The Cecil Whig. [volume] (Elkton, Md.) 1841-current, 1876-09-02
AN AGGRESSIVE CAMPAIGN.

At the outset of the Presidential contest
Samuel J. Tilden raised the black flag.
"Charity for no one was to be the watch
word. Reform was absolutely needed, and
he would ask no quarter and would give
none. "He would smite the great red
dragon" He would be as the man clothed
with the power of the sun. He would hold
up to view the embodiment Of all that was
pure in politics, and upright in morals
here the Tilden finger lovingly tapped the
Tilden bosom-and by its talismanic power
he would push on to victory. Truth should
triumph and virtue he indicated. Nothing
short of "an aggressive campaign" would
satisfy the great reformer (?) The battle
should be opened along the whole line with
grape and canister and shell and solid shot,
and the promise was given that "amidst
the thickest carnage" should be seen the
waving plume of King Sammy, of New
York.
g Press where You my white plume shine, amidst
the ranks of war,
And he your drill ,mme to-day the helmet of Reform
We saw the lines of his columns close.
We heard his henchman bray in the ears of
sensible men. We saw banners, bearing
the specious words" Tilden, Hendricks
and Reform flung to the breeze by bar
room bummers. We saw all the lazy loaf
ers enlist under that banner. Men stepped
to the ears in wickedness dscoursed
furiously of purity, and those in whose
hands dollar of no mans money would
be safe yelled the loudest for honest gov
ernment. The .iackals and camp followers,
attracted by the scent of the flesh pots,
hurried from their holes, and high above
the noisiest din rung the ravenous cry of
the place seeker.
Then we heard the order given to advance.
With banners flying and drums beating,
the Falstatfian army moved. To the eye
of the looker-on it seemed, indeed, that the
leader of the host had "unloaded all the
gibbets and pressed the dead bodies" Its
need of shirts was scarcely less than that
of its famous prototype. but that was
every hedge"
The first onset was terrific. Regulations,
the result Of years of honest toll, were no
defense against the most reckless charges
Scandal flew on the wings of the wind.
Ali the high and low places Of power, even
the precincts of domestic life, were invaded,
in the hope of finding something that would
give forth putrescent smell. No charac-
ter however high, no fame however spot
less, was safe. And if, perchance, dis
honest official was discovered the cormor-
ants gathered round and cried in UNISON
"behold the truth of our battle.'' But
the Republican party was able to give as
well as to receive blows. The onset of the
Confederacy was checked, the flood tide of
calumny receded, the advancing lines of
spurious Reform halted, wavered, fled in
hopeless confusion, and the great "aggres-
sive campaign" was turned into the saddest
of defensive ones. Its leader, stripped of
his high pretensions, finds himself called
on to rise and explain. This gentleman,
who opened the fight by hosting the black
flag, who arrogated to himself all that there
was of political virtue in the land, and who
looked upon Republicanism as the synonym
of vice, when placed in the balance is him
self found wanting. The heat of the cru
chile becomes to severe.
We had been slow to believe that Gov
ernor Tilden was personally dishonest
We had regarded with anxiety and fear his
possible success only, because it would have
given power to the worst elements of
party which has ever been in opposition to
the best interests of the nation. We had
hoped, however, for the honor of the land,
that the Democratic party could name a
standard bearer, who, when "the lights
were turned or" would be able to show
spotless record. We had known him, of
course, as the strictest of partisans, who
never dared rebel when the party ordered,
who was ever quick to follow where the
leaders led. But we were not prepared to
know him as a hypocrite and a perjurer.
Crying "no quarter" he invited his own
destruction. The mask has been stripped
from him, and he stands to-day convicted
of having deliberately swindled the govern
ment over which he seeks to preside.