The weekly Ottumwa courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1857-1872, 1872-02-22
oTTUMWA COUNTY THURSDAY FEBRUARY
oo6vsNTIoN o. ooNsrrRAcY !,

CONVENTION on ooNsPlRAcY !
From the Chicago Evening Journal.
The question Of question: among
the politicians is appointed for
definite settlement on tho 9th day
Of next June. Public and pri.
vate discussion Of candidates and
policies will have full swing for four
months, and then an expression will
be made Of the popular Judgment
within the lines OF the Republican
party. That judgment will be de-
cisivs Of good many things fiercely
i agitated just now in political circles,
and the good sense Of the country is
not likely TO regret that such decis-
ios caa be put - q bar TO ambitious
squabbling.
II is undoubtedly laudable ambi-
tion in some SCORE or two Of our ma
tionAl leaders, TO be President once
or twice. Probably i hundred ecore
Of truly able men outside OF politics
might honorably Oh erish the same
ambision. But, unfortunately, We
want but ono st . time, and want
that one four years At once, and
sometimes second four years. 1t
10 quito impraoticable, therefore, TO
make tho Presidency . reward Of
merit. The great mon take that
view Of It,; there has been time ia
tho paetwhen the nation allowedthat
view TO have weight bnt now and
henceforth the people are quite be-
yond giving the least weight 10 con
alterations Of that sort. They want
tho country we'll governed they do
not care copper whether political
or other greatness gets supreme Of
doe - Q reward Of merit. The
weightiest interests of government
are st stake with every national
election, and personal interests
whatever they may be, are of no &C
count Whatever in comparison. No
General, Senator, Governor, Repres
tative, or other public men, can es.
tablish, BY any services whstever,
any claim worthy to be considered
for moment, to the neglect Of the
supreme question how to make sure of
government BY good Law we'll ad-
ministsred.
An enemy lies in wait to surprise
the places Of law and order, not only
in sections where lately rebellion
wasrAmpant, but whsfessf men d.
vide ct The poilss R6s years 70 epme
there can be no question ct Ill in
portant compared with the question
how TO surely circumvent this enc
my. Politicians may forget this !;
even statesmen may fail TO give it
due pre-eminence; but the people,
who furnish the blood and treasure
to the veins of the nation, neither
tail nor forget. Whoever would
have the people with him must recur
to this problem Of loyalty, this
grand resolution, that justice shall
stand here, secure ss the untains,
broad and open - the plains, of the
continent.
Personal or public virtues will not
suffice any candidate apart from his
|strsngth- representative OF law
and Urdvr. Thu wiedom ef Frsuk-
lin freshly spilled BY Mr.. Greeley is
of no account If Mr.. Greeley is at
ell inferior as . representative of dis |
Greet and decided loyalty The
philanthropy of Sumner can have no
weight if Sumner is not both sure
aud strong % . candidate of the
loyal masses.
Geographical claims, proper as |
they are in themselves, cease to Le |
claims if they do not exactly concur
with the national judgment as to
the best man or the best men to lead
the national sti iuggle for existence.
Tho nation has become too conscious |
OF unity under the burden of one
desperate necessity, 10 stop to con.
slider the LEGAL claims against nation
al. If the smallest hamlet of Rhode
Island can furnish the best names to
the ticket of the party Of national
security, the people will accept those
names. All such questions, In fact,
are ohildren's play in the presence
Of exigencies such as recent years
have created, and years yet TO come
must meet.
It 10 this deep and lasting fact
which makes utterly idle the divers
conspiracies to gobbie up the Presi-
dency in the interest Of some clique
Of discontented politicians, or some
cabal Of ambitious demagogues.-I
There is no man 10 the country who |
can hope to win even . single point |
in that game. No set Of men are
equal 10 that trick. Mr.. Schurz may
talk ~ though be were the better |
half of q German Empire ho will
6nd that this nation has some time
since learned TO go alone. Mr.. Sum-
ner may invoke the august dignit,es
of rhetorical philanthropy, the maj
esty of ponderous political. sermon.
ising, but will be like any other mo-
body in this matter, If he docs not
stand with the people aud for the
people, to secure, not the whims Of
= vain theorist, but the simple aims
of good law we'll administered.
Schurs is = very smart man, and
sumner . very great preacher-at
least these things are 80 set down in
the record-but tho two together
will not weigh . feather when the
real issue shall DO made mp. The
hole into which Mcclellan and
Chase went, has ample room for
them too, if they are ambitious of
political extinction; and NO tears
will be shed at their burial. We are
past whimpering about lost leaders
We are people quite able to do with.
ont leaders, or TO make them Sad
nothing 10 moro certain than that
men of rank and repute, who pre-.
sumo 10 the slightest degree upon
their personal dignity and authority
70 turn the people from the simplici-
i ty OF loyalty, will find themselves
totally without influence. The tricks
Of testy dignity, German or Ameri-
can, engage public talk without at.
fectiDg public action. 1t matters far
less TO the people what Mr.. Schurz
and Mr.. Sumner will do, than it does
to those gentlemen themselves.
TheJ have each vote apiece they
can Disgrace themselves with it il
they choose.
AZ n