The unanimous election of General Grant.
Under the above caption the New York Heralds of the 31st December, has an editorial of a column and a half in length, in which Sawney Bennett, spreads himself for Unconditional Surrender' Grant, having forgotten in the brief space of one or two months that such a man as Gen. McClellan ever existed. We make room for the following extracts:Northern men have made many sacrifices for the Union during this war. They have devoted themselves, their lives, their sons, and their money, to the cause of their country. Now we ask them to make one sacrifice more. It will be the last, and the most effectual, and the most successful. We ask them to sacrifice their political ambition. We desire them to unite upon a single Presidential candidate. We appeal to them to secure the unanimous election of Major Gen. Grant.
We make this appeal not so much to the people as to the professional politicians. We know that the majority of the people are with us and will vote for Grant. We know, also, that all the people will vote for Grant if the politicians will only let them alone. But it is undeniable that the politicians do control a few thousand votes by means of their nicely-adjusted political machines; and yet we wish to have Grant unanimously elected.--Therefore we appeal to the politicians. It must be evident to these gentlemen that if Gen. Grant takes the political field no other candidate has any chance of success. Any candidate who may be named, except Gen. Grant, either has powerful and bitter enemies in one party or the other, or else he is so insignificant and unknown that we cannot afford to trust him with the helm of State during such a terrible storm as this Gen. Grant, on the contrary, has no enemies, or at least he has none bold enough to avow themselves. Yet, instead of being insignificant and unknown, he is our greatest military leader, and the greatest General America has produced. The inconsistency of Lincoln has left him no real friends even in his own party, and his course jokes have offended all respectable people. Chase is opposed by all the good financiers in the country, by the ultra radicals, like Wendell Phillips, and by all the conservatives of every shade and degree. So of every prominent man before the people, with the single exception of Maj.-Gen. Grant.
It is for this reason that we nominate Gen. Grant for the next Presidency, and urge all parties to unite in supporting him. The politicians will practically give up very little; for they cannot, and do not hope to be successful against Gen. Grant.--Their only hope now is to kill Grant off before the election, and we must emphatically assure them that this is impossible. If they will calmly consider the matter they will find that they have everything to gain and nothing to lose by uniting upon Grant. They will have nothing to lose, for defeat is inevitable if they run any man against him.--They will have everything to gain, for Grant will make a good President and just President, and will soon end the war and give them a chance to re-construct their shattered parties upon new issues. Besides this we not the slightest objection to their all claiming Grant's election as a victory for their own factions if they will only unite in electing him. General Grant is a very reticent man. He says very little and does a great deal. He is celebrated for his deeds, not for his words. Now, we shall not ask him to speak before election. We shall rather advise him to continue silent. We are content to accept him upon his past record. The Chicago Tribune may call him a Copperhead, and Senator Wilson may can We leave such lies to neutralize each other, and are satisfied to take him as he is. We appeal to men of all parties to do the same thing. It is enough to know that Gen. Grant has just the qualities the country needs in a President, and no one should care a pin for his opinions upon defunct questions of color or politics or what not. The war is the only question before the people, and Gen. Grant is clearly right upon that.
We have said that General Grant, if elected President, would soon end the war. His unanimous election would end the war at once. The rebels have relied upon our political divisions — and alas! not without encouragement — as a great help to them in sustaining their bogus Confederacy. Even now they expect the coming Presidential election to result in a Northern civil war, and this expectation is the secret of their desperate attempt to hold out a little while longer. We appeal to the patriotism of every Northern man to disappoint Jeff. Davis and his followers. Let us show them that we love the Union better than party, and their last hope will be swept away. The rebel leaders are shrewd, crafty men, and they base their calculations upon what they have learned in past years of the politics of the North. They forget, however, that this war has effected a complete revolution in Northern politics. Let us convince them of this mistake by electing Grant unanimously.--That will be the last blow the rebellion will require, and in a month after it will lie lifeless at our feet. When the rebellion began we, too, counted upon internal discussions and divisions among the rebels; but they soon put an end to that by the unanimity with which they re-elected Jeff. Davis. Now, are we less devoted to the Union than the rebels are to disunion? Can we sacrifice less to loyalty than they to rebellion? Heaven forbid! The hardest, the most decisive, the most fatal defeat which we could inflict upon the Southern traitors would be the unanimous election of Grant. That is the reason why we press the subject so urgently. It is quite time that this war were over, and the shortest way to end it is to show the rebels that we consider everything else subsidary to it by unanimously electing a President whom the rebel leaders will fear and the misguided Southern people respect.
Besides all this, think of the effect which such a sublime manifestation of devotion to the Union would have in Europe. There would be no danger of any foreign war for at least a century afterward. England and France would be only too glad to grant us everything we justly require. The despots and aristocrats of the Old World would see that when the safety of the Republic demands it every American is willing to give up all to his country; and when a nation is thus united it is as irresistible as a Macedon phalanx, and can make its own terms with the world. --Then there would no longer be any expression of foreign sympathy with the rebels. The European powers would have quire enough to do to attend to their own subjects, whose latest democratic feelings would be stirred to fever heat by this glorious exhibition of the majesty of a free people. That is another reason why we desire the unanimous election of Grant. What more powerful motives than the instant overthrow of the rebellion and the encouragement of the Democratic spirit throughout Europe, could we possibly offer to patriotic Americans in order to induce them to a noble act, which will eclipse any popular movement recorded in history, and which will be remembered so long as the world exists? Never could a nation's immortality be purchased so cheaply. The people are already willing and anxious to accomplish it. Only the politicians obstruct the way, and we appeal to them to stand aside. If our appeal be successful they will deserve and receive public gratitude and ample reward. If it be unsuccessful we shall then know with whom we have to deal and how to deal with them. We have spoken frankly and fairly, and in a most unselfish and patriotic spirit, but we do not forget, and beg all concerned to remember — that we are in a position to dictate as well as to request, and that we have the power to sweep out of our path those who will not listen to reason, and who obstinately refuse to mover.
