The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1868-09-16
YmOur's UnpOpnlaritY.

Seymour'S OnpOpular1tys
THE Democracy are everywhere becoming dis
heartened with the unpopularity of their
Nominees. They can say nothing favorable OF
Seymour personally except that he is a "great
statesman" but of this alleged statesmsnship
They are unable to give the slightest proof
When men ask "what great measure did Sey
mour originate what record of wisdom can
he boast of what service has he rendered to
the nation ?" his advocates are dumb. His
reputation is based solely on hi, action as
Governor of New York, on his stump
speeches, and on his intrigues in
Democratic National Conventions. As a
candidate for Governor he always ran behind
his colleagues on the ticket. He was dis
trusted and despised by the ablest and most
patriotic Democrats of New York. In the
midst of a gigantic war he became notorious
only for open opposition to the Federal Gov
eminent and for lukewarm support of mea.
sures of vital importance to every Northern
community, and when in 1864 he asked en-
dorsemeht and reelection from the citizens of
the Empire State he was defeated by an over
whelming majority. His conduct prior to and
during the murderous anti-draft riots rem
dered him obnoxious to all loyal
men, and Generals of the Union army
bitterly, and, We believe, in official or semi
official letters denounced him as one Of the
most dangerous enemies of the nation. So far
as his stump speeches are concerned, the fact
that they rise above the average of similar
Dem ocratic productions, by no means implies
that Seymour possesses valid pretensions to
craftsmanship. He generally follows in the
beaten track of Democratic argument, and his
chief excellence in the eyes of his admirers con-
sists in his readiness to make exaggerated and
unfounded statements when party exigencies
require such misrepresentation. Sey-
mour, in discussing the public debt,
and the public expenditures for instance, has
not hesltated to make assertions which can
easily be refuted by any person familiar with
the statements issued by the officers of the
Treasury Department. In discussing ques-
tions connected with the war, he uniformly
sustained the Rebel side of the dispute on all
debateable issues, denying at the outset that
the National Government had a right to coerce
State, and recommending, after the Rebel
lion had been commenced, that the American
people should abandon the Federal
Constitution and the Lincoln Administra-
ton and array themselves under the
Davis standard of slavery and secession. This
boasted ''statesmanship" is appropriately
supplemented by SeymOur's exertions at the
Democratic National Convention in 1864, to
secure the adoption of the platform which
declared the war a failure, and by his more
recent performances at Tammsny Hall. 1t is
alleged by his friends that he favored the no.
mination Of Chief Justice Chase, and it is
alleged by the friends of Chief Justice Chase
that he had agreed to support plat
form acquiesciDg in the reconstruction
policy which the Democracy are now
seeking to overthrow. 1t is also
well known that he repeatedly declared that
he could not honorably accept the Democratic
nomination. And yet the Democracy, while
boasting of the craftsmanship of theifcand-
date, acknowledge that they have spurned his
councils They ask the people to put their trust
in one whose advice they have contemptuously
disregarded He pronounced the Pendleton
financial scheme as unjust and impolltic, and
it was endorsed in the Democratic platform.
He advocated the nomination of Chase, but
not single Democratic delegation sustained
his choice. He predicted that his own nomi-
nation would be fatal (and therein gave a
true exhibition of wisdOm), but his party
hearkened not to his counsels even in thii
important matter.
Failing in all things of Importance hereto
fore, he is destined to encounter a still more
mortifying failure in the present campaign
The principles of the Democracy will do muct
to insure their downfall, but the unpopularity
OF their candidates will render their defeat in
evitable.