Speaking now for myself, I have to say that my vote will be given
for Horace Greeley; but in giving it I do not go to the Democratic
party, nor am I any less a Republican. On the contrary, I am so much
of a Republican that I cannot support a candidate whose conduct in
civil life shows an incapacity to appreciate Republican principles,
and whose Administration is marked by acts of delinquency, especially
toward the colored race, by the side of which the allegations on
the impeachment of Andrew Johnson were technical and trivial.
Unquestionably President Grant deserved impeachment for high crimes
and misdemeanors, rather than a renomination; and on the trial it
would have been enough to exhibit his seizure of the war powers,
and his indignity to the Black Republic with its population of six
hundred thousand, in violation of the National Constitution and of
International Law. And here a contrast arises between him and Abraham
Lincoln. The latter in his first Annual Message recommended the
recognition of what he called “the independence and sovereignty of
Hayti”; but it is at these that President Grant has struck. One of
Abraham Lincoln’s earliest acts was to put the Black Republic on an
equality with other powers; one of President Grant’s earliest acts
was to degrade it.
I am so much of a Republican that I wish to see in the Presidential
chair a life-time Abolitionist. I also wish a President sincerely
devoted to Civil-Service Reform, beginning with the “One-Term
Principle,” which President Grant once accepted, but now disowns. I
also wish a President who sets the example of industry and unselfish
dedication to the public good. And I wish to see a President through
whom we may expect peace and harmony, instead of discord. Strangely,
President Grant seems to delight in strife. If he finds no enemy, he
falls upon his friends,--as when he struck at the Black Republic,
insulted Russia in his last Annual Message, offended both France and
Germany, and then, in personal relations, quarrelled generally.