Year: 1874

of Virginia, man of more than ordinary aDinty,
a clear, if notan original thinker. popular orator,
and possessed of that personal magnetism which
always attracts following: he is also sincere
well-meaning man. But he is Of that class who
have been deIuded into the belief that the South
can never be rehabitated and brought into the old
time amicable relations with the North until her
leading men SEQ eye to eye with President Grant;
and. committed TO that belief. he would take the
whole people of Virginia if not of the entire South
with him. and lay their old prejudices and fears as
peace offering at the feet of Grant. Upon this basis
his policy was formed, and by proclaiming it to his
constituents, bit by bit instead of as a whole, he
has not only avoided startling them, but has carried
MANY along with him until it is undoubtedly true
that n very considerable number of Virginia COnser
yatives are ready to accept Grant as their candi-
date lust as in 1869 they voted for the stranger
Walker for Governor aud for the inceDdiary Hunn-
cut for Representative in Congress There are,
however thousands who decline to follow Kemper
or anybody else into the support of the man VINO
has not only defended and protected carpet
bagsm in the South, but whose fellowship with
corrupt officials has dlsgraced him in the eyes OF
many of his hitherto warm adherents in the North.
They are willing to credit Kemper with sincerity
and patriotism, and do not believe that he Is 1ary
charged with an ambition for the second place on
the ticket with Grant in 1876 but they distrust hs
Judgment and question the statesmanship when
would saddle the country with another four years OF
ncOmpetency and misrule in the PRESIDENTIAL chai'


STRENGTH OF THE PARTY.


II will take stronger men than either Hebcrt or
Mosby or Kemper to insure the electoral vote OF the
Southern States for third term for Gen. Grant;
and other and ADLER men are expected to follow their
example Those who clam to know the details of
the Presidents programme mention names of greater
and more influential ex-Confederates as ready to
strike when the iron is hot; but it will be hard TO
convince the people of the South that such men as
Breckenridge, Stephens, Gordon Beauregard'
McLaws Coke of Texas. Zeb Vance of North Caro-
lina and McCausand of West Virginia bave COM
mtted themselves in any way to Grant or his ennis
saries. The future will show, think, that when
President Grant reckons upon such men Tor support
in his schemes for longer lease of power he reckons
indeed without his host They are pleased to hear OF
reported !oppositIon to the Civil Rights bill, and of
his lust though tardy rebukes of Moses and his band
of robbers in South Carolina; they are gratied to


find that he enterains hostility to those who led
the armies of the South against him some OF them
have visited the White House, or have met him
on his travels and are glad to have heard him ex-
press conservative sentiments on the issues OF the
war; but they are motor most of them are not
prepared to embrace him as a political ally. or to
take as their political leader who is about to
be thrown overheard by his party because he has
lost the confidence of the people, and that party can
use him no longer.


The careful observer of the phases Of this new move
ment in Gen. Grants interest cannot fail to see that
the Republicans of the South do not as yet avow
edy form part of the nglomerate third term par
ty. Whether they have kept aloof by order by pre-
concerted arrangement, or because suspicious OF
their old opponents who now propose an alliance,
does not yet appear. One listens in vain for the
voice of single influential Southern Republican ex
tending welcome to the converts for whose change
of heart he has so often expressed anxiety. Even
the most subservient and hitherto Outspoken adher-
ents of the Administration hold their peace. Such
unanmity in silence may mean either that they are
wisely careful not to do anything to repel those who
in the past would have been frightened by the mere
mention of an alliance with f. carpet-baggers and
scalawags" or it may be that even these blind mice
have heard the seamper of sly old Northern rats
leaving the sinking ship and fearful of Gen. Grants
defeat in his aspirations, are looking about for ac-
commodations in whatever new political craft may
come along. Your ofice-holder is always extremely
sensitive TO changes in the political atmosphere.
and while Gen. Grant is gaining his Mosby and his
Kemper and bis Hebert with whatever influence
they can command, and while such shrewd journals
as The Richmond Dispatch are pulling the hoodwink
over his eyes, he may find that he has lost the men
who bought the Southern balotboxes for him at the
last election besides being deserted by his ablest
and most successful supporters in the North.