Worcester daily spy. [volume] (Worcester [Mass.]) 1850-1888, 1872-08-17
SwAnrscorr. AUGUST Q. 1872.

SwAMPsCOTT, August 3, 1872.
Gentlemen: You ask me TO address you on
| the questions involved in the canvass between
| President Grant and Mr.. Greeley. | thank you
| for the confidence implied in your request.
Among You | see many who have been workers
with me in the anti-slayery cause for years.
My residence here makes it inconvenient for
me to attend public meeting in Boston; and
| indeed think | can state my views more salts
| factorly in a letter than in a public address, II
| you please, therefore, / will communicate with
| you in this way, rather than in the one you sug-
| geSt.
| OF course the first thought that occurs to YOU
and me Just now is, that one of our best, ablest
| and most watchful friends, Mr. Senator SUMNER
| advises You to vote for Horace Greeley, and ne
| lieveS that youl rights will be safe only in ms
| keeping. touch with reyerent hand every
/ thing from MIR. Sumner can never forget ms
| measureless services to the ant-slayery cause,
| and to your race. Whenever read ms words
| | read them overshadOwed by tue memory OF ms
| early and entire conservation to tue service OF
| impartial liberty-Of that zeal wien has never
| fiagged-that watchlulnesS winch has seldom
| been deceived-ol that devotion which has 50
| rarely Shrunk from any Sacrlhce-Wllch no OPP
| position could tire and no danger appal From
| such a counsellor venture to differ with great
| reluctance and only after mature deliberatiOn.
| | should hesitate to publish my dissent if were
| not sure that was right, and that he was wrong
| that the occasion was very important, and
| his mistake one which leads to fatal results.
| My Judgment is the exact opposite of Mr.,
Summers. | think every loyal man, and espe-
| calv every cOlored man, should vote for Gen.
| Grant, and that the nation and your race are
safe only in the hands of the old, regular repuD
lican party
Some may ask how come to think thus, when
| was one OF the few loyal men who
| protested, in 1868, against Grants nomina-
alton, and seeing that | have so often affirmed
that the republican party had outlived its use
| fitness.
MGentlemen, the rcasonsIwhich leadime to my
| present opinion, in spite of my former views,
ought to give my opinion more weight with you.
| | am forced cy late developments to my present
| position.
You remember that in 1868 emphatically de-
| MED Gen. Grants fitness for the presidency.
| Derided by the republican press went from
| city to city protesting against his election. In
private, with Mr.. Sumner and others, argued
long and earnestly against the risk of putting
such man into such an office. At that time
they saw only his great merits and supported
him heartily. The defects of his administration
are no surprise to me. | may say, without
boasting, that prophesed those defects. | do
not wish TO hide them to-day. | entirely agree
| with Mr.. Sumner as to the grave fault and in
| tolerable insOence of the administration in the
/ San Domingo matter. think the frequent put
ting of relatives into office highly Objectionable,
and the sad career of Webster is warning enough
against any man in public life Yenturing to ac-
| cept gifts from living men. These and other de-
| fects are no surprise to me. The eminent merits
| OF Gen. Grants administration are, confess, a
surprise TO me.
His truly original statesmanlike and Christian
policy toward the Indians is admirable, and,
standing alone, is enough to mark him Il states
man, His patience amid innumerable difficult
ties in our foreign relations is wonderful in one
bred a soldier. The aid the administration has
| given to the industrial and financial prosperity
of thp a GREAT merit. General Grant :
prompt interference for justice to workingmen
in defiance of those about him, relative TO the
execution Of the eight hour law, shall always
remember. The crime of the republican party
| in tOerating the kukluX is fragrant. But the
president and his immediate friends deserve our
gratitude for their efforts and success in that
| matter. His services to the fifteenth amend
| ment shall never forget. When some, even OF
| the foremost abOltlOniStS, doubted and were
| ukewarm, | wrote to Senator Wilson asking
| him to urge Gen. Grant to put three lines into
his first message, commencing that measure 10
| congress and the country. The answer came
| back, 'You are TO late. Gen. Grants mes
sage was finished before your note arrived;
| and the recommendation you wish IS Ia IT," 1t
| still remains Iamentably true that the colored
man has no full recognition at the north and no
| adequate protection in the south-shame to the
| administration and TO the republican party
| But their friends may fairly claim that during
the last three years the negro has steadily
gained in the safe exercise and quiet enjoyment
| of his rights.
know the defects of Gen. Grants admins
| tration as well as any man. ! think, distrustful
| as was of him, am able to see the good SER
vice he has unexpectedly rendered the nation.
