Political Recollections: 1840 to 1872Julian, George Washington
History
Political Recollections: 1840 to 1872
Julian, George Washington
Republican Party (U.S. : 1854- ) -- History; United States -- Politics and government
promptings of humanity. In the light of such considerations it
was not strange that the Greeley men gladly accepted their deliverance
from the glamour which was blinding the eyes of their old associates
to the policy of reconciliation and peace, and blocking up the
pathway of greatly needed reforms.
Soon after the State election I resumed my work on the stump, which
included a series of appointment in Kansas, where I addressed by
far the most enthusiastic meetings of the campaign. My welcome to
the State was made singularly cordial by the part I had played in
Congress in opposing enormous schemes of land monopoly and plunder,
which had been concocted by some of her own public servants in the
interest of railway corporations and Indian rings. On my return
to Indiana the signs of defeat in November became alarming, and
they were justified by the result. It was overwhelming and stunning.
Democrats and Liberals were completely dismayed and bewildered.
The cause of Mr. Greeley's defeat, speaking generally, was the
perfectly unscrupulous and desperate hostility of the party for
which he had done more than any other man, living or dead; but the
disaster resulted, more immediately, from the stupid and criminal
defection of the Bourbon element in the Democratic party, which
could not be rallied under the banner of an old anti-slavery chief.
Thousands of this class, who sincerely hated Abolitionism, and
loved negro slavery more than they loved their country, voted
directly for Grant, while still greater numbers declined to vote
at all. Mr. Greeley's own explanation of the result, which he gave
to a friend soon after the election, was as follows: "I was an
Abolitionist for years, when it was as much as one's life was worth
even here in New York, to be an Abolitionist; and the negroes have
all voted against me. Whatever of talents and energy I have
possessed I have freely contributed all my life long to Protection;
to the cause of our manufactures. And the manufacturers have
expended millions to defeat me. I even made myself ridiculous in
the opinion of many whose good wishes I desired by showing fair
play and giving a fair field in the 'Tribune' to Woman's Rights;
and the women have all gone against me!"
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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