Year: 1875




PRESIDENT.


WAsH1NGToN, D. c., June ., 1875.


70 the Bdstor Of tie EGstoRGI Rs1s1EtesA:


SIR: As National Republican in the
completest sense, have read your paper
for years with satisfaction and approval of
its course. Latterly, however, while you
have been pitching into what you call the
Ishmaelite, Independent or Detective press
for its indiscriminate assaults upon public
men, am afraid you have been guilty of
the same thing, to some extent, yourself.
Why don't you reserve all your powder for
the enemies Of the party? Don'tyou think
you would do better if you confined your
criticisms to them?


Yours, always,


The foregoing is fair sample cf large
number of communications that we have
received lately, and is written by gentle
man whose criticisms are worthy of atten-
ton. We can only reply that our policy
always has been to support the sacred prin-
ciples of the party from which this journal
derives its name, and that we know no
friends politically who are not party friends.
At the same time, we have never hesitated
to yield to the public men of the Opposition
that need of praise which is their due. We
believe, however, that no party can succeed
in retaining the respect and support of the
public which does not firmly and loyalty
adhere to the consistency of its record and
the infallibility Of its principles. Such we
believe the National Republican party may
be and should be- Its enemies, who pro-
fesS TO support the mOngrel faith of the Op
position, are no less effective in producing
disaster TO it than those men within its
ranks who are impelled either by jealousy
or personal ambition to attempt to change
its well-established policy or to lead it
into inconsistent paths of future conduct
1t is because we have believed those
men who have attempted these things in
the past to be deserving Of criticism or GEN.
sure that we have not hesitated on occa-
sion to dwell harshly upon the acts of
few leaders of the party who held an ex
alted position in the affection and respect
of the people. We maintain that this is
the very essence of truly independent
journalism, and as our aim is to make The
NATIONAL REPUBLICAN truly independent
in its support of sacred principles, we shall
continue to do the same in the future. No
better assurance Of our success in this re-
gard in the past could be asked than is to
be found in the numerous attempts of the
servile press to belittle our journal with the
name of organ" We are satisfied to sub
nit to it, because we know that since the
present management of this paper has been
in control of its columns it has never said
one word in approval of any man who was
not entitled to approval on account of his
consistent support of Republican princi-
pies or endeavors to sec Ire the permanent
success of those principles. President
Grant, for example, can boast of proud
record for consistency in this respect, and
it has ever been eur duty to support him
for that reason alone, and for no other rea-
son. His messages TO Congress and his
Official acts are models of consistent adhe-
renee to the platform of the party, and his
recommendations of legislative measures
have at all times exhibited desire that the
party should carefully follow the consistent
consequences of the past in its future pro
gress. He has never forgotten that the
party is responsible for the reconstruction
of the Southern States, and that while
enaCting the laws, over repeated vetoes of
his predecessor, for their rehabilitation,
sacred obligations were assumed that the
privileges of citizenship extended by them
shall be maintained inviolate. Always
magnanimous in his dealings with
the ex-rebels. he has never been
misled by the gushing declarations ofnewly-
found brotherly love to disregard those OBJ
legations, or to yield one jot or title of the
terms of restoration. He understands as
plainly as his characteristic foresight can
advise him, that the Southern Democracy
is shrewdly engaged in this Cancellation
business for the simple purpose of enlisting
the sympathy of the unwsry. That sym
pathy once enlisted, and the obligations to
which we have referred forgotten or lg
nored, every pledge made by the Southern
States under the amendments to the Consti-
tuition at the close of the war will be oblit-
Grated, and the pernicious fallacy of allie
glance to the State instead of the General
Government will be firmly re-established.
1t is his belief in the truth Of these asser-
Hons that has sustained him in his course
and enabled him to retain the confidence Of
the overwhelming masses of his party, while
other leaders have been deceived or Willfully
gone astray. THE NATIONAL REPUBLICAN
would have been untrue to its mission and
false to its duty if it had failed, in view of
these facts, to support him in spite of the
snimsdversions of the Opposition.


This view Of the case leads us to return
TO the discussion of the attitude in which
Mr.. Vice President Wilson has placed him
self by the publication of his recent letter.
He seems, so far as this journal is con-
cerned, to think that his personal differ
ences with a gentleman who eight years
ago had control of its editorial manage
ment has been continued down to the pres
ent day. Hence his allusion to its past
course; but with this, as we have said be-
fore, we have nothing to do. Proud as he
is of his record as an Abolitionist and Re-
publican, that record is no more consistent
than the humble one we have carved in
our own way and time. But while carving
that record we have been brought so often
in contact with Mr.. Wilson that our regard
for him, personally, has not been so
great as to overshadoW our estimate
of him as a public man. We know, as
every one else does in Washington who has
watched his career as closely as we have,
that he is capable Of descending to trickery
and small devices, both to attract public at
tention TO him and to advance his personal
interests For example, several years ago,
when q contest was pending between Gen
eral Abbott, of North Corolina, and Sena-
tor Ransom, for the seat in the Senate now
occupied by the latter, Mr.. Wilson, then a
Senator, entertained proposition that his
vote should be cast in Abbott's favor, pro-
Eided the latter would guarantee the vote of