El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1912-06-12


was not that held By the dominant Re
publicans, onr that by the resurgent
Democrats; but that of the Liberal Re
publicans. great party born only to
Cie-its one campaign miserable fias-
co. And yet no party ever started off
with greater hope or brighter pros
poets, no movement ever began under
better auspices than that comb nation Of
brains ard convictions" that formed
the new departure Inc Liberal Ne
publican movement of 1872 was the
most considerable detection the Ike
publican party has suffered since It's
organization It's effect on the party MS
tory was not disastrous, but II carried
into the opposition many of the men
who were prominent IN the early days
of Republicanism. IL Is remarkable
fact that more than twO-thirds of the
men prominent in the Republican ma
tionaI conventions of 1896 and 1850
died Democrats or Independents
Started by Editors.
The Liberal Republican movement
vas captained and commanded by edi-
tOrs-by the giants of the era of per-
sOnal Journalism The campaign n
which II played iJs~part marks the be-
ginning of tine end OF the political party
newspaper organ, marks the advent OF
the Independent press. and writes
fins after the story Of the brave old
days of the golden age Of political jour
ualism.
The new departure reached its eli
max in the Liberal Republican cOnven-
ton which met at Cincinnati on May L.
William GrOsvenOr, the editor OF the
Missouri Republican, called the con-
ventiOn to order. Horace Greeley, the
editor of the New NOrk Tribune, was
its nominee for president b. GraJz
Brown, editor of the ST. Louis Globe
Democrat, was its nominee for vice
president Joseph Pulitzer. then editor
OF the St Louis POst-Dispatch and az
nH
World. was the secretary OF the con-
VentiOn. 4. X Mcclure, of the Phlla-
delphia Times, Horace White, of the
chicago Tribune Murat HalStead, OF the
Cincinnati Commercial, samuel BOWles,
of the Springfield Republican, and
Henry WatterSOn, Of the Louisville
Courier-JOurnal, were the big men at
the convention Later IN the campaign
the Greeley-B Brown ticket had the sup
port of Bennett in the New York Her
aid, although the elder Bennett was
even then on his death bed, and of
Dana in the New York sun. IL was
an editors campaign, but its great mis-
take was placing an erratic and eccen-
trio editor at tine head OF its ticket
others Join Movement.
But IL was not all an editors move
ment. salmon i. Chase, chief justice OF
the United States supreme court, wrote
a letter practically bidding for the
Liberal Republican nomination. in
which he said; If IL were judged the
best means of uniting the greatest
number Of those opposed to the admin
lstratlOn on principle, II would doubt
less be my duty to accept it"
Charles Sumner, the great Massa-
chusetts- senator, numbered in the sen
ate against the abuses Of the Grant ad-
minhstration and denounced the mill
tary rule, and he was ably seconded by
carl Schurz, while Grant and his ad
minlStratiOn were defended by COnk-
ling and Logan Governor Curtin. Of
Pennsylvania, and judge David Davis,
of Illinois, the men who had made Lin
coins nomination inevitable in 1850.
were now protesting against the dom
inant element in the Republican or
ganizatOn, although IL was only -
years since 1850.
These facts are the more remark
able when IL IS remembered that the
rev departure was the result Of a
movement headed by Clement Nallan-
dlgham, the arch COpperhead OF Ohio,
who had been banished 10 the COnfed-
crate states during the war, and who
was eNecrated by every lOyalist north
of the Mason and Dixon line. In the
famous Dayton platform Of 1871, Val
landtgnam declared for the unification
of all elements opposed TO Grant on
the basis OF a complete acceptance OF
the results OF the war. including the
reconstruction policy. the new amend
ments TO the constitution, and so on,
So radically did this policy differ from
that heretofore held by northern /
Democrats that the Nallandigham
movement was called the new depar-
ture
The Democratic press, headed by the |
Missouri Republican and the Louisville !
Courier-Journal, broke away from its
conventional mCOr1ngS and hailed the |
Dayton platform as the gospel that /
would work the political salvation of /
the land The Nallandigham origin Of I
GrosvenOr and Watterson became its /
leaders in the Democratic ranks, Gree |
ley and White its advocates among tbs /
Republicans
4 TfbersT Penn r1f..,, sts+s ..,.~,,-,-- i
ton was held in Missouri, and this con-
vention issued the call for the national i
convention that met In Cincinnati. It was ]
one of the most remarkable political I
gatherings ever held, and was char |
acterized by the high Intellectual or 4
der of Its members. But as was said 4
at the time there was so much genius /
that everybody bOlted, even from his /
own convictions
splits on Tariff Issue.
The tariff issue was the rock on !
which the convention split majority /
of the delegates were free traders, and /
yet the Pennsylvania element controlled [
and would not permit the nomination Of !
Charles Francis Adams, who was easily I
the favorite. and who led the poll on |
the first ballots taken The editors OBJ |
Jected to David Davis, and. at the end /
OF the convention, nominated Greeley.
although, even while the ballot was /
being taken. il was freely predicted in I
the convention hall that the result /
would be disastrous.
A correspondent, present at the time,
said of the nomination of Greeley: The /
old free traders are outraged: the I
southern Democrats are Uckled; old /
Wings are Modified; the Irish are /
tickled. the Germans are cold and com
planning, saying in suggestive way,
Too much water in mind On the whole /
the nomination disCOurages the intel i
leCtual men. the agitatOrs and the 1
brains of the movement 1t paCifies I
conservatives and people who want SEN
timent and quaint character in the /
The southern Democrats will
fight desperately to support and en- /
dorse it, The northern mOneved
Democracy will struggle to pooh-pooh 4
it" In that last phrase was expressed !
the real weakness of the movement
Endorsed by Democrats.
The Democrats met in Baltimore. the
original convention city. Thomas JET /