The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1879-01-14
Our New York Letter
League-The Doirss and Miss oings of
the Ciub-sts New President.
NEW YoRK Japnarv1o 1s-,

NEW YORK, January II, 1878,
The Union League Uluo has been seized with
a spssm of common sense which gives promise
Of impsrting to it some of the vigor and health
funess of sentiment, for the lack Of which IL
has for quite while past been showing symp-
toms Of decay. This organization was formed
iu the early stages of the civil war. 1t was
founded for the purpose Of concentrating aud
combining the patriotic sentiment of New York,
in the support of the Government in encoursg-
ing an earnest prosecution Of the war against
rebellion, in sustaining the soldiers In the field
and in aidiugtl provide the means of defrayiug
the gigantic expenses of equipping and main,
tanning armies and naval forces. 1t did good
work in those days, and commended itself to
the appreciation of the loyal citizens of the
Union. When the crisis was past, 1t had grown
so powerful 10 numbers and influence that 1t
took and held a permanent place among the
clubs of the city. 1t gradually lapsed into
condition of lethargy when the occasion which
brought it into being no longer quckened Its
energies and its members were as q general
rule too busy with their own affairs or too
much addicted to habits of ease and self.indul
eence to feel any inclination to interest them
selves actively in the conduct of national or
municipal affairs They voted at elections
when it was entirely convenient, or when some
special effort was made to arouse them to that
degree Of exertion. They never kept them
selves sufficiently well informed of current
events to be capable of any service in stemmiDg
the tide of local corruption that was flowing in
such torrent under the sway of the Tsmmany
Pspr tha .xE H.,
men Of wealth and heavy tax payers, Tweed
and his gang cared no more for them than if
they had bsen so many pieces of statuary.
Even after he had robbed the city of forty
million dollars he sent his henchman among
them to procure signatures of endorsement,
and over hundred Of them signed q petition to
the Legislature entreating that body to invest
that infamous banditti with plenary powers
to levy taxes and contract new debts. Tney
were not aware of the folly they were commit
ting. 1t was a case of simple ignorance. They
we're deluded by shallow pretexts that child
ought to have seen through. When they were
finally awakened from their torpidity by an ex-
ploson that shook the western continent, they
joined with as much zeal as their habitual list
lessness would admit of in the crusade against
crime, which ultimately resulted in the extir-
patton of the rngleaders of the band of thieves
who had been robbing them before their very
eyes for whole decade. But the misfortune
was that they did not perceive what was going
on till the city had been saddled with an euor-
nous indebtedness, on which they have been
compelled to pay taxes ever since. They didn't
help to lock the stable door till the last horse
aud the last harness had been stolen.
Iu regard to national issues, their apathy for
tunately was not for long time productive of
any injurious consequences. They drifsed in
the right direction when Andrew Johnson's
malversaton threatened the unity of the Re-
public. They were unanimously aud heartily
for Grant in 1868, and even in 1872 Notwith-
ing all the sluiceways of vulgar and brutal
mendacity seemed to have been uuloosed in the
futile endeavor to fix some stain upon the
name and fame of that illustrious man, only
handful of them were seduced from their ale-
glance. The proportion that preserved their
political Integrity at that juncture was about
forty to one, which considering that the oppo-
sition candidate was member of ths Club, and
had heretofore been prominent Republican
shows decidedly creditsbls record.
But in 1876 when the l,sJs were open to COM
petition for the Presidential office she Club be-
gan to make some displays of feebleness Of
judgment and susceptibility to imposition
VIII ch would have been amusing if they had
not involved serious consequences. As early as
March of that year, some adroit maneuverers
who were urging tue claims of particular as
prant succeeded in getting the Club to adopt a
series of resolutions, which they had manufsc-
tured to SUIT the emergency, that were directed
q Il specific to the recommendation of heir
man. but to miscellaneous disparaeement OF
several others who had been talked about in
connection with the Executive Chair. The
manifesto was remarkable for nothing but its
verbosity and incomprehensibility. Probably
not one in ten of those who listened to 1t knew
what it's purpose was; certainly very few were
aware of the source whence it emanated. 1t
began with preamble that was false and
scandalous and continued with series of plati-
tudes that had been worn thresdbare by itera-
ton in innumerable platforms for generations.
But one latent design lurked 10 this ponderous
fabric of hackney ed phrases, and that was 10
commit the Club against the candidate whom
ninety nine of every hundred of the Repubi
ans of the State of New Yolk believed to be
the most eligible and suitable to bear the stan
dard of the great party of equal rights and hon.
est money in the then pending campaign. The
! whole performance was disreputable election