The Van Buren press., 1872-06-18
A Massachusetts, Republican Makes q
Clean Breast.

Hon. +. ". Bird, an intimate personal and
political friend of Senator Sumner, and one
Of the most respected Of public men In Mas
sachusctts, has gi7en his fellow -citizens In
North Walpole an interesting account OF his
pilgrimage to Cincinnati. How he came to
be drawn into the liberal movement he thus
explains, and we fancy there are many repub-
lican- vet To be heard from who share his SEN
tmcnts:
welcomed the call cmanating from Mis-
souri, for the Cincinnati convention. AS the
indication OF "A earnest purpose on the part
OF influential gentlemen AT the west Tor
change in the administration at Washington
| felt IL | knew very many earnest Thought
! ful republicans who are or were my friends
that the continuation OF this administration
! in power any longer was discreditablc and
dangerous. At first the movement was met
everywhere with ridiculc, and was constant
iy greeted by my friends with sneers. Are
YOU going to Join the democratic party 2
they asked. Well | cannot be worse oil
than have been for some months past, GER
tainly." "We,I, are you going to vote with
the democrats?' ~ "lou forgot my friends,
that voted for General Grant four wears ago
at Chicago, and after that any action is posi-
Bile. | never believed In General Grant. l
went to the convention that nominated him,
and. his selection being forgone conclusion,
| Joined with the delegation and voted for
him." | told my friends then | will vote for
Gen. Grant, but when it comes To throwing
up my hat for him. don't believe in 1t.
never believed in him as a soldier or is a civ
ilian, and every month of his administration
has proved his utter unitness for the place.
When | voted for him | believed that he
would call around him the best men of the
party that elected him, mel of character and
capacity, and that he would carry on his ad-
ministration in accordance with their best
Judgment. Unfortunately for you and me he
has chosen to surround himself with men in
whom YOU and the country have no confidence
and has taken counsel from the worst rather
than from the best men OF the elccting party.
don't wish il to be understood that | regard
Grant As a bad man; he Is weak, ana ms
weakness has led him to allow himself to be
controlled by bad men bOlder and stronger
than himself ] had known for months what
the public know of the discreditable conduct
of thG administration in the removal OF Mot
ley, and knew of the wrctChed san DOmin-
90 business-Of the lagrant violation OF law
ia sending our navy to the friendly republic
of llayti. threatening war upon them II they
attempted to maintain their claim to what
they honestly believed was their territory. !
know. and you all know, OF the removal OF
Senator sumner from the committee of for
eign affairs, cOnicssCdly the aJlcSt statesman
of the country, and the most familiar with our
foreign Affairs of any public man, and who
for the last ten or twelve years has had more
to do with them than any other man, just for
the sole reason that he differed with the presl-
dent in the san Domingo affair. But the last
and crowning act Of injustice and wrong per-
pctrated by the administration was its action
in connection with the French arms inye>tt-
cation. There was the notorious fact that
our government had been selling large
amount of arms To the French an inycStiga-
tion was demanded and was resisted for a
long time, until the whole country Joined in
the demand, and finally the lackeys of the
administration were compelled to submit To
it, In violation o: all parliamentary law they
excluded from the committee every friend OF
the investigation; they packed the committee
for the purpose of covering up the merits or
dement's OF the transaction. Worst of all
was the atrOciOus, hLgrant violation of the
constitution in the summOning of Senators
Sumner aud Schurz before the committee
and attempting to call them TO account for
their words spoken in secret. Perhaps was
Influenced great deal in my action in taking
this ground as early IA | did against the
nomination of Grant. and for the Cincinnati
movement. by my personal relations with
senator sumner. But beyond that feel that
his treatment by Gen. Grant and his laCkeyS,
by Morton. Nye, and most shameful Of all,
Ilamin. of Maine, was such that every Massa-
chuSettS republican and every political friend
of Charles sumner if they felt As feel about
it. could only consistently, with their sclt-rc-
spcCt and the honor of Massachusetts, give
Gen. Grant and his followers to know that
until that great outrage was atoned for
neither Grant nor any of his friends could
ever expect the support of any of the rcUub-
lican party in Massachusetts,. One Of the
lackeys OF the president connected with the
press said to me in Washington this winter,
Grant Is Just the same man to-day that he
was before the war when he lived near Gale
ma ; the same man surrounded by the same
set of men, in Just the same society aS when
he lett his wife and family sclfsuilering al
most for their daily bread, and started in the
morning with "A load of bark for Galenaleav
ing 1t uncertain whether he would come back
at night with the proceeds of the load for the
benefit of his family or drunk in the bottom
of his wagon" | met a number of gentle
men in the city the other day, and they asked
me II | was going to Cincinnati. and leave
the republican party. said Gentlemen, if
you would say honestly and bravely to the
public what you say privately to me, you
would not dare to ask openly whether ]
would 60 against Grant or not. There Is not
one of YOU. no matter how loudly you are
hurrahing in favor OF Grant, who does not
entertain for him the same feeling of distrust
and dislike and. excuse me, contempt that |
do" Yet to-day these men are among the
most active supporters of Gen. Grant. | con-
fcSS to knowing these things and could not
honestly support this administration any
longer and it having become a test of mem
bership Of the republican party. can no
longer consider myself member of it. !
knew perfectly wen when went to Cncin-
natl that left all my political friends 80 far
as political associations are concerned. |
won't say | burned the bridges; the trouble
of il is that the bridges that conducted me to
the republican party rotted away along ago.
Political