National Republican. (Washington City (D.C.)) 1872-1888, 1875-04-21
CLOSE UP THE RANKS FOR THR NATIONAL
H0HTRRT

| the WISHES VI hduJS VI OluSISy Will DG
" found at the head of the Radical column
Gin 1876"
We find no fault with the Wing for its
| Interpretation of Mr.. Wilson's meaning,
hut it seems to have closed its eyes to the
fact that the assumption of President
Grants candidacy for reflections without
substantial authority. No doubt Mr.. Will
son honestly believes it, and the Wing
also; but if they do they are the victims of
a successful attempt at editorial sensa-
tionalism begun a little more than year
| ago by the New York Herald They have
certainly misunderstood all that has been
said on this subject in the columns of THE
| NATIONAL, REPUBLICAN if they have in
ferred from anything of ours that the Third
| Term agitation has been authorized; for,
as we have repeatedly explained, we have
never argued the question except in the
abstract We believe that the election
and reelection Of competent and honest
officials, time without number, will
not affect the permanency of our institu-
| tons, and would not be violation of their
spirit so long as the untrammeled voice OF
the people is heard. We also believe that
some man, who is as honest and competent as
President Grant has proved himself to be,
and who will be certain to prove as consistent
in the support of the living principles of the
Republican party as he has been, shall be
chosen as the candidate of that party. We
do not believe that the dangers of the fu-
ture-dangers which threaten the exist
ence of the Republic, and which constantly
demonstrate themselves in the revival of
State Rights theories-can be averted in
any other way. Mr.. Wilson, if he is still
true to the party, (and we heartily believe
he isl will not deny the existence Of these
Dangers, no matter what remedy he may
seek to avoid them. As leading Abo-
litionist in times when TO be an Abolition
isl was to be disgraced in the eyes of an
unthinking majority, and, as a leader in the
molding of the war policy and afterwards
of the Reconstruction policy of the Govern
ment, he stands pledged to-day to exhaust
every means at his command in antago-
rizing and suppressing the pernicious and
reasonable doctrine of State supremacy.
Mr.. ex-Speaker Blaine, younger, but not
less able leader of the same kind, also
stands pledged for the same purpose, and
in his recent Connecticut speeches renewed
those pledges in the most emphatic way
In short, every acknowledged leader of the
party is committed in the same manner,
and not one of them will dare to do the in
consistent act Of abandoning the platform
on which President Grant stands, on which
he was nominated and elected for two sue
cessive terms, and on which his successor
will also be nominated and elected. The
past history Of the party with all its glo-
rious precedents, and with all its praise
worthy acts of stern adherence to the re-
suits of the war, hedges these men around |
as with an iron band, compelling them to |
remain consistent, even if they were in |
clined to wander from the plain paths of |
duty, which we deny.
The division, then, if division exists, is |
not a matter of principle, but a matter of |
policy; not a difference which affects the |
platform of the party, but merely differ
ence regarding the manner in which the |
objects for which the platform is framed |
may be accomplished. 1t is because the |
Detective press, and such journals as the
Wing, do not go so far..in their analysis of
the political situation as to consider the
motives which control men and parties
that they do not discover the absence of |
any division based upon principle. 1t is
true that few non-combatants during the
war, disappointed office. seekers since then,
and the usual number of doughfaces or
drilt wood, whom the New York Tribune
proudly characterizes as 1.-The Independent
Voters" have slaughed of, and make
showing Of strength in support of the as
sumption that 'the people are tired of war
issues" but the masses of the people are
as faithful now to those issues and their re-
suits, and IS proud of them, as they were
when they were first preached. aud when
treasure and blood was poured out to at
tain them. The real question is, therefore,
will the masses of the party be willing to
accept the underlined policy of those who
are charged with differing from the Ad-
ministratioD, or adherfng to the policy which
has already been established, is distinctly
defined, and may be said 10 be the con-
sistent and hereditary, so to speak, policy
of the party. 1t is a policy, it must be re-
membered, that was adopted by Congress
when the Republican majority in that body
found itself antagonized by President
Grants predecessor. 1t was the work of
such men as Wilson, Blaine, Boutwell,,
Bingham, Logan, Williams, Conkling,
Howe, Edmunds, Garfield, Dawes, Shella-
barger, Thad. Stevens, Ben. Butler, and
others too numerous 10 mention. In short,
it was the attempt of Congress, over the
repeated vetoes of President johnson, to
reconstruct the South on basis Of Equal
Justice and Equal Rights to all men. With
the single exception of Attorney General
Williams, who was then in the Senate from
Oregon, no member of President Grants
Administration had anything to do with
laying its foundation, or with forming it
after the foundation had been laid. No
honest man can or will deny these facts, or
that President Grant has adhered with the
simple characteristics of his nature to that
plainly defined policy. He truly had no
policy of his own to advance against that
of the people, whose will he acknowledges
at all times to be superior authority. We
do not advance this argument at this time
and in this connection for the purpose of
throwing blame upon any man or party of
men, or of bestowing credit one way or the
other. The people recall these facts as
history Of such recent occurrence that the
details are still fresh in their minds. They
are so fresh, in fact, that the people are
ready today to pronounce their verdict, or
rather to repeat the verdict rendered in
1872, and to show to the schemers and
dreamers of the Opposition that when ma
tional interests are involved there can be
no division among the victorious masses
of the Republican party, whether Presi-
dent Grant is the candidate or some other
man in whom they repose an equal amount
of confidence