The Jeffersonian. [volume] (Stroudsburg, Pa.) 1853-1911, 1872-05-16
MONTGOMERY BLAIR ON THE SITUA
TION.

|
The appended from the Hon. Montgo-
merry Blair has been made public
WASHINGTON, May I, 1872.
My DEAR GENERAL: | have yours Of
the 4th. We will have to take Greeley
or Grant, and we will take Greeley-re
luctantly, of course, but not the less Ger,
tainly. And he will be the more certain
of election because the Democrats do not
wish to embrace him at first. AS for
| their running candidate OF their own
that would both be disastrous and dis
graceful. They all gave in their adhesion
to the Cincinnati Convention, and the
most obstreperous of Greeley's opponents
had their candidates before that Conven
TONY oorhees, for example, was loud in
his advocacy Of Judge Davis, and The
World was earnest in pressing Adams.
Now, there certainly can be no greater
departure from principle in supporting
Greeley than there would be in support
ing Davis or Adams, or any other radi
cal. There can be, in fact, no motive as
sigued for the support Of these men and
the refusal to support either of the others
but mere personal preference. This is
not craftsmanship. 1t is mere caprice, il
not something worse, which no man can
indul ge in without the loss of public con
fidence. For my own part * + go
for the movement initiated at Cincinnati
to arrest the further progress of Radi-
calism. 1t is the only practical way of
arrestiDg it. As for running ia straight
Democratic ticket between Greeley and
Grant, that is dodge that will not be
allowed to succeed. That can be done
only in the small field of local politics,
where the contest between rival aspirants
is personal, and has become embittered.
But the contest between the Republican
and Democratic parties has always been
a sectional contest, one party represent.
ing the North and the other the South
and while the contest retains that charac
ter the Republican success is assured by
the census. 1t is only by dividing the
more numerous North and allying itself
with the more liberal division that the
Democracy, representing the South, can
hope for the recovery of the right of self
Government for its section. The mo
ment that the Democracy shall set up for
itself, the North will close its ranks again
and the only effect would be to sacrifice
the leaders in the Liberal party who had
attempted to help US. This would dis.
grace US and SO help to defeat us, not on
~ now but hereafter. OF course there
will be some honest Democrats who will
not regard the subject in this light, and
who will prefer to stand by their guns,
DC. But the noisiest fellows will be those
who are in the pay of the Administra
ton. Chandler said recently Ct learn on
good authority that there would be a
straight Democratic ticket, and that he
would give S25, 1000 himself to start it
There are good many Democrats of the
Tweed order ready to take his money and
help to keep the statu quo, which is pro
htable to them fellows who understand
manipulating claims quietly, and the Ad
mlnistration has the public purse at it's
disposal and understands them, and how
to make the most of them. There were
over 100 office holders, all of them Grants
emssaries, in Cincinnati working for
Adams. They were nearly all from Wash
Inston. 1 can furnish the names of about
50 of them. The strategy of Grants
friends were to secure for him the Irish
vote by putting Adams on US, and so com
pensate for the loss of the Liberal Repub.
liean vote, but he was folied, and they are
furious. The great majority Of
Adams supporters did not understand il.
But the public mind is now thoroughly
aroused, aud when this is the case the
power of purchasable individuals and ofI
the venal press is inconsiderable.