The Portland daily press., 1872-08-26
,ERMs S.. 90 PER ANNUM IN ADVANCE.


cause. For these, all thanks. But we must
look 10 his acts, for it is the executive Office
~ 70 Whlch he aspires. If the rest of the pre-
leSseu antl-slavery men of the North had done
d ne did from lS4S to 1865, or as he counsel
led, tnere woul0 have been no organization Of
aooltlonlsts, no freesoil party, neither Sum-
, iet nol 11 naie would have been in the Senate,
and there would have been now an empire,
with slavery for its corner stone stretcbir1
from Ohio to Mexico, where four millions ,f
your race would have been held az chotteIs
and this by the deliberate consena of the 49,
pie of the free States. This is the man wbSm
you are asked to support as lifetime aboli-
ZIONIST.
81 do not at all agree with some who saw
that the personal question is of little account
in this contest. The personal characteristics
of the President of the United States are al
ways of the greatest importance, even when
well-Organized parties are clearly divided on
recognized issues. But now, when both par
ties profess the same purpose, and ii is uneer-
tain how the questions of the future will
present themselves or what they may be, the
character of the candidate is of the utmost
consequence. His qualities will tinge with
their color the remotest rills of patronage and
influence, and even, like the turbid current
OF the Mississippi, be felt far in the depths of
international relations. 1t is not from a
gosslping spirit, or love of personalities, that
the mental and moral character of the new
candidate is so freely and eagerly canvassed
by our people. 1t is because they feel its
Importance.
- So much for the personal
question, as relates to the new asprant. If
we turn to principles, professions and organi-
cations, We again encounter the personal
question on a vast scale. Many see on the
polished surface of the Cincinnati and Balti-
more platform, signs of a trap door, through
which may well ascend Shapes hot from
Tartarus.' But it is well claimed that all
platforms are substantially alike. Assume it
to be so. If both platforms profess and prom
Use the same things, we are driven to ask
Which organization, which body of support
ers is most likely to carry them out? This is
the personal question again, applied to mill
ions. 1t seems to me to be fast solving itself.
1t is becoming question almost of natural
history-Of elective affinities. BY a natural
instinct at the South, the Union men and
the colored races, and those who accept re-
construction in good faith, wishing for order
and equal rights, are going for Grant. Those
who cherish the lost cause, its passions and
hopes, repeat their despairing cry of 1864 and
1865: Anything to beat Grant At the
North, rebel sympathizers and the half
hearted patriots of 1S6O-65 gravitate toward
Greeley; while toward Grant are turned the
eyes of the old abolitionists and frsesoileIs
and the men of color. and the unconditional
Union men of the war. / observe, too, that
those English journals which cheered on the
rebellion and derided the Union are express
ing their fears that Greeley will fail, and with
him the last hopes of what the" are pleased
to call the rights of the States. There are, of
course, exceptions to this distribution at the
North and, in New England, gone from close
at our side, one illustrious exception. But
the exceptions are personal, and becoming
isolated. When new lines are suddenly
drawn through a crowd, some men will find
themselves by accident, mistake or surprise,
where they ought not to be. Some will be
wrong by their Rwn fault or misfortune. But
as to the great body, this elective affinity is
settling the nature of the contest we are to
expect. Is it possible that you can hesitate?
No, indeed, it is not. After She signal calls
of danger from the familiar voices of Garri-
son, Phillips and your own Douglass, and the
cry of surprise and alarm from your own peo-
pie, borne on very breeze fIom the South, it
would be assumption in me to say much.
Gas to President Grant, purpose to speak
with frankness, and not to enter upon pane
gyric. In early life he was not politician,
but against all the influences at West Point
and in the army in favor of the democratic
party, he remained, like Mr.. Greely, a Whig.
Once, under the effect of that dislike and dis
| trust which the army felt for Fremont, he
voted the democratic ticket That as SOL
dier, beginning modestly in the lower grades,
he was forced to the top by his owL achieve
ments, and there broke the rebellion and
saved the Union, is history. If that does
not speak TO you in tone to thrill your
hearts, l may well be silent. The people, in
1868, called him to An office he did not seek,
and was reluctant to accept. He found its
duties novel and painfully difficult, and made
more embarrassing by the arrogant assump-
tiops of senators, and the ephemeral and
irresponsible elements in the lower House.
He has shown qualities in a high degree
which are essential, and others that are use
| full, in that office. In some respects, he has
| disappointed those who looked for certain
very desirable results. But do not let us be
| misled by his opponents into comparing him
| with an ideal President. That were day-dream-
ing and mere faulty. We know the worst of
President Grant, if we ever do of any man.
There is not fault he has, and scarce one he
has not, which has not been charged to him.
But we see in him modesty, patience, will,
civil courage, practical faculty, ruling
sense of justice, and notion that laws are
made to be executed. We may well be thank
full that we can secure all these qualities, and
escape the perils of such a chief magistrate
as Mr.. Greeley, and such combination as
would use and control him President Grant
will be elected and surrounded by those forces
| of society which, with his powerful aid, have
| saved the Union, abolished slavery, extended
| equal rights to freedmen, enacted and en-
| forced laws against barbarism at the South,
| secured the debt from reputation, preserved
| the public credit, done justice to the Indians,
| avoided foreign war with honor, and given
new scope and dignity to arbitration among
| nations.
To sum up all, my friends, this is war of
elements. Platforms, professions, promises
are claimed to be alike, and alike are of little
account. The true character of these ele-
ments, and of the two representative men
about whom they gather, is what we wish to
know. 1t is that which will decide the his
tory of the next four years, at least. And
these elements are ranging themselves, by
natural laws, very much as they did in 1850,
1854 and 1868. There is before us what we
may well hope will be the last struggle on
these issues we shall have to make, whether
with the sword or the ballot, and the good
old cause is still the good old cause for you
and me.
believe me yours, gratefully,
And with high resaect,
RICHARD II. DANA, JR.
Messrs. Lewis, Hayden and others.'