New national era. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1870-1874, 1872-10-10

nothing to say against Mr.. Greeley person
ally. He has achieved marked success in hi,
special calling; he has done great work il
life he has exercised prodigious influence
have, however, rarely had the satisfaction
of agreeing with him, and have ever enter.
tanned peculiar and, perhaps, exaggerated
lack of confidence in his practical judgment
and administrative ability. To use a vulgar
but expressive phrase, he "slops over" toe
| frequently-a popularity which he has not
succeeded in holding in check during tho
course of the present canvass. Mr.. Gree
ley's views upon every single question in
which the Cincinnati movement originated
/ are, and always have been, Numerically
| opposed to that movement. To force hin
upon lis as our candidate was therefore an
absolute insult, redeemed only by its humor'
Gus features, which, however keeniy We
might appreciate them, we could hardly be
expected to enjoy. We went to Cincinnati
in open revolt against the party manipula'
tons Of Messrs. Conkling, and Cameron, and
Morton, and Chandler; when we got there
we were met by Mcssrs. Fenton, and Coch.
rane, and Mcclure, and Wentworth, and
Iilton, and Warmoth, and they, with the aid
of Mr.. Frank Blair, kindly proceeded to
manage" things for us in the good old
way, and, in the first place, to provide
| us with a candidate. I do not see how
we gained greatly by this change of mas
tiers; for myself | prefer the old set We
went protesting against carpet-bagism,
and they "carpet- hagged' our conven-
ton with an ingenuity which excited
for free trade, and they gave us the most no.
torious and consistent protectionst in all
America. We went crying out against CEN
tralization, and saying :" the world is gov
erned too MUCH" and We came back with
the great apostle Of unlimited legislation on
all conceivable subjects for our chosen cand-
date. They not only insisted on our accepting
an empty change in lieu of the Improvement
to which we had aspired, but they actually
carried their undisguised contempt for us as
Reformers to the extent Of openly asking us
to so into contortions Of supposed ecstasy
over their ridiculous campaign Josh, - made
up, like scare-crow, of a dilapidatcd hat
and shabby coat.
We believe in our principles as free traders,
as civil service refOrHlers, as friends of local
sclt-Sovernment we propose also to con-
tInue to believe, and, If we can, we further
propose to make the belief that is in us re-
spected of others. We feel yeryNmuch now.
under the candidacy of Mr.. Greeley, as we
should have felt in 1869 had the unterrifed"
assumed control of the Chicago Convention,
referred the question of slavery to the sew
eral Congressional districts, nominated for us
Mr. Jefferson Davis, and then rolled up their
eyes in spirit Of sanctity and assured US
that some garment of our candidate covered
physical conformations Of surprising beauty
and excellence.
There Is but one thing we cannot suffer
and live under; that is dishonor, made more
uncomfortable because ridiculous. With what
hope or even face could we, during the rest
of our lives, go reforming" again, when
once we had allowed ourselves to be made
such very stoOl-pigeons Of with IMMUNITY, and
even actually assisted those who cozened us
in the successful prosecution of their game.
We maynot be successful politicians, hut we
an at least try to be honest men,
Meanwhile, for a long time past, and
especially during the present campaign, l
have acted in close sympathy with the class
whose feelings now find vigorous expressions
through the columns of the New Y ork Erea-
ing Post and the Nation-a class insignificant
in numbers only, and one not safely to be
disregarded. We and our principles have in
this matter been brutally and grievously in
suited, and VIC propose to show that we ale
not disposed to be accessories to our own
dishonor. We at least never invited Mr..
Greeley and his singular following into any
party affiliatiOns-we always protested
against it; and, from their first introduction,
looked upon our uninyitiug associates with
undisSuised apprehension. Those who
brought about the alliance are, perhaps,
bound by the principles of what is called
political honor not to repudiatc the conse-
quence of their own act; they made the
game and they lost the stakes; we, how
ever, are not disposed to allow ourselves to
be transferred as portion of the contents
of that "pool.''
The defeat Of Mr.. Greeley has, therefore,
become from our point of view the one good
thing which can result from this campaign.
His success would be our complete discom-
future. 1t would go far to demonstrate what
we have most rersistently denied, and the
denial Of which was at the basis of the orig
inal Cincinnati movement. We then in
sisted, as we still do insist, that the people
of the country were body of which we our
selves were part that the mass Of our fell
low-citizens disliked to be humbugged, and
liked to be treated as rational beings, just as
We did Ourselves-nO more and no less.
The thing seems altogether too ridiculous
to be grave1y stated, andsyet it is absolutely
true. Mr.. Greeley's nomination was wholly
and avowedly urged and justified on the
''whito hat" tidal wave," and ''prairie
fire" hypothesis; the "bloody chasm" melo-
drama was a somewhat fiImsy after-plece,
introduced TO cover up the awful failure OF
the great original 'wood-chopper" farce.
The defeat of Mr.. Greeley will go far to
convince the "men inside politics" that
things utterly homogeneous cannot as yet be
successfully Jumped together, that the rise of
tidal waves" and prairie fires" has some
connection with a real underlying cause, that
the people of whom they prate so much and
think so little, are not mere children to be
pleased with rattle and tickled with
straw, and, finally, that the cast-off garments
OF an eminent editor, are, after all, but poor
substitute for cardinal principles.
AT one time l freely confess hoped for
more than this--far more--as the result of
the present canvass. i did hope that great
principles might be gravely discussed, and
that much progress might be made, no mat
ter what party achieved success in the grand
work of educating nation. In common
with many others, was disappointed but,
if L cannot have the issue wanted, / must
needs accept that which is forced upon us.
1t is for this canvass simply to show that we
are neither children nor fools. For one,
therefore, shall this year cast my vote for
President Grant, not, alas! this time with
the glad confidence in which, four years ago,
cast for Gen. Grant; but as the most direct
and, indeed, only way left open of rebuking
that species of political cant and chicanery Of
NIB ,y, foto g ,.f- 81