The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1872-04-05
THE PRESS.
The Three Calls.

The Inree CdllS'
This Cincinnati movement will soon get
too deep for anybody. A few days ago anoth-.
err call, spick and span new, was launched
from Cincinnati. This makes three The
first came from the sLiberal Republican"
State Convention of Missouri, held at Jeffer-
son City on the oath of January. This call
invited Republicans only to conference
to be held at Cincinnati on the LIST day OF May.
The Missouri Convention was not, as mas
been sometimes supposed, lineal descendant
of the celebrated Convention of 1870, which
nominated b. Gratz Brown for Governor in
opposition to McClurg, anc swept the State
by taking strong ground in favor of removing
the limitations on the elective franchise in
corporated into the constitution during the
reconstruction era The Liberals who gave
such vigorous support to Brown have large
" withdrawn from the Democratic alliance of
1870, as is already proved by the fact that
g they took part in the proceedings of the late
regular Republican convention which sent
Grant delegates to Philadelphia. The Jeffer-
son City Convention was, in effect, a free
trade convention, its originator, sponsor and
leading spirit being w. M. Grosyenor, editor
OF the st. Louis Democrat and the author of
one or more free-trade books. 1t declared
itself favorable to a tariff tor revenue only,
and it made that declaration the principal ba-
sis of the National Convention which it orig
mated. Naturally the movement was in
stantly hailed with great enthusiasm by Dem
ocrats all over the country. But Republic
cans, on the contrary, everywhere received it
with great GOODNESS and suspicion. 1t SEEM
ed too much like a device of the enemy. And
up to this day if even such malcontents as
Schurz, Sumner, Trumbull and Upton have
given it their adhesion, they have done it so
tardily and with such evident reluctance that
there is great doubt whether they have taken
that important step at ALL
After many days second call was let fly
from New York. This, unlike the Jefferson
City manifesto, came from the leading expo
nents of protection in the United States. 1t
seemed, as our readers must have observed,
like a concession, on the part of Horace
Greeley and the other gentlemen who signed
1T, OF all that the Missourians asked. But
the friends of the signers deny that such a
conclusion is the only fair one, and do not
blush to own that it was deliberately and in
tentionally framed in such a way as to bear
any construction that persons holding differ
ent and even opposing views of the tariff
question might like to give it. And there is
no better proof of the dominance of the
tariff question over all others in the minds of
the originators of the Cincinnati movement
than the manner in which they look askance
at the New York call sin aid'' of theirs be-
cause Of the very Indebtedness of its state
ments touching the tariff which so much
commends it to scheming, ambitious but un-
principled persons in the East. The Grosye-
nor school OF Western politicians are in ear
nest about free trade, and they do not look
with any degree of pleasure on the adherence
of allies who are likely to Danish that matter
to the obscurity of an ambiguous resolution
in their convention. So that all the genuine
enthusiasm elected by the New York call also
comes from the Democrats. They are in
eestasies, and encore the performance rap
turously, though it claims to be unimpeacha-
BILE in point Of pure Republicanism. One
would expect either Of the gentlemen whose
names are appended to the New York call to
resort to phlebotomy instantly if he suspect
ed that drop of Democratic blood flowed in
his veins. ,19n1efg
But the third call, from the ''Cincinnati
Headquarters of Liberal Republicans, and
that of the Reunion and Reform Organize
ization,s is not at all in harmony with those
issued by either the Missouri or New York
purists. Here we find, to our surprise, that
''all voters, achether of Democratic, Repub-
Hcdn or other party antecedents'' are in
vited! The Cincinnati call exhorts all men
to lay aside ''their former political affilia
tions." So the Democrats couldn't keep
their hands of, after all! They have had
plenty of warnings. Their more sagacious
leaders and journals have been constantly
saying: 'Let the Republican malcontents
manage everything 1t will not do for for us
to be seen. 1t is our part to rush in and
gather up the spois after all our plans have
been successfully carried out by our allies.
But for the present the Increment must seem
to be acholly Republican,
Who can longer have any doubt as to the
true character of the Cincinnati gatherings
The first two calls have aroused Democratic
enthusiasm alone, while the third, which
seems to emanate from the most authorize
tive source of all, formally invites Democrats
TO this Republican cOnferencep'