The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1896-03-11
some POLITICAL HISTORY
It Is Recalled BY a Contest in Chester
County.
GREELEY LIBERAL MOVEMENT
Psrt plsyed iu II BY Ex.Cougrsssman
Dafiingtou and Also By Colonel
A, L. MoClurc-The Case Of
GsIusha A. Grow.
"penn,. i. In Philadelphia Bulletin.

Galushs A. Grow.
"Psnn," In Philadelphia Bulletin.
Ex-Congvessman Smedley Darling
ton, who has been elected to the st.
Louis convention as delegate from the
Chester county district, mounts himset
ON a Quay platform and breaches with
heart and soul and might and main
against any man who is not faithful
to the Irregular" organization. Ihe
West Chester veteran has been dong
TINS so often these many years that II
may be difficult for those who know
him only as q partisan with lmphcie
faith I'm the machine, to understand
that he was once something of mug
wump himself. Yet he was one or the
band of independents In Pennsylvania
who couldn't stomach the second NOM
ination of Grant for the presidency ana
who went clear out of the party under
the leadership Of A. *. Mcclure wnen
the Greedy standard was erected In that
strange, picturesque campaign or ls'Z:
That experience seems to have lasted
him for the rest of his life. For the
past twenty years or at least since ne
began war on James Il. Everhart and
drove him out of public life, he has
spent the greater part or his time In
public affairs wrestling with. and gem
orally throwing down. the independents
and boilers in his political household
Darlington, however, Is only a fair
sample of the men who bolted from the
Republican party in that year to salts
fy grudges or. as a chance for disap-
pointed ambitions or, as was often the
case, to further an honest, sentimental
longing for pure politics. and VINO,
when they met failure, returned to their
old allegiance with even fiercer par
tisanship than the faithful. Galusha
A. Grow was the most conspicuous OF
them i'm Pennsylvania. He came back
humbly In the hard money campaign
of 1875 and he has been II strenuous
party man ever since. From him down
to John w. Frazier. who for good
many years has been a valiant trench-
erman for the local machines, they
nearly all put on the straight Republl-
can livery and have worn 1t as faithful-
ly, II not also as ostentatiously, as Oar"
lingtoh.
TWO EXCEPTIONS.
The two chief exceptions were Curtin
and Mcclure. Curtin became a DEM
ocrat, but he was never quite able to
get into close touch with the party.
No man, indeed, ever went out OF the
Republican party with more regret
from among the rank and file or those
whom he had left than the war gover-
nor. He had been serving as minister
to Russia; his position was doubtful in
the pending campaign, so FAR as 1t was
known to the public. and there was a
mighty sensation on the summer morn
ing when 1t was announced that he
would not support Grant, aud when it
looked on the surface of events as If a
political revolution might call Greeley
To the presidency, The blame for his
secession was placed on Mcclure, who
had been In close correspondence with
him, and the Cameron clans We're
turned loose upon them both as If they
We're a pair of bandits. Traitor"
orehead," renegade" assassin"
and migrate" We're few of the showers
OF epithets that fell upon Curtin's head
from the extreme staiwarts of the party
press. But the plain people of the party
throughout Pennsylvania, the thous-
sands of intelligent Republican homes
in which he had been an object of affec-
tion. and the soldiers, who could not
dismiss him, and his spirit stirring elo
quence. from their most treasured
memories of the war, did not share In
the abuse. There was real sorrow
among them over his detection. and
there was never a time when they
would not have gladly welcomed him
back II he had been willing to suffer the
modification of suing the Camerons for
peace and to go through course of pro-
bation and discipline at the hands Of
his old rival.
No political movement ever had
brighter beginning and a more inglori-
Gus ending than the Liberal uprising Of
1872. When it was fully started In the
Cincinnati convention there were signs
that Ii would sweep the country and
that the very roots of the Republican
party had been torn out of it. The
nomination of Greeley apparently had
made deep impression on the people.
Its real weakness was not disclosed un-
til II was endorsed by the Democratic
convention. OF course, there was no
hope of his election without it's endorse
ment: but few of the Liberal leaders
foresaw the revulsion that was to follow
among the Republicans who loved Gree
ley less than they hated Democrats,
and among the Democrats, who hated
Greeley even more than they hated
Grant. The full extent of this feeling
was not perceptible until toward the
end OF the summer. but when the first
symptoms of 1t appeared in the North
Carolina election 1t presaged the be-
ginning of the tremendous rout in the
autumn to shrewd observers. 1t was
not. however, until Pennsylvania had
voted at the October election, after q
campaign which has not since been sur
passed here in virulence. passion and
corruption, that the Greeley men gen.
orally saw that all was over.
MCCLURE AT THE HELM.
Among the Liberals Colonel Mcclure
was their head center in Pennsylvania.
He opened their headquarters on Wal
Irt OF Wi Jnh ,,;o Ii.
man Friday. They We're practically the
Liberal state committee. Indeed. with
out Mcclure the movement would prob
ably have made small headway i'm
Pennsylvania. He had been the chief
representative of the delegation at Gin
cinnati. had made David Davis. of H.
1inois, his candidate, and had support
cd Greeley only when his nomination
was found to be inevitable. With very
little money and with all the news
papers in Philadelphia with but two ex-
ceptions OF any Importance bitterly hos
tile to him he carried on a spirited
campaign by the aid of literary bu-
reau and by the help of such spouters
as were, willing to go on the Demo-
cratic stump; for in Pennsylvania the
Democrats had nominated Charles r.
Buckalew for governor, and Buckalew
was strong dose for any man who
had been Republican to swallow, how
ever much he might have wanted to
support Greeley. Colonel Forney, with
ahe Press, tried the experiment Of OPP
posing Hartranft and supporting Grant
in the spring and early summer, and
1t lost the Press thousands of its read
ers: but 1t tended to give the Liberals
an Importance in the state campaign
and to make Pennsylvania doubtful
state until q late stage of the canvass.
Greeley had many chivalrlc supporters
among the Liberals. who went down
with him in the wreck, even when they
dQIesSa as.hat naI1aiIaax: iaiat e