The New York herald., 1870-11-21
Tho Great Party Of tho Futurc-GeneraI
Grant md HIS Splendid Opportunities.

Il
We are on the verge of another change in
the issues and elements of our political parties
The late elections indicate it. The great revo-
luton which commenced with the active agita-
tons Of The slavery question forty years age
was completed in the fifteenth amendment
Throughout the Union the negro, who was
slave or an outlaw, is a citizen and voter
The million Of Union bayonets which effected
this change put down at the same time the
perncious fallacy of State sovereignty. The
old government, founded upon slavery and the
caste Of color, is gene, and a new government,
resting upon the basis of universal liberty and
equal rights, takes its place. The outside
democratic party has ceased at last to dght it,
and the battle is ended. The inside an the
outside party are adrift upon sea OF specula-
tions, and the question is, how will they come
out?
We are looking to General Grant for new
departure. Surely he cannot expect to stand
still when the progress OF modern events Is at
the rate of forty miles an hour. Ten years
ago NorIhera man found south OF the Ohio
river or the Susquehanna without his vouchers
as a friend of slavery, or that che is sound on
the goose" ran the risk at every village or
| cross-road grocery of q coat of tar and feath-
ers and a ride on rail. From this landmark
| OF negro slavery TO the Grafton Of an African
Senator from the seat of jeff Davis we have
gone through the work of revolution which
honest Abe Lincoln, in his annual essage TO
! Congress in 1862, proposed TO accomplish as
far as the abolition of slavery, by the year
1900. This work of century, then, of the
old stage coach epoch, has, in this new age Of
steam and lightning communications, been
done in ten years, in the change of our govern
ment from slavery to liberty, and from the
caste of kink and color to the common plat
form of civil and political equality. Nor ia
the work of progress are we alone. Within
four years Austria has advanced from the
cloist rs and cobwebs OF the Middle Ages to
the front rank of modern reforms; and Prus-
sia, in the great German Confederation, has
gained the position of arbiter OF Europe
which France, under the debaucheries of the
second empire, has lost. Within few months
the Pope and the city Of Rome have been re-
lieved of his temporal power, and the Eternal
City, as the capital of ''Young Italy," promises
to eclipse its splendors under Augustus. BY
the tremendous forces Of steam AID ghtning
in harness, free press and free thought, all
the world is advancing to liberty, equal rights
and popular institutions. In fact, since
Joshua commanded the "sun to stand still
upon Gibeon and the moon in the valley of
Aialon," and ''the sun stood still in the midst
Of heaven and hasted not to 60 down about a
whole day." there has been no suspension in
the movements of our solar system, and none
in the efforts Of mankind to better their con-
dtion. To these efforts, however, modern
| inventions and appliances have given
| momentum never dreamed Of even SO late as
4 fifty years ago; so that all nations feel the
pressure, all are moved by it, and the United
I States more powerfully than any other.
| Does General Grant, then, in the very front
of this universal forward movement Of the
nineteenth century, expect to stand still?
Does he think ho can rest upon his laurels ?
Glorious as is the work he has achieved,
does he think the American people sup
pose their work is finished with the Union
they have restored and the peace, liberty and
prosperity they have won? No. Does he,
then, suppose that retrenchment of expenses,
reduction Of taxes and the payment of the
national debt will suffice for the campaign of
1872? He seems to think 80. Here, then,
we must buttonhole him for moment, while
we talk to him from the experience of an old
han
the Presidential succession at your command,
and the great party Of the new dispensation
and of the future. The eleme nts of both our
great parties as they stand are only di vided
by side issues, smal+potato politicians and the
spoils. The floating materials from both these
parties are increasing, and the republican
party wants some new idea for another for
ward march. So far it has been the aggres-
sive party in its great ideas, and 1t must still
be aggressive, or it will be displaced. Your
| conservative party may do as temporary
makeshift, but in a great battle against a pro-
gressive idea it is always failure.
The old federal party, developed under
| John Adams, was a conservative party; and
we need not repeat its short career against
the aggressive radical republican party Of JEFF
ferson. This Jeffersonian republican party
having finished it's appointed mission, and
having no new ideas to fight for. was broken
up and dispersed in 1924. Thus John Quincy
| Adams became President; but what did his
excellent administration avail him against
| General Jackson and his cotton bag victory
! of New Orleans? Those cotton bags, how
ever, were pretty well used up in 1928, and
Jackson's second election was mainly due to
his war against ''Nick Biddle and bis National
Bank monster" Van Buren came in under
the wing Of Jackson, but, owing to the financial
revolution of 1887, he went out in the next
election in popular wbirlwind, to the songs