The Morristown gazette. [volume] (Morristown, Tenn.) 1867-1920, 1876-07-19

hands of the freebooters depended
upon recovering the legislative pow
er of the State, IN securing a maiori-
ty of the Senate and Assembly. To
| :his end Mr.. Tllden directed all his
efforts. In a speech at the Cooper
Union i'm New York, he stated Mr.
Tweed's plan which was TO carry
the Senatorial representation from
that city. and then re-eiect eight,
and, if possible. twelve Of the Re-
publican Senators from the rural
districts whom he had bought and
paid for the previous year, and thus
control all the legislation that might
be presented there which involved
his freebooting dynasty.
A party in power is naturally dis
posed to risk the continuance of
abuses rather than hazard the ex-
treme remedy of "cutting them out
bv the roots.'' The executive pow
er of the State and all its recently
enlarged official patronage were ex-
erted against the latter policy. And
since the contest of 1869 the ring"
has studied to extend it's influence
in the rural districts, and had show
cred legislative favors as if they
were ordinary patronage. But for
tune favors the brave. Without an
office or a dollars worth of patron
age in the city or State to confer,
Mr.. Tilden planted himself on tile
traditions of the elders, on the NOR
al sense and forces of Democracy,
and upon the evincibility of truth
and right. That undainted faith in
the harmony Of truth and its ire
concilability with error, which we
have found sustaining him at the
bar and carrying him from victory
to victory against more desperate
odds, sustained him here As al
ways happens to those who battle
for the right. Providence came to
his aid. The thieves fell out, and
one of their number betrayed them.
A clerk in the Comptroller's office
copied a series of entries-after-
wards known as ''secret accounts"
and handed them to the press for
publication. They showed the dates
and amounts of certain payments
made by the Comptroller. the enor-
nous amounts of which, compared
with the times and purposes Of the
payments and the recurrence of the
same names awakened suspicious
that they were the memorials of the
grossest frauds. Mr.. Tilden soon
IDooo,,oo cotic6aI n E chic f,o,, ~ g.
tility of the answers received from
the city officers when questioned
about them and from other sources,
and reached the conclusion that the
city had been the victim of frauds
far transcending anything ever sus-
pected He Immediately formed his
plan, for the execution Of which-as
it involved the control of the ap-
preaching State Convention the CO.
operation of several leading Demo
Gratis was first secured. He accept
ed an arrangement by which he was
to be sent to the convention from
his native district, Columbia county,
which had always during the ring
ascendancy afforded him that oppor-
tunity of being heard.
Early in September he issued a
letter to some seventy-six thousand
Democrats, reviewing the situation
and calling upon them ''to take a
knife and cut the cancer out by the
roots" But before the meeting OF
the convention an event happened
which could not have been foreseen,
but which was pregnant with the
most important consequence.
To the eternal honor of the Dem
ocratic party of the city and State
on the issue thus made up by Mr.
Tilden. they gave him their cordia
and irresistible support. The resuIt
was overwhelming, and not only
changed the city representation ii
the legislative bodies of the State
but, in its moral effect. crushed thC
Ring"
Mr.. Tilden was one of the dele
gates chosen to represent the city il
the next Legislature In deferenc,
to the views of his principal coadju
tors. Mr.. Tilden devoted the 81,
weeks interval between his election
and the meeting of the Legislator,
to the prosecution of its inyestiga
tion in the city departments and ii
preparing the vast mass Of aceurati
information which was the basis o
nearly all the judicial proofs tha
have since been employed success
fully in bringing the members of th
" Ring to justice or driving ther
into exile.
Mr.. Tilden gave his chief after
tion during the session Of the Legis
: lature to the promotion Of those OF
jects for which he consented to q
there, the reform of the Judiciary an
the impeachment of the creature
who had acquired the control of !
under the Tweed dynasty.
Mr.. Tilden had thus by his boil
acts made himself prominet in til
T work of reform. and recognized q
the man to lead it in the Stat,
Prominent friends of reform urge
him to accept the nomination fc
| Governor. They said he could /
E nominated without difficulty an
elected triumphantly. and in his tr
, umph the great cause of adminstri
> tive reform would receive an impuls
7 which would propagate in not onl
, over the whole State, but over I'll
g Union.
Mr.. Pilden ultimately consente
: to take the nomination for Govesno
his objections to which were owe
: come by q single consideration.
! was the only way in which he coul
0 satisfactorily demonstrate that
course of fearless. and persistent T
9 sistance to wrong will be yindicate
! and sustained by the masses of IL