The Ottawa free trader. [volume] (Ottawa, Ill.) 1843-1916, 1883-05-12
CONKLING,S BLAST.

ri C0HKLING'S BLAST.
r A howl Of indignation and disgust goe,
q up all along the line Of the republican
o halfbreed press over the speech Of Roscoe
Y COnkllng at a banquet OF the Saturday
Night Club IN New York last Saturday
evening. The honored guest Of the occa
t sion was Gen. Grant, and Conkling was
S present as his distinguished friend. Gen
r Grant made the first speech, and spoke
t earnestly in favor OF what has long been
I his hobby-the establishment OF reciprocal
; trade relations with Mexico. The speech
was well,timed, dignified, and for Grant,
/ even eloquent. 1t seemed to electrify
Conkling with renewed admiration of the
u ldier-statcsman, whom IN speech with
which he immcdat followed Grant, he
eulogised tor the earnestness and sound
Judgment with which he urged the lorna
ton Of closer relations with Mexico, and
recurring to the many other great things
which Grant had done and mcdtated for
his country, his mind, by u natural i'm
pulse, reverted to the Chicago convention,
to which he said 1870 delegates had been
sent, mot merely instructed, bu. bound IN
honor to God and man to vote for the re
nomination of Gen. Grant FIR President Of
the United States" and he declared that
the .reachery and results OF that conven-
ton have set the country back ten years.
He could not Ignore the fact that after that
"treachery" both he and Grant had organ
lied their famous "hurdy.gurdy" cam
palgn In behalf Of the election of Garfield,
whose election he declared was the result
of the most stoutly fought political battle
in our history battle heavily weighted,
but the Republican party rallied under its
old leaders (me and Cameron and
Grant TO wit land glorlously won" That
was but two years ago, and what was the
situation now? There are but three of the
northern states left in (which the Republi
cans are victorious" And not able wholly
to hide the fact OF his quarrel with Arthur,
he charged that this humillating plight OF
the great Republican party resulted from
the fact that It's deslinles were In the hands
of weaklings who, instead of undertaking
to shape the affairs OF the country so as ,oI
subserve its great domestic and CONNER
cial interests, were pulling over the issue
what boy or girl shall have place in the
government cmploy"-ln other words, |
were playing push.pn over the rot and
rubbish OF low, tricky politics" The ou.
come of all of which was that "tho Demo |
Gratis were about to take control of the
country" and the Republican party was
done for. II might be saved yet, he said
in conclusion, If the cx.prosident could
once more be recognized rs the leader,
but do not know as | ought to use the |
word leader" SAID Mr.. Conklng sarcasti
cally. 1.-THE word leader is a term of op.
probium, an epithot, nowadays To be
leader now is to be boss, and there is no
end of men wEo think it desirable To de
ride and pull down bosses. The so called
fight against bosses is the particular form
that certain class of men give to a raid
upon superiority. Point out to me boss,
and | will show you man who by virtue
of his ability deserves to be boss"
1t is SAID the object of inviting Mr..
Conkling to meet with Grant and a few
other noted stalwart leaders was the hope
that it might be the means OF inducing
him to utter words of peace and concilia.
ton and conc forward and lead the Re
publican party 10 new victories the har.
mony of his leadership would be certain
to inspire; "but," as one Of the disguised
halfbrecd organs puts 1t, as it turned out,
nothing more unharmonious has been ut
tered since the Republican party last year
split down its back like an overripe June
bug or seven year locust With that in
genuity which is all his own the ex.Sena
tor instead of uttering words of peace, al
luded to every disagreeabe and unharmo.
nious circumstance in the republican
family history" In short, conclude these
wise editors there is no hope for Conk.
ling and the best thing he can do is to go
over to the Democratic party, which now
seems IN Inc his full determination