New-York tribune., 1876-04-25
THE DEMOCRATIC CANDIDATE.

Republicans at ClnclnnaJl IL iHdCh Hoic Soh-
erally discussed than that of the Democrats at
st. Louis Much more interest is manifested
by the public in the Republican nomination
than in the Democratic. This would hardly
be so unless there were conviction III the
popular mind that the next President is TO be
nominated at Cincinnati and not at st. Louis.
This was not the case eighteen months ago.
After the Democratic victories which brought
into being the present Congress there was not
only great confidence on the part of the De-
mocracy that the tidal wave would roll
beyond the Presidential election and place
the Government in their hands, but there
was a corresponding despondency on the
part of the Republicans which approached
utter discOuragement That there has been
very positive change in public opinion since
then is too plain to need argument. The talk
of the people the tone of the press, and, more
convincing still, the tables of election returns,
all attest it, For this change of sentiment
the Democrats have only themselves to
thank. They have been trusted with just
a little power, and instead of exercising
that little with something like discretion and
Judgment and proper sense OF responsibility,
they have shown only headstrong partisanship,
and fitness beside which the worst things they
ever charged upon the opposition seem re-
putable, wise, and honest. Coming into
| their little taste of power upon the
strength of their clamor against the finan-
cial policy of the Republicans, and their own
claim to be able to devise "A better, they have
| frittered away months in caucusing and have
not yet been able to agree upon the first sylla-
bic of n policy of any sort Pretending to be
! sincerely desrous of reforming and purifying
the Civil Service, they have, so far as they had
the power, plunged it into deeper and
dirt;er slough than ever And even In
the business of investigating corrul ton,
they have exhibited such partisanship, have
been so credulOus of charges against
opponents, no matter how vague and Wild and
40 ready to cover up the Offenses of their
party friends, that the very Investigations by
which they hoped 10 make capital for them
selves have actually damaged them and
created sympathy for those whom they have
pursued. SO that the feeling with which the
party is viewed by the honest body OF nde-
pendent voters in the country, whose ballots
are necessary to elect the President, is one Of
profound diStrust
The question then for thoughtful men in
the party, for even the politicians who do at
least honestly desire success, is how to regain
pubIic confidence and secure the needed votes.
Obviously enough it cannot be done by any
mere professions, or promises, or platform
platitudes. Nor can anything be expected
from this Congress. Public opinion has already
set down that body as "a bad lot" 1t cannot
now help the party by its investigations, no
10 ,,alya ia
only possible for the party to recover
its lost prestige and put itself in a
position to enttle it to confidence by making
such a nomination at st. Louis as will offer
the best assurance of sincerity. The candidate
himself must be the platform. In his charac-
ter and his record there must be the solid ana
substantial evidence, not merely of honest in
tention, but of a downright set purpose to
carry honest intent into practical effect.
Eighteen months ago, when the reaction
AGAINST the Administration reached its highest
point and sent the Republican patty to
defeat. the Democrats might have nominated
with reasonable hope OF success almost any
one of the gentlemen who have been promi-
nently named for the Presidency on that side.
To-day the case is different. They cannot
now, as they might then, carry the country
upon the weakness of their opponents. Since
that time their own weakness has been dis
closed. Their candidate must be a man whose
record has identified him with political reform
one whose candidacy would of itself
90 far to retrieve the blunders and
recover the lost ground of the past
year and half. Happily for them, If they
have but the wisdom to see it, such candl
date is possible, and no difficulty nor confusion
need attend the choice. For Notwithstanding
} the outcry the party hds made about political
corruption and its clamor for reform. it happens
that only one of their conspicuous leaders has
actually shown the ability, capacity, and honesty
of purpose to carry out great practical reforms
in politics Gov. Tilden is the only
prominent Democrat IN the country whose
name has been brought forward for the st
Louis nomination who has actually done any
thing in the way of Reform. His sincerity ha:
been attested in his great battles with the
Tammany Ring in this city and the Cana
Ring in the State. He has shown his faith by
! his works. The country recognizes in him a
, genuine Reformer. While other men in the party
have theorized he has acted; while others have
been satisfied with denouncing the corruptions Of
: opTonents he has made war upon officia
crime wherever found, and never spared {
criminal of his own party. Few men in pub
lie life have accomplished so much and 81
{ GOOD work as he. No man in his party &c
} thoroughly represents the idea of politica
| reform. His is the only name that as Dem