The Jasper weekly courier. [volume] (Jasper, Ind.) 1858-1922, 1872-08-23
A SINGING INDICTMENT.
j udge Black Arraigns Presiden
Grant Before the Court Of Pop.
ular Opinion.

Grant Before the Court of Pom
ular Opinion.
High Political Grimes.
lOFFICE OF THE BALTIMORE GAZETTE. }
. BALTIMORE, July 20, 1879. I
Ny DEAR SIR:- Ever since the ad
journment Of the Baltimore Convention
certain Radical journals have persistent
lly misrepresented the course of promi
nent Democrats, and have sought in ev
Iery way to place them in false posi-
tion before the country. Among tn,
number, you have been frequently men
toned as being hostile to that BODY, ant
IN this way your name has been used b,
political tricksters to promote the sue
cess OF the Radical cause. Without wait
ing for consultation with you, but sim
lply relying on my faith in your exalted
patriotism and unflinching Democracy
have unhesitatingly contradicted al
such rumors. In times past YOU "havt
done the State some service. and they
know it," and on the strength of Won,
past record have assumed that in the
present political crisis you will be quiet
as jealous as you ever were before in de.
fence of constitutional freedom and civil
reform. l need not ask you if am right
III this assumption, because Of that feel
assured; but take the liberty of sug.
gesting that at this time your views and
opinions upon the impending Presiden.
tial contest would afford much gratifics.
ton to the Democratic and Conservs.
tive masses Of the country. Believe me
to be, with respect, ever your friend,
WILLIAM II. WELSH.
Hon. ]. S. BLACK.
To VIM. II. Welsh, Editor of the Balti-
more Gazette:
MY DEAR SIR-I promised the gentle
man who delivered your letter that l
would answer il fully as soon as could
with other engagements. Il
am fulfilling that promise. II | take more
time and space than might be expected
YOU will please to remember that and
great many other Democrats are In q
position which requires more than a.
mere definition. We can not avoid mis-
construction without furnishing q rather
full explanation.
l admit that the next President must
DC Grant or Greeley. The circumstances
Of the political situation limit our choice
to these two men as strictly as IL nobody
else were legally eligible. We must
weigh them against one another, and
like practical men, decide the case fore
us in favor Of the best. Even il we findI
no good in either of them we must take
that one who shall appear to be least bad.
1t is undeniable that the leading mea-
sures Of this administration are not only
but anti-constitutiOnai,
showing not mt. ely u cOntemptuOus in
difference to constitutional obligations, |
but a settled hostility to those rights oil
the States and those liberties of the peO-
pie which the organic law was made to-
secure. The Presidents appointment
Of officers and his general exercise oil
public authority, under the influence of
men who paid him large sums Of money.
are scandalOus outrsges, and the effort
to defend them has combined with oth-l
or like causes to extinguish among hisE
all respect for those rules of
whic.' used to be sacred. Whenl
We consider what these men have done
in the North, and add to it the large-
handed robberies perpetratcd in the
South by the rctainers Of the President,
with his direct aid and assistance, well
are compelled to acknowledge that mol
Otl:er Government now in the world Is [
so entirely for personali
and partisan purposes, or in such CON-
plete disregard for the rights and inter.
ests of the general public. The demor-
llization is not confined to the Execu-
live branch: tho tide of corruption rolls
in upon the Legislature, in some places
It has risen high enough to touch the (
feet Of the judiciary. Even the rank andIt
file of the Presidents party have be-
come debauched, let us hope not Alto
yether, but certainly in fearful degree.
Acts, which in former times hardenedc
would hesitate to whisper In (
the ear Of his accomplice, can now be e|E
openly advocated by political leader, Z
not only with safety, but with tolcrable|l
chance of being sustained by q sort offs
public opinion. The love of liberty and|t
Justice which used to pcrvade the whole {
now "reneges all temper,"|s va
md yields without resistance to the un.|(
principled demagogues who would en-
throne fraud.
Make the hoar iepro,y adorea; place thieves,
With Senators ON the bench. !
If General Grant had been equal in|s
mind and heart 10 the exigencies of the|s
times, he could easily have made him.
self a public benefactor. He might have|t
purified official and political morals byi
simply setting tine example in his ownr
per- son of clean-handed devotion to|.
duty. His own obedience to the laws
IN