The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1868-10-23
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Governor Seymour Takes the Stump!

Governor Seymour Takes the Stump!
from G.e w. Y. Times
The Democracy is recovering little from
its panic, and proposes to make another effort
for the dLost Cause" Governor Seymour is
himself to take the stump. Finding how use
less are all the speeches made by others Ia MS
behalf, he proposes to see what he can say
and do for himself. The short time remaining
between this and November 3 is to be oocu-
pied ky Governor Seymour in advocating his
own election.
The effort is well meant, but it will amount
TO nothing. No man ever yet increased his
swn chance Of an election to the Presidency
by showing his personal anxiety for it. The
people never have regarded that Office as one
10 be scrambled for or to be given to the man
who wanted it most. On the contrary, 1t has
generally fallen to the men who seemed to
want it least. Calhoun, Clay, and Webster
were universally recognized as men Of tran
scendent ability and as profound statesmen.
They were all ambitious, and all strove ear
nestly and strenuously for the Presidency.
Each of them lost it mainly because of his in
tense anxiety to get It. We do not recollect
that any one of them resorted to the desperate
expedient of making public speeches in advo-
cacy of his own election-although they were
all quite as powerful and persuasive orators as
Mr.. Seymour. But tue people regard disinter-
estedness, entire and complete unselhshness,
as essential to the proper performance OF the
duties of the Presidency; and when they find
any man intensely bent on acquiring the Office,
they regard that fact as very strong reason
why he should not have 1t; and they have
never given 1t to such man.
The people, moreover, prefer men of action,
TO men Of words, for that high place. The
Office is one for action, not for speech. The
proper place for eloquent mentor men whose
powers are argumentative, or persuasive,
10
There they can find full scope for their peou-
liar gifts. But the Presidency is an executive
office. The Presidents duty is to execute the
laws--not to persuade men, nor to expound
and advocate principles or measures. 1t is to
act, not to talk. And the people have always
preferred men of actiOn-men whose lives had
been distinguished by what they had done,
rather than men whose greatness was shown
only in what they had said. Jackson was
elected, Taylor was elected, and Grant will be
elected, not for their speeches, nor their writ
ings, but for their acts of duty, of patriotism,
of devotion to the public good. Governor
Seymour is nothing but talker. He has
done nothing to commend him to the admira-
tion or the confidence of the people.
1t is too late, moreover, for Governor Sey-
mour to produce any very marked effect on
popular sentiment by his oratory, no matter
how brilliant or splendid it may be. He has
discussed all the issues that are involved in
the canvass already. His opinions are per-
feotly we'll known. He can say nothing new.
Everybody knows what he thinks of the war,
of the debt, of the Constitution, and of the
Republican party. Everybody understands
that he deemed the war utterly unconstitu-
tional, that he regarded successful coercion
as revolutionary, that he looks upon the de-
struction of slavery as violent and unjust,
that he considers the debt oppressive and
ruinous, the Constitution as splendid ruin
and the Republican party as the incarnation
of all evil. He can say nothing new on any
OF these subjects, nor can he say anything
about them any better or more impressively
than he has said it hundred times already.
He can persuade nobody to vote for him who
does not belong to the Democratic party, and
the chances are that he will fail to persuade
great many thousands of those who do.
The fact is the people have profound and
deeply rooted distrust of Governor Seymour
and Of the party which seeks to make him
President. They see and know that neither
he nor his party gave the Government thu
least support when it was struggling for iti
own existence-that his party has, since the
war was over, taken the leaders of the Rebel
lion into full fellowship and given them the
lead of its councils-that it has planted itsel
immovably against everything like progress il
the development of republicanism, and has
become simply the party of reaction-that iti
platform is revolutionary, its policy is to over
turn by force the laws of the land and the
State Governments which have been formed
nnder them, that violence, bloodshed, and
murder are the weapons by which its success;
is sought in the Southern States, and that the
doctrines it lays down, the spirit and temper
In which they are sustained, and the character
of the men who control its action, all point tC
disturbance and continued commotion as Ger
tain to result from its elevation to power.
Governor Seymour cannot remove this dis
trust by smooth words, nor overbear it by
lavish promises. His stumping tour will
afford him some active outdoor exercise, thai
may be good for his health, and will give hi;
hearers good deal of pleasant and innocen
entertainment But il will have no more effec
on the result of the election than any othel
noise by which despondent Democrats may
seek a temporary diversion from t heir sorrow
ful thoughts.