Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1884-06-19
OUT OF THE RACE.
MIR. Tilden Declares His Public
Career Closed.
His Letter to the Chairman of the New
York Democratic State Committee
Positively Declining to be a Can
didate for the Presidency.


Positively Declining to be a Can
didate for the Presidency.
New YORK, June 1.-THE followin,
communication from Samuel J. Tildel
has been given 10 the Associated Press
NEW YORK. June 10. 1884.
To Daniel Manning, Chairman of th,
Democratic State Committee of New
York:
In my letter of June Is, 1850, address
ed to The delegates from the State o.
New York to the Democratic Nationa
convention, said:
| Having now borne faithfully my full
share Of labor and care in the public
service, and wearing the marks of It's
burdens, desire nothing so much as AL
honorable discharge. l wish to lay down
the honors and tolls Of even quasi party
leadership, and to seek the repose OF pri
Vate life. In renOunciDg nomination fol
the presidency, do so with no doubt in
my mind as to the vote OF the State OF
New York or of the United States, but
because l believe that it is a lenuncia :
ton of reelection to the presidency. To
those who think my denomination and
reelection Indispensable TO an effectual
vlndlcation of the right of the people to
elect their rulers, violated in my person,
l have accorded as long reserve of my
decision as possible, but | cannGt over
come my 1epugnance to enter into IA new
engagement, which involves four years
of ceaseless toll. The dignity OF the
Presidential office is above merely per-
sonal ambition, bat it creates in me 10
Illusion. Its value is as a great power
for good to the country. | said four
years ago. in accepting the nomination,
knowing as l do, therefore, from fresh
experience. how great the difference is
between gliding through an official rou-
tine, and working out the form of Sys
TENS and policies, it is impossible for
me to contemplate what needs to be
done in the Federal administration with
out an anxious sense OF the difficulties
of the undertaking. If summoned by
the suffrages of my countrymen to at
tempt this work, | shall endeavor, with
Gods help, TO be the efficient instrument
of their will Such a work of renoya-
tion, after many years of misru!e, such
reform of systems and policies, TO
which | would cheerfully have sacrificed
all that remains TO me of health aud
life, is now, fear, beyond my strength"
My purpose TO withdraw from further
public service, and the grounds of it,
were at that time well known to YOU
and others, and when at Cincinnati,
though respecting my wishes yourself,
you communicated to me an appeal from
many valued friends to relinquish that
purpose, reiterated my determination
Internationally. In the four years which
have since elapsed, nothing has occurred
to weaken, but everything to strengthen
the consideration which induced my
withdrawal from public life. To all who
have addressed me on the subject, my
intention has been frankly communicat-
ed. Several of my most confidential
friends, under the sanction of their own
names, have publicly stated my deter
mination to be irreversible. That have
occasion now to consider the question,
is an event for which 1 have no respon-
sibility.
The appeal made to me by the Demo
cratic masses, with apparent unanimity,
to serve them once more. is entitled to
the most deferential consideration, and
would inspire disposition to do any
thing desired of me, if it were consistent
with my judgment of duty. 1 believe
there is no instrumentality in human
society so potential in its influence upon
mankind for good or for evil as the gov
ernmental machinery for administering
justice and for making and executing
laws. Not all the eleemosynary institu-
tions of private benevolence to which
philanthropists may. devote their lives
are so fruitful in benefits as the rescue
and preservation of this machinery from
the perversions that make it the instru
ment of conspiracy, fraud and crime
against the most sacred rights and inter-
ests of the people.
For fifty years, as private citizen,
never contemplating an official career,
have devoted at least as much thought
and effort to the duty of influencing
Alright the action of the governmental
institutions of my country as to all
other objects. | have never accepted
official service, except for brief pc
riOd, for a special purpose, and only
when the occasion seemed to demand
from me that sacrifice of private pref
ences to the public welfare. undertook
the State administration of New York
because it was supposed that in that way
only could the executive power be array
ed on the side of reforms to which as q
private citizen | had given three Years
of my life. l accepted the nomination
for the Presidency in 1876 because of
the general conviction that my candida
cy would best present the issue of re-
form which the Democratic majority of
the people desired to have worked out
in the Federal government as it had been
in that of the State of New York. I
believed that [ had strength enough
then to r9novate the administration of
the government Of the United States.
and at the close of my term. to hand
over the great trust to a successor of the
same policy. Though anxious to seek
the repose of private life, nevertheless
acted upon the idea that every power is
q trust, and that involves duty. In
reply to the address of the committee
communicating my nomination, depict
ed the difficulties of the undertaking
and likened my feelings in engaging in
1t to those of q soldier entering batte
but did not withhold the entire conse.
Grafton of my powers to the public ser.
vices. 'o'
twenty years of continuous malad-
mihlstratlon under the demoralizing in.
f1uences Of intestine war. and of had
| linance have infectod tha ~