New national era. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1870-1874, 1872-07-11

reason for ciysa Government, rests upon Pts
cisely the ss1De basis. q. the public good-
No man shdpld go into party. or withdraw
from party, upon any ground OF less dignity
than this.
Here, then, at the very starting point, we
have a quarrel with Mr.. Greeley and his
friends. He has united his fortunes with a
party, based upon personal grievances, and
not upon broad grounds of national good.
Personal disappointments, personal envy,
personal resentments, personal ambitions,
have united in personal opposition to Grant
and in personal favor Of Horace Greeley.
Now we are utterly opposed to this sort OF
personal politics. A man who abandons
party because his party has not the same
sense of his personal merits that he has HIM
self, and who joins another, hoping for better
luck with the new than with the old, may be
courageous as well Us cunning, but 1t is impos-
sible to commend such an one for political
wisdom or virtue. He acts upon the princi-
pie that what is good for him must be good
for the country, and makes himself greater
than the nation, and affi1as that part is
more than the whole. He puts himself first
and country last. He may not always do this
consciously, but whether Intentionally or not,
the thing is done and the whole Cincinnati
movement has its foundation, its starting
point and handspring in this sort Of personal
politics. They accuse General Grant of per-
sonal government, while every department OF
il is as Independent to-day Of the Executive,
as under any Administration since Washing
ton. e.
Now while We have other and abundant
reasons for supporting U. S. Grant and
Henry Wilson, as against Messrs Greeley
and Brown, we have this special one, that,
in this way, better than any other, We can
bear our testimony against the evil tendency
of building up political parties upon selfish
personal aims and ends. We would brand
with opprobrium the men who merely value
party for what it can do for them as individ-
uals. Does any body believe that what is
called the Liberal Republican movement had
any other than selfish origin? A most
popular motto, amy body to beat Grant, y
proclaims its personal paternity. The civil
service reform and the revenue reform are un.
questionably in as good hands in the regular
Republican party as in the irregular concern
assembled in Cincinnati. - -,. -
1t is quite true that, in what is called the
Cincinnati platform, there is something said
about "local government which smells
somewhat of Calhounism; but even this would
probably be explained away if the Liberals
were once pushed to say just what they mean
by that phrase. If it means that each State
ought to manage its own domestic concerns,
subject to the Constitution of the United
States, no Republican will deny that PROPOSE
ton. If they mean to say that there is dan
ger of too much. legislation by the. Federal
Government for individual States, nobody
willgo towar with that fat, stale, and unpro-
fitable generality. But whatever they may
mean, our original proposition, that the Gin
cinnati or liberal bolt rests upon personal
grounds, cannot be disproved. 1t began in a
mere struggle Tor the control Of Government
patronage between two Senators in Missouri,
and finally gathered around it that class who
had failedto get the Offices they desired IN that
State. To show that it was 4 movement
utterly without principle, it needs only to be
stated, that these dissatisfied Republicans
found nothing in their republican principles
to prevent their perfect determination with
the. Democratic party. From Missouri this
feeling has spread, and has shown the same
unmistakable features, the same personal
resentment, because Of personal disappoint-
ment, the same reckless disregard Of public
welfare, the same tendency to alliance with
the Democratic party, as were shown In
Missouri. '.''' .'.'.-'s -