The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1872-08-13

Opposing Greeley.
PENN YAM, N. Y, August IL, 1872.
It an extremely difficult matter for a stranger
to find out exactly what the political situation is ir
any county In the interior Of the State through
which he may have to pass. Everything seems t(
be In middle, and there is very little certainty
about the chances of the two aspirans for the Pres
idency In any particular place, with one or two ex
ceptiOns. or coure, this Is to be expected at this
early stage of the campaign, for the machinery Of
the two parties Is as yet quite new, and 1t will take
probably much longer time for the wheels to get
into good working order Indeed New Yorker,
not used to the ways and means politicians in the
rural districts have of working among their fellows
or followers, as the case may be, would be at his
wits end In fcrrr
THE "cLOsEn COUNTIES
to know just which side even seems to have the
best OF the Tight Go to Grant republican and he
Will be able to show you by incontestibe proofs and
figures that, he will tell you cannot lie, that Gen.
eral Grant will make q clean sweep of his 1.-THE vot-
er's) county. The next moment you viii stumble
across some Greeley republican, who is just rs GER
tain that Greeley will win in the county he is or
his own individual existence. He, too, win deal In
figures, and il you should happen to give him sly
hint about what you have heard from the Grant
ABUNDANCE or COUNTER-PROOF
that you will ind yourself great deal worse or
than you were before you met either of them.
"What," he will say, if you give him to under
stand that you have been informed by the most re-
liable authority In the place that snilens and
Jones and Brown and five or six OF the
Smith family, all formerly ardent administration
men, are determined not only to vote, but TO work
for Greeley-"what," he will excaim, ''does that
amount TO, but drop in the buCketr" And he
will then await "a few remarks" from yourself
While you are cndeavoring In your own mind to ind
out how 1t Is that the SniGcns' and the jones' and
the other folks votes can
COUNT FOR NOTHING,
he takes you to the corner OF the village main street
and points out to you scve al men who are riding
or walking by. 1t may be, indeed, that he win
introduce you to half dozen of them and drawyou
gradually at the same time toward house with the
word "Bar" painted in dead black over the door.
'Yon see those men," he will then continue; 'well
Sir they are all democrats always have been demo
Gratis, and won't be anything else. They're
gOin' to vote for Grant, more'n half Of
'em, and those who don't vote for him
won't vote at ALL" This quite naturally knocks
the UNDERSTANDING out of the accession to the
Greeley ranks that you had previously set down as
based on semi-0fflcial information, and leaving
your Grant enthusiast to go and find the "Judgen
or the Squire" whom he wants you to hear
TALK HIS MIND
about the democratic detection, you cast about
elsewhere for something definite to make the
figures on one side have majority over the other
or course II you take all for Gospel the Grant and
the Greeley men tell you matters are, as general
thing, left about even, and, as o natural conse-
Qnence, as an Irshman would have 1t, "Grant and
Greeley would both carry the county," You finally
go search OF democrat. 1t Is true the article is
scarce In some OF the rural places you wander into
but II you 60 the right way about 1t
you can easily fish one ont who will
tell you candidly all he knows about "the way
things are going" The first one you come across
may be Greeley man, and then you get rehash of
the Greeley republicans story, with, If possible,
a little stronger cooring coupled with the most
emphatic denias OF the misrepresentation OF the
Grant man. BY and by up comes another dc mo-
era I, who will tell you, may be, that he has
VOTED THE DEMOCRATIC TICKET
"fcr forty years and MORE" and he'll be, well, he
will be - II he knows any good square up and
down democrat in tho county who Is going to vote
for the present incumbent. This assertion proba-
bly, gets the two democrats into lofty constitu-
tional argument, and, taking advantage OF the
fortuitous circumstance, you take your leave to
roam about the village during the day. drop
into tile .taverns and watch and listen
for yourself until the train or the stage
else, where your Old difficulties certain to be
renewed. Now, under all these circumstances
e esny t pseye 0f tea
Probabilites' himself should come on from WASH
ington and go over the same ground that have
already gone over and then
TRY TO FORECAST THINGS
in his usual style, he'd miss his mark nine times
out of ten. Still am of the opinion after all that
chance occasionally
reasonably certain about the lay of the land, and
am presumptious enough to believe that nv wander
ings up to to-day through the counties shall have
occasion to aude to have not been entirely lost in
the realm , OF indefinite informatonm In
one one striking s'' fact ct. In my last letter.
written after had visited the counties Of CHATEAU.
qua, Cattaraugus, Erie, Niagara, Orleans and Mon:
roe, spoke OF the apparent dulness In political
circles and the absence OF anything like enthusiasm
or activity on either side. The has been quite
different In the counties have since visited. In
fact strange as it may seem, the further one goes
to tile eastward-that Is, In Zigzag way from the
lakes toward New York clty-the more noticeable
THE HEAT OF THE CAMPAIGN,
and-what may be more welcome news to some
ment. say ':secmso advisedly for it cannot be-
denied that up In Fenton's stronghold where was
the other day the friends o: the Philosopher are by
no means few and far between, but they do not
appear to make as much noise about themselves as
further to the east. But to the results OF my tramp
through the additional counties.
In tennessee county / found that several republi-
cans had declared for Greeley, but rhe Affections
are more than made up by democrats who will vote
for Grant or not vote Mt al--at least they say so
now. What they will do when they are
DROUGHT TO THE SCRATCH
is quite another thing Greeley has, at any rate,
very little chance OF carrying the county. The
antl-Grecley motives OF some OF the war democrats
In the county are not very credtabe TO their inteli-
gcnce, but the reason one of them gave inc while I
was for going against the Philosopher only shows
how even the weakest inventions OF the enemy will
sometimes create damage In political campaign.
IA
deal OF influence in the county BY the way ]
might as well say just here that hc told me he had
never seen Greeleys picture until the other day q
Greeley republican gave him q good look at one.
Said he TO am anor To-