New-York tribune., 1880-06-17
THE CASE FOR THE CLAIMANT

then be appreciated I
| -------------
THE CASE FOR THE CLAIMANT
The logic of the propositions" " which have
| lust been printed, III the interest OF Mr. Illuen
" for the consideration of Delegates to the
q Democratic National Convention" is perfect
The assumptions of fact to be sure, are almost
! all false; but the Democratic party has
unanimously declared them to be true; and IL
these premises are accepted the conclusion
drawn by Mr.. Tilden follows irresistibly. II
| Mr.. Tildcn was elected by the people in 1876,
| if he is to-day the de jure President if he ana
the people who voted for him were dcflaudcd
by "a conspiracy cOEcOcted and con-
summated under the forms of n law cOnstl-
tuting n sO-called Electoral Commission"
then Mr.. Tilden may well ask, is it not
the first duty of the Democratic Convention
" to show IFS abhOrrcnce of the crime COM
| "mitted against the principle OF popular
suffrage by the nomination of the man who III
| "1S76 WINS elected President ~ There is no
getting away from this reasoning; and III the
circular about to be distributed at Cincinnati
the case is stated with admirable cleaIness ana
effect. If the Convention Is to respect con-
sistcncy and common sense, the rcnOmInatlOh
of Mr. Tldcn can hardly be avoided.
The aged statesman has managed his cam
noicn with great shrcWdnpss. He began
operations against his party so long ago as the
time of the Electoral Commission arrangement
when Democratic lea lcrs in Congress com
planned that they could not discover what he
Thought about the scheme. His policy IN that
matter is plain enough now. The Commission
WIS his last hope of obtaining the presidency.
If it decided to 20 behind the returns, then
il was certain that the ChOlcc OF President
would be thrown into the House Of Repre-
sentativcs, because the testimony winch the
Democrats wished to Introduce, and the counter
testimony with which of course the other slde
would contradict it, could not, even hy the
utmost diligence, he finished by the 4th oil
March. The House would then seat Mr. Illdcn,
and the question of responsibility for the Com
mission would be something for the Rrpub-
hcans to quarrel over, not the Democrats. If,
on the contrary, the Commission decided that
il had no right to go behind the returns, the
| Democratic Claimant would he 10 worse of
than he was allcady, and when all was over he
could say that the Commission was uncOn-
stltutional, and that he never approved of IT,
and that his party had thrown away the
election through not taking his advice. This
| !
of March, 1877, and the Democratic party has
enthusiastically fallen i'll with him. 1t las
oncd with him in dcnOmcing the Commission
which it heartily cOOpcra'cd i'll Great NJ, and
rcpudiating the arbratOls of its own choice,
ard finding all manner of fault with It's own
conduct. 1t has accused itself OF hctHylng
its own candidate through sheer rccklrssncSs,
| and allowing him to bc thrust out when 1t had
the power to scat him. 1t has even embodied
the substance of these sclf-aCcusatiOns in
formal resolution Of the House Of Representa-
tivcs; and whenever Mr.. Tildcn has insisted
| (Which we believe he has done several times
| that the Democratic party must not rcsi until
1t has taught the wrOnglOcrS of 1876 that
| the American pcopl" will never cOndOnc
fraud" the Democratic party has shreScd Il
| delighted assent. When il was discovered
that gigantic conspiracy to buy the Presidency
for money was arranged under MIR. Tildcn's
own roof the party, to Il man, declared that
! Mr. Tildrn had nothing to do with it. lie was
! officially vindicatcd in the report OF Demo
cratic lave vcStgating Committee and the scandal
which was expected to prove his ruin WAS 50
turned to his honor that not Democrat can bc
found who does not say that Mr. Tldcn's
innocence is asclcar as nOondIy.
The party is beginning to realize its dilemma.
Mr.. Tildcn has led il on until there is 10 decent
way for it 20 escape rcnOminatng him. 1t has
! renOmnatcd him, over and over again, since
| 1877. and it assures the world that he well
deserves the hOnor. And yet it would rather
| have anybody for It's candidate than hun. To
| saw that he is not available because he cannot
be elected is probably the simple truth; but to
what mOrtifying predicamcnt ii reduces the
great fraud party to be Obliged to confess at
| the last minute that IT dare not 60 to the polls
on the issue it has been working up for three
years, because the people do not believe in IT,
and dare not run the candidate It pretcnds to
| have elected in 1876 because it knows nc can
not be elected now2 The fact is the Democracy
are by no means convinced that they elected
| Mr.. TIldcn in 1876. At one time We have 10
| doubt they did put faith in the fraud clamOr,
but that dclusion was dispcllcd by the dis
covcry of the ciphcrs. They no longer trust
in Mr. TIldcn's integrity. Their only reason
for thinking he is mot available" is conscious
ness that the world has found him out. Their
only reason for not di>cMding him at once is
the distressing fact that he has got them into
such a situation that they cannot deccnlly do it.
The question to he settled now mt Cincinnati
is whether they will make fools Of themselves
by taking man they do not want, or make
fools Of themselves by taking somebody else.
FIR. GLADSTONES DEFENCE.