposing power and plunge the coun-
try into civil war. True, then, Gen. Blair is
either the most vigorous man in the history Of
the world, or the Republican Senators and
members of Congress and commanders of the
armies are the most imbecile men who ever
disgraced public positions.
Iftae only salvation of the country depends
upon the remnant Of Republican power left to
contend with another Democratic administra.
ton, why Won d it not be we'll to save any con-
tict by making the two branches of the gov
ernmen t once more harmonious? Does man
set fire to his house, because there is an engine
at hand to put it cut? Does man advise bis
friend to Jump into the ocean because there are
means e, hand for fishing him UP? Seymour
went on to say that eff the Democratic party
succeeded at this election it could, of ITSELF not
Aahc Ut amend laws. IL WOuiu only De able TO
hold the violent leaders of the Republican par
ty in check. 1t could do no revolutionary acts
So far as actual po,oer Is concerned a Democrat
&c President toould stand in the same position
held by Andreao Johnson" the Deerfeld far
mer is the first man in the country to discover
that the contention of the American people
with Andrew johnson during the last three
yesrs and the uncertainty, the disquet and
frequent alarm it has ocoasioned, is a state Of
Ideal happir ess!
But it is Seymoar's adhesion to the repudia-
ton plank of the Democratic platform that will
excite the most surprise and disgust. Here.
totore no voice has been more eloquent than
his In denounciIg it. He has read the public
mind most carelessly, If he thinks that the
great financial heresy of the century has
gained ground with the people since his
nomination. 1t has damned every public
man, Republican or Democrat, who has touch
ed It, Ifthe first reports OF his speech do not
ziisrepresent him, his damnation is double, fo1
he adds to the infamy of repudiator that of q
shutting demagogue and an apostate.