The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1872-06-07


in tho Field and the Party stin to
Come.
With unparalleled enthusiasm and exulta-
ton the Philadelphia Convention has made a
called it together, in the adoption of General
Grant and Henry Wilson, of Massachusetts, as
the republican ticket for the Presidential sue
cession and in the endorsement of the claims
of Grant as soldier and statesman, and of the
measures and policy of his administration,
Reduced to few words, this is the work &C
complished by this National Republican Con-
vention. The nomination of the President for
another term was a foregone conclusion. Since
the adoption of the fifteenth amendment,
which is due to General Grant, we have never
entertained the shadow of doubt upon this
point. Nor have the many intrigues and weak
devices within and without the party camp
to supersede him had any other effect among
the honest masses of the republicans than to
strengthen his claims and his cause as candi-
date for the succession. He was not only the
strongest but the only available republican
candidate for this contest. With him as their
standard bearer-as we are assured from the
State elections of 1871 and the more recent
elections of 1S72-success is morally certain;
while with any other candidate in his place
there was only the prospect offered to the re-
publcans Of general apathy, general de-
moralization and crushing defeat.
To <ho tba Cd ,,,ic
ton the policy and the necessity of another
term to Grant have been for long time past
as clearly defined as was the necessity of the
denomination of Jackson in 1882 or OF Lincoln
in 1864 The action of the Philadelphia Con-
vention, therefore, in the denomination Of
General Grant is simply the formal ratifca-
ton of the general voice Of the republican
party But the substitution Of Henry Wilson
for Schuyler Colfax as the candidate for the
Vice Presidency is a change in the programme
which requires some explanation. Mr.. Colfax
as President Of the Senate, has proved good
and faithful officer, and his party record cannot
be impeached. But some months ago he was
spoken of by the anti Grant republicans as one
of their faith, and his Presidential claims were
preached on that side of the house as superior
to those of Grant. But with the first hints he
received in this direction he emphatically dis
claimed all Presidential aspirations and
frankly declared his choice to be General
Grant against the field. It is probable,
however, that the rumors which had been cir
culated connecting him with the aforesaid
anti-Grant intrigues weakened him with the
administration party and thus opened the way
to Wilson in the Convention
We may, however, dismiss this presump-
ton and satisfactorily account for the choice
Of Wilson in the place Of Colfax on higher
grounds Of expediency. Senator Wilson, rs
was suggested yesterday has made himself o
prime favorite Of the Southern States. They
became, indeed, his fast friend from his first
political mission among them preliminary to
the active work in Congress of Southern recon
struction. In the next place he has become
prime favorite among the workingmen, as was
made manifest in the workingmen's mass
meeting lately held in this city, by which he
was proclaimed the workingmen's candidate
for Vice President. And again, the detection
of Mr. Sumner has had some effect among the
old-line abolition radicals of Massachusetts
and of the other New England States, which
the Philadelphia Convention may have deemed
it 'expedient to neutralize in making Wilson
the right hand man of Grant in this campaign.
And yet, again, while Colfax has lost the gloss
Of his campaign Of 1868, Wilson comes forward
with a general personal popularity which in
sts md vito Nv "a Ofh
General Grant. These reasons, we think will
serve fully to explain and to justify the substi-
tuition Of Wilson for Cofax as the republican
candidate for the Vice Presidency-the high
favor in which Wilson stands among the
Southern blacks, the Partially which has been
expressed for him from the workingmen of the
North, his unmistakable strength in New Eng
land and his general popularity.
Now, how stands the battle? We have four
parties in the field-the temperance and wo-
mems rights party, the labor reform party, the
Cincinnati liberal republican party and the
regular republican party, and last but not
least, there is fifth-the democratic party,
still in the background. The ticket of the
temperance and women's rights party is the
ticket of Black and Russell; but, as it appears
to have died and made no sign it may be
thrown out Of the schedule. The labor reform
ticket is Judge Davis, liberal republican, of
Illinois, and Governor Parker democrat, of
New Jersey, nominated at Columbus, Ohio, in
February last, at the same time with the ticket
of the temperance and womens rights party
The labor reformers, in choosing Davis and
Parker, had two strings to their bow-the
Cincinnati Convention and the democratic
party They failed to catch the Cincinnati
C Co. -ssiitt;o, and they will fail with Davis to
catch the old birds Of the democratic party,
for old birds are not caught with chaff Ac-
cordingly the Presidential ticket of the labor
l. 4 rnnd GinnirnnE