The Republican journal., 1875-04-22
Plain Talk About 1t.


is looming up as big stumbling block
for the party. He keeps quiet and says
nothing himself, but allows his chief Off
cias and spokesman to proclaim third
term as the safety of the party, Upon
this subject the St Louis Republican
Oemocratic) says that the Republican
defeat in Connecticut cannot fail to pro-
ducc an impression on the Republican
leaders. The shock will bring them to
their senses and force them to see the in
exorable alternative before thenl-a repu-
diation of the administration, or certain
defeat in 1876. The reasoning that leads
to this conclusion is sharp and short: The
Republicans carried New Hampshire in
March by denouncing the third term they
failed to carry Connecticut because per-
haps they failed to denounce the third
term therefore the whole party must
repudiate Grant, or prepare for national
defeat 1t does not matter particle that
this logic may be faulty; the Republicans
may have been doomed to defeat in Con-
necticut even though they had denounced
the third term; very probably that would
not have saved them Nevertheless, it is
the inevitable reasoning of a defeated
party. AS matters stand now, Republic
can defeat in 1876 is assured. Something,
and something desperate too, must be
done to alter the situation; what shall this
be but disavowal of the administration,
and Of that personal policy of the admin
lstration under which the party is stagger-
ing to its fall? Tossing overheard the
presidential Jonah may not save the ship ;
but it is the only experiment that can be
made, and therefore, probably it will be
made
For the Republican leaders to declare
against their chosen President on the eve
Of an important national contest would be
an unusual and desperate proceeding; it
would be like an army deposing its COM
mander before going iuto battle. But the
! situation is critical nnd tho ,,,nor,-re. ,iV-
lent and dangerous as it is, may have to
be resorted to- A dominant party, that
has welded the national forces Of great
country as freely and wantonly as the Re
publican party has welded them for four
teen years, cannot afford to abdicate with
out first eXhausting every means to save
itself; the great chiefs of this party will
hardly consent to come down from their
high places and gnaw their nails in impo-
tent obscurity the remainder Of their lives,
until they have summoned the gigantic en-
ergies they were accustomed to put forth
in times of danger for final effort to
avert the ignominious fate. They feel
that they have borne with their President
too long already; they have sacrificed five
great Northern states to their federation
of his folly; they have borne the burden
OF his indetensible personal policy till their
backs are breaking; and what more nat
ural than that they should resolve to bear
it no longer? The New Hampshire Re
publicans have denounced the third term
SO has Harper's Weekly; so has the Gin
cinnatl Gazette; so have many others of
the party's leading organs. The Chicago
Tribune attributes the Connecticut defeat
to the fact that the Republican ticket was
headed by a ''force-bill EXTREMIST who
" distinguished himself by ordering 100
guns to be fired when the House OF Repre-
sentatives passed that odious BILL" and
"who made speeches during the canvass
which were susceptible of thrd-term
construction; and the st. Louis Demo-
crat declares that the defeat is but s'an-
other relteration of the lesson that in pro-
portion as the Republicans show courage
and sincerity in tunbling overheard all |
that is mischlevol4s in the party they will |
recover public confidence" President |
Grant is the object at which all this Ian
guage is aimed, though his name is not
mentioned. The party feels, and is be-
ginning to complain, that he is the cause |
of its disasters; and when it shall see, as
1t cannot but see in time, that it is APP
preaching the next contest with five or
six Northern states against it, we shall
probably hear of peremptory ultimatum
submitted to the President by the North
ern leaders. Either he must disavow the
third term, or they must disavow him and
it and all the odious features of his admin
Rebellion is the worst of crimes in the
Republican penal code; but even rebellion
may be justifable when all other rene
dies fail; and even the gibbeted heads of
schurz and Trumbull may not deter
Blaine, Hawley, Dawes, Garfield, Phelps,
Foster, and the other moderate leaders
OF the party from raising the standard
against the President when they perceive
that it is the only chance of SAVING the
party.