Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1880-04-24
Of journalism rested. For such journals
as he made there will soon, we trust, be
neither room nor tolerance.
THE SITUATION IN THE REPUBLICAN,
PARTY

PARTY.
The present situation of the Republican
Party is very remarkable one, and it
ought to be studied conscientiously. Two
things are prominently displayed. One is
the indisposition of the rank -and-file to ac-
cept General Grant as their candidate for
the Presidency. The other is the unmis-
taxable determination of certain political
managers to force him upon the party. OF
these two things, the first is very much
more Ineligible than the second. The
reasons why the Republican Party should
not seek General Grant for a candidate are,
in fact, as plain and clear and simple as
reasons can be, and they ought also to be
as convincing. General Grant is a great
soldier, and his military achievements have
entitled him fully to the second place at
least in the country's list of eminent patri-
OTIS. But as an executive, as an administra-
tor, he has proved failure, and the people
and the Republican Party have long since
recorded their convictions on this head.
The proof of this is easy General Grant
went INTO Office in 1872 with overwhelm-
ing Republican majorities. His party
had control of both houses of Con-
gress. 1t could do as it pleased in
every department of government. 1t
possessed the confidence of the country.
When General Grant handed over the Gov-
eminent to his successor, where were the
great majorities with which he had
commenced his administration Where
was the control of Congress? Where
was the confidence of the country :?
All gone, all swept away by that
tide of NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS. which poured
over the country during his second
administration flood of scandals and
abuses fatal to the party. He had lost
almost everything. The Republican masses
had manifestly abandoned him, and were
voting for Democrats. And the justitica-
ton for the abandonment was unquestion-
ably strong Whoever will look back to
that era and recall the persistence and uni
versatility of the charges of corruption and
malfeasance that rang through the air all
over the country-charges preferred, be 1t
remembered, not by Democrats, but by
Republicans realize the profoundness
of the conviction which broke the Repub-
lican majorities and restored the opposi-
ton to power in Congress. 1t was
not here and there scandal that
produced these results. 1t was
the patent and notorious prevalence of cor
ruption and abuses in almost every depart
ment of the Government The Treasury
under Richardson, the Indian Department
under Delano, the Department of Justice
under Williams, the Navy Department un-
der Robson. The War Department under
Belknap The Custom House at New Or
leans under Casey. The Custom House at
New York under Leet and Murphy. The
scandals of Simmons in Boston, of Shep-
herd in Washington, of Babcock IN the St.
Louis whisky trials, of Schenck in the
English Mission these and many other
specimen cases made it impossible for the
country to doubt the truth of the arraign-
ment brought against President Grants
second administration, and dissolved the
bonds which had previously united his
fortunes with those of the Republican
Party. 1t was evident that he was not
fitted for an executive civil officer. 1t
was evident that he was incapable of choos-
ing his friends well. 1t was evident that
he utterly misconcelved the theory of Amer
lean Government, and that he regarded
the Presidency as his personal acquisition,
to be dealt with as suited his personal
convenience or caprice, and without
thought of responsibility to the people.
His maxim about standing by his
friends when they were under fire con-
clusively demonstrated this, and his cool
Indifference to public opinion, as mani
tested in his promotion of member of his
who had been compelled to
resign because of the exposure of his cor
rupt practices. When, therefore, he left
office, he had very nearly destroyed the
party, and the rank and file of
that party do not forget this. 1t is i'm
possible that they should desire the NOM
nation of General Grant. Nothing has
occurred to weaken or modify the opin-
ions to which the events of his second
compelled them. He is the
same man, with the same foibles and the
same disabilities. There is no more ground
for expecting that he would make good
President now than there was when he
closed his second term. He was not then
regarded as good President. The col
lapse of his party under the burden of his
proved that. On what
Ineligible theory, then, can he be thrust
to the front again now?
1t is abundantly evident that the Re-
publican masses have not called for him,
and do not want him. If the events which
preceded the close of his last term can
be accepted as indications, it is very
doubtful whether large percentage of
these voters would not refuse to vote for
him under any circumstances. Nor is
the notorious unwisdom of the selection
on personal grounds the only objection to
it. In the minds of many men the third
term question is even more obnoxious.
They look upon the attempt to make one
man President three times as deliberate
in the direction of Imperialism
and as sinister deserti9n OF funda
mental principles. They may be mistaken
as to this, but they are none the less rooted
in their hostility to the third term, and we
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