The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1876-03-11
The Liberals of 1870.

NV Va 10 fOs
There is a class OF men in the Republican
party who are now attempting the role of
the Liberals of 1872; and we see their first
efforts in the resolutions introduced u day
or two ago into the Union League of this
city. These resolutions read well, and We
truly hope Mcssrs CHoATE, GOODWIN & Co.
will get some comfort out of them. But
these gentlemen and their confcderates
will find il hard to infuse their virtue into
the managing partners of the Republican
organization. These latter gentlemen care
very little for political virtue in the alb
stract or the concrete. They hold the or
ganization In the hollow of their hands,
aud 60 in for winning by methods best
known to themselves. They are children
of the world. who are wiser in their day
than the children of light. To them the
idea of purifying the party is all CANNON.
That is just what they do not want to do
and do not mean to do.
A new party may be strong in its virtue,
but an old party is strong in its corrup-
tions. That is their belief, and they will
act ON il. The uneasy Republicans who
do not hold To that theory will be toler-
nted, but forced TO take a back seat. Tho
men who are being chosen and are about
10 he chosen TO attend the Cincinnati Con-
vention by the Republican organizations
all over the country, are in general simply
hacks, who want cOllectorships, ana post
nfli - ana cunsulates, diplomatic aud
Cabinet places, clerkships, assessorships,
agencies, and the like; and the last thing
that concerns them, and the one thing
- a.. don't think nhntt - f,nr ~
form That is a guilotine whose opera
ton they most of all do depreclte. 1t Is
nmply lnughable to such manipulating
politicians and thick-and-thin partisans u
CoNEL;NG and MORTON and BLAINE and
Emo. OF pennsy lvania, and sly HANNIBAL
Of Mime, and smooth DAWES and BOUT
will to be approached by upright pri-
waite gentlemen and honest Republicans,
und asked to nominate reformer for
President, a man who will be clean aud
decent, and raise the standard of hen
esty and responsibility in the administra-
tion OF the Government.
M CuoATE ana Mr.. GoDwIS, your pure
in,linations are all thrown away. You
mean well, hut you don know how TO do IT..
Just look along the strand and behold the
WRECKS on the shores of the treacherous
tcls on which you are so bravely launch
in your little banks. There lio the
shattered hulks once Differed by such
stout commanders rs GREELEY, and sum
MFR, aud TRUNBULL, and BLAIR of Michi-
gun and Cox of Ohio, and SCHURz; and
there your bones will bleach if you ven
ture too far with your interesting expert
Li,tt.
We are sorry to discourage such virtuous
tpl,iu., but it is our duty TO express our
sentiments. The Republican party Is
party running on its organization, its
moncy, and its corruptions. 1t has the
Immense advantage of being in possession
Of an the political resources Of the Federal
t;Jy rnA M, and il Will unscrupulously
employ them. This organization was
gully of unbushing frauds in the pre-
iminlry elections of 1872, notably in that
OF North Carolina, whore a minority of
GOD WAS converted into majority of
1000 Tor the Republican ticket. 1t will
repeat such frauds now. 1t will go to
Uiucnnati in force, and after the nomina-
Ion IS made, if either one OF certain
prominent candidates now spoken of Is
put up, we shall see the same game played
over again with mproyements-the same
tune with variations. Are the men en-
gagged in such an enterprise likely to be
held by the coat tail by u few virtuous re-
formers ike Messrs. CHoATE GOODWIN, and
ScHULTzi Not in the least. They mean
business They are bound on burglary,
aud If any man in the crowd is senti-
mental and doesn't want to carry jimmy,
they will object to his company, and what
is more, they won't have II.
What we mean explicitly TO say is,
that the Republican party are going to
nominate a straight-out Republican Bour-
bon at Cincinnati, aud then set all their
appliances at work to elect him. No pro-
testing reformers around the edges are
going to prevent this. The morality OF the
party is wrecked, and its leaders are now
going TO run il squarely on its cor
ruptions; and on this basis its principal
chiefs believe it to be the strongest organi-
cation in the country. The gentlemen
who believe it can be reformed from the
inside are the most verdant Of moTtals.