New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1874-11-26

was simply to vlndlcate him from the personal
attacks to which he had been exposed way
of accounting for that event which, in the
absence of any other good reason for it, seemed
quite plausible. And now we are on this sub
iject 1t occurs to us that several times during
the late Third Term discussion we were re-
minded by various Administration organs that
if the newspapers did not stop abusing the
president" the people would vindicate him
again by giving him third term. This,
however, it is fair to say, was before the late
elections. The gentlemen who were saying in
the early Autumn "jusG be careful how you
"tall about Grant, or we wW renominate and
"rcGlect him." are not now INDUCING III that
line of remark.
All this is of course very gratifying exhi-
btion of personal loyalty and devotion to the
President; qualified perhaps in some instances
by carefulness for what the ight-minded call
Number One,' and a grateful sense OF what
is due the bridge that carries one safely over
and perhaps inspired in others by single
and sincere regard for the propretles. Ihe
unanimty with which the Administration
papers have agreed in the statement that the
President has been grossly maligned, and their
bitter denunciatiOns of his maligners, the Presl-
dents own absorbing interest in the subject ana
his so frequently recurring to it, are slgnihcah1
features of the personal politics which nave Deeh
substituted within the past four or five years
for the principles of the Republican party
They seriously assert that tue President was
elected the second time to vindcate him from
the assaults which have been made upon bis
personal character they threaten, 50 long as
II q, IN
him again in the same way, unless people cease
to speak i'll of him, and they go about bewall-
ing the degeneracy of the times and the 0ru-
tality of the press whenever the Administration
is criticised with just severity. Now win
full understanding that the party has come to
revolve around the personality of the President
as its center, and that most OF the party or
gans have merged al other considerations
in that of personal slavish devotion to him,
we may yet be permitted to say that they are
OVERRIDING their work.
1t is not only nonsense to invoke sympathy
for the President because he has been the
subject of vituperation and abuse, but 1T Is
such nonsense as everybody can see through
and be Disguised with. No President was
ever more CONSIDERABLY treated than Grant,
if he has been sometimes roughly handled by
opponents for appointments that offended the
public sense, the great party that elected nm
has always stood between him and the consc-
quences Of his laundering, and has carried him
On it's back till it sank under the load. What
ever of personal criticism he has received he has
invited by making his Administration purely
personal, by his bestOwal of patronage upon
family relations and friends, and his forcing
not only his personal friendships but his prl-
vate quarrels upon the party. For him or his
friends to "plead the baby act" under such
circumstances is absurd. 1t was impossible to
discuss intelgently the conduct and policy OF
an Administration which has been SO thor
oughly infused with single personality, with
out touching upon the personal qualities OF
lis chief especially when it was manifest that
one of the issues of current politics was the
reelection Of the President and the perpetual
ton of his regime. 1t is this discussion, which
coald only have been avoided by the Presi-
dents relaxing either his ambition for third
term or the dignity with which he maintained
silence, and which was carried on, We believe,
with entire courtesy and fairness, which is
pronounced vnperative and abusive. IL is
too late to enlist sympathy upon any such
plea.
There have been vtlperation and abuse in
politics in the past two or three years. The
victims of it have been such men as Sumner,
Greeley, S3hurz Trumbull, and others who
could not support Grant, and whose motives
were asDcrsed and their characters assaled
with such malice and venom as were never
witnessed before, and we pray may never be
again. But no word of complaint escaped
them. They followed principle, and accepted
with manly courage the discOmfOrtS and periis
of the position. Now let a specializing Con-
gresham be caught, or a lobbying Judge over
hauled, or a political shySter shown up, or
Presidents ambitious designs made public, and
they all with one accord, though their a3sailants
be but q few independent journals, and all
organic newspapcrdom is retained for the de-
tense, cry out against vituperation and abuse,
denounce the press as n "f0rty jackass mud
" throwing power,n and "plead the baby act"
It shows great weakness and no wisdom. We
commend to them all more phllosophic
mind Honest criticism should not be con-
dcmned as vituperation, and vituperation thc
really great can afford to despise. The ex-
ample of TIE TRIBUNE, which never refuses
TO accept honest criticism from any source,
and never heeds the vituperation of those
who seek its notice, if only to be kicked, may
be studied by them with profit.
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The approaching session Of Congress is likely to
be about the most dangerous one we have had for