New national era. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1870-1874, 1873-01-09
Lessons 90 the Presidential Cam
g,aigu OF 1872.

lion. John NJ. I.angston delivered in MasonI
Hall, at indianapolis, Indiana, an address oil
1.-THE Lessons sc the Presidential Campaigr
Of $50" Of which we Law before our reader
thc substance.
The speaker commenced as follows
Mr.. President OF the many important
and valuable lessons connected with and i'm
pressed by our late Presidential campaign
( it, conduct, aud results, / propose to speak
( ol those which concern personal and party
morality, reform in civil service, the estab-
li7!nneut Of freedom and equality before the
law. and the endorsement Of broad authority
On the part Of the General Government to
rrotec; the rights O! the people BY popular
verdict
After dwelling upon the importance and
.nAUcnce n =. Presidential campaign in the
political c1H..tion Of the people, the speaker
said
q; the Presidential campaign Just closed
i may be tr.tbfully said, our country never
saw its like bcf0re, and it may never see its
ike again and from no previous campaign
are TO be drawn lessons Of such peculiar and
| m0Mcntous -HifCancc.
NECEsg.IT oT Personal MORALITY.
In a country like ours, where individuals
/ bSNauSC u I!AciI aDi!Etli .taiHLuP, anu CI'-
! quenCc, their social and party connections
or their Official positions, exact such immense
| influence, either for veal 10 the Republic or
ruin, too much stress cannot be placed upon
personal morality.
If the great leader Of q party, forgetful Of
the claims Of Justice, truth, and liberty. I'M
mindful Of the obligations of conscience and
reason, advocates and forces upon the accept
anc9 Of the nation, that which accomplished
proves 7tuFendOus and shameless fraud, he
commits lis party TO the wrong and so far de-
';roys It's integrity. He does more. lie
prevents judgment, he debauches national
yon~y;cncc, he canfuscs, he DESTROYS those
eth!,a! elements whose cultivation gives
moral NIEpT ana permanence to political cX-
i>tCn.e.
Morality = the granite upon which sound
commonwealth is built and in no way is
fllEAt" and general morality so generated
ani iostered, spread and pcrpetuated, as
through the teachings and lives of a coun-
try's great men while political ethics, the
morality Of the State, depend upon the
leader, and the party organizations which
control the administration Of the Govern
mert
IiA-.I!iCA Of rARTIE5 AND PARTY
LEADERS.
Aite! demonstrating the necessity and dig
nIty Of party organizations in this country,
and claiming that every such political organ
izat!Jn is a responsible moral entity capable
Of good on evil, the speaker classified parties
a. permanent or historical, and passing, tenn
porary ana coalitiOnary, and continued: If
parties be classified in this manner, it cannot
be difficult TO classify the "riginators and
Leaders OF them. They are likewise divided
into two comprehensive classes: those who,
!, III in Io
Of their iellow-citiZens, through their ac-
knGwledscd purpose to achieve and maintain |
the highest good CT the State, grow with the |
growth Of their parties as they develop and |
become useful and substantial in the progress !
of national life !; and those who, organizing !
coalitions for temporary purposes or expe-
dents, if defeat 0yertake the combinations
they form, 60 down under the Just condcm-
nation OF the!r indignant count-ymen.
HORACE GREELEY AND TIE DEMOCRATIC
PARTY.
The speaker claimed that neither a great
party nor party leaders are at liberty to treat
their past announcements. their
Especial principles and measures,
their professions ofdistinct political doctrines,
as matters OF small account, to be abandoned.
even II convenience and temporary success
seem thus to suggest. The rule Of integrity
g1otit auth, and duty Linds tho party ns ii
does the individual in the contamination of
those things which distinguish its rccord-the
history of its life.
Our late Presidential campaign furnishes
strange and curious spectacle as regards the
conduct of great national party and
prominent and distinguished party leader.
y man conspicuous for his large national en-
Gowment II not educated after the methods
Of the colleges Of the land, eminent for his
large learning and literary labors for more
than quarter Of century, if not occupying
the first position among the marked leaders
Of the Wing and Republican parties of the
certainly second to few; whose
personal history is so intimately connected
with that OF the parties named that their his
tory can never be written without in a large
measure writing his own whose bold, per-
sistent, and earnest presentation and adyo-
cacy Of the principles and measures which
distinguish these parties led the American
people to sustain them and honor HIM. tho
hrSt journalist OF his own, if not of any coun
try; though his Tribune doing more mr.
haps, to control, guide, purify, and elevate
public thought and conviction than any Other
single lnstrumentality in the land; his saga
city, has independence OF thought and action
ms industry, his endurance, his philanthropy,
and his patriotism, prOverbial such a man,
q leader 50 great and inhue ntial-we find
forgetting a brilliant and worthy record.
abandoning what lie had taught us was duty
to party and allegiance 10 truth, forsaking
old alliances and forming new and unworthy
ones, throwing away his hold upon a national
party whose fidelity to truth and freedom was
only equalled by the sacrifices the country
had made under IFS direction to preserve the
Union and maintain the integrity Of the Gov
ernmcnt, to take the leadership of q cOali-
ton whose aim, if it be described in words of
largest charity, was solely to change the
administration Of the Government, to put one
set of men out, and another in, office, Horace
Greeley, surrendering his past record, so
magnificent and worthy; his alliance with
the Republican party, so natural and apprO-
pirate, without good cause and wise reason,
10 accomplish party success and selfish ends
violated rule Of personal and party ethics,
suggested and sustained by sound political
wisdom.
With regard to the great national party,
winch by its numbers and influence gave Dig
/ nifty and Importance TO the new movement,
/ II may be said with truth, that its conduct
/ was unusual and remarkable. At once.
holding Its organization intact, and making
no remuneration of its past principles and
pohcy, nor protesting conversion to other
advanced, and better course of action it held
as It were, Its past and time -honored meas.
urcs-measures which made, distinguished
and immortal!zed its history-in allowance q,