The New York herald., 1870-01-08
The New York Democracy and the Next
Presidency.

| secure their power over the State, and, second,
to control the next Democratic National Con
yention and to name its candidate for the
Presidential succession. Nor have they ever
heretofore possessed the advantages which they
now command for the accomplishment Of these
two great objects. They have every department
of the State government, whereby they may
and intend to reconstruct all the departments
of our city government in the interests of the
party. From the pickings and perquisites Of
the public plumber of this metropolis Tam
many Hall, hampered as she has been by the
independent commissions from republican
Legislatures, such as the Police, the Fire
Department, Excise, Health Board, &C., has
still contrived to WELD the balance of power
In our last two State elections-Arst in the
general vote, and next in the Assembly and
Senatorial districts. Now, with all these
commissions under her control, the republicans
may well despair Of ever regaining the ground
they have lost.
The city has given the democrats at last
absolute control Of the State the demo cratic
vote of the city since 1865 has becom Q
superior to the adverse vote of the State
The city has thus become master Of the State,
and so Tammany, in holding the city and oil
its rich pickings, spoils and plunder, is master
of the situation at Albany. We have, then
only to consider the programme Of Tammany
in order to form our conclusions touching the
prospect of New York for the next democratic
Presidential nomination. Without even
show Of opposition from the interior, and with
only o coquettish device Of opposition from
Brooklyn, we see that the slate made up by
Tammany for the organization of the Legisla-
has been adopted From this it is evident
that the so-called ''hayloft and cheesepress
democrats of the rural districts" have given in
their allegiance to the Wigwam, and that the
State and Presidential schemes of the sachems
will be carried out.
What, then, are these schemes? First, q
municipal government for the city, consolidat-
ing all its departments under the Mayor and
Common Council, and embracing the repeal
of the Excise and Registry laws. 1t is calcu-
lated that under this reconstruction the bal
ance of power over the State will be secured
against all possible contingencies, and the cal
cuation is not extravagant. Assuming, then,
that the State is secured henceforward to 1872,
what is the Tammany Presidential platform?
1t is hostility to Grants administration and the
fifteenth amendment of the federal constitu-
tion, and it Is, moreover, the good old demo-
cratic shibboleth of specie payments. And
what is the Tammany ticket? 1t is Hoffman
Tammany has adopted Hoffman as her cham
pion, the rural districts respond in his favor,
and he has proclaimed his principles. From
present appearances, too, he has the inside
track and the odds in his favor against all
competitors for the next Democratic National
Convention.
The candidates before the Tammany con-
vention Of 1868, Pendleton, Packer, Hendricks,
Hancock, Seymour, and even Chase, are all
killed off; and as, since the outbreak of the
late Southern rebellion, the democracy have
Presidential timber, Hoffman becomes an
available man, though hardly of the dimensions
of Van Buren,, Marcy, Wright and other New
Yorkers of the old regime of the Albany
Regency. 1t must be borne in mind, how
ever, that the small intrigues, the petty
cliques, the compoundings, compromises and
hap-hazard chances that have controlled our
Presidential politics for the last twenty-fv
years and more, have driven off In disgust q
large body Of our most capable men to
surer pursuits, and that SO we must deal with
things as we find them. Availability being
the great Presidential requisition-that is,
availability in view Of the popular vote
Hoffman, who runs well, may challenge
comparison with any Of his democratic con-
temporaries as far as he has been tried. In
the next great essential, the engineering of the
party convention, what the New York man
ayers did in 1868 they will most likely, with
their enlarged facilities, be able to accomplish
in 1872.
Hoffman, then, for 1872, by all odds, has
the best show for the democratic nomination.
Assuming that he will be nominated, what
Is his promise Of an election? Not much,
especially on the platform he has proposed
against General Grant. He protests not only
against the fifteenth amendment, but against
the fourteenth and his objections apply as well
to the thirteenth. Logically accepted, he pro-
tests against all the changes made in the
federal constitution since the war as revolu-
tionary, which is only the old battle of
Mcclellan and of Seymour over again. Nor
is there much that is practical or satisfactory
against the financial policy Of Grant in Mr.,
Hotfmans specie payment theory. It is the
theory of sophomore in finance theory
OF pretty bubbles and glittering generalities.
Hoffman, in word, and his platform do not
cover the ground. He is still behind the
fixed facts of the new age. He is still in the
old ruts Of the age before the war, and on the
trail Of Seymour he can never overtake Grant.
The New York democracy, then, have still
to take the first essential steps to success in
1870 embracing n now platfOrm Or a new can