The daily gazette., 1877-09-28
|COnkling's Convention
A DAY OF FREE spEEcH-THE sENA-
TOR COMMITTED AFAINsT THE AD-
MINISTRATIoN.

A DAY OF FREE sPEECH-THE sENA-
TOR COMMITTED AFAINsT THE AD-
MINIsTRATIoN.
The correspondent of the New York
Tribune, at Rochester, thus comments
on the Republican Convention which
commenced there yesterday:-- ,,5'|
sit is not easy to fathom the underly-
ing purpose, If there was any, In pursu-
ance of which the keynote Of dissension
and division was struck in the opening
speech of the the temporary chairman
this morning, and followed up until the
end was reached, and the party set at
ODDS. All day yesterday the absolute
possession Of the convention by Senator
Conkiing was freely conceded. No one
dreamed of f.disputing it with him, only
Questioning as to whether he would use
his opportunity discreetly, and manage
the convention in the interest of peace and
harmony. Up to the time of Mr.. George
W. curtis arrival, in the evening, the
delegates who were known to be favo-
rable to the administration had indicated
no purpose to disturb the harmony Of the
proceedings by asking an Endorsement of
the administration. They were supposed
to be quite content with what then SEEM
ed the programme of the Conkl.ng dele
gates to ignore the administration enti-
rely, neither approving nor condemning
its acts or policies. The arrival of Mr..
Curtis changed the aspect of affairs some
what, though not seriously. 1t was at
once communicated to Mr.. Conkllng that
Mr.. Curtis had expressed the determina-
tion to force the convention, so far as it
lay in his power, to take position either
for or against the administration. There
was something in this announcement
that seemed to awaken the pugnacious
spirit of the Senator, who had begun to
grow tired Of the tameness of the situa-
ton. .a.,....
coNKLlNG ON CURTIS, "THE CARPET
~ KNIGHTS.
In the verbatim report of Senator Conk-
ling's speech in reply to Mr.. Curtis, these
passages occur
"Who are these men who, in news
papers and elsewhere, are cracking the
whip over Republicans now, and playing
schoolmaster to the Republican party ,and
its conscience and convictions? Some of
them are the man-milliners,t the dilettanti
and carpet-knights of politics; men whose
efforts have been expended in denounc-
ing and ridiculing and accusing honest
men who, in the storm and sunshine, in
war and peace, have clung to the Republi
can flag and defended it against those who
tried to trail and trample it in the dust.
Some ofthem are men who, when they
could work themselves into conventions,
have attempted to be-little and befoul
Republican administrations, and to
parade 4 their own thin veneering of
purity. Some of them are men who, by
insisting that it is corrupt and bad for
men in Office to take part in politics, are
riving now to prove that the Republi-
can party has been unclean and vicious
all its life, and that the last campaign
was venal and wrong and fraudulent not
in some of the States, but in all the States
North and South; for 1t is not secret that
in all the States ofice-holders in commit
tees, in organizations, and everywhere,
did all that men could fairly do to uphold
the candidates of our party, and that they
were encouraged and urged to do SO.
Some of these worthless masquerade as
lreformers. Their vocation and ministry
I is to lament the sins of other people,
Their stock in trade is rancid, fiat self
righteousness. They are wolves in sleeps
clothing. Their real object is Office and
plunder. When DIR. johnson defined
patriotism as the last resource OF a scoun-
drel he was unconscious of the then un-
developed capabilities and uses of the
word .sreform," Some OF them sat but
Yesterday in Democratic conventions
Some of them have sought nominations
at the hands of Democrats in recent years
and some, with the zeal of neophytes and
the bitterness of apostates, have done
more than self-respecting Democrats
would do to villfy and slander their Gov
ernment and their countrymen. Grant,
and all who stood by that upright, fear
less magis. rate, have been the objects OF
the bitter, truthless asperslons OF these
men. ~
And noa--opposed or laggard in the
battles OF the past-they leap forward to
the feast. They forget that parties are
not built up by department or by lady's
magazines or by gush. 1t is used to be
said of certain Democrats in Massachu-
setts that they wanted by their obnox-
ious off1ciousnsss to keep the party In
that State as small as they could in order
to make the stockholders as few and the
dividends as large as possible. l nope
these new fledged dictators are not ann
ing at the same thing in New YORK.
The grasshoppers in the corner OF a
fence, even without a newspaper TO Dc
heard in, sometimes makes more noise
than the fioclxs and herds that Craze
upon a Thousand hills. a Chinese war
OF noises has been set up in the State ana
beyond ths State, to drive this conven-
ton to say what its judgmentindicates as
suitable and wise. 49,
can imp ,rtant election is at hand
important in counties, in Assembly dis-
trlcts, and in towns--and we are told that
we must not keep within our sphere. OF
duty, but must find bones of contennon
To carry schism and discord down to
every locality to distract and weaken our
party everywhere, the wisdom OF those
somewhat peremptory directions is the
question before us. The propriety OF de-
nouncing and carping at administrative
acts on yery small occasion has not been
without advocates This doctrine, as
sometimes maintained, l believe TO Dc
unjust to public officials. ltseems TO me
nublie officers are entitled to presump-
lions In their favor, and ought never 10
he condemned until they and theiT ac1s
have been fairly tried. and then only on
clear evideuce. For extreme license In
critio oism of Administrations and of every
bodv connected with them, broad argu-
Sy.- oa,, M douht be found. Many