New-York tribune., 1872-09-27
THE LESSON or ARKANSAS.

II is not too much to say that the remarka-
ble series of speeches which Mr.. Greeley naS
made on his Western journey surpasses any
thing which has been hitherto seen IN our
political history. His disregard for precedents,
his fearless defiance of the efforts OF his enc
mics to misrepresent his every word and action,
were not more remarkable than the perfect
success which has crowned the experiment.
1t may safely be said that no candidate has
ever delivered a series of speeches so varied,
so original and so singularly sagacious, and IL
is certain that no one has ever been received
with such enthusiastic demonstrations of pop
ular approval and confidence. He is now re-
turning from the trip which many of his
opponents hoped would be their oppOr-
tunity, and which some of his timid
friends regarded as extremely hazardous.
in the midst of universal acclamatiOns No
man now before the public has ever done better
service to righteous cause. One important
element of his success has been that he has
spoken constantly in the interests of the whole
body of the people, He has said nothing of
his own candidacy. He has spoken of Gen.
Grant with that respect which his high posi-
ton and illustrOus record deserve. But he
has devoted himself to pleading, with an elO-
ouence and oOgency thus far unparalleled in
| the campaig, the cause of Peace and then
cause of Reform. The victory that awaits us
| in October and the wider triumph which this
| will insure in November, will be due in great
measure to the matchless tact and ability with
which Mr. Greeley has presented these two
vital issues.
| MI Ill. ot I'll pio
| on Wednesday, was one of the best of the
series. In that he gave, in few nervous
sentences, definite answer to those who ad-
NIT the evils Of carpet-bag Government and
vet claim that the Administration at Wash
ington is not responsible for them and can do
nothing for or against them. Mr.. Greeley
shows how Powell Clayton, Governor of Ar
kansas, and his party. taking advantage of
the disfrancmsemeDt of some 10000 of the
leading citizens, manipulated the registers in
such a way as practically to control the cleo
| tiops, giving certificates Of election TO their
supporters and to no one else; and how when
these crimes and illegalities were clearly
shown, and preparations were made for the
punishment of the perpetrators through an
honest District Attorney, the President inter-
vened, dismissed the honest officer, and ap-
pointed in his place creature of Clayton,
and 80 this swindlIng robber instead of going
to the Penitentiary, went to the United States
Senate, and has ever since controlled all
the patronage of the State. Nowhere in
| the Union are the peaceable citizens 80
tortured and pillaged as in that unhappy
State. where the Government is den of
thieves, and even the county officers-elected
under the regime of disfranchisement and
terror, or appointed by the Governor when
those who are elected are not satisfactOry-are
ministers of injustice and bloodshed. The
country has passed by, almost in neglect, the
tragic history of the troubles in Pope County,
which are represented by the Grant Office
holders and a venal press as proofs of o
turbulent disposition in the people, but which
always prove to be the result OF almost in
credible tyranny and ferocity on the part Of
the Clayton party. When the two unoffending
citizens, Hale and Tucker. were shot by the
county officers at Dover, for no conceivable
reason except TO make case for the justifca-
ton of martial law; when the County Clerk
(the murderer Hickox) met his death at the
hands of a quiet mechanic whom he was
attacking in his own shop; when the Sheriff
Dodson aud his gang burned The Tribune
office in Russellvile, every one of these occur
rences was made the occasion for q de-
mand at Little Rock for martial law, and
throughout tho Administration press for
a fresh outburst of denunciation Of tho
sanguinary and rebellous spirit of the Southern
people. But in spite of this insuferable prov
ocatOn, tho people Of Arkansas have remained
quiet and orderly. chsered by tho e.prospect Of