The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1870-12-23

If such advice as he gave the Vice-President
is needed, the President is too evidently
unfit to be at the helm; and as he is man,
with at least the average sensibility to affront
and capacity for resentment, he can never
forgive Sumner for this pitiless onslaught.
So the breach widens between President
Grant and the leading statesmen of his party.
Is THE REPUBLICAN PARTY TO BREAK
UP?
From the N. Y. Sun.
Wide differences of opinion prevail in the
Republican party on cardinal measures,
namely, general amnesty, the repeal of the
income tax, a reduction of customs duties,
and the purchase of San Domingo; and these
particular questions stand as the representa-
tives of others of the same class and of cog
nate Glasses on which like differences exist
Among those who dissent from the policy of
General Grant on these sub bjects, SO far as he
can be said to have policy, are some of the
most distinguished members of the party,
of whom Senators Trumbull, Sumner and
Schurz are samples. And the debates in
both branches of Congress show that these
differences of opinion are of SO radical aud
irreconcilable a character that they cannot be
bridged over by temporary expedients.
What does all this mean, and what does it
portend? The record, standing, and charac-
ter of the men who take this independent
surance that they are in earnest, and intend
either to compel it to come back to the old
Republican ground, or to go into the mino-
rity in the country at large, and that by per-
sisting General Grant must run the risk of
breaking the Republican party in pieces.
Shall the party then be ruined or will it
make an effort worthy of the exigency to
save itself from destruction? There is not
a shadow of doubt that the leaders in this
80 - 30. tba~ l.
the great body of the rank and file who SYM
pathize with them, are hostile to his renomi-
nation for the Presidency. If, then, those
Republicans who care more for principles
than men, and who sincerely desire the har-
mony and continued supremacy of the party,
would open door for obliterating diff erences
of opinion in its ranks, let them insist that
there be an authoritative declaration from
the proper quarter to the effect that under
no circumstances is General Grant to be a
candidate for reelection. This stumbling
block removed, and the path is clear for a
reunion among Republicans on matters about
which they are now at war. If this is not
done, the breach will widen, and the party
fall prey to its antagonists in the contest of
1872. Shall Grant or the Republican party
go under? That is the question.
AN INDEPENDENT PHILADELPHIA
SCHEME.
From the N. Y. Herald.
Philadelphia, it appears, has resolved to
! establish an American line of steamers to
Liverpool and the wseheads and capitalists
of the coal and iron State have combined
upon this question. A railroad company is
at the head of the movement, and the basis
of success, it seems, is placed upon the capa-
city of the railroads to bring produce from
the West at lower freights than the New York
railroads are doing. Now, this is a question
of competition between the railroads of the
two States, and they will have good deal to
say to the success of the new transatlan-
tic line. That New York has no American
line of steamers running from this port to
Europe is a deplorable fact. 1t is more than
this-it is a reproach to our spirit of enter
prise. If Philadelphia is fortunate enough to
establish paying line, so much the better.
However, the scheme seems to be at present
to certain extent inchoate. No company
has been organized, but at the same time
there seems to be considerable capital rea-
lized by subscription. The Pennsylvania
Railroad Company who are the controlling
spirits, subscribed four hundred thousand
dollars, and the Board of Trade contributed
ON behalf of the merchants of the city halt
million dollars. 1t is proposed to build
four iron steamers of two thousand eight
hundred tons, two of them to be con-
structed at Wilmington and two on the
Delaware somewhere contiguous to Phila-
delphia.
All this looks as if our provincial neigh
bors meant something practical. The funny
part of it is that the projectors of the scheme
are SO determined that it shall be Philadel
phia enterprise pure and simple that they
have resolved that the village of New Yorl
shall have no hand in it. New Workers, we
presume, cannot even buy stock in the com
pany when the company is formed; yet it is
not at all unlikely that New York capital vii
take hand in, and a pretty full one, too
if the enterprise carries any color of success
about it.
1t is an excellent thing to see the prospect
of an American line of steamships, built il
our own ports and carrying our own flag
sailing once again upon the Atlantic. If this
enterprise succeeds the whole country may
we'll be proud of it. But what has New Yorl
to say in the matter Is she going to play
the laggard forever?
!