National Republican. (Washington City (D.C.)) 1872-1888, 1880-05-08

and this will be a good yield from State
which was promised entire to both SHER-
MAN and BLAINE. Those latter gentlemen
can rattle for the four remaining votes.
A DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE
Senator ROBERTSON, of New York, has
issued his pronunciamento of independence,
declaring himself free from the binding
force of his instructions to vote for General
GRANT at Chicago The reason given for
this apparent breach of faith is that there
is strong BLAINE sentiment in his dis
trict, which he is bound torepresent instead
Of the sentiment of the State convention.
Mr. ROBERTSON may settle with his own
conscience on this data, but there is sense
of honor which is somewhat popular, that
he will be required to confront before lie
gets through with betraying the expressed
sentiment Of his State in the nominating
convention. If he did not like the terms
imposed upon him by the convention which
gave him the appointment, he should have
declined to accept the trust then he would
have indicated his consistency and integ-
rity. But having accepted the position
without apparent dissent or protest ut the
time, with the terms under which the service
should be performed clearly defined and well
understood at the time of its acceptance, it
does not seem compatible with high sense
of honor for him at period few weeks
prior to the holding of the convention to
fly the track and advise the public that he
does not regard himself bound by the voice
of the convention that created him. 1.-THE
generally accepted obligations in life were
treated with like disregard by everybody,
society would dissolve into chaos and gov
ernments would crumble in ruins The
world would become a pandemonium if all
the accepted obligations of honor, good faith
and trust could be laid aside at pleasure
and upon any preteXt that convenience
or selfinterest might suggest. The exam
pie is bad one, and the more eminent the
exemplar the more dangerous to the pop
ular welfare. Good faith and honor are no
more released from their sacred character
in politics than they are in trade and COM
merce, and no man forfeits his business
honor without paying the penalty. This
is well understood the world over as an ac-
copied maxim.
The attempt of Mr.. ROBERTSON TO alb.
solve himself voluntarily from the moral
| obligation that he had assumed, and under
which lie proposed to respect and observe
the expressed will of his party when he &C
| copied trust at its hands, very naturally
excites surprise. He would have been Tie
last man in the State that we should hav,
regarded rs capable ofsVch an action. Here
toforc he has been regarded as the soul o
honor, and hence has been respected as in
capable of betraying any trust or faith re
| posed in him, and it has been left for hin
voluntarily to open up to the public al
entirely new view of his character and i'm
pulses. There are limitations regarding
other names who proposed to do this thing
which have excited no surprise but in th
instance the role is so strange when con
nected with the name of Judge RoDERTso,
that it brings feeling which not only sur
prises but confounds. Judge RoBERTso,
may find no difficulty in satisfying his owl
sense of honor in this declaration of indie
pendence from his plighted faith to hi
party in this instance, but when he at
tempts to satisfy the popular judgment o.
this point he will encounter difficulties tina
cannot be successfully surmounted in hi
lifetime. Honor is honor, whether it at
taches to political or business relation, an,
when it ceases to be that it sinks itself il
dishonor.