The New York herald., 1876-08-22


capacity for defeating its own candidates.
the democrats have unrivalled power If
any question required prudent treatment
it was the Southern question. Once touch
the chord of patriotism, once arouse the old
war feeling, and Mr. Tilden's canvass would
be as hopeless as was that of Vallandigham
in Ohio. Common sense would have shown
the wisdom of peace and Cancellation in
the South. Well, the campaign opens by
massacre in Hamburg, massacre already
condoned by public opinion in the South.
This is followed by the nomination of Wade
by convention in which the leaders in
the massacre were prominent members,
and on a platform representing all the pas
sion and intolerance of the war-arraying
race against race and rejudice against preju-
dice The one other question which the
leaders should have treated with prudence
and firmness was the finances. Yet on this
point we have the democratic party in the
West nominating rag-money inflationists for
Congress, for Governorships and for the
Senate In Illinois the democratic nominee
for Governor is so obnoxious that the lead
ing democratic journal in the Northwest re-
pudiates him as a 81 money communist
and denounccs the nomination as a violation
of the st. Louis platform and an offence to
the people.
Even these incidents might be dismissed
rs local phenomena, in no way affecting the
general aspect of the canvass, and the coun-
try could be rallied upon Tilden as the
Heaven-appointed reformer, with the probity
of Washington, the genius Of Jefferson, the,
will of Jackson-as all, in fact, that MIR.
Hewitt, Mr. Goodwin and other devotees be-
lieve him to be. But when we come to
analyze Mr.. Tilden's letter of acceptance,
which was awaited with so much anxiety,
and from which SO much was expected, we
are disappointed. The letter is vague.
misty, unsatisfactory, without life or CO.
herence, and not calculated to instruct or
arouse the country. On the fnan-
cial question, upon which SO much
depends. it is surrender. While
Hendricks expresses himself in manly
way and avows his opinions Tilden, who
is the hard money champion above all
others. abandons the Resumption act. 1t
is said the Resumption act is sham
that it means nothing, that Tilden is sound
to the core, that his concession is a mere tub
to the whale. But no pledge is sham until
it is broken. What the country pledges
Mr.. Tilden proposes to violate. He pro-
poses this not because he believes it, for
according to his supporters, ne will resume
long before the day fixed in the Resumption
net, but as o concession to the repudiators in
the West. The country at once asks, What
is to be the fate Of an administration
which begins its campaign for re-
form by a surrender to the most
dangerous influence in the land, the infa-
tionists of the West !? The country recalls
Buchanan, the last democratic President.
1t remembers that Buchanan was wise, able,
patriotic, experienced in the ripeness Of life,
statesman Of the old school-the ablest
man in his party-such q man as Tilden is
to-day. 1t remembers how the elevation of
Buchanan was regarded as the return of the
old times when worth and experience graced
the Presidency. 1t remembers also how
Buchanan tampered with secession, rs Til
den in his letter tampers with imitation; how
he made concessions" to Sldell and Breck-
inridge, as Tilden makes concessions"
to Hendricks and Ewing; how, in
the end, the evil with which he tam
pered swept over him, covering his name
and his administration with contempt,
sweeping the country into war. This is
fatal memory to arouse now. 1t shows that
Mr. Tilden should take the advice of the
HERALD and lead his canvass before it drifts
away from him. He has the power, the
ability, and We think he has the will. As
the canvass now stands the republicans have
made no mistakes, while on the Southern
question and the finances the democrats
have made blunders which would be fatal
to an ordinary campaign, and which may
yet prove fatal to the most promising can
vass the democrats have had since the nomi-
nation of Pierce and King, nearly quarter
Of century ago.
n, ents ce.Holdsrs