The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1880-02-16
General Grant.

We do not concs"e '""s -.
,rest probabilny that General GRANT WIZ
he the candidate Of the Republicans TOT
presIdent: but we cannot deny that ms
sr,epds claim that he Is already as goce ~
nominated. They assert most conueeh.'y
that the influence Of the combinea SOLID
votes OF the States OF rcnnsylyauis' New
York, and Illinois, eli OF which DC WIZ
they say, certainly get within sbc's Tune,
will induce aud cause such boon tor h''n
that BLA,xx, SHERMAN, and all the rest OF
the aspirants will be lost sight or
So far as Pennsylvania is concerned inns
calculation Is founded upon an assumption
which will be seen to be basc'ess when 'nc
time strives Cor the Development OF INC
facts. Several Of the Pennsy Esnia delegates
"a the Chicago Convention baFe already de-
cIared II 10 be their purpose TO treat wlta
contempt the iustruciious OF the Pennsyiva-
MIA Republican State Convection, and 10 vote
.s thew please in the former body. They ne
mind the GRANTEES that tsc last kepupiiea"
National Convention refused 10 enforce
the unit rrlc. On the contrary, II not ohiy
allowed the Pennsylvania delegation TO Or
vide into parties numbering respecu'e'y
twepty-seur and tbiftyfour, but allowed
one single delegate from New York to vote
differently from the other sXty-nine. AS
tberefore, il will probably rest win tue dei-
cgates themselves 10 say whether they VIII
he hound by the instructions Of the home
conventions or not, we may safely assume
that espectableminoriiy OF the DELEGATIONS
from the three States OF New York, ILLINOIS,,
and Pennsyl vania will cast their votes ior
some candidate other than General GRANT.
The three States together undoubtedly have
nm immense vote, considering that they are
onfy three States; but when even their
great strength is measured by that OF all the
States II dwindles down into much less
ponderosity than a GRANT man is willing to
acknowledge it does. Those States east 10
out OF -4S votes, or 40 out OF 1873, which
latter Is the number required to nominate
a candidate. Now, deduct even the small
number Of 40 for delegates disaffected TO-
wards GRANT in all OF the three States, and
IL will appear that the - irresistible boom"
is to be started by $50 votes.
The Notion OF last week has fine article
headed "The Grant Movement Thought
Out.v That article will cause some squirm-
ing amongst the higbly-intelligent people IN
the North who are disposed to support
GRANT as "the strong man." or as the man
who will .,ike the presidential chair II be
wants il, let the Democratic Congress de-
clare the result Of the election to be what II
may. II GRANT is to be nominated for
these reasons. then in 1884 the Democrats
will have military capdidate; and not only
so, but all the Democratic States, profiling
by the example OF General GRANT in 1881,
will prepare for conflict OF arms. They,
too, will elect martial hero. They, TOO.
will support their candidate with men and
arms. The republic will have been Next
canized. In the mean time the national
credit Will have been destroyed, and all
business enterprises will have come TO an
untimey end.
Thus does The Nation forecast the fu-
ture--if General GRANT should be elect
ed But he won't be elected lie is the
. weakest OF all the Republican candidates.
His strength is great with CONKLING and
CAMERON and with all the stalwarts, as well
as with the plunderers who Jared so sump-
tuously at Government expense, or the eX-
pense Of the southern people, during his
eight years administration. But be is not
strong with the very best class OF voters
in the North. There are in that Sec
ton SO many thoughtful Americans that
we do not believe they will ever
run the risk of eleciing as President M"
who might so easily establish himself in Of
fee for life. Then there is very hume
rous foreign vote. The Germans espe-
cialy will refuse to support candidate
whose election would violate the tradi-
tions Of the republic. So also as to other
foreigners They did not come to this
country to aid in erecting military des-
potism upon the ruins OF the government
founded by the fathers Of the republic.
We still cling to the belief that General
GRANT cannot be elected il nominated; and
we 20 not eoncede yet that he can be even
nominated. He would certainly do more
than any other man to rennite the Conserya-
tive voters of Virginia into one party.
Under AN the circumstances OF the case,
we in Virginia may well look with COM
placency upon the desperate struggle OF the
third-termers. If they nominate GRANT,
the vote OF Virginia willthereby be insured
to the Democratic nominee. And as we are
more interested in the welfare Of our own
than In that Of any other State, we may be
excused for mat opposing the nomination of
the fav0rite Of the stalwarts.
The PHIiADEIRHIs SUIcIDE.--The Phila-