Litchfield enquirer., 1868-10-01
WHOLE NO. 23l3
GENERAL DIX.

HE lNDoRsEs GEN. GRANT AND DENoUNcEs
 THE DEMOCRATIC CANDIDATES AND Po1,- l ICY.
 General Dix, the American Minister to Paris has sent the following letter to a friend in New York It was not written for publication, but the gentleman to whom it was addressed has consented to give it to the public:
 PARIS, Sept 4, 1868. 1 MY DEAR SIR:-H was my hope that my distance from home would have saved me rom all participation in the political ex cltement prevailing there. But I notice Tn one of the newspapers that am heart ana nand with Mir. Seymour. I am not neafs ano hand With MT. Seymour. I am past which could rightfully subject ma to 1 such an imputation.
 have been acquainted with MT. Sev. mour more than a quarter of a ceftnry lie IS an amlable gentleman, of unexcen- tlonable private character, and respectable talents. But you know as we'll as I. that he has not a single qualification for the successful execution of the high official trust to which he has been nominated. and ne IS especially deficient ill that firmness of purpose which In critical emergencies. is the only safeguard against public disorder ana calamity. He has been twice at diff lerenC times Governor of the State of Nav 1ofk, and he has in neither case had the talent or the tact to keep the Denocrotic eitrS. | SIIUfftI rcSI1u IIIo cIeCJIUu ut JlilS juncture, when steadiness of purpose, de- cision and self-control are so much need ed, as one of the greatest calamities that could befal the country. Moreover, he has n 1xro which has openly declared the purpose of those it represents to pay the greater part of the public debt, contracted to preserve the Union, in depreciated paper. Such a measure would. ill my judgment, be pal pablo violation of the public faith, pledged under circumstances which should have been binding on all honorable men. MT. Seymour has made public speeches to show that 1t Is our duty to pay the debt in spe- cie. In accepting his nomination to the Presidency, he adopts the declaration that 1t ought to be paid in paper. I know nOth- ing so humiliating lin the history of Amer ican politics as this tergiversation. It was, perhaps, not unfit that MT. Seymour, after presiding, in 1864, over the Chicago Con- vention, which declared the war failure, should preside over the Convention of 1868, in which 6 proposition to discredit the debt contracted to carry on the war was received with tremendous cheering," and that he should be the cho- sen instrument to execute this act of na- tional turpitude.
 I do not believe that the wishes or opin- ions of the great body of the Democratic party are fairly expressed in those proceed ings. They have nothing in common with the statesmenlike views of policy and the high sense of national honor which guided the party when Martin Van Buren, Will liam h. Marcy, Silas Wright, Lewis Cass and Stephen A. Douglas were among it's most conspicuous members. I see but one source of safety for the country under ex- isting circumstances, and that is the cleo tion of Gen. Grant. On his decision of character, good sense, moderation, disin- terested patriotism, l believe the South will have a far better hope of regaining the position in the union to which it is enti- tied, than under q man whose political ca reer has been in nothing more conspicu- ously marked than in an utter infirmity of purpose.
 Independently of all these considerations l should be greatly surprised if the people of the United States were to elect as their Chief Magistrate a man who was mak ing, at the Academy of music, on the 4th of July 1863,a speech different in all the character istics of an elevated love of country, at the very hour when Gen Grant was carrying the victorious arms of the Unlon into Vicksburg, and when thousands of our fal- len countrymen were pouring out their blood on the plains of Gettysburgh, in de- fence of their homes and their Government
 which Mr. Seymour was doing all in his power to embarrass and discredit.
 am quite willing that you shonld show this letter to any friends who may take an interest in my opinion in regard to the coming election, and am particularly de- sirous of removing the impression, if it ex- ists, that l am in favor of Mr. Seymour, or the repudiation of any portion of the public debt.
 l am, dear sir, very truly yours, JOHN A. DIX