Peninsular news and advertiser. [volume] (Milford, Del.) 1872-1904, 1876-05-26

hAbiOhs liO NNiAAhUSf Va @hAA' 1fAAfNO'
is the free and natural expression of the
desire of honest citizens for administra-
tive reform. 1t arose both within and
without the Republican party. The
good sense which saw that such reform
is Indispensable, and that it is most prac-
ticable within existing methods, seems
instinctively to have selected as its rep
resentative the citizen who, as party
man, and in the ordinary course of his
official duties, has made that reform a
fact in the face of the most formidable
and insidious hostility. Yet no one can
say that he has ever said a word, or
writer a line, or authorized an act to
influence the nomination. Other candi-
dates have sent out agents, have con
trolled Conventions, or have carefully
hidden their hands, knowing that the
machine was set to aid them. But the
Secretary of the Treasury, although al
the head of the department which has
much the largest patronage, has seen
without protest candidates for the NOM
luuAlOll llilluNnOlllS dlDOlHlltltHL VI
important officers in his own department,
who were to use the force of their posi-
tions for those candidates and against
the Secretary. Content to do his duty
unsparingly and effectively, he has
Orned with honest contempt every eff
fort to use his office for his own personal
or political advantage. Is it surprising
that at this time, and amidst all the rev.
elations of practices that disgust and
dshearten the country, such man and
officer should have recalled so strongly
to the popular heart the simple and
sturdy public virtue which it attributes
to an older time, that it has selected
him as the representative Of its desires
and purposes p?
1t is objected that lie is unknown and
OF too brief service; that he lacks ex-
perience, and comes from Kentucky
that he is sentimental candidate, and
peculiarly obnoxious to the oflice-hold.
ing interest, which fears that he would
reform and purify all incumbents out
of place. We are not arguing, but OBJ
serving, and as observers we can see
with every body that Mr.. Bristow is very
much better known than Fremont and
Lincoln were in 1856 and 1860. He comes
from Kentucky, indeed, and of an early
antislavery family, himself an antisla
very man from the beginning. refusing
to support Whig candidate for Gov
ernOr who had warmly approved the
bred Scott decision, and Fastening
among the first to the field when slavery
rose in rebellion. 1t is true that Andrew
Johnson betrayed the Republican caus,
and the party, but he had never been any
thing else than n slavery Democratic
politician, and the end might have beei
foreseen. Mr.. Bristow represents tn
idea of the party to-day as Fremont
Lincoln, and Grant represented it whel
they were nominated. The objections
to Mr.. Bristow's candidacy, so faras W,
know them, are merely the expressions
Of those who feel obliged to give SOM
reason for not favoring the Secretary
| IL NttAi llOO DC uGllGh lllub lllo lOlu uDOi
the popular heart is very strong, and il
is not weakened by the following letter
which he recently wrote to Il citizen Of
Massachusetts. The significance of the
letter is it's truth.
Il have not sought, nor can consent
to seek, by any means, my own advance
ment, nor am willing to do any act oi
fn n or 70, 1,,N, L.
public as a candidate for office. | am
quite content to discharge as well as |
can the duties of the office which 1 now
hold. OF course l cannot be insensible
to the support given me by earnest and
honest men in my humble efforts to EN-.
force the law and collect the revenues
levied by law. Expressions of confidence
and support from citizens of Massachu.
sets ere peculiarly grateful to me, be-
cause they come from an enlightened
and patriotic community upon which |
have no claims, personal OF official"
This is the man whom twelve mem.
bers of the Union League Club in New
York think unworthy of their company
This is the Republican whom twelve Re
publicans have blackballed. There was
no question of Mr.. Bristow's persona
character or fitness. The result is wholly
due to political pretenses. The professet
objection is that the whiskey prosecu
tions vera undertaken to secure q Dem
ocratic nomination. 1t is, OF course
highly probable. A former antslaver,
Kentucky Wing and sturdy soldier O
the Union, II man who supported Lin
coin from the first, and who in Kentucky
advocated the equal rights of the coloret
citizen, is undoubtedly the very man tC
seek, as Republican Secretary of the
Treasury, Democratic nomination fol
the Presidency. Could the twelve black
ballers be known, we have no doubt
that they would prove to be in full sym
pathy with the spirit that denounced
the prosecution of Babcock as political
persecution. And were General Bah
cock himself to be proposed as a member
there is no reason to doubt that every
one of these blackballers of Secretary
Bristow would support him. Mr.. Bris
tow was rejected not because he is not q
gentleman nor a tried and true Repub
lican, but because he is an aggressively
honest and efficient public servant. Those
twelve blackballs but draw the line more
emphatically and ineradicably 1esweer
Republican Reformers and Republican
/ kElN,,,