Middletown transcript., 1874-01-17
Wm.. Deans Letter.


,-imexts. whether the views and opinions Of
the writer are in accordance, or at varir
ance. With our own. Partly, therefore.
on these grounds, and also because his in
dependent, out-spokeu communications are
ever welcome, we publish. in another col
u,nn, the letter of our friend. VIM. Dean,
Esq. We cannot, however, agree with
IT endorse his views. 1t is not our GUS
tom to reply to or criticise the communal
cations of our correspondents, but as our
friend Dean has addressed some Of his
sharp. pointed questions directly to US We
will endOayor, as best we can, to give. a
response. while at the same time we ten
der him our thanks for the very aattsring
and high-Aown compliments he has so gen.
'crously paid us about our political exper-
icnce. &c. We must, however, plead mot
guilty to the charge of having had even
half the political experience that Mr.. Dean
himself has had.
The first interrogatory propounded by
Mr.. Dean is whether John p. Cochran,
Esq, whom We suggested as a candidate
for Governor Of Delaware next fall, in our
issue of the Sd inst, .'comes up to the
standard Of Jeffersonian Democracy that
an editor. who was Straight-out Demo-
ierut during the Presidential campaign of
1872. would require? 2"
AS ours was the only Democratic paper
in. the State Of Delaware in 1872 which
did not hoist the flag of Greeley & Brown,
we can but presume that Mr.. Dean refers
TO US as the editor who was Straig ght-out
Democrat. If, in styling US thus, Mr..
Dean means that we were, during that
year. altogether politically such an one
as himself" be is greatly in error. Fer
though we did not support the Cincinnati
Baltimore n m nces or endorse the deel r
alton Of principles there adopted, we had
not the least shadow of sympathy for the
Louisville 'Conor movement, nor did we
give it directly or indirectly the least en-
.coursgement sr support. Our party, as
we thought, had committed gross error,
and though we could not 60 with it or en-
= dorse its action, we ,oould not go again st
IL, fortwe believed that it weuld, by and
by, discover its mistake. If Mr. Dean
will take the trouble to look over the file
Of the TRANscRIpr for that year, (if be has
hot ons n2arer at hand he is at perfect lib
> erty to examine ours he will find that
such was the course pursued by US during
the whole Of that unfortunate campaign.
Though bitterly assailed by the Z" New
Departure journals of the State. and
threatened by over-zealous advocates of the
.Hreeloy ticket, with the total ruin of our
business, DC and with being read out of
thecounsels of the rarty,if we did not hoist
the Greeley 4 Brown colors, we, neverthe-
less. continued to pursue the cause We had
marked out. swerving neither to the right
nor to the left, nor have We to day any
reason to regret the manner in which we
then acted. We strovs to the very utmost
Of our power to induce Democratic voters
to 60 to the polls and vote the State and
Congressional ticket and save US the NOR
tiication of defeat. Because many men,
bers of our party saw it to make choice
; between 1.-TWO evils" and cast their ballsts
for Horace Greeley as preferable to Ulys-
ses Grant. we did not, therefor, censure
or fall out with them. Nor do we think
that because they voted for Mr.. Greeley
and we did not they arc, for that reason
" : any the less Democrats thas we are. We
ars ready and willing-sye, anxious-to
blotout all recollection OF that unhappy past
: and though every Democra. in the United
]. States should be forced to acknowledge
i that We were right and be was wong, we
would pcycr once twit him of his r.,rme.
!. error, nor boast of any superior politii. al
:. morality or consistency. or foresight on
= our part. We would ten thousand times
:, (. rather clasp hands across the deplorable
ehasm' and aid in the complete union Of
. ~ the Democratic forces for a stern con-
test With the Radical foes of constitutional
rcpublicnnism, than waste the time in idle
attempts to prove that those Democrats
who voted for Horace Greeley for Presi-
dent are not as good as those who refused
70 vote for him. When VIC 90 into the
fight next fall wo shall xot ask any man
whether be voted for Greeley or o. 'Couor,
: or whether he voted at all. II he is a
Democrat and unites with us in the war
i,.agaiust our commsn enemy We will ask no
more.
I'VE have devoted thus much to an ex-
planation of our own course and views be-
cause it answers Mr.. Deans question in