Year: 1876




THE l.IBERAI.s IN COUNCIL


On Tuesday, the 10th inst, at tn


9Th Avenue Hotel, New York, Car


Schurz, Horace White, and man,


other prominent men, chiefly of th'


Liberal element of 1872, met in coun


Gil. They issued lengthy address


to the people of the United States, II


which they set forth the evils of ths


government and society, and ask no"


they are to be remedied. They inr'


ther state that the prominent remcdia


course to pursue is this, viz: that nc nc


man shall be put forward for the


Presidency who has had the lcast


shadow Of connection with these


evils, or has favored any policy lead


ing to them. We certainly will dis.


cuss this matter with the utmost
fairness, if we know how to do SO


and to this end, first, we would have


our readers reflect whether it is like.
ly that the men who composed this
meeting, possess in any sense any bet
ter judgment in affairs of State, any
greater sense of honor, any more in
,tegrity, or any more real genuine
patriotism and love for the principles
,ofsjdstice, honesty and the universal
equality of all men, than hundreds
and thousands of other. men who do
not act with them. In other words,
is. itinOt true that, for Craftsmanship,
for integrity, for true patriotism, all
those assembled at the 5th Avenue
Hotel, can be duplicated over and
over again out Of the Republican
ranks, with men who most conscien-
tiously believe and recognize that
there is much of wrong in govern
ment and as well in business and
social life, and, indeed, in religious
life as practiced. These men within
the Republican ranks know and feel
this just as strongly, justa fully, and
regret and mourn over it just as deep
ly as does Mr.. Schurz and his friends.
We conclude that no man will dissent
from what we have said of the COM
parative merits of these reiormers in
connection with the merits of other
men. In other words, that the assem-
bled. wisdom, integrity and patriot
ism at the 9Th Avenue Hotel is not all
of these articles that exist i'm this
country, and that il is not as it was in
a certain ancient city, that not ten
righteous men can be found. Well,
having thus set these men on an
equality with their fellow citizens,
who do not think proper to follow
them in setting up alone, mere
handful, the ensign of the only true
wisdom and honesty, as they seem to
think, we may properly inquire into
the past, to ascertain what experience
teaches as to the efficacy or, indeed,
the honesty, of their proceedings as
compared with other mems acts. Carl
rSchurz was elected once to the United
States Senate, and how was it done
Wonderfully upon the wing, as to
sState locality, since he has been in
ahis country, he had been resident
sof the State of Missouri only long
enough to be termed fairly citizen
there, when the Republican party
was divided, and the st. Louis DEM
ocrat carried off through the notori-
ous b. Gratz Brown into mongrcl
association politically, which resulted
in making Brown Governor and
Schurz Senator. The country has
long since seen what admirable quail
tiles of reform resulted from this dis
organizing raid. OF course Mr..
Schurz was on an exceedingly pure
reform raid in making himself United
States Senator in this manner for a
State that he had but just become a
citizen of. AS to his co-partner,
Brown, few men of prominence have
brought greater disgrace upon the
country, by their shameful conduct,
than he. The next step was to make
a national disorganization of the Re-
publican party, at the Cincinnati
Convention. And what job that
was! 1t was neither more nor less
than the most complete visionary
movement to not only fill the halls Of
the Lower House of Congress with
the ex-rebel controlling element,
which now is boldly defiant there,
and chiefly as the ont-cropping of the
farce of that .shand shaking across
the bloody chasm' campaign, but it
was also an effort to place i'm the
Presidential chair a misguided old
man. to die and make room for such
a pink of reformer as b. Gratz
Brown. We ask in the light of events
to-day as they have transpired, what
honest American citizen but shudders
when he pictures to himself what the
condition of this nation might have
been, had Carl Schurz,H White, the n
Of the Chicago Tribune, and the bal
ance of these Liberals, i'm their boast
ed ability, their immaculate purity,
and their grand, God-likc patriotism,
succeeded in their efforts at reform.
Carl Schurz' alliance with Democra-
cy in Missouri, his shaking hands
across the bloody chasm here
and there, made him United States
Senator, and we suppose that he wo'd
have all men believe that his elcya-
ton was happen-so, purely unset
fish on his part, and that he did not
dishonesty sacrifice any principle to
to obtain it. Well, that way of be-
coming United States Senator did
not repeat itself in his case, and never
does in anybody's case. Now, there
fore, in the light of little history,
what grand thing are we to expect
from these gentlemen, beating round
on the outskirts of all parties,
perching themselves, as it were, upon
some high mountain, and sort Of
claiming ownership Of all the wisdom
and integrity of the country, and
seeking to lead of q large body of
really honest men into some sort of
wild goose chase by their oracular
pronunciamento. II seems to us that
the past has demonstrated that they
are consumately blind and impracti-
cable leaders Of the blind, il no more.
OF course, we want and must have
an honest man for our nominee for
President, one who is incorrnptible
and nnscathed. But who is to say
who that man is? Are these gentle
men so angelic in character as to be
rightfnlly the only judges? Are the
masses of this country so ignorant or