Perrysburg journal. (Perrysburg, Wood Co., O. [Ohio]) 186?-1965, 1872-09-27
Mr.. Peter Cooper on Greeley.

mTs IbLtT OOuVtE OH UEOOlCys
THE following letter has been addressed
10 General John A. Dix, the Republican
nominee for Governor of New York
State, by Hon. Peter Cooper, the venera
BILE and venerated citizen and philan
thropist of New York
NEW YORK, September 4. 1879.
General John A, Dix;
me to express the pleasure that your nomi-
nation for the Chief Magistracy of our State
has given to myself and the millions who
long fora government that will look to the
establishment Of justice as the only means
whereby the highest welfare Of the State and
nation can be eflectually promoted.
Your past services In behalf OF our CON-
mon country should inspire all with hope
that the day will come when honesty and
capacity will become the only passport to
all places Of public trust There never was
time when we were more in need of sterling
integrity and firm adherence to those prinei-
Piles that guided Onr fathers In their efforts
to frame us Constitution which they in
tended should establish Justice, secure do.
mestio tranquility, and promote the general
welfare by guaranteeing q Republican form
Of government founded on the inalenable
right of every man to life, liberty, and the
pursuit Of happiness
Guided by that Constitution, the Republi.
can party united with the war Democracy
and has disbanded and paid the large st army
known to modern times. Our Government
has largely reduced the national debt, and
has saved, by policy of peace with the In
| dians, hundreds of millions of dollars that
would otherwise have been spent In carrying
on cruel war against people that once
owned the whole country, and that so lately
that my own mother remembered the old
cheVea9tr de tfise to keep off the Indians that
once stood where Duane street now crosses
| Broadway.
Besides all this, the party in power has
kept the nation at peace at home and
throughout the world, and has secured for
our country degree of prosperity unsur-
passed in the history of mankind
There is nothing that could be more cruel
and ungrateful than for a Government like
ours to leave four millions of emancipated
slaves to the tender mercies of the class of
men who have been educated to hold slaves
as property, and are now acting with tnat
part OF the Democratic party who have sym
pathized with the men OF the South in
all their efforts to maintain and extend
slavery.
We may well ask whether it would be wise
for lis as a nation to incur the tremendous
responsibility of putting all at hazard in or
der to try the doubtful experiment of plac.
ing the Government in the hands of Il party
made up of all the disloyal the disappointed
and dissatisfied men of our country. The
most of these men believe in "whte mans
Government" They are uniting all their
arts to elect our esteemed friend Hornce
Greeley to the Presidency of the United
State. By this they hope to accomplish
their purposes of regaining their "lost cause
fear if our friend should have the bad for
tune to be elected, he will find that he has
lent his influence to q class of men who will
use the power they gain to place the blacks
under the ban of serfdom or peonage, which
may be as bad If not worse, than slavery it.
self. Our friend may find himself with his
best intentions, entirely poweress to control
a government made up of men who believe
that "the black man has no rights that the
white man is bound to respect
He should take warning by the course ol
eX-President Andrew Johnson, who at one
time was found reprobating rebels and theii
rebellion in more unsparing terms than have
ever been written or spoken by any Other
, man either living or dead.
/ In his TRADE against rebels and their rebel
lion he says that "treasOn against the Gov
! ernment is the highest crime that can be
committed, and those engaged in it should
, suffer ali its penalties" He declares that
! treason must be made odious; that traitors
must be punished and impoverished" HC
then says: II hold it a solemn obligation il
+ every one of those States where the rebe
, armies have been beaten back or expelled,
care not how small the number of UniOI
! men, if enough to man the ship of State,
{ hold it to be high duty to protect and Sc
0 cure to them republican form OF govern
= ment." In calling a. convention to re
r store States, he asks, "Who shall re
!; store them ? Shall the man who gav'
= his influence and his means to de
4 stroy the Government-is he to partici
i pate in the great work of reorganizing tn
e Government who brought this misery ol
the State? If this be so, then in truth al
e precious blood of our brave soldiers and Off
u GERS will have been shed in vain.h He thel
. says: "The traitor has ceased to be a citi
!, zen. and in raising rebellion became publi
d enemy, and has forfeited his rights to vot
IT with loyal men,
: Notwithstanding all these denunciation
u of rebels and their rebellion, we find hr
using all his influence to place these yer
y rebels in power, in connection with that POI
/ tion of cur country who are in sympath
d with them. / am entirely at a loss to accoun
d for the infatuation that has induced my es
y teemed friend Horace Greeley to allow hin
~ ~ self to be the candidate of a party so at wa
IS with all he has written and said in denuI
If citation of these men and the principles tina
,s control them. In conclusion, allow me I
1f offer you, in this, the eighty second year {
:. my age, my most fervent thanks for your dt
n votion to all the best interests of a countT
'd that shall soon leave, with my best wishe
for its continued prosperity and happiness
l. Yours, with great respect,
!. PETER COOPER.