The Charleston daily news. [volume] (Charleston, S.C.) 1865-1873, 1872-10-11

ndt0 AO LaShoJt NAN o.
any. Then, the ticket was nominated in
full county convention, commanding the
acouiescence OF the people; now the Con.
seryative ticket would be thrust down the
public throat at a cut-and-dried mass meet
ing, or else be cooked up 10 a convenient
corner. These hard facts make 1t impossi-
BILE to secure now a vote equal to that OF
1870. And II thstsyote could, bya miracle,
be obtained, the Conservative ticket would
not be successful; unless. the Radical vote
Of IS, 600 or IA, 900 were 30 exactly divided
that neither Bowen MOI Mackey received a
bare three hundred voteS more than the
other. The single statement OF this broad
truth punctures the bubble which the
Courier has blown.
Nor does the Courier appear to better
advantage when it asks whether the i'm
possibility OF electing a Conservative ticket
'is any reason why we should support those
"who, by their nominations, give no
assurance OF entire reform or good govern
ment?" No one proposes to support those
il the those OF the Courier means either Raai-
cal factioni What is advocated is that Inc
Conservatives support ar entirely different
those, namely those candidates on tne TWO
| Radical tickets who have most to recon-
mend them, and least against them. THE
! News knows that Hobson's Choice is o.
better ticket than the Radicals have ever:
given The people, and a better ticket than
can be secured In any other way. The
Courier does not deny this; although IT.
hints that ''the i~ncompetency, it not
'.uorse," OF .the ticket is confessed
sin its designation OF a Hobson's Choice"
1t is plain that the Courier. has a very vague
idea Of the origin and meaning OF the say
ing, and for it's peculiar benefit, the ex-
PLANTATION given In the Spectator is poured
into its unwilling ear
.tToblas Hobson was the frat man In Eng
land that let out hackney horses. When o
man came for o horse he was led into the
stable, where there ,oas a great choice ; but ne
obliged him to take the horse which stood
next to the stable door; 30 that every Gus
toner was alike aoel served, according to his
chance, from whence 1t became q proverb'
when aohat ought TO be your election ~as
forced anon you, to say 'HoBsoN's CHOICE"
The Courier will perceive that Hobson's
Choice is not, OF necessity, a bad choice;I
but, good or bad, it is That or None. To.
give It's words any weight the Courier mus
prove that Hobson's Choice is not an i1
provement upon previous tickets, and that o
Conservative ticket can be elected. Gan 1t
do it?
The closing sentences Of the Courier,
are devoted to the announcement that
''principles are worth more than men" and
that ''princlple and interest both de-.
ssmand that a single course should
...be pursued" The News does not pro-
pose to take o double course, and 1t will
90 az far as the Courier 10 maintaining any
fundamental political truth. But no pollh-
cal principle is involved in voting for Be
publican candidates In Charleston County,
any more than there is In voting for Horace
Greeley. It may be said that MIR. Greeley
Ia more able and pure than thu candidates
upon the Hobson's Choice ticket II this be
30, It is a question OF men, not OF principle.
The principle is decided when Democrats
and Conservatives, as they did 10 Baltimore,
determine to support o Republican; the
character and standing OF that particular
Republican is a wholly different matter
What the Courier calls ''principle," and
which is not principle, will not bring this
people out OF the slough. It will iasten
Radical rule upon the county; 1t will de-
stroy every chance OF placing the govern
msnt, by degrees, in clean and knowing
hanaa. For those who have fortunes, or
those who are lucky enough 10 grow
fat upon the fees OF i%mpeached Radicals
or struggling Conservatives, this man
manner Of talking will do very we'll. But It
is ruin to the merchant, to the brakeman,
to the mechanic, whose daily bread depends
upon that commercial prosperity which
Charleston cannot retain unless the character
of her rulers and her local representation be
surely, II slowly, improved. The election OF
Hobson's Choice is the first step-the enter
iug wedge. It ia so recognized by the
thoughtful and the wise. From the rhetoric
OF the Courier this paper appeals to the hard
sense of the people, and it does not fear the