The Cecil Whig. [volume] (Elkton, Md.) 1841-current, 1872-04-20
The Enemies Of the Republican Party.
+ From tile ". Y. Times. I

From tile ". Y. Times.
Are these ideas dead? Would the South
ern people who, only last year received
jeff. Davis with uproarious cheers and
bands playing the "Bonnie Blue Flag"
be less cordial to him now? There is no
reason to suppose SO. A tirm-we do not
say severe-hand must still be kept upon
the National Government, or it would be
placed in serious jeopardy. At the time
Davis was 'firing the Southern heart last
year, the President was keeping that firm
hand upon the Government which our stu
alton required. And what was Horace
Greeley, who desires to supersede him,
doing? Seeking out jeff Davis to ex-
change compliments with him, and making
speeches which justified the friendly meet
ing.
Put Mr.. Greeley in General Grants
place, and what would be the feeling among
all the disaffected classes of the South p
That they had got rid of the man who
would promptly check unlawful disturban-
ceS, and had to deal with man who more
than once espoused their cause during the
heart Of the war, and who, when the war
was over, went among them echoing, as
closely as lie dared, the opinions of their
" president. We say that no man can
look at the facts, and remember what hap
pencd last year, without coming to the
conclusion that to exchange General Grant
for Horace Greeley would be to plunge the
country into endless misfortunes. But
there is something more than this to be
considered. Horace Greeley stands no
more chance Of being elected President
than the man in the moon, but it is posi-
BILE that he may yet succeed in inflicting
some injury upon the Republican party
This, also, we should regard as great evil
to the country. The only safety for the
people, in our opinion, rests in the contin-
ued rule of the Republican party. Any
one who strikes blow at it, therefore,
incurs responsibility which no prudent
man would willingly share. Now for
months past Mr.. Greeley has been stren-
uously endeavoring to injure his party.
His paper has been a mine of wealth for
Democratic journals. They quote it by
columns, and can invent for themselves no
arguments half so powerful against the
Republican party as those with which Mr..
Greeley has provided them. A man may
not do all the harm he intends to do but
his intentions must count against him.
What if Mr.. Greeley,s advice had been
taken in 1864? The country would have
been split into twain, and the South would
have gained all it ever asked for. What if
his advice prevailed now? He would cause
a split in the Republican party which
would not, indeed, result in the attainment
of his personal ends, but would suffice to
bring the Democrats back to power with
consequences which all but the wilfuly
blind can easily foresee. There is scarcely
any infidelity to his party which Mr.. Gree
ley has not committed during the past
twelve months. He has thrown unmerited
reproach upon it. He has kept out of
sight its meritorous work. He refused to
perform merely personal duty in signing
the call for the regular Republican conven-
ton, while he fastened to sign a call for
"bolting" convention, got up by rejected
office-seekers and Democrats in disguise.
For offences a fiftieth part as grave as
these, good men have been cruelty hunted
down by Mr.. Greeley himself. In what
terms did he speak of Senator Fessenden?
There was another man, of great ability,
of pure intentions, of a singulaIy just and
impartial mind He never tlinched from
the cause of the North through
out the war-he resolutely defended the
Union when Mr.. Greeley was badgering
President Lincoln to allow the South
''to go in peace" And how did Mr.. Gree
ley treat that man in 1S6G-ay, and down
to the day of his death? He branded him
as "traitor, ''cried for his expulsion from
the party, changed his friends into enemies,
and even followed him beyond the grave
with his malignant ISLANDERS and bitter
enmity. After he had been dead two yers,
he was still assaulted with storm Of
calumDy. But now Mr.. Greeley breaches
celebration" He asked, on Thursday,
"can there be another country on earth
where difference of opinions IS SO severely
visited as in this ?" Let his own treatment
of Senator Fessenden, and of other men
dead and living, stand before him as an
answer. As man sows that shall he also
reap-even Mr.. Greeley may live to ex-
perience the truth of that ancient saying.