Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1872-06-25

of peaceable, aw-abiding citizens, many of whom
were condemned to lifelong imprisonment and
the ignominy of the felons CELL e5r.a cTsa1 78l
! But the most faithful commentary upon
President Grant and his administration will be
found in the constitutions of the newly created
Governments, and IN the general condition of
the Southern States South Carolina with her
Legislature of ankee carpet baggers and wild
Africans is striking case In point. She has
passed through baptism of blood and debt,
which will drip from her garments a hundred
years to come. The whites have fed from her
borders as from before p3stilence; her fertile
and productive fields have been left dcsolate
and bare, and her once we-stored granaries
are becoming receptacles for bats, owls and the
wild beasts Of the forest. ,-e.
The condition of Georgia and Louisiana is
scarcely degree better, and indeed all of the
States South have been plundered, robbed and
oppressed 10 manner so shameful and afro
cious, as to render it questionable whether the
barbarian vandalism of ancient times is not to
| be preferred to the refnements of modern
| cruelty and torture, as practised under the au-
thority of the American Government.
| President Grant gave his countenance and
support to Congress in all of their revolutionary
proceedings, and executed without protest, ev-
cry law they enacted to degrade, plunder and
| oppress the down-trodden people of the South.
| He is guilty in the sight of God and man, and
the Southern people should unite In solid pha-
lanx to hurl him from power and consign him
to that oblivion which he so justly merits,
How to accomplish this end is now the great
| problem which agitates the public mind, and
no satisfactory solution can be obtained until
passion and prejudice are laid aside, and all the
elements of opposition are willing to join heart
and hand in common effort to save the life of
the nation.
This opportunity is now offered the American
people, Ulysses the gift -taker, is shadow of
darkness compared with which, Horace Greeley
is an angel Of light The drummer who drums
for an army may be as od-thirsty and wick
ed as the General who leads it into battle, but
repentant drummer is better than an unre-
pentant General who wages war upon defence
less people after they have laid down their arms
and accepted in good faith the terms of surren-
der and peace.
| Horace Greeley has spoken kind words of the
| people of the South since the war. Horace
Greeley labored to obtain the release of Jeffer-
is affixed to the bail bond of the Southern Chief
Horace Greeley has heart of flesh in his bo-
som which responds to every chord of human
sympathy. He was once our enemy, but his
utterances were always open, bold and manly
He was always opposed to the doctrine OF seces-
sion and to the Institution of African slavery.
The principles which he labored to establish
are now The accepted results of the war. Seces-
sion and slavery are dead issues. which belong
to the past. The wall of partition which Sc
parate us from Horace Greeley is leveled to the
ground and over its ruins he extends the right
hand OF fellowship and peace, and says brathren
OF the South, Il hope to s5e the day when all
citisens Of the Union, North as well as South,
will ieel an equal pride in the military genius
aud renown of Robt. e. Lee, -and Stonewall
| jackson" Horace Greeley is the advocate of
universal amnesty, aud pledged to platform
of principles acceptable in the main to the whole
| American people He is man of stern integri-
ty and rreproachable private character, and i'm
neasurably superior TO Grant in all the essential
elements of manhood
1t is the boast Of the Grant administration
that the national debt has been reduced. Sena-
tor Sumner, 10 recent speeob delivered in the
u. 5 Senate, said, ''the national debt has been
| reduced, but not by so large an amount as by
Andrew johnson. in the same space of time
The statistics show that between three and four
billions of dollars in the way of taxes wrung
from the people, have been paid into the Treas
ury since the war, an amount almost sufficient
to liquldate the public debt, and yet that debt
has only been reduced few millions and the
country is still groaning under the burden of
taxation The Grant administration have been
VIGOROUSLY txtravagant and corrupt, and it is
not difficult to account f0r the disposition of the
public funds.
In the address of the Liberal Republicans at
Cincinnati it Is charged upon the President that
'he has openly abused the powers and opportu-
mites of his high office for the promotion of
personal ends; that he has kept notoriously
corrupt and unworthy men in places of power
and responsibility to the deriment Of the pub
lie interest that be has used the public service
OF the Government as a machinery of partisan
and personal influence and interfered with
tyYannical arrogance In the political affairs of
States and municipalities; that he has reward
ed with influential and lucrative Offices men
who had acquired his favor by valuable pre-
seDts, thus stimulating decentralization of our
political life by bis conspicuous example: that
he has shown himself deplorably unequal to the
tasks imposed upon him by the necessities of
the country and culpably careless of the respon-
sibilities of high office.
such is the indictment preferred against
President Grant by the men who elevated him
to power, nor is there count in the Indictment
which cannot be sustained by the most over
whelming and crushing array Of evidence. The
only logical deduction which can be drawn from
these charges is this, viz: General Grant is
ignorant, selfish, ambitious, corrupt, stubborn,
and dangerous and to entrust power into his
hands is to compromise the peace and happi-
ness. and imperil the liberties OF the American
people.
Under these circumstances | shall, as citi-
zen OF Virginia, make every honorable effort in
my power TO secure the defeat of President
Grant. / believe that in the Providence of God,
! Horace Greeley is the instrument placed In our
hands with which to accomplish The work. 1.-THE
Baltimore Convention endorses his nomination.
his election may be regarded as ioregone con-
clusioD. If the Baltimore Convention fails to
endorse his nomination and puts forward a
straight out and out democratic ticket, Grant
will be re- elected, and We must run the fiery
gauntlet OF another four years administration
OF radical mlsrule and oppression
should rejoice above all things to see our
government once more under control of the
democratic party. But at this time the eleya-
ton OF democrat to the Presidency signifies
anything else than democratic administration.
The Radicals are still in the ascendant In beth
houses OF Congress, and it is but reasonable to
suppose that the election of a democrat would
revive all the bitter memories and fierce snimos-
tiles OF the past, and unite them in a common
crusade against the new administration. In
this event the President would be as powerless
for good as was Andrew johnson after the close
of the war.
But if Horace Greeley should be accepted by
the Baltimore Convention, then both the Demo-
Gratis and Liberal Republicans would unite 10
cordial support of the Administration, radical
ism would be annihilated, and the blessings of
peace and prosperity would once more be re-
stored to the land. -
t. uia &C - Il.