New-York tribune., 1871-10-09
TEE ROCHESTER, SURRENDER.


does not already kno,u that William NJ. Tweed
was the dictator and master of the late Dem
ocratic State Convention, we ask him to con-
slider its sayings and doings with regard to
the post of Attorney General. That Office was
once the goal of an honorable ambition and
its occupant is still the official or titular chief
of the New-York Bar. There was a time
when even Charles OConor might have been
honored by it; there was never a time when
| he would not have honored it. Ask
each of the five or six thousand lawyers who
practice in our State-"Who stands, all things
considered, first among you f"-and every
one but himself would unhcsitatngly answer,
"Cbarles O'COnOr." lie has won this proud
eminence by forty years of earnest, devoted,
effective study and labor, during which he has
been pitted against all the great juriSts in the
nation, from Daniel Webster and George
Wood down to their living successors,
and has not, for the last twenty years,
been overmatched by the best of them.
Ever decided in his political convic-
tions and fearless in their expression, he has
always commanded the respect and esteem of
his lifelong adversaries. and was never even
suspected of o dishOnOrable act or purpose.
Had he been nominated for Attorney General,
the Democratic ticket would have received at
least Ten Thousand legal votes that will now
be withheld from it.
That Mr.. OConor docs not uant the office,
all understand. That he would have declined
it, had it been made and Urged upon him, by
no means follows. The legal knowledge which
must cost younger counselor many nights of
hord cfI,dv ho olroo1u That Goy,
Barlow or Mr.. Champlain must work hard to
fulfill the responsibilities of that office, may be
ever so true; yet it does not follow that Mr..
O'Conor need do so. One hours work per day
by him in that post would have been worth
the best days work of almost any of his
juniors.
And it is indispensable to the thorough
exposure and punishment of the thieves
who have stolen our City poor that the
Attorney General should be their determined,
unpurcbasable foe. Nay, more he must be
man who can 60 into any Court and demand
an unfamiliar process or remedy, saying, 1" l
know this to be the law; l stake my repu-
"tation upon it"-and have his requistion
conceded. He is the man of all men to know
Just what to do, and then to be sure of his
power W 10 It, JuuBo mlBuG D6 ever
so corrupt not to say incompetent, yet
he would fear to disobey or battle
the People of New-York when, through their
Attorney General, Charles OConor, they ap-
peared at his bar to demand that their stolen
property be promptly restored and the thieves
sent to State prison. Hence, We are confident
that, had the nomination been heartily ten
dered, Mr. O'Conor, though he might not have
retained the Office moro than q single year,
would have felt constrained by his sense of
duty to accept it. And the knowledge of his
preeminent fitness is so general that he would
have received tens Of thousands of Republican
votes.
Mr.. Marshall B. Champlain is as conspicu-
ously unqualified for the post as Mr.. OCOnor
is fitted for it. He ranks as lawyer as far
below Gen. Barlow as Mr. 0'COnor does above
him. He is man whom it would have been
morally impossible to make Attorney General
of our State under any Constitution she ever
endured but that which now curses her with
mediocrity in every post but those coveted and
filed by rascality. 1t would have been i'm
possible for John Jay or Dewitt Clinton to
conceive that 80 small Il lawyer and small Il
u,ln roul b. Nrw-N Nol'', Attorney -GcntrIl