New-York tribune., 1876-06-26
FEELING FOR HIS FIFTH RIB.

To imDute insincerity TO the earnest patriots
who are opposing the nomination Of Gov. Til
den at ST. Louis, because, they say, he is
corrunt and cannot be trusted to give the
country administrative reform and pure gov
ernment, would be perhaps carrying the
thing too far. They may be III error as 10
their facts, or perhaps since the present Con-
gress has made them acquainted with what
the Democratic pG.ty can do when 1t starts
out upon a career of reform, they have set
their standard of political integrity Shade
too high; but that they are not i'll downright
dead earnest in opposing Gov. Iilden on the
ground of his being n dishonest and corrupt
man-who shall look over the array OF his
| opponents and say that of theml who shall
question the motives of such men? Consider
for moment what manner OF men
\ they are who have gone from New
| York to st. Louis in the interest OF good gov
4 ernment and honest administration-to see to
| it that all they hold dear in the Republic does
not suffer shipwreck in the nomination OF Til
\ den. No need to name them. Some of them
grew ND where the low wash of waves upon
| the bernie bank sang freedoms own song till
| the close OF navigation; some of them have
listened from early youth to the voice of the
/
answered with unbalanced bids the navigator's S
CRY for repairs; some learned to love truth l0T
\ its own sake within the shadow OF the un-
| finished Court house in this city, ana others
| have sat at the feet of the lawgivers at Al
banv, or themselves led up to the polls in the
interest of sound morals and political health
| the able and unsGfsh repeater. And who
1 shall say of these and such as these that they
have not been pressing toward ST. Louis these
| last few days with only burning desire to
4 save the nation from great calamity 10
donbt their sincerity would be like question
ing the patriotism of those devoted soldiers
| who did such faithful service during the war
"rapin' the bounty"
| 1t is melancholy, however to reflect that
after these gentlemen shall have succeeded in
killing off Gov. Tilden as an unscrupulous and
designing politician, they i'll be left with 10
candidate on hand who stands even as well as
he as a rcformer. There is a prevailing no.
ton among impartial observers, and quite a
| number of prominent Democrats entertain it,
that Gov Tilden is the only Democrat IN pub
lie life who has done anything at all to show
that he is practical political reiormcr. 1t
may be a gross delusion, and if our st. Louis
anti -Tilden reformers are correct 1T is just
| that but the fact remains that good many
people believe the party cannot be consistent
| in its reform professions except 1T nom
mates Tilden at st. Louis, and that to
defeat him of the nomination upon the
arguments at present urged would be only a
very dismal farce. And it is quite possible
that some of the gentlemen who have been en-
couraged to trust the Democratic professions
| of reform on the strength of what Gov. Tilden
has done, and on that alone, may experience
| something akin to disappointment and not un-
ike disgust at seeing him sacrificed. And if
| they understand that he is defeated because
| he docs not reach the high standard of the
| Democracy on the score of uprightness and
purity they will be quite likely to institute
| comparisons between him and the successful
| candidate; between the record he has made
| and the record of any other candidate in the
list And they will judge the nominee as
they do Gov. Tilden, by what he has actually
| performed, and not by what his friends promise
| for him. 1t is all wrong of course for any one
who has had the high felicity of looking on at
| the great work of reform accomplished by the
| Democratic party in the present Congress to
entertain for moment the idea that any one
can be nominated at st. Louis who is not a