The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1876-06-13

men OF the party Dy MS courage ana 10
the American sentiment in favor OF
fair play. He has been hardly used.
Upon him has fallen sad misfortune.
But Mr. Blaine has made himself an impos-
sible candidate by admitting that at the
time when the railway rings were plumber
ing the government he shared in their spoil,
and as Speaker did their bidding AS
Speaker he did what as Chief Justice Of the
Supreme Court would have cost him his
place. This is the underlying fact in the
whole discussion about the private letters.
Mr.. Blaine as the candidate of the republi-
can party would put that party upon the
defensive from the beginning; would COM
pei it to sustain or ignore that whole system
Of railway jobbery would silence the guns
that otherwise would be opened upon the
democrats who were in the same ring, and
would make the race losing one from the
outset. This Cincinnati enthusiasm, this
Washington sympathy for an ailing
gentleman, this gushing rhetoric of cal
low Washington correspondents, who think
Of Blaine's dinners while they write their
despatches--all this will fade away, and then
will come the hard duty Of carrying man
who. but for the stupidity Of the democratic
members Of the House, would now be before
the bar of the House in danger of expulsion
for having tempered with witness and sup
pressed evidence:
OF course, if tho republicans see in Mr.
Blaine their best candidate they have right
to show their faith in him. That is their
business. We simply speak of the effect
upon the country. If the Convention wants
the man who best represents the courage
the discipline and the honor of the party,
who will poll every vote, command the
respect Of his opponents, and be worthy
President if elected, it will take Mr.
Conkling. If it is willing to change its
ground on the money question and throw
the Southern States back into the hands of
adventures and military governors, at the
same time running the risk of another Tyler
and another johnson, it will take Mr.. Nor
ton. If it desires to name the man against
whom nothing can be said MS q republican or
a reformer and who would be true to the
principles Of IN honored and courageous
life, it will take Mr.. Washburne. If it wishes
to please few old maids, some Harvard
professors and a swarm of detectives by trying
as an experiment. man about whom it
knows nothing, it will take Mr.. Bristow, and
learn in four years whether or not he is re-
former. Every path has its difficulties
We can understand how republicans who
think only Of the party success should be
puzzled. If none of these paths are inviting
there is always the road toward the Great
Unknown. When the tired gambler wearies
of pursuing fortune he frequently throws his
stake upon new card and daros fate to
it's worst. This hos time and again been the
resource of a desperate convention. Some
times the prize is Polk or Pierce, some
times it is Lincoln. 1t may be that the re-
publican leaders, worn out by these burning
strites, will tempt destiny by taking a Great
Unknown, feeling perhaps, that as they
won Lincoln once fortune may smile
upon them at Cincinnati as it smiled upon
them sixteen years ago in the wigwam at
Chicago