National Republican. (Washington City (D.C.)) 1872-1888, 1874-08-14
PRESIDENT GRANT AND THE
SOUTH

The New York Tribune very sageiy re-
marks that " there can be no longer seri-
"ous doubt that some Southern politicians
"have been, Y they are not still, looking
toward Grant with the HYeliest interest
" as their possible candidate in 1876" The
gagacity of tho Tribune overreaches itself
in this brief quotation. In the first place.
the Southern politicians" referred to are
leaders Of public opinion in that section,
who became divorced from their national
allegiance 10 the Democracy because 1t
allowed itself to be Familiarity trifed with
by that journalistic prostitute, the Tribune
when its former editor ran for President
They have never forgiven it as party for
that treason to those principles or theories,
which, before that time, had distinguished
it as the especial luminosity OF Mr. Greeley,
and they probably never will They con-
sequently have been forced to look else
where, outside of its ranks, for some man
Of probity, Of decision Of character, and IN
denlable love of justice as a national leader.
The natural result of their search was the
discovery that no man other than President
Grant could be found to meet their require
ments. Then they began to talk of him in
his true character, not as o friend of the
South of the North, of the East, or of the
West but as q national man and the friend
of all sections. The Third-Term discus
sion ensued and the idea naturally followed
that President Grant would make an avail
able candidate for a second reelection
Forthwith the fre-eaters of the South, who
are never anything unless insanely extreme,
began to assert belief that President Grant
would accept nomination from the White
Mans Party" In other words, they be-
ieved that he would so far forget himself,
his pride Of consistency, and his pledges to
the people in times past, as to become the
representative Of q single race in a single
section Of the country. We have repeatedly
exposed this fallacy, and no one knows
that we have done so better than the Tri-
6une and its fire-eating Southern friends.
1t is therefore the sheerest nonsense, not to
say palpable falsehOod, to intimate, as the
Tribune does that there is no longer a
serious doubt regarding this question.
But while these Southern leaders, the
persons most directly interested in the ad-
ministration Of affIirs in the South, have
found President Grant to be their friend,
as he is the frienl of the entire people, the
Tribune declares that che has been the
worst enemy they ever had since the fall
"of Jefferson Davis, " and charges that che
"created the usurpation in Louisiana, To-
"'mcnted the disorders of South Carolina,
"and is more responsible than any other
"man for the disagreement of Alabama,
Arkansas, Texas, and other reconstructed
States"
Wonderful isn't it. that the Tribune,
printed in New York and edited by ex-
Buckeyes and New England Yankees, should
know so much more about the South than
the Southern people themselves? But this
knowledge is born of that kind of indepen-
dent journalism for which the Tribune is
noted-ar independence of facts Setting
aside the ludicrous comparison of President
Grant with JEFF Davis as unworthy OF notice,
let US examine the array of charges brought
against the President. He did not create
the usurpGtioR in Louisiana, because the
people of that State created it themselves,
and the courts decided that they did so. If
he had ignored the decision of the courts
the TrtbuBe would have been the first to
denounce him He did not foment the dis |
orders in South Carolina, because there
were no disorders there which the courts
could not have disposed Of until the dark
days of Ku-Klux reign, Since then native
thieves have plundercd and robbed the State
under the guise of Republicanism, and
President Grant has been more determined
in his desire to secure their punishment than !
the Tribune, with its railroad stock -jobbing |
stockholders interests il view, ever dared |
to be. I'm one simple sententious sentence,
'Why don't you send Moses to the peniten- |
tiaryf' he did mors to retrieve South Caro- |
lima from her deplorable disgrace than ten
thousand columns of editorial in the Trf |
1une could do. As regards the alleged mis-
government In Alabama, we have vet to
hear Of it. Her credit is better than that of
her sister States Georgia and Tennessee,