Port Tobacco times, and Charles County advertiser. (Port Tobacco, Md.) 1845-1898, 1872-08-16

Interesting Letter ON the Political situa-
tiOn...The Democracy and Horace
Greeley---Argument I'm Favor
of the Baltimore Ticket.

On the goth of July, the w. H. Welsh, Esq,
formerly of Pennsylvania, but now one of the
editors and proprietors of the Baltimore Ga
zette, addressed letter to Judge Black, stating
that his name had been used to promote the
interests of the Grant faction, and suggested
an expression of his views and opinions on the
Presidential contest. To this letter Judge
Black replies as follows:
To William IT. Welsh, Esq, Editor of the
Baltimore Gazette:
M Dear Sir: promised the gentleman
who delivered your letter that would answer
it fully and as soon as could consistently
with other engagements. am fulfilling that
promise. III take more time and space than
might be expected, you will please to remem-
Der that and great many other Democrats
are in a position which requires something
more than mere definition. We cannot a.
void misconstruction without furnishing q
rather full explanation.
l admit that the next President must bt
Grant or Greeley. The circumstances of the
political situation limit our choice to these
two men, as strictly as if nobody else were
legally eligible. Wemust weigh them agains
one another, and, like practical men, decide
the case before us in favor of the best. Ever
if we find no good in either of them, we mus
take that one who shall appear to be least bad
1t is undeniable that the leading measures
of this Administration are not only unconsti
tutional, but anti-constitutional, showing no
merely a contemptuous Indifference to con
sttutional obligations, but q settled hostility
to those rights of the States, and those liber
ties of the people which the orgonic law wa
made to secure. The Presidents appoint
ment of officers and his general exercise o
public authority, under the influence of meI
who paid him large sums of money, are scan
dalous outrages, and the effort to defend then
has, combined with other like causes, to ex
tinguish among bis subordinates all respec
for those rules of morality which used to b
held sacred. When we consider what thes
men have done in the North, and add to
the large-handed robberies perpetrated in tn
South by the retainers of the President, witt
his direct aid and assistance, we are compel
ed to ackuowleds that no other Governmen
now in the world is administered so entirel.
for personal and partisan purposes, or il
such complete disregard for the rights ant
interests OF the general public.
This decentralization is not confined to th
Executive branch, the tide of corruption roll
| in upon the Legislature, and in some place
| it has risen high enough to touch the feet @
the judiciary. Even the rank and file of tn
Presidents party have become debauched, lie
US hope not altogether, but certainly in
fearful degree. Acts which in former tine
a hardened criminal would hesitate to whispe
in the ear of his accomplish can now be open
ly advocated by political leader not onl
with safety, but with tolerable chance c
being sustained by sort of public opinion
That love of liberty and justice which used
pervade the whole community now "renege
all temper" and yields without, resistance
asored; place tisfevel
With Senators on the bench.''
| If General Grant had been equal in min,
and heart to the exigencies of the times, b
could easily have made himself great publ
benefactor. He might have purified officia
and political morals by simply setting the ex
ample in his own person of clean-hande.
devotion to duty. HIS own obedience to th
laws would have restored them to universe
supremacy. All the objects of the Constitu
ton as recited in the preamble would hav,
been accomplished but for the obstruction
with which be himselfimpeded them. Unfor
tnnately the interests of certain rings were il
conflict with the interests of the country, anC
they, by large presents, seduced him into thei
service. The public contracted to give hin
the salary which his predecessors bad beer
content with; the rings offered him more; BIZ
accepted their bounty, fell over to them, anG
took the Government into bis hands as 'ss
Black Republican job"
Now, as to Greeley. 1t cannot be pretend.
ed that his political life is very symmetrical
He was in the ranks of the Radical Abolition.
lists for good many years. That is bad; fol
such associations would have a natural ten.
dency to debase him. But we must not for
get that. though he was Uitk them, he was
not always of them. He refused to be par
taker in their worst iniquities he had none
of their diabolical hatred for the Constitution
ne did not lend his lips to their ribald bias
phemies, and his feet were never swift in run
ming to shed innocent blood. Before the great
conflict began, bis opposition to the designs
OF the Abolltionists against the Federal and
State Governments impelled him to the op-
posite heresy of the secessionsts. Like the
Roman father, who killed his daughter to save
her from worse fate, he chose to destroy the
Government, rather than see it dishonored and
violated by lawless force. When the war was
hagrant, he provoked the EXTREMIST rage of
his associates by exerting himself for peace
which would have left all the people in pos
session of their constitutional liberties. After
the close of the contest he was the advocate
of regular and legal, as we'll as honest govern
ment for all parts of the country. | have
good authority for saying that he never gave
his approval to any form of kidnapping or
murder by military commission. In short,
although he did join the Aboltionists in their
devils dance" he never learned to keep step
with his partners, aud We all know that when
be could not stop it, he left it and denounced
It with becoming Indignation.
On another point be ought to have credit,
The friends Of religious freedom owe him an
Did debt of gratitude for the zeal and ability
With which he resisted the church burners
when banded together in the secret lodges of
he Accommodating order. 1t is but reasonable
o believe that his opposition saved the coun-
ry from the great danger it was once in of be-
ng subjugated by that Infamous organization.
He has often been accused of completely in
heats of one kind or another, but in every
ase he has triumphantly refuted the charges.
Cor this, and for ether reasons, l conclude
hat bis personal integrity is without stain.
He has many times spoken ofthe Democra-
lc party and its most honored members in
arsh and abusive terms. These are faults of
manner, and oftemper, which, when mended,
re always pardoned. We will not permit