Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1884-10-09
The Independent Reaction.

To the immediate managers of MIR.
Cleveland, the reaction against him,
which is Enthusiastically spreading among
the Independent Republicans whose
votes his candidacy was intended to se-
cure, must be an unexpected and bitter
disappointment. At the very moment
when the presence of Mr.. Blaine is pro-
ducing in his party affecting of enthusi-
asm and confidence which can hardly
fail to infect the hesitating or indiffer>
emf voters who flock to what seems to be
the winning side, feeling of dissatis-
faction or positive disgust has begun to
disclose itself among the Republican
enemies of Mr.. Blaine who had deter
mined to vote for Cleveland.
These men, justly distrustful of the
Republican candidate, turned to the
Governor of New York, expecting to find
AID believing that they had found in
him a candidate morally unexception>
able and intellectually qualified. They
knew little about him. They took him
on trust. They imagined that his merit
was proportionate to the majority which
he was elected Governor.
They have been finding out their mis-
take. They are coming to see that the
hero of the enthusiasts in the Independ-
ent conference is creature of very
common clay. The more they study him
the greater is their dissatisfaction. The
long concealed truth about him has at
last been told, and the truth is fatal.
Day by day his real nature becomes
known. His intellectual sluggishness.
his meagre knowledge, his coarse de+
bauchery, shock and repel them. As
between Blaine and Cleveland. the intel
lectual inferiority of the latter has al
ways been apparent; they preferred
Cleveland on account of his character.
Aud now, by his own shameful confes
sion, they know what that character is.
The recantations made by religious
Journals and teachers who had too has,
tily commended a man whose further
public promotion would be deadly
moral object lesson to young men, the
i'll concealed uneasiness which prevails
among the Independent Republicans
who, from pride of opinion or the bitter
ness of their hatred of Blaine or unwil-
lingness to vote fer Butler or st. John,
still hold to Cleveland, and the changed
tone of secular newspapers which were
eager in his support few weeks ago are
indubitable signs of the reaction which
has set in among the Independent Re-
publicans.
In this town and in other large towns
where it is supposed by some people to
be mark of the man OF the world to
regard with indifference or federation
offences like Mr.. ClevelaHd's, this reac-
tion has not yet been and may not be as
marked as it is in the country towns.
But wherever people have old-fashioned
notions about the safety of their fami+
lies and their homes, it is felt and will
continue to be felt. The Independent
Republican movement is an arrested de-
yelOpment. Ii will not grow, save to
grow beautifully less. Its originators
were. for the most part, men of talent
and of praise worthy intentions; but
they made great mistake. which is now
getting rectifed.
Meanwhile the opposition to Cleveland
in his own party is rather increasing
than diminishing. The hopeful and ear
nest st. John men and Butler men who
are opposed to both Cleveland and Blaine
preferring the disintegration of both the
great political parties to the triumph OF
either under an unworthy cbief.are daily
cheered by new accessions. Allthe bolts
prosper except the most ambitious and
pretentious of them all,the one for which
The Democratic party threw over Its best
traditions and its greatest leaders, selling
its birthright for mess of pottage.
Grover Cleveland was nominated 70
please the Republicans. and we imagine
that the Republicans are pretty well
pleased.-N. Y. Sun, (Dem.)