[395]
whatever.
Yet I will promise to humor you sufficiently in that regard, and so for the present good-bye.
And this brings us to the election of
General Grant as first
President of the re-
United States.
His nomination by the Republicans was from the first a foregone conclusion; but when it came, and
Dana gave it his unqualified approval, as he did, he again notified his readers that he did so, not as a partisan, but as a free American citizen.
In the
Sun of May 22, 1868, he wrote:
... In bestowing commendation upon him, we reserve to ourselves the privilege of dealing as fairly and impartially by the nominee of the Democratic party as by him. The organ and champion of neither party, we shall speak freely of each according to its merits, and hold the balance with even justice between the two, during the exciting canvass upon which the country is now entering.
He had already expressed the opinion that it would be good policy for the Democrats to nominate
Chase, as that would give us
... the two foremost men of the country leading the two opposing parties.
It would be a spectacle worthy of the best days of the republic.
In commenting upon
Grant's nomination, which, notwithstanding the moderation of his views and the magnanimity of his conduct, was received by the
South not only with disapproval, but with threats and predictions on the part of the turbulent and irreconcilable element of the Democratic party, throughout the entire country, that his election would be followed by disorder and possibly by further rebellion,
Dana, on August 8, 1868, sounded a note of warning which, coming from an independent journal, attracted wide attention.
It runs, in part, as follows:
