The New York herald., 1878-10-15
/ Private Conveysa sion About the
M1yOralty.

| m1yoralty.
This is a private conversation with an
eminent republican politician of this city,
and the public is respectfully requested
not to listen.
three candidates will be nominated for the
Office of Mayor Of New York.
Two certainly-Tammany and anti-Tam-
many. Possibly q third-a ''straight" re-
publican candidate.
| 1t is this last little possibility aboutwhich
we wish to speak to General Arthur for a
| moment. 1t is an interesting question,
why there should be straight" republi-
| can candidate, and before he is trotted ont
we take the liberty to ask, not how he is
| going to run-we know that already-but
why he is to run?
Is it going to be the case of a third horse
| put on the track not to win the race him
self, but to help one of the others? Is he
designed only for the friendly Office of going
ahead and "cutting out the work" as the
| racing men say, for the intended winner?
We suppose General Arthur can answer
this interesting question, and seDce we ad-
dress ourselves to him, not in spirit OF
fault finding, but with the most amiable
curiosity. General Arthur is an excellent
| man; some Of his friends even think him a
| very sagacious political manager. He oc-
cupies the envied position of confidential
friend and adviser of much greater man,
Senator Conkling; and it is said that Mr.
Conkling, who has the manly quality Of
| trusting his friends and who does not live
| in this city, confdes to General Arthur tho
management of his political interests in
this end of the State.
| Well, General Arthur, whose ability and
sagacity we are far from doubling thinks of
nominating straight" republican candi-
date for the Mayoralty, and we respectfully
ask what he means? Does he mean in good
faith to run his man? Does he believe he
can elect him? Or does he mean only to help
elect some other, we mean another candi-
date?
If we had the ear of 50 great and sagacious
politician as he is, and o gentleman in
whose future we take o friendly in
terest, we should say to him, ''Gen-
eral Arthur, be careful You have need.
just here and now, of all your polit-
ical wisdom; for you have a career of
! your own to make. You have future which
a blunder at this time may endanger. You
may once more become Collector of the
Port, or you may go abroad as consul
| to Liberia, say; or to japan, perhaps,
where your friend Senator Conkling
may enjoy view Of you, enhanced by an
| appropriate distance. Many things are pos
| sible to you, General Arthur, and some of
them may hinge upon your part in this falls
city politics. Our city politics are SO petty,
SO dirty, SO insignificant and subordinate to
the interests Of the State, 50 trifiing, in fact,
that they are naturally the subject of trades
aud bargains. But, after all, these mean,
low, petty city politics of ours affect the
comfort, the happiness, the prosperity of
rather more than million of people. When
you nominate straight" republican candi-
date for Mayor, General Arthur, you ought
to remember this"
That is what we should say to General
Arthur, and mainly out of desire that he
shall not overreach himself by too great
political astuteness. He is an excellent
and an enterprising politician, as things
90, and we do not want to see him brought
to grief through falling into the common
notion that the city of New York is of no
consequence whatever, and that its politics
ought to be, or deserve to be, or at any rate
must be- manipulated as sort of trick game
| by politicians of both parties for their own
| ends.
| 1t is the blunder OF some of our political
leaders that they fall too readily into the
ruts of politics. They are too busy, or too
idle, or too timid, or too careless. to look
a political situation frankly in the face, and
they trust everything to few chosen
political manipulators, and do not take
the trouble to know for themselves
what the people think. In this way
they go on finely for awhile, until sud-
denly some day they drop out, because the
people have got tired Of being neglected.
There was Senator Conkling's friend, Sena-
tor Thurman, for instance. He was a man
with great future-a possible President.
If he had made himself acquainted with
the people in his State; if he had been
fearless exponent of their best ideas, bold
leader in the right cause, he might have
completed his career. But he got it into
his head that his friend John G. Thomp-
son was the people of Ohio. and 10 he did
not ask the people, the real people;
he only asked Mr.. Thompson, the
sham people, what he had better do;
and Mr.. Thompson, who is as sagacious
and astute man as General Arthur, told
him that he had better make a combination
with the celebrated "Ohio movement"-and
now Senator Thurman is sitting at home
wishing he had consulted the people, the
men who have the votes, and not Mr..
Thompson, who has but one vote and only