The daily phoenix. [volume] (Columbia, S.C.) 1865-1878, 1872-07-28

ooatJ anu pnlrlotIsm whether his
policy Is sound or not is a point upon
which even able men differ. But this is
certain, that when Mr.. Greeley adopted
1t he had the support OF some of the
aolest OF our statesmen, having at their
head Henry Clay, name never men
toned in the hearing OF Americans with
out admiration: aud gratitude. If Mr..
Greeley has erred, it should be held to
be some extenuation that he erred In
such company. That his opinion is
honestly entertained, and has been nein-
tanned with great ability, must be oon-
coded. But does Gen. Grant hold the
opposite opinion? or has he any opinion
on this moe problem of political econo-
my? If he has one live no idea he has,
his studies never having run on that
line,) he certainly never has expressed it,
and from his enforced reticence, if he
was to do 80, would not be able to give
his reasons. But why should Mr.. Gree
ley's opinion on this point be any objec-
ton to his election? He has accepted
the nomination he received at Cincinna-
II, and with an engagement to act upon
the principleH therein announced. One
OF them is. Iquote it, that recognizing
that there is lii our midst honest but ir-
reconoilable differences of opinion, with
regard to the respective systems of pro.
lection and free trade, we remit the dis
cussion of the subject to the people in
their Congress Districts, and to the deci-
sion Of Congress thereon, wholly free of
Executive interference or dictation."
This gives to the friends of free trade
an opportunity of satisfying the people
that their doctrine is the correct one, and
that II Congress shall so decide, their de-
cision will not be disapproved of by Mr..
Greeley. Whether free trude or protec-
ton is to receive the sanction of Con-
gress will not depend upon the opinion
OF the President, even if he has one,
and is disposed to act upon it. He can
effect nothing except as he may be able
to influence Congress by his patronage;
and this no man fit for the Office would
attempt. because to do SO would be pal
pable effort to corrupt that department.
That Mr.. Greeley would not take such
step is certnin, because he is honest, and
because the platform upon which he
agrees to stand prohibits it.
Before the war, and occasionally dur
ing its continuance, his treatment of the
South was believed by many to have
been unnecessarily harsh. But in this
no one seriously questioned his motives.
They we're i'll no respect personal, or
other than patriotic. The war over.
what has been his course? From the
first moment to the present hour he has
earnestly desired, and has done all in his
power to effect it, to restore peace and
prosperity to the South. A constant and
ardent friend Cf general amnesty, and of
universal suffrage. he cannot but have
commended himself to the good opinion
of the white and colored citizens of that
region. The latter, perhaps, are more
indebted to him and the Hon. Charles
Sumner for the rights now secured to
them than to any other two men in the
country. His generosity and kind re-
gard Tor Southern men was strongly il
lustrated by his becoming one Of the
bail of Mr.. Jefferson Davis, which ter
minated his cruelty protracted imprison-
ment. For this step he was denounced
by the Radicals of his party, and par
ticularly by such of them MS belong to
the Union League of New York. They
proposed his expulsion; and who can
forget, who has ever read it, the proud
letter of defiance which he addressed to
the League on the 23d of May, 1867? In
that letter he quoted extracts from the
Tribune to show how decided his opinion
WAC IhNs ehooo WnO uhu DGeu engaged III
the insurrection should be enfranchised,
and their estates exempted from confis.
cation. He justified having become se-
curity for Mr.. Davis, and IN his letter,
among other things, said: "Your at
tempt to base great, enduring party on
the hate and wrsth necessarily engender-
ed by bloody civil war, is as though
yon should plant colony on an iceberg
which had somehow drifted into q tropi-
col ocean. I tell you here that. out Of
life earnestly devoted to the good of
human kind, your children will select
my going to Richmond and signing that
bail-bond as the wisest act, and will feel
that it did more for freedom and hu-
manity than oil of yon were competent
to do, though you had lived to the age
of Methuselah.
You will have thus seen what I think
of the present political condition of the
country. Unless am greatly mistaken,
it must give to every unprejudiced, in.
telligent and patriotic man much anxiety
and alarm. How is this anxiety and
alarm to be removed? By removing the
cause Of it. By refusing reelection
to General Grant, to whom, in q great
measure. if not exclusively, it is owing,