New-York tribune., 1872-08-03
"AN ELOQUENT. APPEAL TO REASON
IND COMMON SENSE"

AN ELOQUENT. APPEAL TO REASON
And COMMON SENSE"
Mr.. George Becker has Issued broadside,
dated Binghamton, July "a, 1872, the purport
of which is that Mr.. George Becker will not
vote for Mr.. Greeley. No matter how saw
agely the admission may tear our souls, we
are compelled to admit that If this individual
does not change what we suppose he calls his
mind before or upon the day of the election,
then there will be one vote certainly against
Mr.. Greeley. But in this great contest it
would not be reasonable to expect unanimity;
and since somebody must vote for President
Grant, we prefer that it should be nightly
muddled man like Mr., Becker. We
are sorry but not in the least surprised
to learn that George Becker has had what he
himself describes as "a severe mental
" "struggle.n After the decision of the Balti-
more Convention, Mr.. Becker asked of the
winds and the waves, of the heavens above
him and of his neighbors around him, "Where
cam to go7n Whether any of these oracles
made direct response we are not told; but
Mr.. Becker, the veteran Becker, who is de-
scribed in his hand-bill as "a lifelong Demo
"crat," concludes to go over to the Grant
party. Nicely packed away with these strange
bed fellows he does not fall TO sleep, as
rational jackass would, but proceeds to bray
out what he (or somebody for him) calls
"An Eloquent Appeal to Reason and Com
"mon Sense" Having determined to support
the Republican candidate, for reasons or for
no reasons satisfactory or unsatisfactory to
himself, the great Becker, with solemn
ferocity, rebukes all Democrats who have so
far followed his example as to act with the
Liberals. The sum total Of the matter seems
to be that Becker may bolt, but nobody else
must. 1t is all very we'll for Becker, still
clingine to his "life-long" Democratic
opinions. to support the nominee of the Re-
publican Convention, but it is all very i'll for
his fellow Democrats to follow the ex-
ample of Becker, and vote for the
nominee of the Cincinnati Convention. Enor-
nous, we admit is the discretion and sagacity
of Becker; but who gave him monopoly Of
doing odd and strange thmgs7 A large ma
jority of his old associates are content to ac-
knowledge that the times have changed, and
content also to change with them; but not so
the great Becker of BinghamtOp. The new
party sis tooloose, too liberal, too mongrel," he
says, to suit him, and all the while the poor
man does not seem to comprehend that he Is
as loose and as much of mongrel as anybody.
The fact is that though he cannot relish the
the CRY of anybody to beat Grant," he is
himself bawling at the top of his voice "Any-
"body to beat Greeley" Others desert mere
name and Becker cannot conceal his indigna-
ton; he deserts what he supposes are his
principles, and is infinitely delighted with his
own magnanimous conduct That in Capt
Becker is "but chOlerc word" which in the
rank and file of the Democracy is " fiat
"blasphemy."
We sh ould not consider the sadly inconsist-
ent gentleman of sufficient Importance to be
noticed at all in THE TRIBUNE, if he did not
happen to be first-rate specimen brick. He
ia like the rest of the handful of Democrats
who are not pleased with the action of the
Baltimore Convention, and Who therefore do
violence to all the traditions of the party by
repudiating it. They do not all issue broad
sides like Capt. Becker, but they all talk after
his disjointed fashion, and most of them when
they threaten to vote for DR.. Grant, seem in
clned to believe that their action will pro-
duce some frightful political convulsion.
Never were men more mistaken. They were
of no consequence when they were in their
party, and they are if possible, of still less
consequence now that they are out of it. They
all talk alike and all equally say nothing.
The Becker broadside measures, we will say,
fifteen by twenty inches-and there is literally
nothing in it. We beg pardon. The man man
ages to insult nine-tenths of his party, pro-
nouncing them to have been "cOerced by the
clash and spur of party discipline" when they
voted for Polk in 1874; accusing them of trea-
son to :" the time-honored principles and Gus
"toms of the glorious old party" represent
ing them as bound upon can Utopan excur-
"sion into the wilds Of Africa, or the marshes
"of Salt River and stigmatzing tho action of
an immense majority of the Baltimore dele
gates. The Lifelong Democrat, after I" a
severe struggle" says, with an indescribable
solemnity, of the Democratic Convention 4:
ats action is void.n Ipse George Becker,
ESQ Dirt. Its action is void There is a
fearful simplicity in the judgment. The Bal
timore Convention has not nominated Mr..
Greeley, and has not adopted the Cincinnati
Convention. Perhaps the gentleman will go n
little further. since he can easily do so. Why