Wilmington journal. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1844-1895, 1871-08-18

THE RADICAL PARTY REPUDIATED.
Letter from HON. Henry b. stanton Co a.
Leading RadicaI--ReaaOns for Abandon
Ing the Grant Party.
New YORK, July %, 1871,
DEAR SIR In your recent letter you ask
me If was the author of the numbers in
the Albany Argus, signed ga Republican
from the Start" which you read as they
came out. L was, and they express my
settled convictions; and am glad that you
In the main concur in them. You ask,
"What of the future ?" and tell me that
you agree with Mr.. Greeley about Grant
aud one term. So do I. Greeley is right;
and he himself would run better than
General Grant, especially in the South
where the Republican party is liable to go
all to pieces if Grant is rePominated.
Nevertheless, I think he will be. What
tuen A large body of Republicans will
relu.e TO support him if the Democracy
a It wisely. Wbas will you and 1 then do
we, who have acted together for nearly
twenty-five years =? snail not regret the
sdcaess of a Democrat next year, provided
ne1s sound. firm, and Trustworthy on The
new departure; and for these reasons, in
brief
1. 1 support Gen. Grant solely to finish
up reconstruction by the ratification of
the fifteenth amendment. This done, I
was done with him. Nearly my whole &C
ttce life has been devoted to establishing
the anti-siavery principles now engrafted
upon the Constitution. The victory being
woD, l have no taste for securing the field
to ride the slain. The slavery controversy
is ended. and the Republicans will lind that
they cannot construct a Presidential plat
form out Of the debris of q demolished re-
belllon, nor elevate the negroes into IN
done prominence on the points of Federal
bayone s.
=. l want the South to acquiesce in the
Cons Tuition as it is, and b. at peace
This we shall not see until we have Demo
cratic administration which accepts and
will enforce the three amendments. Then
the Southern matcontents will give up
their light and limit to the situation,
3. You and I We're Democrats of tue
Benton and Wright School. During the
rebellion the administration went outside
o. t4e Constitution to suppress it. La the
Re construction era of Congress kept out
side about half the time. There is no ex-
cuse for remaining outside now. But,
having tasted of unlicensed power, the ap-
petite of the Republican leaders grows by
what it feeLs upon. Right there lies the
d niger. Under the resent regime the
OF0 I1LdSuI Is 1dpe1uB IuGO d COuSOIIudt1OQ
and unless We hasten back WI hin the con-
sItututlOnal limits traced by the fathers,
our desceLdants will grunge at the foot
STOOL of dictator. l, therefore. should
not object to the election in 1872 Of a
State flights Democrat of the moderate
Iype of our old friend Sllas Wright
4. You tell me you want to see carpet
bag rule at an end. You are right. II is
a mockery Of representative government,
and is running tbs South, which it has in
volved in debt foil one hundred millions.
You AGO favor universal amnesty. But do
you not fear that We cannot secure either
of these ends while Grant or any President
like him is IN power
5. We both agree much more closely
viii the mass of Democrats than with the
Republican managers on questions of
dnauce, taxation, trade, &c. The old is
sues being out of the arena, this alone
would have waight IN determining nv
preference for Democrat. Would it not
yours =?
Now, you ask me, will tho Democratic
party present the right sort of a candidate.
Ii they do, l believe he can DE elected
But will they General Grant received
popular majority IN 1868 of about three
hundred thousand, Ii he is renomiuated,
aud If the Democracy place a worthy can
dIdate on the progressive platform, do you
not believe that sufficient number of
those who supported Grant in 1868 will
fall away to defeat him certainly think
so. The Republican party was a coalition
in its origin. The exigency which bound
together homogeneous elements having dis
appeared, the edges of the coalition will
crumble away. Where the fragments will
go, depends upon the new course of the
Democrats The result Of the coming con-
test is in the hands of these Republican
fragments. Personally, I have nothing
against General Grant. He has done all
voted for him to do, and something more;
and. like Mr.. Greeley, am satisfied. The
defea'ed party in the next Presidential
campaign will go to pieces. What party
Will it be T? At all events, I trust that you
and Will then, as in the past, be found
ifs htlng shoulder to shoulder.
Very truly yours,
Fl. B. STANTON.