National Republican. (Washington City (D.C.)) 1872-1888, 1874-07-21


be lost and sacrificed without
their support and championship. They
have mission to perform, to regenerate
and reform a generation whose sins and
crimes had become an abomination, and
which will 60 to certain and swift destruc-
ton unless their warnings are needed and
their teachings followed. We have charac-
terized all this as so much newspaper cant
and sham, written from Carlyle's point OF
view, that the American people, like their
English cousins, as it is the fashion to call |
them. are so many millions, mostly fools. "
Take, for instance, the New York Tribune.
It claims to be par szccllsRce the indepen-
dent newspaper. 1t became so some two
years ago. For more than a quarter of
century 1t had been the organ" Of the
Wing and of the Republican parties. In
his vigorous youth and in his
more mature manhood its editor had been
a bitter partisan. 1t had stood by party
chick and thin made and I'M
made Senators and Representatives, and in
a great measure helped to shape the policy
of more than one National Administration.
Mr.. Greeley was always weak, vain man.
Too proud to ask for Office, he was content
to work in the harness, trusting to the gen.
erosity of the political managers to gratity
an ambition which was in no way dishon-
orable to him. At last, in 1854. he became
weary and disguised, and dissolved that
famous partnership with Seward and Weed,
in a letter which reads like one Of the walls
of Jeremiah. Thenceforth bis greatest OBJ
iect in life was to pull down the men
Seward and Weed-whom he had done so
much to make strong and great in State
and National politics. He defeated Seward
Presidential aspirations in 1860, and was
chagrined when the man whom he had
nominated took Mr.. Seward into his cabi-
neN, and entirely ignored. his own great and
commanding claims. Mr.. Greeley sup
ported General Grant for the Presidency,
although he was not his first choice, and
again he failed to obtain that which he
so much desired-a seat in the cabinet.
Through Mr.. Fenton, however, his friends
were provided for in the New York custom
house, and the Tribune dragged along in
the harness in The expectation that sumo
day its editor would he sent to the Senate.
The transfer Of the patronage from one Of
the Republican factions In the State to the
other destroyed Mr.. Greeley's last hope Of
ever obtaining anything from Gereral Grant;
hence the opposition of the Tribune to
denomination, the foundation of the Liberal
Republican party, and the campaign which.
was saved from ridicule only by the tragedy
with which It was closed.
The Tribune, to save the capital invested
in its types and presses and real estate, be-
came what is called an independent jour
nal. The movement was q mere specu-
lation, with no principle no honor, no purS
pose in 1t, except the mere purpose Of re-
venge and Of saving in some way property
weil-nigh wrecked and lost The event was
announced with sort of Chinese gong beat
ing, and the very gullible public were told
about young men specially trained to finish
Mr.. Greeley s unfinished work, who would
resolutely carry out Mr.. Greeley's great
aims and purposes who had 50 much vene-
ration for their lost chief that they preserved
everything he ever touched-the room in
which he labored, the desk at which he sat,
the pen With which he wrote, the old white
hat and coat and boots which he wore, and
which they believed with, their tears,
calling upon all the world to come and wit
ness their untold sorrow and suffering. For
six or seven months the trade which was
carried on in the old clothes and relics Of
the dead editor by the charlatans who sue.
Irceedsd him surpassed anything that ever oc-
currsd in the Middle Ages and In the dark
est days Of ecclesiastical superstition.
The Tribune in becoming, after Mr.. Gree
leys death, an independent newspaper, only
followed the example set it by Mr.. Bennett
ard the Herald thirtY-fye years before.
Ihs Herald was declared to be independent
il the very beginning of its career, because
Is editor had conviction that an in1e-
pendent position in journalism was the only
Dne journalist should occupy. He did not
care for parties, did not believe in them;
declared perpetual and unrelenting war
against them. The Tribune became indie
pendent as a matter Of necessity, as q com.
mercial speculation. If Mr. Greeley
had been elected it would be an
organ" to-day in the true, cid fashioned
meaning of the word; it would print all
the Government advertising 1t could get,
and place all its friends in the incest and
most comfortable Offices that it could find.
1t would be the first to scout civil service
reform when it in any way interfered with
the running Of the machine" The
course of the Tribune since its declaration
of independence shows that it has not the
faintest idea of the meaning Of the term;
that in fact, it is bound and fettered by its
ancient prejudices, and governed altogether
by its traditions. Apparently the only
purpose for which it is printed is to sssail
every Republican who aided in the defeat
of its Presidential candidate. 1t is blinded
by anger and passion. In its opinion Gen.
eral Grant and the Republican party have
done nothing but commit crime after crime
since his reelection. Every Republican
who supports him is o chief ore rascal"
who should be within the walls of peni-
tertiary. The country is going to destruc-
ton, and the only way to save it is to place
in power the opponents of the Administra-
ton. The Tri5une's conception of indie
pendent journalism is, first, last and all the
time, to assail Grant and Grants friends.
The mistakes, the errors, the faults of his
administration must be blazoned to the
world; the wickedness of his enemies must
be concealed and covered up. The Tribune
is mere pretender in the field of indie
pendent journalism, and lacks its first
essential principle, which is to be fair and
honest and impartial. The Herald is
really the only independent journal in the
country. The papers that claim to be par
excellence independent are mere imposteIs.
... JUDGE POLAND.
It is with pain that we see the Republi-
cans of Judge Poland's district divided
upon the question of his return to the
Forty fourth ConPress It is incFedible