Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1868-1875, 1870-12-09
THE PERIL or THE RADICAL,
PATErEvW

THE PERIL OF THE RADICAL
PAHTY.
Disguise it as they may, the Radicals
feel great deal of uneasiness as to the
situation of their party. The fall cleo
tons have developed weakness in the
Grant administration for which they seen
not to have been prepared. The Harris
burg pa State journal, after claim.
Jog for the Grant administration an ex.
traordinary amount of credit, proceeds tC
say:
with such record for the Republi
can administration, it seems anomalous tc
record Democratic triumphs such as the
elections of 1870 have given US. Two
thirds of the Republican majority in Con
gress is lost, and enough of the States
which voted fer Grant in 1868, to change
the Electoral College to a Democratic
majority, have apparently condemned the
President 1t Is idle to impute these dis
asters to local causes. The immediate
issues may have been more or less Local
IN their character, but if the administra.
ton was as strong as it should be, and,
as from its public record, it deserves to
be, local causes could not disintegrate the
friends of the President and reverse Con.
gressional districts by platoons, and
States in every section of the Union.
The sycophants, who ever swarm around
power, are ever ready TO explain that de
feat means victory; but the independent
Republican press and the independent
statesmen accept the plain teachings ei
stubborn results, and seek for the evi
and the remedy. o
"Thatthe Republican party is wanting i
harmony of organization and unity OF
purpose to an alarming degree, is a trutl
too palpable not to be appreciated by the
administration and its sincere friends
Such journals as the New York Post and
Commercial advertiser, the Cincinnati
Gazette and Commercial, the Philadel
phia Inquirer and Telegraph, the Pitts
burg Commercial, the Chicago Tribune
and Republican, the st. Louis Dem
Ocr1t, and scores of other able Repub
lican papers of lesser note, have criticized
the policy of the President with great
rigor, and clearly foreshadowed the dis
comfture the party has suffered. A
number of the leading statesmen who
supported the election of President Grant
have taken issue with him on vital ques-
tons of political policy. Senators Sum-
ncr and Ferry, of New England; Fenton,
of New York; Trumbull, Carpenter, and
Schurz, of the West and others less con,
spicuOus in the first council of the nation
have not concealed their disapproval OF
admin trstion measures, and given the
moral force of their great names to widen
and deepen the discord that now prevails
in the ranks of the administration party.
On all sides the perils seem 10 be re-
cognized. Butler, the special champion
of the administration in the House, comes
before the country with confession that
the great purposes of the Republican
party have been accomplished, and de
mand that it shall descend to mere politi-
cal expedients, without regard 10 past
achievements, and make causeless war, if
necessary, to carry popular elections; and
the mOusiDg politicians, who have been
flung into place by accident, or even less
creiitsbly, crowd the halls Of the White
House and demand public plumber as the
price of Republican success. 1t were
needless to say that both arc unprinciplcd,
and the worst foes of the Republican or
gsnizstion. Buffers war policy would
consign the party to dishonored tomb. y
The State Journal confesscs that the
non ofice-hunting leaders Of the Radical
party shave been but little known, and
less felt in the Cogusels which dictated
the political policy ofthe administration. "
The Philadelphia Telegraph (RadicaD
declares: "Tbesc meH are not the conf
daUts and councillors of the adminisira-
ton, and the people distrust the Govern
ment that practically rejects them. 1t is
not from such men that the Republican
patty received its crushing load of politi-
cal tlunders during the last session. They
I'D not disgust and kumiliate the people
10y continuing the inquisItorial income tax
in order to crafty the lobby by relieving
gross receipts of taxation. They didnot in
vent ST. Domingo jobs to mislesd the
President and involve him in disrepute.
They do not advise that the industry of
the country be paralyzcd 70 give US the
idle boast of reducing the public debt be
yond the necessities of the public credit,
and they do not bargain their votes for
lucrc or patronage" According 10 these
Radical authorities, il is the very opposite
character of men who have influence
with Grant. The Telegraph cordially
confesscs that ''the time has come when
the Republican party must be restored to
the confidence of the people, or it must
accept a rapid decline and fall