The New York herald., 1876-03-25
The Republican Party and the SYRIA
cuse Convention.


If the movement against Mr. Conkling had
/ its inspiration in a desire to free the country
from the debasing effects of the present ad-
ministration there would be some sympathy
for the gentlemen who went to Syracuse
under the lead of Mr.. Curtis and Mr.
Roberts but any such claim is destroyed
by the fact that the men now arrayed against
Mr.. Conkling have been as obedient to the
administration as the Senator himself For
nearly seven years, or until within three
months, Mr. Curtis has supported the ad-
ministration in every pretension, excuslng
every mistake, smoothing over every knavery.
What Conkling has done in the Senate Mr..
Curtis has done in the Harper newspapers
and Mr.. Roberts in the Utica Herald. Now,
if Mr.. Conkling is unfit to lead the republi-
can party in the next canvass Mr.. Curtis
and Mr.. Roberts are certainly unfit to advise
as to its leadership.
The World which Mr.. Curtis seems to
have selected as his daily organ, informs
I us that it "has the best and most directly
personal authority for saying" that Mr. Curtis
will not stay away from Cincinnati and will
not vote for Mr.. Conkling when he goes
there. The fact that Mr. Curtis selects the
| World for making this important announce
ment is pregnant with meaning. Does Mr..
Curtis intend to follow his enmity to Mr.
Conkling into the democratic party :? Should
he fail to persuade the Cincinnati Con-
vention to reject Mr.. Conkling will he
follow the mutineers of 1872 into some new
independent Cincinnati movement? If this
is his purpose-and we might not unreason-
ably infer as much from the delicate and
graceful manner in which the World accepts
his inspiraton-it would have been frank for
Mr.. Curtis to have avowed it when he had
the ear of the Convention. We are far from
saying that Mr.. Curtis would not do well to
leave the republican party altogether. In
fact, we should commend him for doing so.
He has not been we'll treated by the republi-
cans. He was thrown over for Governor
in favor of Woodford, and he has never
been offered any of the high offices of the
nation.
The fact that he has won q national reputa-
ton as the author of series of brilliant essays
on fashionable manners and how to behave
in good society may have led the President
to feel that his mind was too. aesthetic, too
much engrossed in the niceties of female
dress and ballroom etiquette to grapple with
solemn questions of state. But this is only
another evidence of the Presidents inca
pacity for affairs. Addison wrote about
| graveyards and country dances and was made
Secretary of State. Swift wrote directions
to servants and was power in the Cabinet
Because Mr.. Curtis has found profit in dis
cussing bandboxes and the proper manner
is no reason why he would not
be as much of power in politics as Addison
or Swift. MI. Curtis is really great jour
nalist in the discussion of politics as we'll as
in the discussion of fashions, and his war
upon Grant deserves newspaper sympathy
in this, that the one profession which the
President has always treated with contempt
is journalism. If Mr.. Curtis were to make
his war upon Mr.. Conkling upon the same
grounds as Swift upon the Ministry of his
day-namely, because he has not been we'll
treated-his opposition would be intelligible.
If he goes frankly over to the democratic
party, as looks possible from the sudden
friendship shown for him by the World we
shall honor him. The democrats are in a
conciliatory mood now. They want recruits,
and Mr.. Curtis might be nominated for
Lieutenant Governor along with Dorshei-
mer.
But it is not pleasant to find men like Mr..
Curtis and Mr. Roberts sacrificing the har-
mony of the party and the honor of the State
to their personal grievances. New York
wants to name the President, naturally
as the Empire State. The republicans
present candidate who is the leader
of his party in the Senate. who has
an honored name, who declined the
highest Office in the judiciary that he
might stay with the party and fight
for its principles. Yet, because of an election
wrangle in Oneida, and because of Mr.. Cur
tbs devotion to Mr.. Blaine, the expressed
wish of New York is to be defeated
at Cincinnati. For, granted that this
opposition to Mr.. Conkling destroys
his nomination, no other New Yorker
can be named. Mr.. Conkling's friends
will have ive-sixths ofthe delegation. They
will have the support of Pennsylvania, most
probably, and a strong following in the
South. Suppose they deal with Mr.. Curtis
in the spirit which he shows toward them
and their candidate. They have the votes,
the power and the will If Mr.. Conkling is
not nominated the candidate will be taken
from some other State. Mr.. Curtis in de-
stroying Mr.. Conkling exhausts his power
and his usefulness. The other States may
use him as Lincoln's friends used Greeley al
Chicago. When they were through with
Greeley, when they used his arm to stab
Seward, and deprive New York of candi-