New Orleans Republican. [volume] (New Orleans, La) 1867-1878, 1876-09-10
The Meaning of the Nomination.

Circumstances may OCCUR oe!"ooa WIS
| time and the day of election to change ene
present outlook entirely. The democrats
NAV do something wise-whlch, 0y tne
vay ia not probable-or the Republicans
NAV be guilty of some stupsodOus folly, or
| be made responsible for some fatal oion0er
| of the administration, which is not by aay
| means unlikely. But should no such change
! OCCUR. the proceedings of the Democratic
| convention at Saratoga have dehn!tely
| settled the result of the November election
| in this State and in the nation. Mr. IAde9
! is already defeated for tho presidency. ana
| the Democratic ticket IN New YORK.
whether it remains Sc the Saratoga conveo.
| ton made it, or ia changed by the State
committee or by new convention, IN con-
sequence of Mr.. Seymour's persistence IN
declining, is Q good as beaten before
the canvass has fairly opened. They
greatly mistake who consider the work
of that convention as having consisted
mainly in the nomination of Mr.. Seymour.
Its significance did not lie IN that act
merely. Indeed that part Of the result was
of no special consequence, except ss 1t grew
out of other and more important things.
The event of the convention was the defeat
of Mr. Clarkson n. Potter and the anti.
Tilden wing of the party which supported
him. The great fact in the situation Is the
success of Governor Tilden's friends over
John Kelly and the rest, and not the Be-
lection of Governor Seymour "a an unwil.
ling candidate erubbornly persisting in his
refusal to stand. The original programme
Of Governor Tilden to nominate Mr.. Abram
S. Hewitt was shrewd and wise. There
was every likelihood Of its being carried
out, until il was discovered a. 80 late day
that he was ineligible. Had ne been eligible
he would no doubt have been nominated, and
if nominated he would have stood a. least
fair chance Of an election; his election
making certain and secure the electoral
vote of the State fo- Mr.. Tilden, the most
vital point in the contest. With Hewit.'s
pertinent with Dorsaeimer by the Cover.
nor's party, which it was Immediately seen
would fail if pushed. The whole current Of
che convention was then setting toward
Potter. For two reasons Governor Tilden
did not want Potter nominated. One. be-
cauee it would be triumph of the John
Kelly faction, and the other because the
Governor was sagaciOus and shrewd enough
to see that Mr.. Potter was q weak candi.
his nomination would put the national
ticket in jeopardy. The Governors friends
understood all tEis and fully comprehended
the peril when they saw the convention
crying down Dorsheimer, under the lead of
Kelly, and rushing over in mass to Potter.
1t was at just this crisis that they made
their grand coup, and almost before the
convention itself knew it carried Seymour's
nomination by reclamation. It was the
only thing left them to do. and :hey did it
skillfu!ly and well. For few moments it
did actually look as though the movement
was success in other ways than merely in
killing of Potter.
A little later the convention was in calmer
moed. and the affair began to wear a more
serious aspect. 1t has been growing more
AID more serious every hour since then,
until at the moment OF this writing it seems
probable that Governor Seymour will not,
under any circumstances, consent to be a
candidate, and the occurrence which for
moment excited 80 great enthusiasm az the
harolnger OF success turns out to be, in
fact, disaster. The confession has been
made that in the opinion Of the party man
ayers there Is but one man in the State
upon whom the party can unite as caudi-
date fer Governor. So fixed were thew in
this belief that ia spite of his repeated re.
fusals to allow his name to 20 before the
convention, and his invsr;able answer
to al solicitations that ne would not con-
sent to be candidate, they took the
chances and nominated him. Tina. the con-
urgency which has since happened in his
reiterated declination was considered in
the convention was shown by the speech OF
General McQ uade, who asked the conveu-
ton point blank if it was the intention of
the party to vote for Governor Seymour
whether he accepted or not and there was
general affirmative response. The men
who engineered the business did not pro
pose to admit any possibility of final re-
!usal on Governor Seymour's part, nor To
let the convention halt at any such contin.
gency 80 long as they could push it forward
to the vote by exclamation. They knew
that to wait to hear from the candidate was
dangerous, and that unless they carried him
through on the top wave of enthusiasm
Mr Potter was sure to GOMEZ in a. the
second choice Of very large majority.
mat was the whole secret of this
performance. The necessities
OF MI. Tlldens friends demanded the nom;.
nation OF Governor Sc ymour, with or wifh.
out his consent, not because OF his st-enoth
as candidate, bat because he was the onlv
instrument at hand with which they conja
head of the Potter movement and sara
themselves. The failure to induce Gov.
ernor Seymour to stand the nomination
leaves the political intriguers who par.
formed this grand strategy in the position
they were before the convention assembisd
with the advantage of longer time tor con,
sultatlon upon measures and preparation of
q plan. They will have now to dscida
whether to take the char, sea in anotbar
delegate ntion. or assume the dannar
Gus responsibility of selecting a candids+o
bv the State committee. Whichsvar 80
they turn, disaster stares them in tha facSS
-New York Tribune. |A0 Aaoe'