New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1872-06-29
THE CAMPAIGN or PEACE.

In these days we hear a great deal about
coalitions and bargains and compromises, the
object of which is to make one man Presl-
dent, and other men officers of the Govern
ment. There are public men and journals
who are so far unable TO emancipate them
selves from the dominion of old and implaca-
bic prejudice that they can see nothing else
in the Reform movement but a scheme on the
part Of certain politicians to elect Mr.. Greeley
and to get places for themselves. They see
the evils under which the country is suffering.
They know that the Civil Service is full of
corruption and incapacity. They recognize the
cruel injustice with which the Administration
is treating the South in its efforts to rise from
the ruin wrought by the war, and
to resume once more the pursuits of peace.
They know how ignorant and regardless of the
claims of law the President is, and how the
corrupt and self-seekng men who control
him use both the Executive and Legislative
power as a means of their own advancement
and retention in place. But while they admit
the truth of all these statements, they find it
impossible to rise above the prejudices and
hostilities of former years. and conclude by
saying that, though Grant is insufferable, they
cannot vote for Greeley; and reasoning from
their own prejudices, it is impossible for them
to conceive that the Democratic support of
the Cincinnati ticket is a genuine and spon-
taneous thing. Not understanding it, they find
it easiest to denounce it as a corrupt bargain,
an interested coalition.
This is simply because, looking at petty de-
tails, these veterans have lost sight of great
general movements. They only see that Mr..
Greeley, PrOtectionist, is cordially supported
by Free-Traders; that Mr.. Greeley, Repub-
lcan, is enthusiastically accepted by Demo-
Gratis; that the leading Emancipationist of the
age is the candidate of men whose slaves he
labored long and successfully to hberate.
They see that the Platform of the Liberal Re-
pubicans adopted at Cincinnati has been
Endorsed by the Democratic Convention of
nearly every State in the Union. To minds
constituted like those to which we refer these
facts are not comprehensive, except on the
ground that certain corrupt leaders have af
fected the Democratic masses with something
like insanity. But there is nothing in the
facts requiring so violent a solution. The
change which we see in the attitude and
purposes of the Democratic party is not an
instantaneous or sudden thing. 1t is the fruit
of twelve years of history upon that once
great and energetic party. In that time there
have been important and radical changes In
the constitution of the Government, as well
as in that of political organizations. More
than half of the voters who will go to the
polls in November have attained the ballot
within that time. In the constant hammering
of struggle and defeat through dozen years,
it is only reasonable that the younger men of
the party should have lost their interest in
the old backgrounds of the past, and should
be ready to enter upon the political life of the
future without loading themselves with I'M
necessary rubbish. To all of these the Liberal
movement which issued its manifesto at Cincin-
natl offered an opportunity which was not to
by Mr.. Greeley's Letter of Acceptance, pre-
sented a platform of political principles adj
miTably adapted to a period of transition and
development. The demands of that COnven-
ton were, in short, a Reform of the Govern
ment financial. administrative, and political
But the one sentiment which overbore all
others, and which astOnished by its warmth
and eanestness all the politicians who, for
one reason or another, had gone to Cincinnati,
was that of the necessity of ending the war
between the North and the South, at once and
forever.
This was the unmstakable voice of the
people. 1t was that waich nominated Mr..
Greeley. 1t was the quick and universal
response from all quarters Of the country,