Worcester daily spy. [volume] (Worcester [Mass.]) 1850-1888, 1872-09-13
WOrdy Letter from Charles O,ConOr-EEe
Again Declines.


New YORK, Sept. 12-Chares O'Conor, In
his reply to the address of Major Moreau, ten
derng the nomination of the Louisville conven-
ton, spoke as follows:
Mr.. Chairman and Gentlemen: My views as
to the duty of resisting the Baltimore nominal
toni coincide with those which you have ex-
pressed. Unless their lines are kept firm and
their anta9oniSm on some real or supposed prin-
ciple consistently sustained, political parties pro-
duce no good they arc on their face mere factious
combinations to delude the pepole and divide
as profits of a trade, such portions of wealth as
can be wrung from them under forms of law.
Consequently, in Il country governed by parties
an avowed coalition of elements before deeply
and vitality antagonistica for the mere purpose
Of carrying an election, is not honorable;
the participants in it part with their
regard for decOrum; and il is familiar
knowledge that this is the least reliance against
dishonest action after virtue and public spirit
are extinct Undoubtedly in all things there
are degrees, and in imaginable instances there
may be wide liberation. Indeed, | am quite
prepared 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 unjuStiliablc The nomination
which was in fact made is utterly so. Its folly
is manifest and its failure inevitable. A public
coalition though it has all the inherent quail
ties Of a conspiracy, has not the same chance of
success. The people may be sacrificed by
secret betrayal; they will never consent
to an open sale, Ever since the snap
Judgment against popular sentiment obtained
by the deed of Baltimore, arguments very map
picable or very unsOund have been used 10
prevent resistance. There is said to be no fit
choice presented, and that Of two admitted evils
it is wisdom to choose the least. III all this
were true it should not result in favor of the
Baltimore nominee. OF transcendent ability
and of energy unequaled, there is no room for
hat1u Sc p,r IL
tice and common sense forbid the compliment.
acceptable as it seems. The cutlery "too late"
is not just. Even now men travel by steam
and commerce by electricity, If to-day a popu-
lar sentiment exists it can be stimulated to ac-
tiOn in an hour Had we only the appliances nj
antiquity national impulse could light its fires
upon thousand hills and arouse the whole
people. With our superior modes of commune
cation let ii not be said that fifty days do not
afford adequate space for an awakening in pro-
noting the objects OF your convention.
Until the body adjourned | could not have
imagined such result as the total omission to
name or even to 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
tagonsm which we had done our part TO evoke
and in which we earnestly participated. 1t is
therefore asserted that without my intervention
all democrats who dissent from the Baltimore
coalition, and many patriots who revolt at its
origin or dread its consequences, will
be left without power TO record their
protest against it. If such were the fact il
would present a case in which the citizen could
have no moral liberty. The path OF duty would
be plain and direct, leaving him no choice
This country's defence would require that he
should assent to the CONSUMPTION, take the
place assigned him in the national army,
whether in the ranks or at the head, and there
strive for the right to the utmost. From reasons
quite different from those likely to be imputed.
| cannot regard the present eXigency a part of
the vile code advocated by the hirelings lof mis-
rule, that direct and immediate success is the
first and paramount aim In every human effort
On the contrary, my morality inculcates.hon-
orable and manly struggles for the right how
ever slight the prospect of immediate advantage
| TO the actors or even TO the cause. Neither the
| personal motives suggested, nor apprehensions
| that your contemplated movement must fail,
| TO accomplish any useful results influence me.
| / regard the Baltimore nominations as exhibit
| ing in their climax the vices of the nomination
| system with its pledges and platforms. Shock
| ing to honest pride and sound morals is the
career of bargaining which is now generally re-
quired to precede such nomination. The plat
| form is a thing gotten up for the emergency.
| On it the candidate is made to sit as on stool
| Of repentance or as one placed in the stocks.
! BY way of holding him to the pledges now
| forced upon him, this pitilul attitude, as the
| most conspicuous office begger In the land, must
| be occupied by the citizen before he can receive
l vote for the highest aud most honorable of