Wyandot County Republican. [volume] (Upper Sandusky, Ohio) 1869-1903, 1871-11-30
THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY
AND TAMMANY..

oleCtlOu WulCu HAS ulOSb Interested
the country is the relation of
the Democratiparty in this State
to the Tammany Ring. Some
of the Democratic papers have
necessarily declared that the
contest was purgation of the
Democratic party by its own leaders
and agencies, and that the party was
therefore entitled to the confidence
Of the country. Its position and ac-
ton were contrasted with those Of
the Republicans, who, 1t was said.
were stolidly following leaders who
were denounced as equally corrupt
with the Tammany Ring Let us
look for moment at the relation be
tween the Democratic party and the
Ring.
The character of that cabal has
long been understood. Charges of the
utmost corruption were openly made
and universally believed. They were
as much believed last year as this,
but the plain proof had not yet been
presented. The Legislature of last
winter was nearly tied. But Tam
many had absolutely controlled the
State Democratic Convention, and in
the city the Democrats who voted at
all voted chiefly for the Tammany
candidates. The Ring owned the
majority of the Legislature. 1t was
3torious that it bought certain Re
pnblicans, but it did not buy the Re-
publican party; and the important
point in this inquiry is, not whether
individual Republicans Were bribed.
but whether the Democratic mem
bers in any considerable numbers re
belled. Nobody asserts it. The
Tammany Ring absolutely controlled
its party in the last Legislature, as it
had in the last Democratic Conven-
ton.
Moreover, when the proof of all
the charges made was presented, and
there could 1e donbt no longer, it
was presented by Republican pa
per. The Democratic papers, nota-
bly, the World, sneered and deffed,
while the Aryus could only sullenly
say that if the Ring stole money, it
was to buy Republicans. Even down
to the appointment of Mr.. Green as
Deputy Controller, the World sneer
ell at Mr.. Tilden and Mr.. Havemyer,
and it was the rising tide of popular
wrath, not at all Democratic zeal, as
such which led to the decisive step
of the formation of the Committee of
Seventy. Doubtless honest men
like Mr.. Tilden and Mr. OiConor were
very glad to seize the occasion to-
throw off the incubus of the Ring, but
doubtless, also, they did not begin
the movement. The Democratic
State Convention of this year declin-
ed to receive the refofm delegation
from tie city, and although it did
not seat the Tammany delegation, it
permitted that delegation to exclude
the other, and to leave the city of
New York, which is the seat of its
majority, unrepresented; and the
Convention then, refusing to nomi-
nate Mr.. CConor, nominated candi-
dates who had been previously ap-
EIoFeu NY the mig
The most that can be said there
fore, is that there were honest Demo
Gratis enough to join the Republicans
in a union for the overthrow o. the
Ring. 1t is true that the Republi-
cans alone could not have done it :;
but what would have been the fate of
the reforming Democrats alone? 1t
Is idle to attempt to misrepresent the
recent movement as rising of the
Democratic party of New York, as
such. to cast off Tammany. Mr.. o.
Conor and Mr.. Tilden and Mr.. Sey-
nous took part in the general move
ment. But it was not the Democratic
party that put the care of the city in
to the hands of Mr.. O'Conor and Mr..
Evarts. but it was the force of the
movement which the Democratic par
ty did not begin. The victory, we
repeat, could not have been won in
the city without the cordial union
OF men of both parties. Therefore,
in the city, the result is not a party
triumph. But the fact remains that
the exposure was made by a leading
Republican paper, and was most Wig
orously urged by the whole Repub-
lean press. While, on the other hand,
the World, which claims to be the
chief Democratic newspaper, resisted
and sneered until denial was so abb
surd that, as usual, it ate all its ords
and finding that it could not hope to
persuade people that Mr.. Tweed had
grown rich in legitimate business, de
neunced him as public robber
Meanwhile the same foolish paper,
yociferously Supporting State ticket
which Tammany had nominated two
years ago and still approved, rallied
at the Republicans for sustaining
candidates against none OF whom was
a word ever breathed implying Tam
many sympathy or alliance, because
they were supported by what was
called the Custom house, the head of
which had been charged by the Tri-
bune with fraud and Tammany taint.
But if the charges of the Tribune,
which were not proved, were to be
considered as tainting the Republi-
can State ticket with Tammany, how
much more should the proved frauds
of the Ring have tainted the Demo
cratic State ticket with the same cor
ruption !-Harpers Weekly.
THE poor voters who, by keeping
Tweed in power, have helped him to