Des Arc weekly citizen., 1868-06-06
CAN GRANT WINf


 next President or all is lost; so req soning they have been guided by pol icy more than wisdom in their selec- ton of candidates for the great Presi- dential contest that will ehake this continent in November next. Grant has been chosen as their standard bearer, not so much for what he has done as for what he has not done. He has been taken as kind of dernier re- sort, all other prominent Republicans having made political records so dark and variable as to leave no shadow of chance of success for them. Not for his worth, not for his merit, but for his having done naught in the councils of the nation for which to be praised or attacked does he owe this nomina- ton by his party. He has been thrust forward in the vain hope that the great masses of the army, those who follow cd hipo at yicksburg and through the the Wilderness, will rally to his sup port. Colfax is nominated with the idea that his nomination will secure the vote of Indiana, whose Dem ocratic majority the Radicals have learned to dread. Let us examine the chances of these worthies for success in the com ing election. The platform adopted by the Chicago Convention, upon which the Republican candidates stand, has in it nothing of consistency or merit But 1t is not our purpose in this article 10 examine this platform in detail we extract the second plank, which is wo- ven into the platform with considera- ble ingenuity:
 II. The guaranty by Congress of Equal Suffrage to all loyal men at the South was demanded by every consid- eration of public safety, of gratitude, and of justice, and must be maintained 1; while the question of Suffrage in all the loyal States properly belongs to the people of those States.
 We must confess our inability to ex- actly understand this curious article, especially when the Southern States have, according to Radical count, pro- ven themselves sufficiently loyal to adopt constitutions that came fully up to the most Radical idea of loyalty. If, then, equal suffrage was demanded by every consideration of public, alias Radical safety, of gratitude, and of jus tice; and, if it must be maintained in one section of common country, it must in all and Grant standing upon this platform is uncompromisingl pledged to equal suffrage and equal rights. Take this fact with the ex- pressed sentiment of those States that poll the greatest soldier vote in their late elections, and we unhesitat:ngly pronounce Grants chance for the Pres idency very small. Owing to the very satisfactory CD working of the recon struction policy in the South it will be admitted that her electoral vote will be unit for the Republican candidate. This will give them so votes with which to start the ball. If to these we add the vote of Iowa, Kansas, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, Rhode Island Vermont and West Virginia, it swells their vote to 132; and as is possible, if they carry the doubtful States of Ne- braska, Wisconsin and Minnesota, they would have in all 147, too small vote by F to elect. The Democratic party, with an available man, will certainly preserve their majorities in the West, and carry two, if not three of the New England States. The popularity of Grant will not overcome the unpopu- larity of equal suffrage, nor will the policy of the Radical party counteract the increasing strength of the Democ- racy. We of tho South can do but lit- tie {; but if the great body of Democrats in the North will do well in selecting their leader, and act wisely in support ing him, it will be an easy matter to conquer Radicalism, rid the country of its tyrannical rule, and bring us to the peace for which we have looked in vain from the Republican party. Can Grant win? He may win the peace of private life, but if the Democracy arc mp and doing he can never win the yVhifc Jnuse