The Republican journal., 1872-09-19
O'Conor Formally Declines.

Conof fOfmally Declines.
NEW YoRk, Sept. l.. Charles O'Concr.
in reply II an address Of Major MORGAN.
rendering the nomination of the Louis
Willie Convention. spoke as follows:
W.. Chouuyan uni Ge5a1cn1n: NV
views As to the duty of resisting the Bal
tjmore nomination coincide with those
which you have expressed. Unless their
lines are kept finn and their antagonism
en- some real or supposed principle is con-
~lStently sustained. political parties can
combinations to dclude the people. and
divide rs profits of trade such portions
of wealth as can be wrung from them I'M
der the forms of law. Consequently. in 4
country governed by parties, an avowed
coalition of elements, before deeply and
vitality antagonistical, tol the mere pur-
pose of carving on an election, is not
honorable. The participants in it part
with their regard for decorum. aud it is
familiar knowledge that this is the last
reliance against dishonest action after
virtue and public spirit are extinct Tn
donbtedly in all things there are degrees,
and in imaginable instances there may be
wide federation indeed. | am quite pre-
pared to say there are a large number of
eminent men in the Republican party who
might well have aspired to the Presidency.
and whose acceptance as candidates at
Baltimore would not have been unillstfia-
nle. The nomination which was in fact
made is utterly so; its folly is manifest
aud its failure inevitable A public con-
'litlon, though it has all the inherent quail
tiles of a conspiracy has not the same
chance of success. The people may be
sacrificed by a secret betrayal; they never
Will consent to an open sale. Ever since
the snap judgement. against popular SEN
tment, obtained by the deed of Baltimore,
arguments very implicable or very I'M
~oHnd have been used to prevent resist
ancc. There is said to be no fit choice
presented and that of two admitted evils,
it is wisdom to choose the least If all
this Were true, it should not result in ia
Tor of the Baltimore nominee. OF trans
rendant ability and OF energy unequaled,
there IS no room Tor comparison between
himself and his rival. Justice and com
mon sense forbid the compliment, accept
able As it seems, that he is little in any
thing. The cutlery " Too late' is not even
now. Men travel by steam and commune
by electricity. If to-day Il popular senti-
mcnt exists ii can he stimulated to action
in an hour. Had we only the appli-
cation of antiquity. Il national impulse
could light its fires upon thousand hills
and arouse the whole people. With our
superior modes OF communion let it not
DC said that fifty days do not afford adc-
quatc space for an awakening In pro-
bG oh of 4 fDn1
theme was no commitment to become its
nominee, and until the body adjourned
could not have imagined such result as
total omission to name or even suggest
any other candidate II is assumed that
this action casts upon Mr.. Adams and
myself the sole responsibility Of leaving
without power to express itself, the an
1agonism which we had done our part to
evoke, and in which we earnestly partiei-
pate. 1t is therefore asserted that with
ont my intervention all Democrats who
dissent from the Baltimore coalition, and
many patriots who revolt Mt its origin OF
dread its consequences, will be left with
out power to record their protest against
it. If such Were the fact. ii would present
t ease in which the citizen could have no
moral liberty. The path OF duty would
be plain and direct, leaving him no choice
His cOunuy'S defence would require that
he should assent 10 the conscriptiOn, and
take the place assigned him in the nation
al army, whether in the ranks OF nj the
head, and there strive Tor the right to the
utmost. For reasons quite different from
those likely to be imputed | cannot so re-
gard the present cXigency. Part of the
vile code, advocated by the hirelnos of
miSlne is, that direct and immediate sue
cess is tho first and permanent aim in
every human effort. On the contrary my
morality inculcatcs honorable and manly
struggles for the right, however slight
the prospect of immediate advantage to
the actors or even to the cause; neither
personal motives suggested nor apprehen-
sions that your contemplated movement
must fail to accomplish useful results,
influence me. | regard the Baltimore
nominations rs exhibiting in their climax
the vices Of the nomination system, with
its pledges and platform. Shocking to
honest pride and sound morals is the ca
reer of bargaining which is now general
ly required to precede such nominations.
The platform is a thing gotten up for the
emergency. On it the candidate is made
in stocks by way of holding him to the
pledges now forced upon him. This pitt
tul attitude, rs the most conspicuous of
tice-beggar in the land, must be occupied
by the citizen before he can receive a
vote for the highest and most honorable
office. Faith teaches that the poor in
spirit shall receive the richest blessings of
a future life; but it is no part of my polit-
ical creed that poverty of spirit in worldly
affairs should be passport to the respect
and confidence OF great people, or quail
itication for their magistracy. Whatever
| might do in respect to any other office
! could neither accept nomination nor
become a candidate for the successership
to Washington. Like many others, which
my taste and judgment have corcurred in
adopting, | know that these ideas are
questionable. Every voice that has
reached my ears concurs in asserting, as
gospel truth, that the electors cannot vote
for any one but the nominee of Conven-
ton who has accepted its nomination
So be it. | do MOI presume to subvert the
established usages, but self-respect and
modesty unite in forbidding me to play,
in these days of political degeneracy, the
part Of chief postulant in any such diana.
Some censure will no doubt attach to the
opinion itself, and still more to the utter.
ance of it. have long withheld it, and
if possible | would now avoid expressing
it. Many man, the latchet of whose
shoes | am not worthy to unloose, has
subscribed to platform and stood as a
candidate. Perhaps, however, it was in
times less corrupt. l do not suggest OF
believe that any of them did anythin o
which in their day and under the atten.
dant circumstance was unbecoming.
know also that you my fellow-citizens
and your highly respected convention
have prescribed tome no tests, but in con.
tormity with usage not now to be de.
parted from. you request me to accept the