The weekly Ottumwa courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1857-1872, 1869-01-28
The midland senatorship.

mate .catawNg in all America,
Elevated from his well earned OBJ
security MS second or third rate
county politician, b that incomprcA
hensible custom that almost uniform.
~ sole cts smell bersd men nr Llsa-
tenant Governors. NJ becaMe Govern
or Of that state, on the election Of
Morton to the Senate and by ssccess
full manipulation OF the county poll.
ticians, anu the oietcry Of Cumback
is now Governor for four years ofthe
great State Of Indiana; an Office
which he has by his treachery in the
Cumback-Baker correspondence,
shown MIN self entirely too mean to
fill.
A little over year ngo, he was on
the most intimate terms with Cum.
back, and the latter prcsumiry on
the confidential relations existing be-
tween them, wrote the following let.
ter which will explain itself:
GREESsBuRa, Ind, Jan. 6 1868.
governor BAKER:
GEAR FRIEND-If l had not a
thousand things to demald my ut.
tcntion this week, would come up
and sec you. | will, therefore, ven
ture to make this suggestion; l think
Hendricks will be chosen by the
Democrats, he will certainly (if be
intends to inspire hope Of success
among his friends) resign his posi-
ton. The person appointed by you
will, other things being equal, stand
the best chance to be chosen by our
Legislature. Ifyou will assure INC
of the appointment, l viii withdraw
from the contest fer any position on
the State ticket, and take the posia
ton of Elector at our State Conven.
tion. If this proposition does moi
meet your appreciation, please return
this letter to me. Let me have your
reply ut an early day. do most
earnestly hope for the unity of the
Republican party.
81 am as ever your friend,
will CUMBAck."
| Whereupon the self righteous Ba-
ker, wrote reply denouncing the
letter as 'sindccent" "dishonorabie'
and as measuring him. the accident
al Governor, by very low standard
ofmOrality.
In the meantime the canvass went
on in Indiana; Hendricks was no,
nominated for the Presidency, and
didn't resign; tho State Convention
came off, and Cumback, for the sake
of harmony accepted the nomina
ton for Lieutenant Governor, and BY
his brilliant efforts on the stumr
managed TO boost Baker into thu
gubernatorial chair, by bare thou
sand majority, rlnning himself near.
ly five hundred votes ahead of thu
ticket.
During al! this time, Baker had
this "lndcccEt" and "dishonorable'
confidential letter, which he had not
as yet become rascal enough to make
public in violation of all the rules oil
propriety customary among gentle.
men under such circumstances, and
was more than willing to have the
gallant, and brilliant orator Cum.
back, to canvass every county in the
State for Baker, Grant and the Re.
publican ticket, Notwithstanding this
"indcccnt" and "dishonorable letter.
Finally, when the Legislature met
not long since, the great popularity
and effective services of Cumback in
the canvass, which secured that
doubtful State to our standard made
him the candidate for U. S. Senator
in tho Republican Caucus, to succeed
Hendricks, on the first ballot by 81
to Is.
Then for the first time, the public
became acquainted with this letter,
which being perverted and misrepre-
scented by Hughes, (Cumback's oppo.
nent,) and by Bakers friends, to
such an extent, that Cumback, tie
fairly selected candidate Of the Re-
publican Caucus, was, eventually,
after several days balloting, COMPEL.
ed to withdraw to secure harmony
in tho party, and D. S. Pratt, the
Congressman from the Logansport
District, selected in his place.
The most rigid moralist cannot say
that the letter of Cumback, involves
anything like moral turpitude. Such
arrangements are constantly being
made among politicians, and if they
are to be all slain for similar conduct,
then we are most certainly to have a
new deal in politics.
1t was extremely indiscreet to
write il, but then the intimate per-
sonal relations existing between the
parties, and the mark "confdentiap'
would have shielded it from publici.
ty, had there been more than one
gentleman engaged in this corres>
pondence.
However men may generally re>
gard it. it is our opinion that Baker,
who kept this letter confidential, and
quiet, SO long as Cumback could be
any assistance to him on the stump,
and then after tho latter had been
fairly nominated by the legislature
and the popular voice Of the State
combined with his copperhead and
sore headed Republican enemies to
defeat him, and mado public this pri-
vatc letter to encompass the ruin Of
q man whose brains made him a
dangerous rival, is ten times the
greater scalawag Of the two, and to
day we had rather be Cumback in
his retiracy at Greensburg, than the