The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1872-04-12

been nominated even Grant could scarcely
have saved 1t. With any other candidate
than Grant the success of the democracy
would have been as easy as 1t was In 1856,
when Buchanan was nominated against Free
mont.
Let us emphasize this argument as one
overlooked by most of our political writer's,
but which has an unusual significance now
The failure of impeachment. the unsatisfac-
condition of the South, the burdens imposed
upon all classes by the war, had made the
country dissatisfied. A change of admins
tration was wanted. A candidate was needed
who would arouse enthusiasm. The republi-
can party had no such man. General Grant
fame. He held life Office, was in receipt Of
large income and had dignity as General
Of the Army which was eminently grateful to
him as soldier. Under any aspect the
Presidency was a sacrifice. He had no career
in politics. no skill in the tortuous, unhealthy
manGuvres by which politicians gained power.
He was free from ambition. Had he been
ambitious, had he been vulgar unscrupu-
lous self-seeker, he had only TO have given
his hand to the democracy in 1865 to have
become as powerful in its councils as Jackson
in the zenith of his power and fame. Had he
followed the tokens that filed the political ske
he would have accepted the alliance. He was
content with the command of the army, with
an honorable station for life, in preference to
the stormy and uncertain tenure of the Pres-
dency. That office could add no more to his
fame than it added to the fame of Washington.
He had written his name among the few i'm
mortal names that are not born to die. The
republicans sought him. They appealed to
him as a soldier and man of honor. They
represented to him that as a party they had
sustained him in the field, and they appealed
to him, in common gratitude, by the memories
Of the glorious strife through which he led the
armies of the Union to victory, to lead the
party out of despair. He consented. He took
their nomination. He went before the coun-
try. He won victory the fruits Of which
were Of less value to him than to the humblest
leader Of the party that chose him. He &C
cepted the platform, and he has kept every
pledge embodied in that platform with beau
tful fidelity which his harshest critics have
never failed to recognize. The effect of his
administration has been to rehabiltate the
republican party and to give it stronger hold
upon the country than 1t has had at any time
since the election Of Lincoln. For he has paid
the debit he has kept the peace; he
Loc 81 :,,alio kho
South; he has behaved with signal
energy and frankness in all foreign relations
he has dealt with the Indians like Christian,
and not like a robber, he has striven to re-
form the civil service, he has guided the coun-
try in paths Of prosperity, he has avoided
every adventure that would embarrass the
return Of the nation to peace and stability,
and he has borne himself in his high Office
with dignity, patience and moderation
equaled by no President since Washington,
and by Washington alone.
This is high praise, but we feel that in writ
Ing it we anticipate the verdict Of history.
General Grant is nothing to the HERALD.
Whether he reigns, or Greeley or Sumner
reigns in his stead, does not affect us pins
value. And it is because Of this Independent
judgment of his administration and his charac-
ter, and our just reading of the history that
all men should know, that we look upon the
intrigue to dsplace him with so much con-
tempt We insist that the honorable men who
are to instruct US this evening shall give us
living reasons for their course We shall not
stop to inquire why Mr.. Greeley, as a protec-
zionist, should sign call that favors free trade
why Mr.. Trumbull, as Senator who opposed
impeachment, should seek the political alliance
of Mr.. Wilkes, who denounced him as traitor
for his vote; why Mr.. Sumner, the lifelong
aboitionist, should crave the nomination for
| the Presidency at the hands of the slave
| holders and save-hunters or any one of
| hundred pertinent Undergraduates the true
| answers to which would show painful alb
| sence of political morality and tendency to
chcanery and double-dealing on the part of
our liberal republican friends that would
seriously wound the nations sense of public
virtue. We put it to these men as politicians
whether it is an honorable and manly deed
| for them to conspire against and cover with
| Infamous and brutal calumnies the man who
| sacrificed his comfort and his gain, and
brought vexation and annoyance and peril to
his peerless fame, simply to lead party
| which had slipped from their control back to
power. Is it fair to make this dastardly,
unmanly war upon the man who
took their party in the hour of
its uttermost despair and gloom and
IN rriod ita honnora Ia vjctorv2 r. II natr;o.;o
to ask the country to punish and rebuke Gen.
eral Grant merely because their ambitions
have been unanswered, their vanity has been
wounded and their selfish hopes disappointed
We have too high respect for the manhood
of our people to anticipate such result. All