But no matter for those defects. At the most
| they are not fatal; and events have lifted Presi-
/ dent Grant into being to-day the symbol and
| representative Of loyalty. The conspiracy be-
4 tween southern secessionsts and northern cop
| perheadS-ofwhich, very naturally, Mr.. Greeley
| is the tool, and, unfortunately, Mr.. Sumner is
| the indorseT and, | think, the dupe-leavcs room
| but Tor two parties those who are for the nation
and those who are against it. | bate no jot OF
| my brotherly regard and sincere esteem for Mr.
| Sumner i'll thus holding him deceived. The en-.
tire faith | have in his honesty of purpose
| obligeS me to think him duped. The only won
| der is how this is possible when the south is so
insoent and shameless in proclaming her in
tentiOnS. The south has long seen her mistake
and often confessed it. The Tribune itself makes
tins statement as late as June, 1871. That mis-
take was to contend for her ideas with mUSketS
and outside the Union, leaving us the govern
ment and taking herself the part of Il rebel She
has often announced-in the last instance by the
| lips of Jefferson Dayis-that the cause was moi
| lost, and must be won by getting possession o.
the government and leaving us in lthe opposi
ton. Such is the present plot That Mr. Gree
| ley sees it would never prevent his aiding il
| That MIR. Sumner does not see il is TO me matter
| Of profound aStOnishment. At such a moment
| the regular republican party becomes again the
accepted and only instrument of resistance, anc
Grant represents loyalty as Lincoln did in 1861
| | do not care for his defects, were they ten time
greater. Chatham and Junus rightiuly forgo
| even the intamy of Wilkes when he stood TIN
| representative and symbol OF the rights of
| British subject. Even il | accepted Mr. Sumner
portrait of President Grant-which in SOM
sense is true, but in no senseis the whole truth
| should still vote for him against rebellion a
| the ballot hoy n which 1iSlpValtV giype al FLA
strength and childish credulity all the character
To stop now for criticism of such faults a
those of Gen. Grant is like blaming man
awkwardncss when he Is defending you agains
an assassin.
| In proof that the conspiracy charge is rca
and no fiction, | need not cite Jefferson Davis
| late speech, or the confession of Mr.. Greeley
adherents. Every impartial man who comes tC
us from the south bears witness that the mas
| of southern whites are wholly unchanged il
opinion aud ready for another revolt wheneYe
the way opens. The widespread organization o
| the kukluX shows the same thing. That organ
ization existed only because public opinion
there cheered it on, and in suppresSing it on
government had no little of help from tn
former rebels. All this was TO be expected. !
would be contrary to history and eXperenc
were it otherwise. To put the slightest faith il
the protestatious of copperheads and secession
isis, made only to get office, is building on
| quiCksand. With the exception of MIR. Sumner
no leading liberal republican does really pu
any faith in those protestatOns. Theirs is no
Il case of deusion. They are hypOcrites, no
dupes They know well the plot, and for III
sake of Office are willing TO help il and risk th
consequences. They know that Mr.. Greeley
election means the negro surrendered to tn
| hate OF the southern states, with no interference
from the nation in its behalf; that it means tn
constitutional amendments iieutralized by
cOpperhead congress, our debt tempered with
and our bonds falling twenty per cent in ever
market. The democratic millionaire who
willing TO risk this has already "hedged." II
| holds millions OF confederate bonds, and is plot
ting TO make on them more than enough 70 pa
four times over for all he loses on the natiOna
securities, and then safely laugh at the sma
bondhoders he has duped.
Observe that | count as Mr.. Grceley's allie
only the copperheads Of the democratic party
II is loose talk to say he has joined the demo
Gratis Such a statement is an insult 20 til
democracy. The exact truth is, he has joine,
the copperbead wing of the demOcracy-it
worst element. They are his reliance.
know some honest war democrats wish Il
change their base and accept heartily the re
result Of the war. All honor 10 them. Blu
their place is not with Greeley, but with Grant
They fought at his side; there they should stant
to-day. ! know il Is hard 10 confess mistakes
but practice what preach.
II Gen. Grant is set aside, who is offered us il
his place? Horace Greeley. | need not tel
you, my friends, what Horace Greeley is. W.
aboltioniJts knew him only too well in the
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