New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1872-11-22

.,;u;r,, Scccssionist. He always opposed the
I'M for tbe restoration of the Union. lie was
once = sloye-trader in Memphis. He was the
f,icnd of tho Ku-Klux and the ballOt-boX
stunfe,a. He was the guilty cOmrade and ally
Of fbo worst gang of rogues ever organized in
American politics.
These arc specimens Of sOmo of the
stories told Of him during six months
from one end of the country TO the other
His language was perverted. Sentiments
were put into his mouth which lie abhOrred.
His dcnials were unhcedcd, and though
we Frequently offered proof Of the falsity OF
every charge which did not seem too absurd to
require answer, no accusation once made was
ever Withdrawn. TO tho end Of the campaign
Gen. Dix went on blaming him for expressing
eleven or twelve years ago sentiments ldeht-
cal with those of Gen. Dix himself; Repub-
lcan newspapers upbraided him for words
winch were pcnncd by the leading writer OF
ono OF the principal journals OF theT own
Darly; Republican organ made it one OF the
charges against him that he lad signed Ger
tain letter which also bore The signature OF
its own manager; and the capet-bag organs
at the South made him the author OF express
sions respecting Southern women from when
he recoiled with horror. Some OF these charges
were downright lies Some of them were dis
tortions of facts from their true meaning All
were untrue, dishonest in their origin, and Tor
the most part dishonesty repeated
How much effect they may have had upon
the result we do not care TO inquire. But so
| far as We can Judge from surface indications,
they did pay. A negro woman, 1t Is SAID was
! heard cugsing him in the streets OF an
| OHIO River town, because no had sold her
"baby down South before the war" Inc
| colored people of the plantations were taught
| TO look upon him as something between a
bloodhound and a Confederate General. The
! IGNORANT everywhere doubtless imagined that
when so much was charged some Of it must
he truc. OF course there was violent language
on both sides, and on both sides there were
! false charges. But THE TRIBUNE said nothing
which it had not good reason to believe true
and in the one case where 1t found ltSeli
seriously mistaken it made an immediate re-
traction. This good example was not gcner-
ally initiated by the opposite party; and a
cynic might perhaps suggest that therefore
the opposite party carried the election.
The Vice President has been misled by his
own sunny temper and his fortunate political
experience. Through his twenty years honor
able career in public life he has carefully
avoided wholesale invectiye and reckless
pcrsonalities,n and men of all parties esteem
and respect him for it. But other politicians
have pursued the opposite course and it seems
! to have agreed with them. Campaigns have
been fought and won with no better ammu
milton than SANDER. Calumny does pay at the
start; and though in the long run it may
injure the party which employs it, the retribu'
| ton sometimes is so long in coming that The
! lesson loses all its point. Shall we despair
then of the publication Of politics. No, tol
! The defeat of q candidate is of small account
| in times like these, if the principles which III
represents are to go on flOurishing. There il
so much common sense and love Of justice II
the American character that We may trust the
people sooner or later to right whatever Ia
been set wrong. When the heat OF the com
bat has passed away, and journals which are
now railing at The TRBUNE'S violence have
time to look afJer the necessary repairs u
their own characters, the sober second thought
may bring a reaction, and the cause MAJ
profit from the SANDER thrown at the man
who was It's standard bearer.