The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1879-01-30
JUDGE BLAIR,s PREDICTIONS.
Tho Contest In 1880 Ono Between Tilden
and Grant.

Tho Contest In 1880 Ono Between Tilden
and Grant.
Hon. Montgomery Blair has written
the following letter to Mr.. Samuel M.
Shaw, editor of the Hecman's Journal.
1t cannot fail to be read with interest:
"MY DEAR SIR: 1 have been ill ever
since your letter of the 11th ult. came to
hand, and only read it day before yes.
terday. lam not we'll yet, but the subject
SO presses upon me that l must attempt a
brief reply.
The most obvious fact in the political
history of our generation is that our con-
tests have been struggles for sectional sd
premacy, in which the Democratic Or
ganization has been regarded and treated
by the people of the North as the in
strument of Southern dominion over
them. 1t was jealousy of power-as
natural to communities q, to individuals
and not sympathy for the slave, which
solidiied the North to install and main
tain the Republican party in power. The
abolitionists were not corporal's guard
till, by the use of the slave question, the
South had been consolidated, and, by its
control of the Democratic organization,
made the governing power of the Union.
Then it was that the staunchest Demo-
Gratis in the North broke away from the
national organization, and the strongest
Democratic districts and counties Of New
York and Pennsylvania, and other great
Northern Democratic States, became the
strongest Republican districts and coun-
ties, and made the North solidly Repub-
lican.
This was the assertion fer the people
of the North by the then recognized
leaders of the Democratic party there, Of
the great Democratic principle of the
right of self-government, and this it was
which vitalized the Republican party.
By the Wilmot proviso they sought to
prevent our accession of territory from
aggrandizing the political power of the
South land when that power was strength
ened by the addition oftbe vast territory
of Texas, they were the men who pressed
on the war for the acquisition of Cali
fornia and other free territory to uphold
the power of the North; and they sepa-
rated themselves from the Democratic
party>in 1S48, carrying with them in
New York great majority of it, and de-
feated it in the election of that year, to
prevent the South from debating the
settlement of the territorial question in
the interest of its power.
Believing that the question had been
finally settled, and the rights Of the
North secured by the act of 1850, ad-
mitting California as free State into
the Union, the great majority of these
men returned to the party and restored
it to power in 1852. The renewal of the
struggle by the repeal of the Missouri
compromise, the Dred Scott decision,
and other measures, carried the greater
part of them again into opposition.
Those who remained with the party
when the war came on were war Demo
Gratis, and rendered inestin,able service
to the Union by preventing the alliance
of the party with the rebellion. OF these
Tllden was the chief, and, having stood
by the North in the war, as well as in
the antecedent struggle under Van Blu
rem and Wright and Preston King
against Sontherns supremacy, his nomina-
ton in 1876 enabled us so far to with
stand the pressure of the sectional issue
as to carry four of the Northern States.
The politicians of the Southern school
having allowed his election to be set
aside, and making no secret since of their
preference for Hayes, we have lost three
of those States aud will lose the other in
| 1880 if Southern ascendancy las the
abandonment of Tilden will unmistaka-
bly, indicate to be the purpose) is again
to be the watchword of the party.
No one, indeed, can conceal from him
self the fact that our success depends al
together upon the question whether the
politicians who obtained position in the
party while it was dominated in the
interest of the South shall continue to
control its nominations and policy
Their persistence in attempting to do SC
will only show that they prefer personal
power to party success. But take pleas
ure in saying that this is not true of this
class of politicians generally. They are
for the most part, patriotic men, and il
was Governor Seymour, their recognized
leader, who led the way to the nomina.
ton of Tilden. He understood so well
the irresistible power of the sectional IS
sue against his class of public men thai
he was able to foresee its effect even ir
his own case. and was, therefore, sincere
ly disinclined to accept the nomination
thrust upon him in 1868. And it is fal
more honorable for Governor Seymour
to have comprehended the necessity o
yielding the leadership of the party tt
the head of the opposing faction, SO a.
to secure its triumph, and to have hao
the magnanimity to make the surrender
than to have been himself elected to tht
Presidency.
The people are utterly Indifferent Il
the dissensions of our party chiefs grow
ing out of their rivalry. What the peo
pie of the North are concerned about i
whetherthe men who have stood mp for th'
rights of the Northern States and th'
power of the citizens of those States il
the control of the national government
shall be prescribed by the party organi
zation. That concerns their own rights
and the rights and dignity of the com
munity to which they belong. TildeI
belonged to the dominant wing of tn
Northern Democracy when that party
by its control of the great Northern
States, was essentially a national party
The overthrow of that wing of the part.
by the South, through its control of thu
national organization, lost the party al
power in the North and made it essenti
ally Southern sectional party. 1t
manifest that it can only become ma
tional again by reinstating as its leader
the school of statesmen who gave it tha
character.
This is the feeling of the great mass O
the party North and South, and tn
nomination of Tilden was made in &C
cordance with that feeling. By adhe
renee to this wise and patriotic polio
we can eliminate sectionalism from ou
politics and restore efficient and homes
administration. Otherwise, Grant vii
be reelected and Radicalism perpetua
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