The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1891-10-16
why Has He Been Silent So Long?

Mr.. GROVER CLEvELAND's Brooklyn
speech Is chiefly notable because thrice in
the course of his remarks he referred indi-
rectly to the old CLEvEIAND-Mugwump
charge that the defeated candidate OF 1883
was sold out by the Kings county Demo-
Gratis. His remarks on this subject were
pointed, II any exhibit from go spherical q
source can DO described as pointed:
81 am among friends. Tho good win and attachment
Of the people and the Of Kings county have
been in times past repeatedly manifested toward me
and are remembered with constant gratitude There
should not decline an invitation to be with You tonight"
II.
need not say that tho safety Of Democracy in the
State and hero your homo only to be by
Democratic steadfsstness ] do not forget how often
and how effectively you have displayed that steadfas
ness in tho past"
"This is gathering of my political friends in the In
terest Of the Democratic cause"
Mr.. CLEVELAND received in 1888 In Kings
county a plurality Of 12.457. against plu-
rallty OF 1918 in 1884 on a much smaller
total vote. Governor Hills plurality in
Kings In 1883 was 14.175. against plurality
in 1885 Of only 9.479. For three years the
great falling of in CIEvEIAND's strength In
Kings and the great gain for HILL have
been urged by the personal friends OF the
Stuffed Prophet as tho principal evidence in
support Of their persistent charge that
CLEVELAND failed to carry New York not
because he was unpopular with the Demo-
cratic voters Of New York. but because he
was knitted in order that HILLS election
might be made certain.
This has been the Mugwump theory to
account for the defeat Of Mr.. CLEVELAND
at the last Presidential election. It has
been advanced over aud over again in a
hundred different forms. It has been the
only theory agreeable to the vanity Of Mr..
CLEVELAND himself. or to the self-com-
placency Of those who professed year or
two ago still to regard him as greater and
better than his party.
And now the defeated candidate Of 1898
goes to Brooklyn and tells the Kings county
Democrats that he remembers with con-
slant gratitude their attachment and good
will toward him: that he Is among friends
when he crosses the East River; that
steadfastness is the safeguard Of Demo-
cratic success. and that the Kings county
Democracy Is celebrated for its steadfast-
ness. This" said Mr.. CLEVELAND in
Brooklyn. sis q gathering Of my political
friends III the interest Of the Democratic
cause. am at home"
If oil this means anything. it means that
the defeated candidate Of 1888 recognizes
the fact that his failure to carry New York
State. whom it was carried SO easily for
Governor HILL and the State ticket. was
due solely to his own unpopularity with the
Democratic voters. II he has changed his
opinion in this respect. what has occasioned
the change? If he has never believed that
the national ticket was sold out in Kings
county and elsewhere in 1888 for the benefit
of Governor HILL. why has he remained
silent for nearly three years. while his i'm
mediate followers and most devoted news
paper organs were filling the air with their
charges Of treachery to CLEVELAND" and
their talk about the knife?