The New York herald., 1876-10-07
The Mayoralty.


name to the list of those we have sug-
gested to Mr.. Kelly for the Mayoralty.
1t proposes the name of Mr.. Samuel d.
Babcock. He is an excellent and capable
gentleman, and we accept our contem-
porary's suggestion with pleasure, and add
him to the other gentlemen we named
observation-disclosures. Agnew, Royal Phelps.
Kane and Brady. Here are five names, all
of them, as every citizen of New York knows,
entirely unobjectionable Mr. Kelly cannot
bring charge against any one Of them, ex-
cept that he would not be my candidate. "
They would not be Mr.. Kelly's TOOLS his
obedient servants, that is very true, and to
us and to tho people Of New York it
is ono of their real merits. We are
heartily tired of hearing Mr.. Kelly,
like the late Andrew Johnson, con-
stantly talking about .my policy" my
candidate. 'my will" We repeat that we
do not doubt that Mr.. Kelly would like to
see US all prosperous and happy but he has
on idea that we ought to be happy only
under "my policy" and 'my rule" This
dictatorial notion is all very fine for Mr..
Kelly but the people of New York are tired
of it, They see very plainly that 'my can
didate" will necessarily be smaller man
than his master, and we do not want q
smaller man that Mr. Kelly in the Mayors
chair of the big city Of New York
| We ask Mr.. Kelly once more to consider
the situation. He is democrat and he
must see, what we have already pointed out
to him, that if he insists on "my way" and
''my candidate" he may prolong discord
which will hazard and may defeat his
Presidential candidate, Governor Tilden.
The HERALD's interest lies in having good
Mayor. The city is overwhelmingly demo-
cratic the Mayor will be democrat /; what
we ask Of MIR. Kelly is to give up my can
didate' for once and allow MS to have q
strong, capable, independent man for
Mayor. We point out to him, good ma
turedly, that if he is obstinate, if he rejects
wise counsel, if he insists on ''my candi-
date" his obstinacy may not merely defeat
him, but may even bring general disaster
upon his party. Certainly he ought not to
desire that. He has, no doubt, what most
men would call exaggerated notions of his
own Importance but if he will reflect he
must see that for the sake Of ''my policy
he would not be wise to engulf his whole
party in defeat.
John Morrssey-Honest John-sees this
at once. He openly and frankly declares
that he does not mean to stand in the way Of
harmony. He does not seek his own way at
the expense Of every other interest. Mr.
O'Brien is probably as sensible as Honest
John Morrissey. There is no hitch. Moth
ing now stands in the way of the harmony
tent Mayor, except Mr.. Kelly, who. it
seems, still harps upon ''my policy" and
'.my candidate" and sulks because people
would like for once to be relieved Of his
guidance Is not the situation little ridicu-
lous?-for Mr.. Kelly, we mean. Why must
we always humbly and obediently fol-
low his commands? Why is the first
demand in our city politics always to do Mr..
Kellys will-to keep Mr.. Kelly quiet? He
reminds us Of famous story of Mr.. Lincoln
apropos of just such an obstinate person as
Mr. Kelly. Mr.. Lincoln heard dispute
between Robert, his Oldest son, and 'Tad,"
small boy, very self-willed, like Mr.. Kelly.
s.What is the matter?" said the father. "Tal
is worrying because want my knife, said
Robert .'Oh, let him have the knife, to
keep him quiet" said good Mr.. Lincoln
but the practical Robert replied, 'No, sir
it's my knife, and need it, to keep me quiet"
We recommend the story to Mr.. Kelly. New
York is not his property. It belongs to the
mass of citizens; to the taxpayers and resi-
dents. He has had it now for some time to
keep him quiet but it is ours and we need
it now to keep us quiet
We respectfully call Mr.. Kelly's attention
to another example, to the case of one Of his
most illustrious predecessors in the dicta-
torship of New York-a politician as able,
at least, and also as self-willed as Mr..
Kelly-the Hon. Fernando Wood. He ruled
New York for ten years like an emperor;
he did what Mr.. Kelly does not dare do, for
he nominated himself for Mayor. ''The
city, that is l." he said, paraphrasing q
| French Kings remark. When he spoke of
s.my candidate" he did not mean Mr.. Schell
or Mr.. Wickham; he meant himself. Well,
we ask Mr.. Kelly to consider calmly Mr..
Woods fate. He had his own way for
a while, but he was long since driven
out Of tho city dictatorship and forced
to take his pleasures in the less inn
portant arena of federal politics. He
wanted to rule just as much as Mr. Kelly,
and we do not mean to be offensive when we
say that he was stronger man than Mr.
a.
1t does not mean to be carried around in
anybody's breeches pocket. Mr.. Wood un-
dertook, in q milder, and we must say in an
ADLER way than Mr.. Kelly's, to regulate our
affairs; to wind us up nnd set us going, and