The New York herald., 1879-07-29
Few Words with You, MIR. Tilden

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shady mansion on the Hudson near
Yonkers, for purposes of rest and medita-
ton; and that, though political affairs nat
urally continue to occupy his mind, he is
for the moment denying himself to the world.
We would like to believe that the sage of
Gramercy Park-so called-is pondering in
his pleasant retirement ''new departure"
in politics, such as we are confident would
benefit him, his party and the country, and
would add greatly to his fame as well as to
his public usefulness. 1t would flatter us
to find that the friendly suggestions which
We propose this morning to project into his
hermitage, served not to originate but only
to confirm conclusions and purposes which
had been born in his own mind during his
solitary musings as, pacing his star-lit
piazza, he watched by turns the cheerful
lights on the river and the black wall of
the Palisades which frowns down upon him
beyond.
If it could sit by his side this morning
on his own hired piazza, the HERALD would
say to him, kindly but frankly:-You can
never be President of the United States,
Mr.. Tilden and with your clear head and
practical mind you ought to see
this as everybody else sees it. You
have doubtless certain power in
your party, for you can probably
ruin its chances, if you want to, by forcing
it to take you, or by leading faction to de-
feat it if it refuses to submit to your de-
mands. Either would be fatal to the demo-
Gratis ext year, and the first, in our belief,
even more certainly SO than the last.
You cannot be President, Mr.. Tilden,
but you can be something else. You can
resign your pretensions to the nomination,
can publicly take leave OF public life. and in
this retirement you would discover, to your
surprise perhaps, and certainly to your
| qualification we hope, that you pos
| sessed more influence over your party,
and were better able to turn it to those
policies which you believe to be truly
democratic. and would have greater, or, at
| least to man Of ideas, more desirable
position than you have ever had, or than
the Presidency, if you could achieve it,
would be for you.
You cannot be President, Mr. Tilden, for
a number of reasons. We will not here re-
fer to certain disagreeable events in your
career, because that would be unkind, and
we are now addressing you in the most
friendly spirit. We will not allude to
your unfortunate income tax suit, with
its painful adjuncts; nor to the still more
unfortunate cipher dispatches; to your
sometime relations with the late William
NJ. Tweed; nor to your relations to certain
shipwrecked railroads. 1t is far from our
purpose to revive in your own mind the 1
recollection of events which, neverthe-k )
less are fresh in the public mind.k
and which, as all sensible democrats very
well know. their opponents would, if yo,4
should have the i'll fortune to procure yourI
self to be nominated. take care to advert
tise abundantly to q public which
though it may not be squeamish ir
its own pursuit of fortune, is, per.
haps for that reason, the more rigidly
particular about the character of its
servants. 1t is not necessary to refer to-
these matters, Mr.. Tilden, for the truth i3
there are other reasons besides these tti
prevent you from ever becoming Presidenta
You are undoubtedly an able man, but yous
action in partisan politics is disastrous tt
the party which you seek to control. Yo.S
follow your own career with such unfalter4
ing determination that you notoriously3
forget everything else, and O politician ofh
whom it is generally suspected that he
means to either rule his party or ruin it
cannot expect long continued success.
You succeeded once. You became Cover
nor of New York. You ought to have seen
that this was properly the end of your
career as an office-holder.
The democratic party, with wise manage
ment, has fair chance of success next
year. A great many people begin to think
that, on the whole, the country would be
the better for change of parties. The
republican party has done much good
work for the country in its eighteen
years of power; but the people are
little disgusted at the deadly te-
nacity with which the republican leaders
cling to the offices it makes them sus-
picious they think it wise to have a
change, if only for four years. and no doubt
they are right. If the democrats should
next year offer them safe platform and a
fit man we believe the voters might accept
them. But you ought to see that it is
just here that you are out of the question.
You are Marplot in your party, which
will not have you if it can help it; and if
you should succeed in securing the nomi-
nation the counry-which will not change
unless it can change for the better-the
country, Mr.. Tilden. would reject you;
and, we say it in all kindness, it would be
right in doing 50.
Suppose, Mr.. Tilden, that putting aside
that over cautious hesitation which is one
of your besetting sins-suppose you should
tomorrow openly and entirely strike out Of
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