St. Paul daily globe., 1892-06-27
4 POPuLAR Triumph.

standard bearer. once ne was electeu
by a narrow majority, and four years
ago he was defeated by an obscure and
unpromising opponent. During his
term at Washington he developed a
SubbornneSS and obstinacv of tempera-
ment which has grown on him since his
term of office ended. He has proved
himself quite incapable of the arts of
the politician, and has spoken his views
OH public questions with rugged
directneSS which has left no room for
compromise. There is not an issue of
any sort before the country OH which he
has not or is not willing to express an
opinion. and when his mind is once
made up. no power on earth seems able
to move him. Everybody has given him
credit for honesty of intellect and char
aeter, and he has enjoyed the esteem
which such qualities command. But
his personal bravery has amounted 70
reckleSSneSS. and diSinterested OBJ
server would never have picked him
out as captain for political campaign
where the victory depends as much on
craft as it does on bravery.
Not only are all these things true, but
in point of fact the leaders of the party
generally opposed his nomination.
Some of them did so because they had
been alienated BY his treatment of them
while he was president. Others dis
agreed with his political principles, and
felt that some one with less pronounced
ana rigid sentiments ought to be Sc
lected. The great body of his antago-
nistS, however, were against him be-
cause they questioned his availa-
bility. The leading Democratic news
papers of the country have for
more than a year favored any other
candidate in preference to him.
The mugwump Times alone has been
for him in New York. The Chicago
prses had unanimously been arraved
with his opponents. So have the Gin
cinnatl papers, the Denver papers, the
Louisville Courier-JourDal; and even
the GLOBE, while yielding to no one in
its admiration for his greatness, has
sometimes questioned whether it would
not be wiser to substitute for him man
who had excited less antipathy Ill his
enemies, and who might unite the party
more closely for the battle.
In this position the newspapers have
been one with the more aggressive
of the DemOcracy'S admitted managers.
Whether they themselves cherished
personal ambitions or were quite unself-
iSh in their opinions, the fighting men
of the party were, almost without ex-
ception, numbered with the anti-CLEvE-
LAND faction before the convention.
Senator HILL, of course, was there with
the rest of the New Workers, from Gov.
FLOWER down to Boss CROKER. So was
Senator GORMAN, and so was CALVIN
BRICE. HENRY WATTERSoN. of Ken
tucky; DAN VOORHEES,, of Indiana;
Senator DANIELS, of Virginia; Senator
CAMDEN, of West Virginia, the South
Carolina and the North Carolina dele
cations were all anti-CLEvELAND men.
They did not attack the worth and abil-
ity of the ex-president. They were n OF
animated in most cases by unfriendly
feelings for him as an individual. But
they had borne the heat and burden of
previous campaigns, and they thought
sary for success. These, they arg ued,
Mr.. CLEVELAND did not possess; and
they, and hundred others like them,
either fought him openly or in private
deprecated his selection.
And yet, in spite of their efforts,
CLEVELAND had more than 600 votes on
the first ballot. When these wise men got
to Chicago they found themselves in
the midst of a hurricane. Their struct-
ures of logic were crushed in pieces
like house Of cards before the blasts of
enthusiasm which fell upon them.
Their appeals to caution and discretion
were drowned in the shouts of applause
which filled every street at the mention
of CLEvELAND's name. Their diplo-
macy and power to handle men ON
which they had prided themselves, and
which had done them valiant service in
many contest before, were blunted
weapons in their hands, and shriveled
in pieces before the fire of devotion to
CLEVELAND had kindled in his follow
ers. 1t is prepOsterous for anybody to
say that selfish motives or political
manipulation controlled the result at
Chicago. There was not a prominent
Democrat on the ground working for
CLEVELAND who could not have ad-
vanced his own fortunes equally WE'LL
even better, had he joined the other side.
A man like MICHAEL DORAN, for ex-
ample, had nothing to gain from the eX-
presidents triumph which he could not
Even Mr.. WHITNEY or Gen. PALMER
would have profted more had he thrown
his influence against Mr.. CLEVELAND,
because in such event one or the other
of them might have received the prize
himself.
But they saw what every one else did
that the rank and file of the Democracy
were of one mind. From the remotest
South, from distant Maine, from the
states on the shore of the Pacific, the
representatives of the everyday people
had come together with one thought in
their hearts. When they met each
other. and the electric waves of sympa-
thy passed from breast to breast, they
realized their overwhelming might, and
they marched on, a reSistless host. to
the goal they had set for themselves.
They needed no generals to keep them