The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1872-05-07
Our New York Letter.

VuT Now 1Ork LetGers
The Greeley-Broacn ticket in Ne,c YORK.
CoVectures of those acho know lin. How
witt the campaign be run?-The Dem0cracu
won't endorse the ticket-WiU it ,oittdrdaos
The make up of the Concention-The
medley platform and candidates-Mr. Gree
ley's characteristics-His unlikely personal
Jriends-What Mr.. Greeley lacks. go
As might be supposed, the nominations of
the Cincinnati Convention form the principal
topic of conversation in al circles here. They
took everybody by surprise. The speculaticns
are various, as to the effect of the movement
on the Presidential election but think the
general current of opinion tends to the belief
that there will be straight out Democratic
nomination, and that Mr.. Greeley will be
forced to the alternative of running as decoy
to draw off votes from the Republican candi-
dates, or withdrawal from the canvass.
have heard wagers made, that he would not
obtain an electoral vote, and also that he
would not be candidate on the day of
election. $50
1t is urged, with much force that the
leadership of a forlorn hope in a Presidential
contest is matter of extensive machinery
and of enormous expense-that to place
electoral tickets in the field in every State
would involve an outlay of at least a million
of dollars, and the class of politicians who
made up the winning side at the Cincinnati
Convention are not likely to put up large
contributions for political purposes, when
there isn't the remotest prospect of reward.
1t may be argued that the Democracy could
well afford to pay the expenses of the Greeley
bolt, in consideration of the benefits that
would accrue to them from it. Very true But
the Democratic exchequer has run low since
Tweed and his gang lost their hold on our
City Treasury, and they will have enough to
do, to keep their own machinery in running
order.
1t is too much to expect that the Democra-
cy will endorse Greeley. He is too recent
an ally, and too eccentric in his general
views to answer their purpose. His cham
pionship of JEFF Davis and his persistent de-
mand that the sole exceptions to Amnesty,
which prevent the restoration to Federal of
fees of the men who betrayed either civil or
military trust, at the outset of the Rebellion,
shall be swept away, are points in his favor,
but they hardly suffice to condone his thirty
years of sturdy hostility to slavery, and his
sixteen years of fidelity to the Republican par
ty. And even if the Democratic leaders were
disposed to endorse the "Any thing to beat
Grant, ticket they couldn't bring up their
rank and file to vote for Greeley, and they
know it; therefore it is morally certain there
will be Democratic Convention called and a
Democratic President placed in nomination.
1t is in view of this imminent probability |
that speculation is rife as to the course Mr..
Greeley will adopt Those most charitable |
in their judgment of him aver with confidence
that he will take himself out of the canvass
in due time, just as Fremont did in 1864.
The Cincinnati Convention will pass into |
history as one of the most curious convoca-
lions known to American politics. Such |
mixture Of homogeneous elementsl Such ex-
treme diversity Of opinions on questions of |
political economy There are few men whom
even Mr.. Greeley, prodigaLas he is of epithets,
has stigmatized more bitterly than David A. |
Wells, yet Mr.. Wells was a leading member
OF the Convention. The Free Trade League
sent its ablest members thither-men who
have caricatured the Protectionist Champion
p6Hcll-nlcknamlnQ
him HORACE GREEDY. The platform is
made up of well worn platitudes, and the
sixth resolution is pitiful dodge The ad-
dress is simply disgraceful. 1t is not merely
indecent in its assault upon the President, |
but it contains a series of the most reckless
and abominable falsehoods, the utterance of
which ought to stamp the Convention as too
deeply imbued with ignorance or malice or
both to be entitled to any voice in moulding
public Opinon
The candidates match the Tariff section of
the platform. An ultra Protectionist for
President thorough Free Trader for Vice.
An extreme temperance man at the head of
the ticket and a man quite as extreme the
other way, at the tail. Perhaps, such med
ley may meet with popular favor but the de-
visers of it must have calculated largely on
the simplicity of the masses, who are to pass
upon their patchwork.
About Horace Greeley whose name will be
for short time on so many tongues, it is
scarcely necessary to say word. He is well
known as an eminent journ alist and forci-
BILE writer. His personal integrity has never
been seriously questioned. He is man of
strong will, intense prejudices and vehement
likes and disikes. His one infrlnity is his
unsuitable thirst for office, and he pursues
every one with relentless hate whom he even
suspects of having stood in the way of his as
Pirations Seward and Weed were objects of
nis wratn IN Wing times-Conlling and Muir
phy nave felt the force of his rage i'm later
years. In relation to this grievance his fury
knows no bounds. He strikes out wildly and
desperately, unrestrained by any obligation of
veraclty, and unmoved by any consideration
of fairness. ''''0''
He is singularly credulous This trait has
led him into strange political associations
His followers here for the most part are men
of little character. Every one of the Tam
MANY Republican office holders of the county
is Greeleyite. IF he were by any chance to
be clothed with the power of appointment to
Federal office, the Custom House and Post
office would swarm with creatures of the
most equivocal and dubious antecedents. 1t
is because of this general apprehension, that
MIR. Greeley is not likely to run well at home.
People who have entire faith in his honesty
still realize his want of judgment of men, and
are for that reason unwilling to entrust him
with power. His temper is altogether too vi
olent for the dispassionate functions of states
manship. While he is man of irreproacha-
pie morals, he is awfully profane in fits of
passion. He lacks the GOODNESS, the poise,
sne eq9animity of magistrate 1t will be a
great deai better not for the country but for
Mr. Greeiey himself, to save a good editor bv
refusing to make poor President ont of him
YARMOUTH.