750 



UNITED STATES. 



On the 22d of April a public reception was 

 given to President Grant at Indianapolis. Sen- 

 ator Morton, of Indiana, who was present on 

 the occasion, proceeded at some length to give 

 his views of the political situation. The Re- 

 publican party, he said, could not afford to 

 run off upon any one issue, to the abandonment 

 of others; it was national, and its policy must 

 embrace the good of the whole country; it 

 could not afford to make a distinct issue on 

 the tariff, civil-service reform, or any other 

 individual measure ; it must take its stand on 

 these assertions: the Democrats, if they return 

 to power, will either take away the pensions 

 of loyal soldiers, or else will pension Con- 

 federate soldiers also; will, when they have a 

 majority in Congress, quietly allow the South- 

 ern States to secede in peace ; will tax national 

 bonds, and unsettle every thing generally. The 

 next Republican candidate must, then, declare 

 that Mr. Boutwell's policy, as Secretary of the 

 Treasury, has been for the best interests of 

 the country, inasmuch as it has already paid 

 one-twelfth of the national debt; that the Ku- 

 klux act, so called, is constitutional and neces- 

 sary ; and that the United States Government 

 must enforce the observance of the fourteenth 

 and fifteenth amendments, which everywhere 

 in the South the Democrats disregard. 



The proceedings on this occasion were pub- 

 licly regarded as an expression on the part of 

 the President of his consent to be a candidate 

 for a second term. At the same time some 

 manifestations of dissatisfaction with General 

 Grant had made their appearance among per- 

 sons who had warmly supported him. A 

 meeting held in St. Louis early in the year 

 gave the first public expressions of hostility 

 on the part of Republicans to General Grant. 

 This was followed by a private meeting in 

 Cincinnati, about March 10th, of a dozen or 

 more Republicans who had been high in the 

 confidence of the party, as ex-Governor Cox, 

 of Ohio, Stanley Matthews, etc. A committee 

 was appointed to draft a declaration of prin- 

 ciples as a basis for the formation of a Central 

 Republican Association of Hamilton County, 

 for the promotion, by their united efforts and 

 influence, of certain views and principles 

 which, in their estimation, should guide the 

 future of the Republican party. 



That committee consisted of Stanley Mat- 

 thews, George Headly, G. R. Laye, H. L. Bur- 

 net, and Frederick Hassaureck. 



They submitted a report, which was adopted 

 and signed by about 100 Republicans. This 

 was called a Republican Reform movement, 

 and was said to reflect a change in sentiment, 

 in regard to some points of Republican legis- 

 lation, which had become manifest among the 

 people of the West and Northwest. They pro- 

 fessed an intention to act within the lines of 

 the Republican party, and advanced four dis- 

 tinct principles : General amnesty, civil-service 

 reform, specie payments, and a revenue tariff. 

 This movement grew into an affair of political 



importance during the year; sympathizers ap- 

 peared in the Senate at Washington on its 

 next session, and a call issued from Missouri 

 for a National Convention at Cincinnati on 

 May 1, 1872, in opposition to the nomination 

 of General Grant. 



Meantime Democrats were not idle in their 

 party. On the 18th of May, at the convention 

 in Montgomery County, Ohio, Mr. Clement L. 

 Vallandigham introduced a series of resolu- 

 tions intended to form the basis of a future 

 national platform of the Democrats. These 

 were adopted by the local convention, and as- 

 sumed such importance with the public as to 

 be known and designated as a "new depart- 

 ure." (The resolutions may be found under 

 the title OHIO in this volume.) The Democratic 

 candidate for Governor of Massachusetts, Mr. 

 John Quincy Adams, in a letter that was made 

 public, expressed some views which also attract- 

 ed attention. The following is an extract : 



I deplore the halting, hesitating step with which 

 the Democracy is sneaking up to its inevitable posi- 

 tion. For this cause I share your regret at the stu- 

 dious ambiguity which seems to search for a sally- 

 port through which to dodge its destiny. And while 

 I better like the spirit, I equally condemn the policy 

 of those who only proclaimed their purpose of revo- 

 lution. Such indications of sentiment annoy me, 

 simply because they prolong^ a situation fraught with 

 great danger to the dearest interests of us all. The 

 dominant party can retain a power which has grown 

 too great for the public welfare only by an indefinite 

 extension of the moral conditions of the civil war. 

 The Kepublican organization can rally to no cry but 

 a slogan, and conquer under no standard but a 

 spear. That party needs strife to insure its success, 

 but good feeling is necessary for good government. 



Now, the hostility to the fifteenth amendment is 

 the stock-in-trade of the fomcnters of strife; is it 

 worth gratifying at the risk of permanent subjec- 

 tion ? The South is galled to-day not by the pres- 

 ence of that amendment to the Constitution, but by 

 the utter absence, of the Constitution itself. They 

 feel a Congress which assaults them, but they find 

 no Constitution to protect them. Is it not silly, then, 

 to squabble about an amendment which would cease 

 to be obnoxious if it was not detached from its 

 context ? 



The views of Messrs. Vallandigham and 

 Adams proposed a hearty acquiescence in the 

 results of the late war by the entire Democrat- 

 ic party. The following letter is an evidence 

 of the manner in which the position of the 

 former was regarded : 



WASHINGTON, D. C., May 20, 1871. 



MY DEAR SIR : I have just read the resolutions of 

 the Montgomery County (Ohio) Democratic Conven- 

 tion, reported by yourself, together with your re- 

 marks and those of Mr. Conk. You have rendered 

 a great service to your country and the party at 

 least such is my judgment. May God bless you for 

 it ! Nothing can be truer than your declaration that 

 the movement contemplated by the resolutions is 

 the restoration of the Democratic party to its ancient 

 platform of progress and reform. I know you too 

 well to doubt your courage or your fidelity to^vour 

 convictions. Very truly yours, S. P. CHASE. 



Hon. C. L. VALLANDIGUAM. 



In June, Mr. Jefferson Davis, late President 

 of the Confederate States, had a public recep- 

 tion at Atlanta, Ga., on which occasion, in a 



