Year: 1867

uG lUllUWluS dlGiCl llOIu IHC ANtN
York Tribune we fully indOrse:


Fifteen months hence the people of
the United States will be called to
elect their President for term of four
years, commencing on the 18th of
March, I669-almOst two years hence.
Meantime, We have to deal with the
great and difficult problem of the re-
storation of ten States, still but parti-
alIv solved we have to reconcile local
self-govcrnmcnt with the permanent
sway of Nationality and Loyalty We
have an immense National Debt to
Cotton and other taxes to consider,
and the cver-prcsent perils of an IRE
dcemable Paper Currency to guard
against, and, if possible, overcome.
These problems may well tax the best
resources Of craftsmanship, and ought
to secure general attention. In full
view of their imminence, q lew poll
ticians by trade are intent on opening
the Presidential canyass-bringing
forward General Grant as their candi-
date.


We neither affirm nor deny The fit
ness of this choice. There are fea-
lures of General Grants character
which incline us to regard him with
favor, especially his magnanimity to-
ward the ex-rebels. Time may prove
that he is the man for the place but
that question cannot now be determin.
ed. We need to understand more
clearly the issues OF which that cleo
ton is to turn, and the views of the
rival candi lates relative thereto.


The people are not in the mood for
trying any grab-bag experiments. They
will insist on having President who
fully knows his own mind with regard
to the political situation, and who has
not essentially another mind from
theirs. They have once or twice
taken can lidates on trust, and have
not been encouraged to repeat the
venture. And, when they see that
General Grants name is the ShibbO-
leth Of number of the most discredi-
ted of the camp followers and shoddy-
patriots of the late war, who barked at
the heels of the sOrely beset Republic
whenever it was constrained to take
a step forward in the course which led
TIN Ough Emancipation to triumph,
they will be more strenuous in their
demands for light than if the General
were not eHrsed by such hackers.


Many things are forgiven to a party
which has not outllyed it's ideas and
Its work but one thing is never for
given, and that is distrust of the cor
rectness and value of its own princi-
pies. The Whig party was badly
beaten in the defeat of Clay by Polk
in l844-sOreIy to its own amazement
and grief yet its vitality was so little
impaired that it elected the next House
of Representatives and the next
Governor of New York. Four years
later it succeeded with General Taylor,
but lost the House of Representatives
chosen along with him; was beaten
out of sight in the next one, and never
recovered its vitality. And the reason
was, that in the contest for Mr.. Clay's
election it boldly proclaimed and de-
Tended its convictions, asking u YER
dict thereon; while in that for General
Taylor's it rather concealed and eva
ded a distinct issue of principle, trust
ing for success to fictitious appeals
aud ciap-trap instrumentalities.


Let us repeat, to repsl misrepre
sentatiOn, that we do not call in gues-
ton the fitness Of choosing General
Grant as the Republican candidate Tor
President. We will consider that
point i'll due time. What we do say
is, that the Republican candidates must
represent and embody Republican
principles, and he neither afraid nor
ashamed to avow his faith in them and
his willingness to stand or fall by them.
His personal qualities and popularity
are important considerations. but his
fearless, explicit devotion to Republ-
can ideas is a primary and essential



An old miser having listened to a
very eloquent discourse on charity, re-
marked: That sermon so strongly |
proves the necessity of almsgiying,
that-Pyc almost mind to beg"