New national era. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1870-1874, 1872-10-03
Horace .'IecIey's Enmiiy to sia-
very n Mistake.

Horace .'1ecIey's Enmiiy to sia-
very a Mistake.
81 rGS, in the DAYS of slavery, an enemy
Of slavery, because / thought slavery incon-
sistent with the rights, dignity, and highest
well-beIng OF free labor That might hare bee"
q mistake, but it was at any rate an earnest
convictiOn.'
This remarkable passage occurs III a speech
Of Mr.. Greeley's recently delivered at Jeiier-
sonville, Indiana, while swinging round the
circle. OF course, in itself it is of no more
weight than numberless other declarations
and assertions made By him in the morning
and disclaimed in the evening, when the
spirit and disposition Of his audience seemed
to make a change of front cypedIent; yet it
is highly significant as one Of the many evil
dences that there is moi 81 grain of honest
conviction in him, to prevent him in his mad
cravings for the Presidency from assuming
the most extreme Southern position, ac-
quiesce in the most extreme Southern views,
Just as readily "a he would turn another
sumersaut back into the Republican camp
and take sides with the most radical of the
Radicals if lie thought thai they might
possibly again take him up and carry him on
their shoulders into the White House Mr..
Grceley's remuneration of anti-Slavcry princi-
pies is further one of the many cheering signs
On the political barometer as evidence that
he is utterly dcspairipg OF Republican votes,
since otherwise the considerations of mere
expedicncy, if nothing better, would forbid
him to make thus mouths at his own honor
able record of nearly Il lifetime, right in the
face of his professions of Republcansm
be Republican and yet admit enmity to
slavery to be possibly mistake, is one of
the mysteries which common sense would
vainly endeavor to explain, and whose soiu-
ton we therefore leave TO Mr.. Greeley; yet
even in the face of his own declaration, in
the face Of his other not less significant ut
terance-that there were excuses and pro-
gOcat:Ons" for the ku-I<lux Outrages, we
cannot help thinking that Mr.. Greeley, in his
solicitude to win favor with the very scum of
| neorO-hating Democrats, is slandering and
belvng his better instincts. We have been
| too long acquainted with him not to know
| that there is too much of the mill, of human
kindness in him, as to be in bitter earnest
when giving vent to such sentiments, though
the braZen display he makes of them, his ut
ter Indifference to the merest show of convc-
ton and consistency, must remove the last
doubt that if elected, he would be quite as
plant tool in the hands of the Democrats
as Pierce or Buchanan that he would not
dare to veto the most odious laws which
might be enacted for the object Of making
equal rights and universal suffrage dead
letter, lest his disobedence to the dictates of
the party might endangcr his chances of re-
election. Yes! ofre-election! For little as
we assume to anticipate the movements of a
man who, Instead of following path in ac-
cordance with certain principles, is constantly
jumping forward and backward, now to tho
right, now to the left, we yet venture to
prophesy that in case we should be doomed
to see him installed in the White House, he
would be on the stump again four years hence
as irreprcssible an advocate Of reelection as
he is now of the one-tem principle, and the
spring would indeed be short, compared to
the salto mo,tale, or rather the saui mortal,
which he has achieved since the beginning OF
this year.
| Can and will the Democratic masses be.
lieve in the cenuncnnss Of Mr.. Greeley's
conversion To Democratic doctrines? II
seems hardly possible, yet Mr.. Greeley in
entertaining such hopes has only fallen in the
same mistake that other distinguished public
men committed before him, who attempted t.
win power at the sacrifice of principle ant
conviction, and were infatuated enough witt
their own importance to imagine that on the
mere strength of their remuneration of ole
party ties and principles the opposing party
would not only receive lhcm with open
arms, but promote them 10 the highest posts
of honor RIGHT over The heads of old and tried
standard-bearcrs, who never had altered III
their party iealty. They always failed ant
had to pay the penalty for forgetting that
easy as it is to ienuuncc and ALLEVIATE ole
friends, to forfeit their respect and confidence
it is by far more difficult to obtain AT once the
support of former enemies, especially when
IL Is question III ilf' lllnntSl UOuolN INA
can be bestowed on a man by his fellow.
citizens. Thus Seward and Chase with in
credible infatuation placed themselves out
side Of the Republican party, the former by
sustaining Andrew Johnson in his mac
career; the latter by surrendering the prin
ciplc of universal suffrage in 1868 When
angling for the Democratic nomination; ye
nothing did it avail them. The Democrats
had no use for them, nor did even the Lib
erals for a moment think in good earnest o
nominating Mr.. Chase at Cincinnati, though
he announced himself "willing.' In poll
tics, however, as in the animal kingdom, the
example and experience of individuals are in
variably lost to the tribe. One rat goes il
the trap and is caught, yet any number VII
follow him, enticcd by the same bait
-a.-..---.a-.------A.H.--.
h.cV. Y. w. LOsNeM.
The sad intelligence Of tie death of thu