Knoxville weekly chronicle. [volume] (Knoxville, Tenn.) 1870-1875, 1872-07-03
GREELEY AS A PEACE OFFERING.


We have heard men say, and we have
no doubt that some of them are honest in
their opinions, that they support Greeley
as a kind of compromise man between the
North and South. They say his election
will tend to do away with sectional ami
mostly, and to restore peace and quiet to
the country, such as we have never enjoy
ed since the days when the slavery ques-
ton was first agitated. If the premises of
these gentlemen were correct, their con-
illusions are certainly laudable. Men
should not hesitate to make any sacrifice,
consistent with reason and principle, cal
culated to allay the bitter and disgraceful
amnesty which has existed between the
two sections of this eountry-North and
South. This is certainly contamination
devoutly to be wished for, and he who
would oppose it is unworthy to be called
an American citizen.
But with all due Difference to the opin-
ions of others, we can see no foundation
for SAYING that the election of Greeley will,
in any way, tend to allay sectional preju-
dice. 1t is just as much sectional contest
as if JEFF. Davis or Toombs were at the
head of the ticket instead of Horace Gree
ley. He relies almost exclusively on the
Southern States for his support. No we'll
informed politician expects him to carry
the Northern States. The men lately in
rebellion at the South, and their sympa-
thizers at the North, together with a
sprinkling of disappointed soreheads who
have never been recognized as leaders in
he Republican party, are his supporters
Honest Republicans will no more support
Mr.. Greeley than they did Mr..
Seymour. Honest Democrats say they
take him as they would medicine, or as they
would :" a Shiny stick of wood " to kill a
Sarnapt NhaU do NOT rppOOpiZp him az
the representative of any great principle
of reform, but as no other mode of beat
ing Grant presents itself, they are willing
TO accept him. The Cincinnati platform
might have been simplitied and made
briefer and more pointed by simply say
ing, Anything to beat Grant" This is
its real import. and the people 80 under
stand it.
All this being true, and we think no one
will seriously deny it, we come to look at
the question in the light presented in
our leader OF yesterday, suggested by an
editorial in the New York Erening Post.
a large majority of Mr.. Greeley's sup
porters residing in the South, and they
caring little about revenue reform, civil
service reform or any other kind of reform,
but actuated by a feeling of revenge, and
| those who sustained the Government in
the late war knowing all this, is it likely
| that Greeley's success would quiet any
| fears that they may entertain towards the
| lately rebellious South? Or upon the 9TH
err hand, if the lately rebellious States
| should vote solid for Greeley, and it
should appear that he was almost if not
! entirely indebted to them for his election,
is it not probable that they would make
| demands with view to humiliating those
who opposed them in their effort to over
| throw the Government and establish a
Southern Confederacy? The Union men
of the country have no idea of begging
pardon ~ for their course in the war, and
| any effort to require them to do so would
not make them feel kindly toward those
making such a requirement. The idea OF
a surrender at this late day has never oc-
CURED to them, and the fact that Horace
| Greeley leads the forces formerly com
| manded by Lee and Johnson does not
| cause them to regard the matter in any
more favorable light.
We can not see that Mr.. Greeley pre-.
| sents the olive branch of peace to the peo'
Pile of this country, North and South, any
more than President Grant. We can con
ceive of no better way for the people of the
South to show that they are fully recon
ciled to the situation, than to come up like
men aud support for the Presidency mar
| who parOlcd their armies, leaders and all
and under whose administration rcpresen
tation in the National Council has beer
restored, and the disabilities of ninety
nine hundredths of those lately in rebel
lion have been removed.