The Sun.
London, England, 1868-10-16 00:00:00

STORIES OF THE CANDIDATES.

A commotion has been raised through the means
of an old Confederate journal, wherein an announce-
ment was made that Frank I'. Blair, jun., having
been captured in one of the great battles, had at
his own request taken the oath of allegiance to the
Confederate Government. The National Republican
of Washington appears to have got hold of this
paper, for it publishes the telegram in question :
" The Southern confederacy, a newsparer we have
seen printed at Atlanta, Georgia, during the re-
bellion, contains a telegram dated Richmond, Vir-
ginia, May 9, sent immediately after the battle of
Chancellorsville and prior to the taking of Vicks-
burg, or the battle of Gettysburg, which is in
these words :—" Passengers repurt Frank P.
Blair, jun., among the captured. The oath of
allegiance was administered at his request."
This is alleged to be untrue, and naturally
so, as Frank Blair, though often wounded, was
never taken prisoner. The secret history of the
late Democratic Convention at Tammany Hall is
" as good as a play," and perhaps some day or other
will give the material for a screaming farce. Chase
sold—the real Simon Pure, supposed to be his se-
conder, demurely seated in the chair to receive the
coming and wholly unexpected nomination, which
was no sooner made than he retired to weep, while
an undercurrent was directed to place Frank
Blair's name on the ticket for the Vice-Presidency,
which, though little less erratic, in the presence of
the greater events escaped comparatively unnoticed
The moving spirit in the latter intrigue was Mr.
Montgomery Blair. It was he who dictated the
Broadhead letter, it was he who showed up General
Hancock as the officer who had issued an order
urging • the pursuit of Booth on the negroes of
Maryland, as the murderer of President Lincoln,
their best friend, and while thus flooring Hancock,
General Ewing was " snuffed out" by his order of
1863, wherein all disloyal persons were turned out
of his lines. The strange part of all this by-play
was that in securing the immediate object it de-
feated the ultimate object. Mr. Montgomery.
Blair admirably managed to obtain for his brother
the nomination, but' the very means he used
have gone far towards the defeat of the whole
ticket, for what raised enthusiasm in the
Southern mind created dread and aversion in
the Northern. What Montgomery Blair over-
looked was that though the Conservatives, and,
perhaps, their most extreme section, nominated
their candidate, it was the nation who were to
elect him.,-and what answered the former purpose was
what was likely to defeat the latter. Mr. Seymour
attributes the check to the Democratic sentiment to
the injudicious way in which the Blairs have acted,
and we understand that he has plainly expressed this.
By the way, an amusing story is told of him by the
Standard's correspondent, from whom people should
take what they can get, which is fun only ; for if
there is little reliance to be placed on the corre-
spondent, his very exaggeration, contradiction, and
untruthfulness make up an entertaining budget.
He says:--
It is a wretched custom on the part of certain people
in this country to spend their time during a Presidential
canvass in travelling about on railways and steamboats to
importune tourists to declare their political preferences.
" Haow er yer goin' to vote, stran-ger ?" may be heard
in an American railway car at the present time as fre-
quently as the "conductor's" cry of "tickets." When the
incurable button-holers, have canvassed an entire train or
boat they communicate the result to some newspaper,
which prints the statement as " a straw." Of course these
reports are utterly valueless ; first, because the can-
vassers are partisans who can change the figures
to suit themselves, with nobody the wiser; secondly,
if correct, they would only show the sentiment of a
shifting class. On the New York Central Railroad
the other day, Governor Seymour was approached
by a very large and dirty Yankee, who said, "Saay, yew
look like a nice ole feller ; you wear putty good clothes ;
guess yew'll vote for hewmanity ; but, ennyway, who're
ye fer ?" i 6 Well," replied the Governor, "I think that I
shall sustain Mr. Seymour." "So? I never was more
dis'pinted. Yew look like a gentleman, but we can't
allays tell."