New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1881-06-07
MIR. CONKLING'S HOPES.

MR.. Combines HOPES.
So long as the deadlock lasts at Albany
tbeIe will be alterations of hope and despond-
ency among the little band who follow the
fortunes and mi,fortunes of ex-senator Conk-
ling. Just now they assume to be especially
happy and confident. Mr.. Platt assured some
people here on Sunday that eve shall either
be elected or two Democrats" Other pollt-
clans, as near as he is to the deep councils OF
the Private and without his personal interest
in the natter now say that the " deadlock Is
sure to last till adjOurnmcnt and then the
State must choose between ConklIng and a
Democratic Senate" This is the meaning OF
their hOpefulncss-this Is the extent OF Their
confidence. They have no hope whatever OF
success before the Legislature which MI.
Conkling himself chose as the instrument OF
his vindcation. They acknowledge that the
same Legislature which a few weeks ago
elected Mr.. Plat now rejects both man ana
master. Their claims are wonderfully shrur ken
since the resigning Senators fastened home to
receive the expected OvatiOns OF loyal ana
panic-stricken State 1t seems only day or
two since we heard that "the moment Mr..
COnkling arrives in Albany, opposition will
vanish" Mr.. Conkling has learned more in
the last fortnight about his true relations to
the visible universe than all his previous lie
had taught him. Among other things he has
learned to be grateful for small favors; and
he and his followers have so lowered
their tone that they are now boasting with
something of the old swagger that they will
continue the deadlock till the Legislature
adiourns, and then you must choose between
us and two Democrats" A ptiful brag this
is, from men who were Senators few days
ago, and who now get twenty OF thirty votes
q day out of possible LOG; but let us see
what there is in it.
They base their claim on some facts and
some guesses. The facts are, first, that the
straight Republicans are not yet united on any
candidates; a state of things which may not
last so long as they think; that one
third of the Republicans are voting for
Conkling; that 80 long as those votes
remain in that relation there can he no
election This is all true and they add a few
euesses like the following: That 10y wasting
time and worrying few weeks, everybody
will become anxious to get home that then
the Conklng men can make a bargain with the
Democrats (and at this juncture the Vice
President will begin to be worth his expenscs),
i ana adjourn Ine Legislature ny tut anu vi a.
few votes from the straight Republicans. Then
will come the greatest effort OF their lives.
They expect to be able to defeat the Republi-
can State ticket 10y means of that underground
| strategy which has made so many cam
paigns go mysteriously amss After this
| is accomplished they rely upon Governor
Cornell to call this same Legislature to-
| gether to ill the vacancies in the SEN
ate. 1t is to come to Albany again, the 30
strong and defiant, the 20 penitent and hum
BILE, Conkling and Plat severe and retributive,
the Vice President furtive and efficient N the
\ lobby. The ex- Senators, indicated by the ruin
| of their marty, are to say to the Legislature,
"You see what we can do when our blood is
up. Put through that ballot now, and quicker
than that. We are bad men," And then
they are to go down to Washington and settle
accounts with "that man."
In this campaign of whirling folly any new
exhibition of unreason ought not to seem
out of place. From men who resigned
their places in the Senate, and then
got down in the gutter and struggled
for them again as if their lives depended
on them, any subsequent tOmfOOlery ought to
occasion no surprise. Otherwise there would
be something astonishing in this long list of
assumptions all founded on the suppostion
that other people have no more political sense
or principle than they have. They have no
right to assume that the straight Republicans
will not soon combine upon two candidates
who can carry all their votes; no right to
assume that their thirty-hve followers will
| stay by them at the risk of ruin TO themselves
and their party nor to assume that they will
20 into q corrupt bargain with the Democrats
to force an adjournment without election !;
nor that they can give the State to the
Democrats on so base an issue as they
viii present nor that Governor Cornell will
act as their tool next autumn nor that the
men who now regard them as having forfeited
their character as Republicans, will be ready
then to hail them "a the saviors of the situation.
Many things happen which no one expects {;
but some things have passed beyond the region
Of possibility. Caleb Cushing, for instance,
viii never again be nominated for Chief JUS
tice 4, Jefferson Davis will never be President
OF the United States; Robert Ingersoll viii
never be Archbishop of Canterbury, and Roscoe
Cenkling win never DO q Republican Senator
from NewYork. What may be his fate in the
other parties which he may favor with