The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1868-05-14
The chicago platforsa.


mrcial 33s 4
Chicago. / can say this much that
rs.e = seen a draft Of what ] was assured
h.s i.,I received General Grants approval, and
~as ~Is certain 70 he the platform of the Com
N.nt;on. It was in the hands Of gentle
,,an ,s" whom know to be an intimate friend
- " Grant. and whom | know also to have
~ Uome to Washington from the West, and
heen repeatedly closeted with Grant while
here. for the express purpose of ascertain.
inc The Generals views Of this subject. tt
nav mo interest the earnest wing of the
reonblican party 10 know that the person
- wbom refer was a Democrat throughout
.Se war and has never voted Republican
ticket. or even what was called, during the;
war. Union ticket, in his life. met!
him not long since returning from General
Grants house. He talked about the politi-,
cal prospects, and especially about the,
nlatform to be adopted at Chicago. He pro-
d1nced from his pocket closely-written
page of foolscap, which he said was
sGrant's PLATFORM and added, that Grant
was in condition to dictate to the party,
and not the party TO him, and that he.
wopld run upon no other platform than
the one he then allowed me to read !.
! read il over from first to last. My
friend asked me how thought it would suit
,be Convention. I told him it was remark
able chiefly for the skin with which it
tyaded the great issues of the campaign
reconstruction, negro suffrage, equal taxa
ton. and the mode of paying the national
debt. From first to last there was not a
line in favor of the congressional policy of
reconstruction; not single endorsement Of
the Forteth Congress OF. any of it's mea-
sures, and no hint as to a financial policy.
The whereas was twice rs long as the res
solved. There were some glittering words
about the late war for the Union, q vague
hint at equal rights, without any special
application, and glittering generality in
favor of maintaining the public credit. 1t
meant everything or nothing, just as you
liked to interpret it. could see nothing in
il that the Democratic Convention might not
adopt in July without dissenting vote,
and at the same time there was nothing
that the strongest Republican could OBJ
icct TO MS squirting toward Conservatism.
On reading the platform carefully, as-
srred my friend that did not believe it
would suit the Convention. To which he
responded by repeating the assertion that
Grant must be nominated on his own terms
or not at all. 7" There's enough in that, :"
said he, 8: to suit any reasonable man.
Those who don't like it may travel further
and fare worse. For every Radical who
bolts the nomination because it is too con-
scryative, we'll get ten Democrats to join
u.s. He wouldn't listen to any suggestion,
such as that the Fortieth Congress would
have to he endorsed in all its nets, ineiud-
ing impeachment, reconstruction, and the
legislation in regard to the Supreme Court,
or that something would haveto be said as
to how the national debt must be paid. He
insisted, on the latter point, that the mere
declaration in favor of maintaining the
public credit would successfully bridge the
chasm between the greenbackers of the
West and the yellowbaekers of the East.
Strange to say, this meek and slowly
platform meets the endorsement, real or
ieigned, of a great many of the most yio-
lent Radicals in the Senate and House:
and though there may be some grumbling
and consequent secession because of it at
Chicago, still there is little doubt that it
will be adopted at Chicago"