The Cecil Whig. [volume] (Elkton, Md.) 1841-current, 1875-10-23

gentleman to prevent me from striking at
gross political abuses by simply choosing
to place himself in front of them.
said at the beginning of this address
that l should not have qualified the Ian
guage of my letter of acceptance with the
words italicised above if Mr.. Woolford's
name had stood alone upon his ticket. l
should not have done SO, first, because he is
a member of the Ring, in full communion.
But there is the further reason, that he was
publicly denounced on the floor of the
Senate by Mr.. Earle, as truthful and honor
able gentleman as lives, for having fraud
uently attempted to impose on the Com
mittee of Finance of the Senate, by falsely
representing 4 Democratic follower of his
in Somerset to have been soldier of 1912,
and endeavoring to obtain for him sol
dier's pension when he had never been in
the war;, in order to pay for his political
service out of the Treasury. For the truth
of this charge Mr.. Earle appealed in the
Senate to Mr.. Carroll, then presiding, whom
he said was present when Mr.. Woolford
admitted the deception, and he asked Mr..
Carroll if what he stated was not true.
Mr.. Carroll assented by his silence. How,
then, is it possible for him to 60 before the
people, in the face of such disclosure and
his own knowledge of its truth, and convey
to his constituents, directly or indirectly,
the impression that such a person, thus
capable of practicing fraud on the Treas
ury of which he is guardian, is fit to receive
the sutfrages of honest men? Can he pos
sibly think or suggest that the welfare of
the Democratic party demands that ticket
with such name on it shall be swallowed
whole by the people? Nay, how can he
venture to preach the doctrine of Reform
within the Party" when Mr.. Woolford is
not only specimen of what such reform
has come to in the past, but is to be one of
the chosen official Democratic agents in re-
form and publication hereafter? What
right has Mr.. Carroll to be offended at the
bare intimation that he will be bampered,
if elected, by the Vaccinations of the
"Ring," when, with all his conceded in
tegrity, he is unable to escape, even now,
to-day, from the obligation of advocating
such colleague and endorsing him.
In New York, where l write, they had
Ring once, now thoroughly known of men.
The secret of its continued power and in
fluence, and of the impunity in which it
rioted so long, was the supposed necessity
of preserving the "party integrity" and
ba ~ Of
character and intelligence went on, year
after year, surrendering their convictions
of right and their most serious material
interests to Ring dictation and party disci-
pline, until the thing became, at last, a
marvel of shame, corruption and plumber.
The occasional nomination of honorable
and worthy gentlemen, to deodorize the
rest, was a part of the scheme and its sue
cess. If the people of New York had per-
mitted themselves to be deluded any longer
by SO obvious trick as that, the career of
Tweed would never have been diversified
by the intervention of the penitentary.
The Democrats of Maryland will profit, or
not, by this lesson as may suit their sover-
eign will. But if they do Motif they at
tach more Importance to the name and
tickets and watchwords of the party than
to its purity and honor, they may rest as,
sured that the party will come, and that
soon, not to temporary disaster only, but
to utter ruin and shame. They cannot vim
dictate or save it, as l have already said in
my letter of acceptance, so long as they
permit themselves to be "led away" by
considerations of personal respect for in
dividuals, from abating public nuisance
and wiping out party disgrace.
S. T.. WALLIS.
Ne,o York, Oct. 9th, 1875.