New-York tribune., 1879-02-25
MIR. TJLDEY AS CANDID1TE.

Nj. Tilden begins again to be troublesome
to his friends They don't exactly know
what to DO with him. Present ndlca-
lions are that they will be com
PEELED in spite Of themselves to renominate
HIM. And that is the thing above all
Others that they dou't want to do. Mr..
Henry WatterSon spoke with knowledge
year ago when he sand to the mapy-syllabltd
Marble: "YOu and ! are probably the only
" two Democrats OF any prominence III the
"colntry who would like to see Sammy re-
nominated" And ii looks as though he had
forellu0wlCdge when he added: But if yOu
"and should 90 over to the opposition to him,
" we coudu't-all hands Of us-preyent his re-
nominations" Mr TiIdcn is politician, Of
a great deal more shrewdness than the aver
age Democratic leader gives him credit for.
Ii will not do TO cGunt him ont of the
next Presidential contest until after the
last ballot is taken and the nomination
made in the National Convention. TIE IRIB-
UNE has observed Oh one or two occasions
since the election OF 1876 disposition on the
part of Democratic leaders and the party press
" consider the old gentleman permanently
shelyed. Two or three times The TRIBUNE has
had not been consulted, and that II would
be a mistake to reckon without him, as he
is that kind of jack-in- -the-bOx that is
liable, at the moment when they have
defined the qualities wanted in candi-
date, to rise up suddenly and answer
Here :" We have always insisted that it
was mistake for the Democratic party TO
make their calculations for 1880 without in
cluding him in them as n somewhat important
factor. And we are rather inclined to think
that ii IS more important to know what he
proposes to do with the party than what the
party proposes to do with hm.
II is not the habit of the Democratic party
70 nominate Nh Tilden for Office from any
love for him or desire to honor him. For
reasons known to those earnest-sOuled patriots
who used to call him q" dam clam" the
party does not eush toward him. But it has
happened, partly through his shrewd manage
mcnt and partly from sheer luck, that the
party has Griftcd with the political current
10 a point where he and only he stood in the
focus. His uOmlDatIOn for Governor was due
70 no love for him on desire TO honor him in
the party, but to the fact that he
had made himself so conspicuouSly use
full in the Reform movement which drove
out Tweed and his gang, that the party could
not refuse to nominate him without openly
abandoning the professions of reform which
had just then, under his management, begun 20
be their plincpa! stock in trade. Reform WAS
popular, and the party was making the
most OF il. They loudly doclaimed response
bility fOn Tweed and his gang, and claimed
the credit of having overthrow them Then,
as they were shouting "1hc people demand
Reform Mr.. Tilden stepped forward and
remarked, "Thcy will find it here" He
stood directly i'll the focus, and they could
not dodge their own logic or his noMlna-
ton. As Governor he shrewdly managed To iden
tify himself so largely with local reforms as TO
make him still more prominent as the leader
in what his party was swift TO call great
reform movement. and tO take advantage of.
&" Administrative Reform became the rally
ing c.y for 1876, and the Presidential nOlnl
nation tell 10 him naturally, n0twith-
standing the fierce opposition Of an inhuen-
tial faction from his own State. There was
great disappointment in his defeat to those
who had counted on official spoils, but no.