New-York tribune., 1868-01-03
CONCERNING POPULARITY.


criticism upon the article we saw proper to
write in reference to the removal of Gen.
! Pope. We make this reply:
The only thing we have ever known to
achieve popularity and constantly retain it, is
! The WeathercOck. There is as much peril in
inconsistency as consistency. When man
! speaks of "the leaders of party, he is gen
orally found to mean himself. Who are the
leaders" of the party? Let Us go to Con-
gress. Mr.. Bingham is leader. Suppose we
follow him. Here we are high and dry, stamping
our feet at Impeachment, and denOuncing 1t as
a crime. Mr.. Stevens is leader and yet we find
! him demanding Impeachment and COnfiscatiOn
| What leader shall we follow2 We may go East
or West, but we cannot go both ways at once
! Mr.. Sherman is "leadern on financial ques
tions. We find ourselves insisting that the bonds
shall be paid in gold, and happy we are that it
is so. But look! Yonder is the Orifamme OF
Butler lie demands the payment of bonds in
currency. Gen. Butler is leader also-but
which banner is the right one7 We enter the
Senate and greet those two worthy Republi-
cans Grimes and Cameron. Good friends,
we come to you for counsel! You are leaders
"Of the Republican party. We were once in
dependent, but, seeing our error, we desire to
"folow you and be wise. What shall we do
" on the tariff question ~ Accept protection"
says Cameron. Demand free trade" shouts
Grimes. We cannot do both, and here we are,
all in heap, and as far from knowing our
duty as before.
There is yet another difficulty. Have the
leaders in the Republican party 1--WE mean
leaders in the numerical sense) always been
wiser Have they been freer from mistakes
than THE TRIBUNE7 Have they been always
courageous, ar-seeing and patent2 Have they
been governed by the highest wisdom' Is
there anything in their plea, or in the plea OF
any politician, to commend to the confidence
of the party? We remember one serious diff
ference we had with the "leaders of the party.
1t was on the question of the Vice-Presdency
in 1864. We held that it was best to demand
Republican candidate We were told that the
South demanded recognition, and that Repub-
licanism had no lustier champion than that
noble son of Tennessee, Andrew Johnson When
the war ended, that noble leader shouted that
treason should be made OdiOus and traitors
hung. We felt that the American people had
toe much of blood and massacre too much of
the dreariness and desolation of war, to follow
the battle with the scaffOld. We held that there.
were a hundred questions more immediate and
pressing. A great race had come into our arms
from the gloom and wretchedness of Slavery
The South was to be reconstructed-Freedom
was to be guaranteed by Justice, and Liberty
secured to all. NO. no." said the leaders; "you
care weak, cowardly, chicken-hearted We must
chang somebody-we must make moral ex-
"ample-and as for the negrO-wc cannot give
" him suffrage-that would be the creased car
"tridge of the SepOy." And so these men
"leaders" i'll the Republican party-went on
denouncing The TRIBUNE, demanding the ex-
ecutiOn of Rebels, indorsng the President, and
insisting that suffrage was not a condition of
Reconstruction, until Mr.. johnson one day made
a speech, kicking the whole party from his
presence.
Then came Reconstruction. "Let us SAID
THE TRIBUNE, lend this business at once by
granting the universal amnesty which must
I" be given, and compelling universal suffrage,
(Which will give us the political control of the
"South. We can trust the white man if We
make the former slave his equal" What
would have resulted7 The South is to-day a
seething, troublous cauldron of anarchy and
chaos, by reason of the men who were driven
from the suffrage. The power which under our
plan would have been expressed in votes, is now
manifest in endless fever and unrest. Oil and
water will not mix. Chemistry can unite them
by a third agent, but that agent is not fire.
So that while Universal Suffrage and Universal
Amnesty would have fallen upon the South as
a blessing, and instantly united its people,
rebel and loyal, the "leaders" said "NO-wc
"can only do it by an army That is dead now.
The leaders have seen Amnesty pass from them
without the compensation which we demanded,
and which most assuredly would have come,
and the Reconstruction which should have been
consummated year ago seems as far from
the end as ever We are fighting laboring,
weary, uphill fight. We might have conquered
the enemy in an open field. We allowed him
to intrench, and are compelled to drive him
from his works
Well now say the leaders" we must have
Gen. Grant. On this point there is great ado.
"Grant y" Grant y" Grant" they shout and
toss their caps in the air. We have several
respectable members of the wagon-load of rich
men which Mr.. Weed once drove to Philadel-
phia together with many factors and jobbers,
wholesale, retail, and on commission, and nu-
merous soldiers, and about ten thousand candi-
dates for the Presidency, also Montgom
cry Blair and Daniel +. Sickles. They insist
that Grant shall be made the immediate and
unopposed candidate of the Republican party.
We venture to ask the reason. Here we stand
with hat in hand, ready to shout, and only
too happy to find something to shout over.
What is the reason of the hurrah business 7
well" says one, Grant is a soldier" "GOod,"
~ obo Co. to So11
"the great soldier of the war;" And so we 90