Rensselaer Union, Volume 5, Number 1, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 26 September 1872 — Mr. Peter Cooper on Greeley. [ARTICLE]

Mr. Peter Cooper on Greeley.

The following letter has been addressed to General John A. Dix, the Republican nominee for Governor of New York State, by Hon. Peter Cooper, the venerable and venerated citizen and philanthropist of New York : New York, September 4. 1872. General John A. Dix: Honored and Respected Friend. —Allow me to express the pleasure -that your nomination for the Chief Magistracy of our State has given to myself and the millions who long fora government that will look to the establishment of, justice as the only means whereby the highest welfare of the State and nation can be effectually promoted. Your past services in behalf of our common country should inspire all with hope that the day will come when honesty and capacity will become the only passport to all places of public trust. There never was a time when we were more in need of sterling integrity and a firm adhcrence to those principles that guided our fathers in their efforts to frame us a Constitution which they intended should establish justice, secure doinestic tranquillity, aud promote thd general welfare by “guaranteeing a Republican form of government founded on the inalienable right of every roan to ,life, liberty, and the pursuit of happlnesss.”" Guided by that Constitution, the Republican party, united with the. war Democracy of our country, has saved tho nation’s life, and has disbanded and paid the largt st army known to modern times. Our Government has largely reduced the national debt, and htts-savedj by a policy of peace with the Indians, hundreds of millions of dollars that would otherwise have been spent in carrying on » cruel war against, a people t.jiat. hnce owned the whole country, and that so lately that my own mother remembered the old cKeveaiix defrixe to keep off the Indians that once stood where Duane street now crosses Broadway.

'Besides all'this, the party in power has kept the nation at peace at home and tllroiygfrput.the world, and lias secured for our-ljSuntry a degree of prosperity unsurpassed in the history of mankind. There is mothirig that could Be more cruel atid ungrateful than for a Government like ours to leave four millions of emancipated slaves to the tender mercies of the class of men who have been educated to hold slaves as property, and are now acting with that part of the Democratic party who have sympathized with the men of the South in all their efforts to maintain and extend slavery. We may well nsk whether it would be wise for us as a nation to incur the tremendous responsibility of putting all at hazard in order to try the doubtful experiment of placing the Government in the hands of a party made up of all the disloyal, the disappointed and dssatisfied men of’ our country. The most of these men believe in a “white man’s Government.” They are uniting all. their arts to elect our esteemed friend Hornce Greeley to the Presidency of the United State. By this they hope to accomplish their purposes of regaining their “lost cause.’ I fear if our friend should"have the bad fortune to be elected, he will find that he has lent his influence to a class of men who will use the power they gain to place the blacks under the ban of serfdom or peonage, which may be as bad, if not worse, than slavery itself. Our friend may find himself, with Ids best iutentions, entirely powerless to control a government made up of men who believe that “the black man has ho rights that the white manTs bound to respect.” He should take warning by the course of ex-President Andrew JbhnsoD, who at one time was found reprobating rebels and their rebellion in more unsparing terms than have ever been written or spoken by any other man either living or dead. In his tirade against rebels and their rebellion he says that “treason against the Government is the highest crime that, can be committed, and those engaged inirshould suffer all its penalties.” ' He 'declares that “treasonmust be made odious; that traitors must be punished and impoverished.” He then says: “I hold it a solemn obligation in every one of those States where the rebel armies have been beaten back or expelled, I care not how small the number of Union men, if enough to man the ship of State, I hold it;to be a high duty to protect and secure to them a republican form of government.” In calling a convention "to restore States, he asks, “Who shall restore them ? Shall the man who gave his influence and his means to destroy the Government—is ,»he to partiei,pate in thfe great work of reorganizing the Government- who brought this miseryjm the State?" If this be : so, then in truth all precious blood of our brave soldiers and officers will have been shed in vain.” He then says: “The traitor has ceased to be a citizen. and in raising rebellion became a public enemy, and has forfeited his rights to vote with loyal men.” Notwithstanding all these denunciations of rebels and their rebellion, we find him using all his influence to place these very rebels in power,'in connection with that portion of cur country who are in sympathy with them. I am entirely at a loss to account for the. infatuation that has induced my esteemed friend Horace Greeley to allow himself to be the candidate of a party so at war with all he has written and said in denunciation of these men and the principles that control them. In conclusion, allow me td offer you, in this, the eighty second year of my age, my most fervent thanks for your devotion to all the best interests of a’ country that I shall soon leave, With my best wishes forits continued prosperity and happiness. Tours, with great respect,

PETER COOPER.

Perhaps the strangest domestic pet ever heard of was recently exhibited at the meeting of the British Association by Sir John Lublock" It was a tame wasp, which had been in his, possession for about three months. It now ate sugar from his hand and allowed him to stroke it. The wasp had every appearance of health and happiness;and although it enJsySQuSh “outing” occasionally,, it readily' returned to its bottle, which it seemed to regard as a home. * _" ,