Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1872-05-21
2ulttifal.
GEORGE VIM CURTIS ON
REEEEY'S NOMINATION.,
Reasons Why Greeley Should not
be President.

argument Is at once 1OTClOl6 anu l6fDpeE-
ate, and it will carry conviction to the
minds of the 100000 readers of the
Weekly. Wegive the article in full:
THE CINCINNATI CANDIDATE.
The Cincinnati nomination struck the
country at once with amusement and
astOnishment. 1t was probably the on
" nomination for President ever made
which was received with good-humor-
ed laugh. We have not sympathized
with the movement, and our opinion
will be little valued by those who have;
but certainly the convention, after the
high key in which the speech of Mr..
Schurz was pitched, could have done
nothing which would have seemed so
much Jest as what it did. 1t was call
ed by the most earnest free traders in
the country, and ended in the nomina
tiOn of an arch protectionist. 1t was
composed of some sincere reformers and
it resulted in the confusion of the form
er and the triumph of the latter. We
believe that there are great many
persons who were wistfully watching
the convention, hoping to be able to
support its action, who will now, with
Mr.. Adams, wish "to draw out of that
crowd"
We have often spoken of the patri-
otic services of Mr., Greeley, nor do we
for get them now. They will not be
forgotten during the long and searching
scrutiny to which his public life, and
words, and deeds will now be submit
ted. The necessarily personal character
of the campaign we deplore; but it is
inevitable. Cincinnati has chosen to
present merely personal issue. 1t
claimed to be a Republican Convention,
and it has nominated Republican
against the regular action and the
known wishes of the great mass of Re-
publicans, and who cannot hope to be
elected by Republican votes alone. He
breaks the Republican line in front of
the enemy. His sole chance is in their
protection. The question presented to
the country, therefore, is, whether Mr..
Greeley, supported by the political in
terest which has nominated him and
by Democrats, would probably give to
the country greater purity of admins
tration and deeper confidence and sense
of stability than General Grant, sup
ported by the Republican party.
Mr.. Greeley undoubtedly has ele-
ments of strength, but he is not a
strong candidate. His name does not
suggest to the country either of the
two great executive qualities -discre-
ton and decision, Bred in the school
of Henry Clay, whose memory he
piously reveres, he is naturally timid
and compromiser. He has the cred
ulity which belongs to certain SIM
plicity of nature, and which destroys
all sound Judgment of persons. His
sympathies are limited; his prejudices
deep and strong. He has been always
politician, and of an unsuspected per-
sOnal honesty. Yet he is not free from
suspicion of personal grievance, for he
undoubtedly considered himself be-
trayed by the action of the New York
Republican Convention in 1870; ant it
is plain that he has felt the want of what
is called influence with the administra-
ton; and although personal feeling in
politics is not a thing which man read
lily admits, such motives may some
times be properly inferred in public
career.
The convention that nominated him
must be supposed to accept him as a
candidate who represents its principles.
Mr.. Horace White, for instance, as
chairman, signs the report upon the
platform. Mr.. White is, first of all, a
free trader. The question at issue is
one of administration, of sound policy
of government, and he invites all good
citizens to vote for the arch protection
ist. The platform virtually denounces
the Ku-Klux legislation, but that pol
icy has no stancher advocate than Mr..
Greeley 1t would also purge politics
of politicians difficult task; but Mr..
Greeley is peculiarly politician. In
Mr.. Schurz's speech the convention de-
manded a great statesman, steady,
calm, sagacious. Did that speech des-
cribe Mr.. Greeley?
We invite all thoughtful American
citizens to consider the influences that
nominted Mr. Greeley, known to none
so we'll as to the best men in the con-
vention; then to consider his attitude
during the war, when thereal character
of every man has tried. He would
have allowed the States to decide
whether they would secede. He sorely
perplexed the opening of Mr.. Lincoln's
administration, forcing the army into
the field before it was ready. lie beg
ged Mr.. Lincoln to try and buya peace
| by paying for the slaves. He repre-
sented Mr.. Lincoln's action in the Nj
agara conference in manner which
Mr.. Lincoln declared put him in a false
position before the country. And he
signed letter to the loyal Governors
after Mr.. Lincoln was renominated in
1864, substantially asking whether he
should not be set aside and new CAN
didate selected. Consider such facts as
these, occurring at moments of great
national exigency, and decide what
would have CHANGED had Horace Gree
| ley been in the place of Abraham Lin
coin.
If there is one quality which is in
dispensable in President, it is sound
| Judgment. If there is one public man
! who is totally destitute of it, it is Horace
Greeley. A certain kindly feeling with
which ne is regarded will not blind the
country to his natural fitness for the
Office to which he has been nominated.
Mr.. Greeley himself comedies the
personal rectitude of Gen. Grant. 1t is
the allegation of the best men who
went to Cincinnati, not that the Presi-
dent is dishonest, but that he is influ-
enced by unworthy counselOTs. They
would have man whose will is ada
mant. 1t is not enough for them that
his purpose is pure. But is there hu-
man being competent to judge WIN sup
poses that General Grant Is easily mold
ed by his associates, and that Mr.. Gree
ley would not be wax in the hands of
fiatterers? ? To intrust the national gov
ernment to his direction would be to
abandon the ship of State to be blown
about by every whimsical gust. The
present administration may be justly
amenable to censure in some points, as,
indeed, every administration must be.
But it is inconceivable that the patriot
ic intelligence of this country could
substitute Horace Greeley for General
Grant.