Year: 1876

Presidential Campaign Finally Developed.


New YORK, April %, 1876.


When l wrots my letter of yesterday l
had not consulted the morning papers. l
did not see the Tribune until late in the
day. had not been in consultation or com
munication with any of the more prominent
political leaders here for weeks. These
facts are mentioned simply to show that
there are times when common instinct"
called by some common sense," leads
convictions, to arrive, as by . common i'm
pulse at common conclusion in regard to
some important coming event. The pro
ceedings of the Utica convention develop
this common instinct and place Mr.. Tiiden
in the front ranks Of the presidential aspir-
ants. His nomination Mt s.. Louis may now
be oonsldered Q fereg0ne conclusion. 1t is
an event as fixed ss fate, if TildeH lives to
see the meeting of that convention. This
New York move develops the presidential
campaign. 1t places the Republican party on
the defensive, and wipes ont at once the
dozen or more of small Republican "party
politicians" who have been named by |wire.
working" partisan Republicans, and creates
q demand, immediate and imperative, for .
statesman in the true acceptation Of that
term, and statesman whose nomination at
Cincinnati will embody all for which the
great party Of liberty, American nationality
and the cause of the political brotherhood
stands before the world. Have We such
statesman within our Hanksl Do We pos
sess the eagacity and courage needed for
the occasion to support and elect such
man if nominated! These are two questions
to which the true men of the Republican
party must now address themselves. The
selection of the proper man to lead the
party in the approaching conflict involves
selt-sacrifce on the part of every lover Of the
cause. The support of che leader selected at
Cincinnati involves supremely the ques-
tions Of principle-the issues in which the
battle for the control Of the nation is to be
fought. The battle. 60 as itmay, will be a
Waterloo to one side or the other. 1t vii!
not be a drawn game. 1t will not be q
contest leaving both parties sleeping on the
field to renew the contest at some future
day. In the coming presidential election
the present Confederate Democratic cOali-
ton will be utterly, finally and forever
broken, or the Republican party of to-day
will be swept out of existence. Conse-
quently, our leader mus. be q man who
will command tie confidence and respect
of all that influential percentage Of the
party which has been driven from it during
the last eight years of corruption. incompe-
tency and misrule. He must be a Republican
in truth and of fact, and should come either
from New York or Massachusetts,. In New
York we have Mr.. Fish, Senator Conkling
and Governor Morgan. General Dix is a
strong man in many respects, but he is old
and intirm, and this constitutes serious
objection to him as presidential candi-
da1e In Massachusetts we have Charles
Francis Adams and Ex-Governor Clatflin,
both strong men. The Republican standard
bearer will be taken from this class OF men.
simply because any other class of men in
sures defeat.


The question Of principle" has always
been with the Republican party a leading
element Of power and success. The men and
women who impart 'force" and 'lite" to
the organization are people of thought, Of
moral conviction, of conscience and of feel
ing. This kind of people, wherever found,
stand ready always to sacrifice everything
merely personal to the claims of duty. If
the Republican party, therefore, goes into
the approaching fight with a great and death.
less principle emblazoned ON it's banner,
it will arouse the old enthusiasm of the
brain and genius of the party. The re
lighting Of the military camp fires does not
involve such principle. All civilized men
and women feel that camp fires should he
extinguished rather than relighted. All
that is best in the Republican party looks
forward to the day when there will never
again be camp fire of battle lighted any
where on earth. Not that these lovers of
peace and good will from man to man"
are lacking in courage. They love peace
and hate war, and consequently, unless
some extreme necessity arises for renewing
the conflict of arms between the South
aud North, they would rather have the
dead past bury its dead. There is but
one principle which Can hold the Repub-
lican party together, and which at the
same time gives it an abiding claim on the
sutfrages of the American people. That
principle is involved in the cause of the
pClisical brotherhood of man and the
world wide ascendency of the Republican
idea of government connected with that
cause. Ii we come forward as the cham
pions of these two laws, we shall by so
doing at the very first step of the contest
change the whole aspect of the campaign.
We shall by this step assume the aggres-
sive and place our antagonist on the de-
fensive. To do this successfully is in itself
half the battle won. On other issues Of ad-
mipistration reform, ETC., we can hold our
own. Under this plan OF battle the Repub
lican army will be divided into two mas
siye columns. One Of these will do the
fighting in different States and localities ac-
cording to the advantages offered In each
such locality. The other wing OF the army
will embrace the whole national and Rapub-
Iioan idea, as that idea stands for American
nationality, for the cause OF humanity, Tor
Protestant ascendency in the New World,
and for those things which emancipation
ranresanrs. In this announcement of prin
ciple we shall have to steer clear OF central
ization in government on the one hand, as