The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1886-08-05
Che GtttelI1gnter,
wuLELrNG, W, yAp AUGUST D 1880


A month pgo Samuel j. Tilden Wro'e
IN Senator Hawley complaining that Oon'
ores, had done nothing to protect the
great sweep Of detenaeleFs E)eacoas'' aHu
fprLhsr commenting IN the general IN
efficiency oi Congress, Now he has
passed away, as one who falls asleep
The keen interest in public affairs which
Mr., Tilden maintained to the last was
characteristic Of the man
Beginning active life with advantages
IA, above the average, q keen intellect Gull
tiyated by scholastic and professional ap'
'lIca,iop. he econ manifested a loneliness
for The discussion Of questions Of public
noljcy, aud WIS early found taking a place
Of proniaence in public b1ii1s' Not to
have been a politician woaId have been
10 be something other than his disposition
md his talent made him, He was fond Of
tho practical side Of politics; OF organizing
and handling men; of mapping out and
executing a plan OIL campaigni oil arousing
an enthusiasm in which his nature denied
him any great share Of making bold even
brilliant strokes; OF WANING the popular
applause and Of filling public station
lilo had sagacity, courage, and persist
oacy. With little magnetism he was able
to draw men to him aud to mold them
npaiust considerable odds. Lacking COM
mandins presence-that gift q nature 50
s,,yicesbIe to tie public man his field oil
publIc service bounded by the limits o!
his own State; Mr., Tilden came noveFthe'
less to occupy the frat place in his party
Two Democrats haya been nominated
and enc elected, to the Presidency since
his missdvanture in 1876 but in the death
Of MI. Tilden there passed away the most
eminent man Of tho great organization to
which BIO belonged and whose policies,
until recently, he had done so much to
direct.
He Was the man above oil others whom
the masses Of the party preferred to Gee in
tho White House. The closeness OF tho
contest Of 1876; Ihe fevCr-heat Of tho con-
t:oye,sy which ensutdi the extraordinary
method employed with tho panction Of
both parties 10 determine by peaceful
means the result Of the election; the loss
by tho Democracy Il the great prize SO
nearly within lis Grasp--Sll this gave to
MIR. Tilden an exceptional position in his
marty which could scarcely have been
strengthened by the bestownl upon him Of
aly official dignity however high. DO
stood 40 the embodiment Of Il great diHGp'
pointment. BY many Of his party no was
regarded as the victim Ct q gigantic and
cruel fraud, by which tho whole organizes
ton was grossly Cutrsged. The pa1ty's
martyr became almost q party fetish.
II in these later years Mr.. Tilden's
health had been more vigorous, tho recent
history Of his party might have been very
different. No hundred men in that or
gnization could have COPIED, with him,
aud no would have engaged in uncertain
combat the best energies Of the best men
Of the other side. Certainly Mr.. Glove
land would not have reached the Presi-
dental chair. The physical intirmity
which incapacitated Mr.. Tilden soon after
he reached his creates! national promi-
hence also stands in the way Of a just o.
innate Of him as a public character. 1t Is
difficult to say what he might not have
been to his party and to tho country in
tho decade that has passed since 1870,
what breadth Of mind and mnaterful grasp
hs might have shown with a sound body
to support the keen, alert and unwearying
intellect which no displayed In an extra
ordinary degree.
Az the iavorlte Of a great party to whose
cause ho devoted brilliant parts as a man
who in official station in his own State
drove from power a corrupt combination !;
as one whose interest in his own country's
welfare ceased only with hia life, Mr..
Tllden made himself a place in the history
ot his country such as is occupied by few
m4n who have not achieved a career by
active service in tho broader FIELD Of
national affairs.