The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1872-04-30
and COuntcrplots or tho Liberal Re-
publicans.


and Countcrplots or tho Liberal Re
publicans.
The ever changing scenes of the Conven-
ton at Cincinnati now attract the attention Of
the country. The cloud that yesterday was no
larger than o mans hand now threatens q
deluge. We are not prepared to say with some
of our friends that the Convention now about
to assemble will either prove failure or NOM
mate the next President. The nomination Of
the next President must be the work Of men
who are inspired by some definite p1in-
ciples. Whatever merit the masters of
this movement may claim, we certainly
mourn the absence Of definite policy
or principle. No party ever rallied into power
upon personal issue. And whoever may be
nominated at Cincinnati the country will ask,
when the time comes to vote, what, besides a
political or personal objection to Grant, con-
trolls the men who now propose to defeat him.
Nor will it be content to listen to idle tavern
scandals. We had enough of them about
Washington and Jefferson, jackson and Lin
coin.
The absence Of any definite principle as OH
inspiration of the anti Grant movement leads
us necessarily to discussion of the men who
are named for the Presidential Office and the
salient points Of their career. Since we are
not to have any principles let us see what
record we find in the men, In the great Pres
idential handicap the candidates are to be
considered as carefully as our sporting men
consider the racers huddled into the paddock.
We have Judge Davis, who comes to us with
the endorsement Of the labor reform party
It did not give us strong convention. This is
the representative of the labor reformers, and
we have no doubt careful inquiry would show
that some of our shrewd politicians created the
party out of their fancy. Be that as it may,
the nomination of men like Judge Davis and
Governor Parker showed the eminent
wisdom of the able men who composed
this convention. Judge Davis represents the
solid sense of the middle classes of the West.
He has the argument in his favor that was
made so successfully in favor Of MI. Pierce,
that his virtues ore negative and that scandal
itself does not deny him to be an eminently
proper man. But when we come to criticise
Judge Davis We are antagonized by many con-
siderations. Why should public man
use the Supreme Bench as the
warming-pan of the Presidency The harshest
criticism made upon our Tammany rulers was
that they prostituted justice and made the
bench on appanage Of Tammany Hall and the
democratic party. We have frequently
mourned that our judges have become officers
Of local party conventions, and active
in tho most unpleasant phases of our
business life. What has been done by the
creatures Of Tammany Judge Davis proceeds
to do on larger scale. If Judge here at
tends party convention we feel that he does
on improper deed Is it not quite as improper
for Judge of the Supreme Court-the most
exalted Office, in some respects, under the con-
stitution--to come down from his high place
and mingle in the hurly -burly and strife and
deceit Of politicsp The scandals which
attend any exhibition Of this kind
are already seen in the canvass attending the
nomination Of Judge Davis. Already we
hear Of the "lobby," which Mr.. Defrees con-
trolls, of free tickets being issued in large
numbers to delegates who yearned for
Davis, Of trick and bargain and sale. We
take it there is no truth in these scandals and,
in any event. give the Judge the benefit Of the
doubt At the same time the fact that q men,
Der of the Supreme Court can be dragged into
canvass like this, and his ermine
saturated with SANDER, shows how wise it is
to debar judges from becoming candidates
for Office. If the liberal reform republicans
mean to do anything let them begin their
work by declining to be party to move
ment by which Judge Of the highest court of
the nation is made to become candidate for
political promotion.
The weak point in the case of Mr.. Adams
may almost be said to be hereditary. There
is something strange in father and son hold
ing the chief executive Office, and o grandson
prominent candidate for the nomina-
ton. But there Is an element of
popularity in the Adams family The
chief of the family was On angular,
uncertain man, narrow, impetuous, easily
moved with Puritanio prejudices capable of
unjust anger and envy. With oil his sterling
points of character Adams never won the
heart Of the people. His Presidency was dis
aster. The Office, which he won mainly from
the tradition suggested by Washington election
to Office upon the same ticket he could not hold
without creating new issues in a canvass for
reelection. His course towards France and
his covert sympathies with England and Eng
lish customs and against the French
Revolution, its influences and its teach
ings, destroyed his administration and his
party, and made easy the way for Jefferson
and the Virginia dynasty, who ruled during
the era of good feeling and until the election
of his son. And even his son, famous as he
was, and worthy of oil honor, and in many
respects the most accomplished statesman
of his time, failed In the Presidency.