New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1872-09-23
THE KEYNOTE OF THE CAMPAIGN

THE KEYNOTE OF THE CAMPAIGN.
We hear a good deal, in newspapers whose
candor we cannot take for granted, of the
prospect of Mr.. Greeley's disappointing his
friends. But his enemies certainly deserve the
sympathies of all feeling hearts over the dis
appointments he has given them. They have
been waiting, ever since his nomination, with
an early affectation of gayety which speedily
turned sour, for some manifestation OF his
strong and resOlute individuality which should
afford a handle to the opposition and a STUN
bling block to his supporters. They remember
how his noble frankness on the subject of
Amnesty cost him seat in the Senate; how
the deliberate and magnanimOus act of bailing
Jefferson Davis made him for year the tar
get of all the vindictive and narTowminded
men of his party. They knew he was not
the man to paddock his mouth for a
half year, and they earnestly hoped
that his rugged frankness might during the
canvass give them some purchase upon him.
But it must be that honesty and frankness
have suddenly come into fashion, for no can
didate has ever yet been so unreserved and
outspoken, and every utterance of his has
helped the cause forward. In his two letters
of acceptance addressed to Cincinnati and to
Baltimore, he gave the most perfect body of
true republican doctrine ever put forth by
any public man. And in his journey to the
West with that power and insight which for
thirty years made him the first Journalist of
America, he has seized and presented, with
singular force and felicity, the most vital and
inspiring question of this campaign, the JUS
tice and the necessity of reunion and recon-
citation.
Through all the clamOrous complaint of the
small but noisy faction which was disap-
pointed at Cincinnati this one truth appears.
The Reformers who called the Convention
together in that city undoubtedly thought of
little more than the reformation of the Gov
eminent and the reGstablishment of honesty
and purity in public affairs. But when the
Convention met, the conviction which pos
sessed and ruled it was that the first and the
absolutely essential demand of the hour was
for Peace that without this there could be
no effective Reform. This conviction nOmi-
mated Mr.. Greeley instead of any less conspicu-
Gus and consistent advocate of justice and
generosity to the South. No more appropriate
standard-bearer for great reform movement
could be found than the man who had fought
during busy lifetime against every form of
municipal and national corruption. But in
this campaign, where the first object was,
while holding resOlutely to all the precious
results of the war, to restore the Union in
spirit and in truth, to end the long contest
effectually and forever, to discard Hate as a
political force and substitute Charity, there
could have been no name which in itself
signifed and promised so much as that of the
illustrious publicist who for seven years had
consistently, through every phase of varying
public opinion, demanded Universal Amnesty
and Impartial Suffrage.
This campaign of Reunion and Reform is
therefore the legitimate fruit of the Cincinnati
movement in its purest and best sense, and
the popular impulse which seized and sent Il 1
on its present path had as much wisdom as
generosity in it. Before the best results of
the labor and blood and gold expended in the
war can be enjoyed, we must have real and
genuine peace, reunion of hearts and hands,
instead of unwilling and reluctant submission
to military rule. The sword must not deyour
forever. The true war party OF 1851 Is the |
true. peace party now. The war was made in |