The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1880-04-17
The Kind of Strong Man the People
Want.

publican party, the principal arSu
ment in favor of a third term fp
4 General Grant has been based upol
the alleged necessity that we shoult
have a "strong man" to cope will
the threatened purpose of the Democ
racy to resort to the most unscrupu
lous and revolutionary measure
to prevent the Inauguration of an
other Republican President. Assum
ing that tn So wicked designs viii b'
carried to their extreme. it is argued
that General Grant, as the Republi
can, would be better able to overcOIn,
lstnd lefm< tll'sp as 41ilR|
leader that has been named. TIL,
logic of this claim is not so apparent
1t is true that General Grant proved
one of the greatest of military chief
tains, but the contest for the Presi
dency is a civic and not military
one, and we are now preparing for al
appeal to the ballot box and not tG
civil war. What we need is not a
candidate who could lead his hosts
70 battle after the Mexican plan oi
deciding election, but a candidate
who will inspire such popular enthu-
siasm and support that his election
VIII be put far beyond cavil or dis
pute.
This IS constitutional Govern
ment, and the fundamental principle.
so emphatically re affirmed by the
result of the great war for the Union.
is that the Constitution has in itself
the sentiments of self-preservation
and all the "strength" required, to
protect and maintain our institutions.
The sentiment of the people of this
Union is that the Constitution and
the Laws are stronger" than any
man, and that whenever their powers
are properly and firmly invoked
they will prove invineible against
any assaults of faction or conspiracy.
We believe that the sort of .'strong
man" demanded by the Republicans
of the United States for their leader
in the campaign of 1880 is one who
recognizes not only the sacredness
but also the potency OF the COnstitu
tion as a conservator and preserver
of the rights of the people, aud who,
without setting himself above the
law, has the craftsmanship, sagacity,
and courage to invoke and marshal
every lawful agency and power to
the vindicatiOn of free ballot hon
estly counted.
For such a man we need not look
in vain, or seek beyond the citizen
ship of our own St$te and events OF
the past six, months have more clear
ly than ever before identified our
glorious leader. James G. Blaine, az
the kind of "strong man" needed
and desired by the Republicans ol
the country for their standard. bearer
and chief in the coming contest.
1t is row matter of history that
the conspiracy to steal the State ol
Maine WAS an important part of the
organized plan of the Democracy to
grasp the next Presidency by fraud,
ana the exposure has shown it tC
haye been the most startling and
m0nstrouS crime eyer ATTEMPTED
against the suffrage rights of the peo-
pie. The cOnspirator, had the ad.
vantage of being entrenched in power
as a co ordinate branch of the State
government, and the fact that the
Chief Executive and his councillors
prostituted their powers and inlmu.
mites to the perpetrati0n of the great
crime of setting up, by fraudulent
count and fraudulent certificates, an.
other coordinate branch of the gov
ernment, which proceeded in turn &c
set up fraudulent Executive, rem.
dered the task of exposing and over
throwing The gigantic conspiracy ar
almost superhuman task.
When Senator Blaine returned to
Maine in the middle OF November
alter his arduous campaigning in the
West, he found himself confronted
with plot of yilliany unpara lleled
and almost incredible. The conspira
tors had prepared fora grand com
@etdt by this issuing of C rtiticates tc
a fraudulent majority in both bran
ches Of the legislature, and ut mo
nIent Was to be lost. From thai
moment Senator Blaine closed upon
the conspirators in grapple that
never ceased to tighten until, by
methods Of law under the powers oI
The Constitution, the attempt To sci
up "a government il Maine by fraud
Was strangled to death.
From the first day, on which near
~ two hundred of tie most eminent
Republican citizens of the State were
summoned by telegraph for consul
tatlon at the State capital, the resi-.
uHlpn nf Snn.i,,. 4 Ia.