Spirit of the age. [volume] (Woodstock, Vt.) 1845-1913, 1880-05-05
SPIRIT OF THE AGE,
wednesday, May o, 1880,
Prom our regular correspondent
WASHINGTON LETTER
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While Congress Is occupied with
routine business, showing considerable
industry IN despatehlng It, there Is
little 10 attract special attention, and
but for the general interest In political
affairs outside OF Washington we
should have rather quiet things here
Just now, But the Importance attach
Ing TO the several political conventions
lately held, aud their bearing upon
tho approaching campaign, has given
the politicians OF the Capital all the
excitement necessary, and ssme seri'
Gus reflections as well, The eompro'
mise In the interest Of harmony In tho
Pennsylvania convention was unlocked
for, and the announcement Of II was
received with very great satisfaction
It Is gratifying TO know that both
Speaker Randall and Senator Wallace,
who have 30 long been leaders Of war
ring factions, realize that tho cause OF
Democracy is more than personal SUI
prcmacy, and that personal slriieS
must sink out OF sight before It. Both
certainly had too much ut stake, In
common with the party, this year to
admit Of divisions, and the party ut
large could not have forgiven them
tor failure to bury the Ratchet, Ac-
cording to all accounts received here
Cameronism will have It's hands lnll
ia Pennsylvania this year
II Is to DO regretted that the New
York democrats are not as united.
Yet tho situation there was materially
different. So long as tho Tammany
Hall and John Kelly faction were in
open rebellion and loudly proclaiming
that they would not abide by the ac'
ton OF either the State or National
Convention, unless the action was
precisely to their notion, there was no
chance for compromise. The action
Of tho regular convention is generally
regarded TO have been all that could
be done consistent with the dignity |
and honor Of the party. The person
al interests of any democratic candi.
date are nothing, but the great plinci-
pie Of majority rule is everything, and
any man, or set OF men, who openly
declare war upon it cannot he regard.
ed as true Democrats. II seems not
unlikely that Mr.. Kelly ispaving the
way for an attempt to carry ont his
bargain to deliver the State Of New
York to Conkling this year, but there
are signs that he will not be able to
deliver 20 large following ms for
merly.
1t really does seem to be an unfor-
tunate circumstance that so many
democrats have joined in the bitter
personal attacks upon prominent can
didates in the party and moro than
any other one thing that has placed
our chances of success this year in
jeopardy. ! am not n champloning
the cause Of Mr.. Tilden, but rs fair
man and an earnest democrat ] am
free to say, with thousands of Others,
that the opposition 10 him has been
most disgracetul, under all the circum-
stances Even if he were not the
able and devoted Democrat that he is,
he stands, so long as he lives, as the
repre- sentative of great cause.-the
victim Of great wrong, not alone to
himself, but the party and the liberties
Of the American people.
The democratic party owed it to
itselfto stamp that outrage with the
brand Of overwhelming condemnation.
Let it be quietly asked of Democrats
anywhere, who they think ought to be
the next President of the United
States, and nine out OF ten will tell
you, Samuel j. Tilden, yet not half
that proportion now favor his nomina.
ton because they feel that the opposi-
ton to him is too great-that he has
been slaughtered in the house of his
friends. Here in Congress we have
some of the bitterest opponents OF
Tilden. They say they are against
him because he was "cowardly," in not
seating himself when elected, yet many
Of them are the very ones who were
hottest for the Electoral Commission
swindle, and who hob-nobbed with
Charley Foster and other friends Of
the present fraud before the count was
finished. This is plain talk, but it is
the truth. And now this sort of thing
has gone so far that, unless there is
powerful reaction, l do not think it
would be safe to nominate Tilden.
Leaving poetic justice out Of the qaes-
ton, there are two other Democrats
mhorn / would naraonally like To see