The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1868-07-22

WHf anu EOnEG6b SuDuAA
not, when added to the strain he was
already undergoing, prove too much
for his struggling brain. Through the.
campaign and before the country they
must take the fearful responsibility of
this knowledge, and of the course
which in defiance of it they have chosen
to take.
AS confrmatory Of this, Mr.. Halstead,
Of the Cincinnati Commercial, writes in
that journal:
Mr.. Seymour had the most decisive
reasons for declining to be q candidate.
The matter of hereditary insanity is no
Joke or eXaggeration and must De
freely spoken of now that IL has become
a public peril. Mr.. Horatio Seymour's
father committed suicide In freak OF
insanity, brought upon him by excite
nient and labor. One OF his brothers
developed similar tendencies, and was
confined in lunatic asylum and there
died. Mr.. Horatio Seymour himself
was troubled, years ago, in manner
so menacing that he spent several
months in seclusion abstaining from
All business and avoiding care and ex-
element OF every Kind. About q year
ago, when his name was mentioned In
connection with the nomination he has
inst received, he declined most posi-
lively to consent to the use of his name.
and the reason privately given was
that he did so upon the advice of med
icaI men and of members of his family,
who dared not contemplate the conse-
ouences of his taking the leading part
in the excitement and fatigue OF a Pres
idential campaign, ana were sure ne
would be incapable of the duties OF the
Presidency. These facts are notorious
in New York. They are not disputed.
It is a pity that they have to be talked
- In, tho Mars 0UL kROS0
whose political ambition or necessity,
and personal malice and fury. thrust
him forward where he begged not to
be placed, are responsible tor all the
unpleasant CONSEQUENCE. MI. Sey-
mour could not say hatly that he feared
he would lose his reason If pressed
into the Presidential contest as the
nominee Of his party, but there were
scores oil the delegates who knew the
facts aud who regarded the nomination
of the unfortunate man in brutal dis
regard OF his wishes and fears with as
Constituent and horror. But after the
ominouS pause in the Convention sue
ceeding the speeches oil McCook, Sey-
mour and Nallandigham. the whole
Convention became Wild, there was no
reason in it, and MADNESS ruled the
hour. ~ -
In further confirmation OF Mr.. Sey-
mour's unfortunate condition, we copy
the following from the New York even
ing Post;
"a The Times is under a strange misap-
prehensTon in supposing that our allu-
sions to this subject are meant to be
other than sincere and grave, 1t asks:
GDoes the Evening Post consider itself justE-
fed in treating as It does OF Governor Sey.
mour's hereditary tendency 10 insanity
The subject is far too serious for sport1ve
treatment. The facts are within the knowl-
edge OF the Evening Post, or may be by a lit
tie inquiry. Internationally there Is a very
grave danger, In case or the possibility OF the
election OF Mr.. Seymour, that the Vice Pres
the tirst office for the greater part OF the
term VINO that knows Blatr's nature, or
has read his revolutionary letter, bat would
be alarmed for the country in such contin-
gency:
But the difficulty is in treating such
a subject with the plainness and firm
ness due to the momentous national
interests at stake, and at the same time
with the delicacy and sympathy due to
personal misfortune. If any part OF
the press, knowing the facts and under-
standing their bearings, as the Times
evidently does, dislikes our treatment
of them, the best course is for them to
set the example by discussing them
more suitably.
The essential facts are, there Is reas.
on to believe, within the knowledge OF
Tue hVtHtHy GOSts 4Aey "AS %
or, if they vary in the least from these,
the gentlemen connected with the
World, who are fully informed, Will
duu btless make the correction.
Mr.. Seymour's near friends have re-
peatedIy been assured by him, when in
former years his name was mentioned
for the Presidency, that 1t was impossi-
BILE for him to entertain the thought.
The reason given by him, when rea-
son was demanded, was that his family
were afflicted with hereditary insani.
ty, which threatens him also, and
which he can only hope to escape by
avoiding excitement and severe labor.
When the recent National Conven-
ton was about to meet, certain mem
anxious to make arrangements which
would secure the nomination of Mr..
Seymour as compromise candidate,
after the failure of Mr.. Pendleton, The
plan had made some progress when 1t
was resolutely stopped by Mr.. Seymour
himself. With candor and self denial
which are highly creditable to him as
man, he named to his friends the true
reason why he felt bound in honor per-
emptoriIy 70 decline the nomination.
1t is believed, on good grounds, that
Mr.. Sanford E. Church and Mr.. Samuel
j. Tilden were fully informed of the
position of Mr.. Seymour, and expressly
approved it.
these facts ought not to be concealed;
the Democratic masses themselves
ought TO know exactly what their ticket
means-it means Blair as President.
No ordinary motive could induce the
Evening Post to touch upon the sacred
fears aud private misfOrtunes OF re-
spectacle citizen; bat when the Ameri-
ca n people are asked to make that citi-
zen their ruler, his private infirmities
bacome uublic dangers, the solemn ter
.rors Of his closet become the peril of
the nation,
HOpedaIe. Ohio.
10 the Editor of the Cincinnati Gdzsits'
nF