The Charleston daily news. [volume] (Charleston, S.C.) 1865-1873, 1869-05-17
Oh A RLE s TO N.
MONDAY MORNING, MAY II, 1859.
Phe Downfall Of Radtcalism at Han,

Phe Dewnfau Of Radicalism at Hand.
The Grant Administration has been in
power but ten weeks, yet it has managed in
that time to accomplish the destruction of
the lsoreallsd Republican party. Few at
the South are aware Of the tremendous
rsvalsi6n in feeling throughout the North,
caused BY the policy and appointments Of
the new President. In Washington, a few
days sgoy q. prominent Radical said to the
writer. stYou Democrats used to say that
"the circumstance that Grant happened to
"be no politician proved The salvation q, the
"Republiean cause in the canvass. How
"ever that may be, the same circumstance
s::hsa. certainly brought about the ruin of
sour party, now that We are in power"
This is the keynote to the conviction that
universally prevails at this time among
politicians of every stripe at the North. 1t
would have been almost impossible for any
mere military leader, like Grant,. utterly
without political training, to have run the
vast Federal machine satisfactorily in the
interests of q party, even had he seen fit to
avail himself Of the aid Of strong party
Cabinet. Bat Grant has coolly rejected all
such sid. Excepting, perhaps, Boutwell,,
there is not q member Of his Cabinet that
is not an object either of hatred or con-
tempt TO the ruling spirits Of Radicalism.
Nor is the enmity Of the party leaders the
most serious misfortune which tho now
administration has incurred. The small
politicians ef every State and county fthe
North-.ke men NO bore the heat and
bdrdes Of the conflict in November, and
who feel conscious that by their money and
exsrtions the battle Was won, have swarmed
to Washington. only to get the cold shoulder
from the President they have helped to
,mlks, 'snd 70 see their own local "slate"
coltsmptnously thrust aside, and the spoils,
of Hhish they had well earned the disposal,
gissnRyay tapnrsOnsl favoritss, or to those
Who sotld claim kinship;7 more or less re-
mote, to the occupants Of the White House.
stang, and, mortified to the last degree.
these men have gone back to the oommuni-
Ties they control, with curses upon their
lips and wrath in their hearts. The local
elections will soon, begin to tell tho tale Of
their treatment and its resnlt. ....
Especially in the Northwest is the break
up Of the Republican organization surely
and swiftly progressing. Senator Trumbull
openly says thst tho mi.aOn, of that party is
5lftlsd. The Chicago Tribune, the gisnt
Of the Radical press in the West, denounces
Grant in unmeasured terms. and calls for
tho immediate formation of new party;
and the cry has been promptly caught up
and re- echoed in almost every Congressional
District Of the Northwest. In Washington,
it is already oopoeded that the Democrats
will control the next House Of Representa-
ti1es, beyond peradventure, besides largely
increasing their strength in the Senate;
and the shrewd Congressional hangers-on,
the party; rats who have hitherto olung so
tenaeiously to the timbers Of the Radical
craft, are getting ready to leave the sinking
ship. a 49,. =. t....il...!...
A party which is thus IN eztrtmis at the
North seeks with the desperation of despair
to gain q new lease of life at the South.
Conscious that without assistance it cannot
much longer delude the ignorant negro
masses on whose votes it. reli,s for support,
it is striving by moderate professions, fair
promises and the bribes of Office, to win
over enough of our people to give show of
responsibility and q hope of permanence to
its organization. The effort will fail. In
spite of the complete control which the
party has had of the State government,
there is not to-day, in the State of South
Carolina, corporal's guard Of respectable
white men who would not resent as an in
suit the imputation Of Radicalism. How
hopeless, then, must be every attempt,in the
future, to drum up decent recruits for
oanse, which is already admitted by its
great lights to be practically defunct!