The Daily state journal. [volume] (Alexandria, Va.) 1868-1874, 1872-08-06
General Dix ON the Presidency.

General DIX on the Presidency. ..
WEsTHAMPToN, July 81, 1872.
Dear Sir-Your letter of the 18th inst,
asking my aid to procure speaker for a
Greeley meeting at Hancock, was sent to
me while was in New England, and have
been unable until now to acknowledge its
reception. 81 E9 rsfEa #'s.lsa!sa
1 do not understand on what ground you
considered yourself authorized to address
such request to me. If you had been
familiar with the course of my public life,
and equally SO with Mr.. Greeley's, you
could not have supposed me capable of adj
vocating his election to the office of Presi-
dent of the United States without imputing
to me an utter abandonment of all political
principle. au u7s s-as sarsl arI
am opposed to Mr.. Greeley 3 81, So.
!. Because | believe him to be as Sun
stable as water" perpctually laundering
Ito carry out the Scriptural fgure) amid the
surges of opinion, and deficiant in all the
requisites essential to firm, steady, and
consistent administration of the govern
ment. ,,. 10000.
2. Because he has usually been found
among the most extreme ultraists on the
great questions of political and social duty,
which have been brought under public dis
cussion during the last quarter OF a century.
3. Because he has been the advocate
land in this instance persistently, y Of that
most unjust and unequal commercial sys-
tenn, which is destroying our mercantile
and shipping interests and heaping up cnor-
nous accumulations of wealth in the hands
of the protected classes to the oppression
and impoverishment of all others.
a. Because he is associated, in relations
more or less intimate, with some of the
chief piinderers Of the city of New York,
justly warranting the apprehension that
through his completely or his facie dspo-
sition, the same system of fraud and cor
ruption which has disgraced the municipal
government of this city may be carried to
more Infamous extremes in the admins
tration Of the Federal Government and
8. Because in the darkest hour of the
country's peril, when a traitorous conibina-
ton had been formed to overthrow the gov
eminent, he openly counselcd the cowaTdly
policy of non-resistance, and an acquies-
cence in the dissolution of the Union, when
ever the cotton States should make up their
minds to go. ~ I'D. .c.1 80, ...5 /,
3 The coalition, which has been formed to
promote his election, is one of the most ex-
traordinary in the history of parties, in re-
spect both to the discordant elements it
embraces, and the surrender of principles it
involves. &, .sa.4 s.g ss u -. .
The Cincinnati Convention, called to
bring before the people important measures
of reform, nominated him, greatly to the
surprise of the whole country, knowing
him, in regard to one of these measures, to
bean implicable opponent-nominated him,
too, against the wishes and judgment of the
chief promoter of the movement, who ac-
cepted him, either with an avowed or an
ill-concealed disgust, which would be far
more creditable to their feelings if the act
of acceptance were not utterly irreconcila-
BILE with their principles. Z
The Democratic Convention at Baltimore
endorsed and commended him to the sup
port Of their party-not as the exp onent of
any principles they have protested or any
measures they have advocated, but as a
known and bitter opponent of both--the
man who, perhaps, of all others, has been
the most malignant assalant of the Demo
crazy, impeaching its integrity, traducng
its motives, and vilifying its character.
The adoption of such man as their can
didate for the Chief Magistracy of the
Union is the most conspicuous abandon
ment of political principles known to party
contests. .r..
1t remains to be seen whether the great
body of the Democratic voters, and the true
friends of Reform, can be made parties to
this INSCRIPTIONS coalition between politi-
cal leaders. a4 a
takes his most sincere friends admit. But
If his errors had been four-lold more nu-
merous, he would, in my opinion, be a
much safer Chief Magistrate than Horace
Greeley. He has, in that capacity, done
much for which he deserves the thanks of
the country. Above all, he has kept it at
peace, notwithstanding the efforts Of SEN
sation journals and popularity-seeking
politicians to provoke hostiities with Spain
on the question of Cuba, and with Great
Britain on the Alabama claims and the
fisheries.
Hf,regardless of these titles to the approx
al of his fellow citizens, and of his invalua-
BILE services during the late civil war, they
should set him aside for Greeley if the
latter, mere erratic politician, untried in
any important public trust, should be ele-
waited to the Chief Magistracy Of the Union
"a Union which would not now exist if his
counsels had been followed-and if the man
who, of ali others, has done the most to
preserve it should be discarded for sue
cessor so i'll qualified and so unscrupulously
| nominated and sustained, the example
would be most deplorable in its influence on
all high motives to political action, and
justify the most painful forebodings as to
the future. ~ H -
am, respectfully yours,
ar nus .I.l JOHN A. DIX.
L Gn,.nannN Ean HancncIr NJ "