The Placer herald., 1872-08-10
T0yuE FRIENDS AND ASSOCIATES OF

General public that the undersigned, after mature
consideration, has concluded to vote for Greeley
and Brown; but there are few among my warm
est friends who regret this decision very much'
and seem to indulge some very ungenerous feel-
ings about it.
| will preface what have to say by the remark
that. coming as l do from the genuine Puritan
stock, have always been led to regard mypolitl-
cal opinions as no less than religious convictions,
and therefore cannot vote under mental reserva-
ton.
I was thirteen years old when l first passed
from irresponsible boyhood into full-hedgea
politician 1t was in 1885, and as the New YORK
Tribune was the orthodox paper in our localityit
was under Horace Greeley that l learned my
letters in politics. Since then l have been an
almost constant reader of the Tribune, and though
there have been times when could not endorse
Greeley. vet there has always been q conviction
of his sincerity, and have generally found mat
subsequent events proved him to have been
correct When the war broke out in 1861 and
Greeley wrote his famous editorial, Let the
Wayward Sisters Depart in Peace, l took IL 70
be the natural emination of his great, benevolent
soul: so abhorring the thought of a bloody, frat
ricdal war that he would rather permit them to
90 than raise one violent hand against 1t. And
RIGHT here let me remark that his life has been a
battle against human vengeance all the way
through, and in every form. acknowledge that
| could not agree with his view of secession and
was one of the fir t to enlist. AS soon as Greeley
found that treason was crime that charity could
not allow he threw the great weight of his infiu-
ence in favor of a vigorous prosecution OF the
war;" and / venture to say that there were no
ten other papers in the Union that exercised a
combined influence, in a true and moral point OF
view, equal to the Tribune. Always in tn front,
always watch-tower on the walls, no one man
in the country did so much to shape the results
of the war; war against slavery; and when the
last link was broken by the thirteenth amend
ment, and the war brought to a triumphant close,
how quick and how eager he raised the cry OF
"Absolute equality before the laws;' but with
this was coupled the no less than Christ-lIke
prayer of Universal amnesty" He rested not
from his labors till the first was accomplished by
the fifteenth amendment he will not rest till the
A great deal is said about his going JEFF. Da
Wis bonds; what has time shown since them
The whole nation revolving against the trial of Q
single individual of the "rebellion;" showing
that Greeley had brains enough to premise the
result.
And now word as to Greeley as he now is
His Republicanism had never been questioned
A.
the acts of the infalible(D y U. S. Grant; but now
that he has been chosen the leader of the com
bined opposition, behold traitor.
Remove from the history of the Republican
party the names and records of Horace Greeley
Charles Sumner, Chief Justice Chase, Genera
Banks, Lyman Trumbull and their associates
and there is about as much left of the origi ina
party as there was of the famous Revolutionary
musket " after receiving new lock, stock ant
barrel
Finally, l shall vote for Greeley because
think him the best Republican in The country
and one of the largest and most comprehensive
intellects in the world. There has been no time
since my majority that l would not have pre-
ferred to vote for him to any other American
auu no" 'nal nave thlS opportunity, thougn !
deeply regret that we cannot all affiliate, yet
choosing for myself, cannot hesitate to declare
for the one man above all others that most re-
spect. True to liberty when she was but
poor shadow in the land, he has guarded hel
step by step till she claims all America as her her
itage; true to the oppressed wherever found his
heart has never throbbed but for liberty, love
and peace. And though l have nothing to say
against Grant as general, and but little against
him as President, yet have everything to say
for Greeley. Peace, with its victories ''no less
renowne than war, presents her General fresh
from his thousand conflicts with wrong, and he
| shall have my vote; and confidently hope, and
shall earnestly pray, that he may be the next
President H. H. RICHMOND.
(IFNERAJ RANKc Eop GpErr nv Eonorol