New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1879-11-19
DISCOVERY OF HORATIo SEYMOUR.

4
| Last April certain eminent Democrats, of
the swallow-tall variety, met in the back
parlor of Mr. August Belmonts house to con-
suit upon the possibility of heading off the
Hon, Samuel j. Tilden. Various plans were
discussed and discarded. Candidates without
number were proposed and pronounced un-
available. The conference was long and anx-
| ious. At last, when the whole assembly was
In the depth of despair, seven of the most
patriotic of the party rose TO their feet and,
| stepping into the middle of the room. offered
| to 90 In search of HoTatiO Seymour. The
sacrifice was accepted, ard the expedition set
forth. Ii was a solemn exodus; II seems par
ticularly solemn now that we look back upon
il, for a great mystery has always hung over
the fate Of the devoted seven. They never
appeared at Utica and they are not known to
have come back. One of them--Mr. Augustus
Schell-was discovered the other day ofliciat-
ing with preternatuEal gravity an inspector
of election in West Broadway; but none OF
the others have been seen or heard of since
they started on the search nor is Mr.. Scbell
willing to tell what has become of them.
Since the election the Democratic party has
been attacked by another spasm of anxiety to
head off the Hon. Samuel j. Tiden #, it is subject
to these spasms, always having one after any
kind of excitemehtj and the usual course on
the recurrence of the attack is TO "send for
Horatio Seymour" We presume there would
have been some difficulty in persuading any
body to follow up the lost footprints of the un-
fortunate Belmont party but where the cOur-
age and resources of private citizens fail, the
enterprise of the modern newspaper supplies
what is needed. The same powerful journal
which dispatched Stanley TO bring news from
Livingstone in the heart OF Africa, has now
opened communication with Horatio Seymour.
and by q brilliant ruse has elected from him,
in the form of an answer to question never
asked by conference that never existed, the
counsel which Mr.. Belmont and his cOmpan-
ions went after nearly eight months ago. MIR.
Seymour tells The Herald fatty that he will
not accept the duty which the anxious Demo-
Gratis seek to impose upon him. He will not
head off rilden he will not advise anybody
how to head him off; he will not be an arbi-
ter, nor referee, IA mutual friend. If
the Democrats wish bis advice. it is to leave
everything to the authorized tribunal, their
State Convention, and to stand Loyalty by its
decision.
This plain counsel Is so unlike what the Bel
mont faction desired that 1t suQ gests an un-
pleasant solution of the mysterious disappear
ance of the search party. What If those ad-
venturers did reach Utica after all What if
they got so little comfort from the great Dem
ocratic Decliner that they resolved to keep
the fict OF the visit profound and eternal
secret If Mr.. Seymour told them anything IN
April he probably told them just what he tells
them now in November. They did not want
to leave their case to the Convention of 1879
because they knew very well that it was
already set up for Tilden; and they are no
better pleased with the prospect for 1880. But
Mr.. Seymour ,pinion is. nevertheless. emf
nently sensible. The State Convention is the
only authority that can arbitrate between fac