The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1876-05-10


With any just comprehension Of thcir re-
lations to one another and to the country
the three distinguished men who are recog-
nized as the foremost individuals, in demo-
cratic opinion, in the three great sections Of
the country, will not let great opportunity
drift away and be lost in proftless conten-
tion as to which Of the three shall be nomi-
nally first. They must settle this point
between themselves or permit it to be set
tied between their immediate intimates, and
when their names come before the Conven-
ton they must not come as resolute and re-
lentless opponents, any one of them ready
to rise on the ruin of the others; for it hap
pens they must all fall together. They
must 60 before the representatives of tho
National Democratic Convention prepared
to hear with satisfaction the judgment by
which it gives precedence to one, and ready
also to ratify the virtual compact that the
other two shall be associated with that one
in Office if he shall receive the suffrages Of
the people.
1t may be said that this bargains away the
great offices before they are secured; that it
commits the President to pledge before he
receives Office that is to bind him in Office,
and that it requires of him action that he
may not deem altogether wise when the
occasion comes to act Every government
that is good government is founded on
pledges and guarantees and compacts be-
tween the various parties to such bargains.
All government that does not proceed on
bargains like this is mere personal govern
ment, the result of the seizure of the polit-
ical machinery by armed force, as in the
case of the first Napoleon, or by intrigue and
conspiracy, as in the case of the last Napo-
leon. Every President is put in Office with
us on the assumption that he will govern by
means of the great men of the country, as
every constitutional king holds his throne
on similar theory. General Grant and
George Ill have been cited as the most
conspicuous instances Of the violation of
the theory, and they violated it in the
same way and substantially for the
same reasons. George III. INDUCED his
personal preferences in the choice Of
Ministers, and perhaps was unable to
comprehend that that was improper. He
did not perceive any constitutional duty
in the premises. He did not want disagree
able statesmen about him who would bother
him with politics. He wanted about him
the men he could like, and thought the men he
liked could do all that was necessary, and so
he went on thinking till he lost to his king
dom world of great colonies, such as no
nation ever had before. Grant also fell into
the same amiable error, and has caused to
his country loss that may prove greater
than that which George Ill. caused England,
for he has half forfeited the triumph Of the
North gained in our great war.
1t is proper, therefore, to return to that
traditional system of our great parties which
gives guarantee that great Offices shall be
filled by great men under compacts that have
behind them such sanction as the assent Of
party conventions and it is especially wise
to return to this system now when it points
the way to a harmonious issue from the rival
claims of the great men of party happily
well supplied with such material.