The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1872-06-07
The Philadelphia Nominations.

ard bearers Of the Republican party. As
amember and supporter Of that party,
THE INTEILIGENCEH defers to its will,
thus expressed, and raises the names Of
It's candidates to the masthead.
Our readers do not need to be told that
Gen. GRANT was not our choice for this
nomination. We believed and said that
he was neither the strongest man for the
candidacy nor the flttest man for the
place. Believing this, SO long as he was
candidate for denomination 1t was our
privilege and duty to oppose his preten.
sions, Now that he has been rechosen as
the representative Of our party, we have
to choose between an acqulescence in
that decision and separation from the
party. The latter alternative we cannot
adopt. The Republican party, with all
its fauls-the faults, rather, Of men who
have got control oil Its organization-is
still the embodiment Of the best men
and the most liberal, humane and pro.
gressiye opinion, that have ever composed
and animated any political organization
in the United States Leaving behind its
imperishable record as the champion and
vindicator Of freedom and equal rights,
and looking, as we ought, 10 the future
rather than to the past, we find that its
organization still affords the best, and for
the present the only, standard around
which the believers in Its principles can
rally. The Republican party has been in
many instances perverted from It's legiti,
mate objects and used to promote personal
and selfish instead OF public ends. This
is an incident from which no successful
party has ever been free, or ever can be
while human nature is at its present low
estate. 1t has suffered from the unwise
dogmatism Of those who have welded It's
power. Some Of its earliest and most
faithful leaders have been driven be,
yond the pale Of possible cooperation.
This is 10 be deplored both in itself and
as the occasion of present pcrils. 1t may
be that the injuries done the party in this
way will be fatal. Only the issue OF the
campaign can show how that may be. But
the present duty is to make the best Of
the situation as we find it, to take the
least Of the evils between which we are
forced to choose; 10 bind up the wounds
Of the party and carry it through the
present contest, hoping for wiser and
more tolerant direction Of its councils in
the future.
Chastened and instructed by twelve
years of defeat, the Democratic party has
about made up its mind to support lis
earliest, its foremost, most persistent and
most effective antagonist for the next
President. 1t 10 now as certain as any
event month in the future can be that
HORACE GREELEY will be accepted at
Baltimore as thestandard bearer ofthe Dc.
mocracy. Amlnoritymay boil, may possib.
lyname candidate oftheir own; but from
present indications, no diversion of that
kind can prevent the real contest in No
Vember from narrowing. down to Mr..
GREELEY as the candidate of the De.
mocracy and Liberals, and Gen. GRANT
as the candidate of the Republicans. If
the choice were only personal one-if a
President were to be chosen only for his
intellectual capacity, for his knowledge
Of affairs, for his individual opinions,
principles and purposes,-NIr. GREELEY
could command our cordial, unqualified
support 1t Is true the individuality Of
an executive is something, and his pc.
litical opinions are Of much importance;
but other considerations may be so much
more vital to the contest as to make these
Of secondary consequence. A president
may be put into the White House, with
the best principles and the best motives
in the world, and yet be SO tied up
by the circumstances Of his election and
by the consequences attending it, as TO be
incapable Of accomplishing a single one
Of the ends he might aim at We appre.
bend this would be the position in which
Mr.. GREELEY would find himself If made
President by the votes of the Democratic
party. II he were the candidate OF our
own party, We would gladly labor to make
him President; but 10 elect him by the
votes of the Democratic party would be
virtually to restore the Democracy 10 the
control Of the Government. Three.fourths
of his support, probably, would come
from that party, and it would be not only
impossible but unjust in him not to give
them important recognition in his admin.
istration.
But there is something moro at stake
than this. Themain power Of the country
does not, after all, abide with tho Presl.
dent. It rests in the hands Of Congress. A
President supported by majority in Con,
gress can WELD tremendous influence
over the politics and affairs of the country;
while, without that support, he is but a
figure head, and If obstinate may be an
obstruction. 1t is Congress that imposes
tariffs or abolishes them, lays taxes or
RENTS them, that applies the revenues
that, in a word, directs the government
and shapes the affairs of the country,
political and financial. It's the control
Of Congress that the Democratic party
aim at in taking Mr.. GREELEY as their
candidate for President Thev be,ievo ,ho I,