Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1892-04-03
4 PRESIDENTIAL LIST
CANDIDATES FoR THE NOMINATION
or the DEMOCRATIC CONVENTION.



be held this summer Is not TO DO nero
arena tor the trial OF strength between
asnIrants for the presidency. There 10 o
far higher and moro important purpose for
its assembling. What matters 1t whether
MIR. Cleveland or Mr.. Hill be the more
popular man with his party. IL the nomina-
ton of either one or the other imperiis
the success of the party OF the polls In No
yember. when that success can be assured
by the nomination of another candidate
The object of tho convention is to nomi-
nate a candidate who ought to be and can
be elected.
The time honored two-thirds rule has
c,eserved the Democratic party more than
once from the fatal results OF injudicious
Nominations, and we have q right to IN
dulce the confident assurance that 1t VIII
do so again this year. When the conven-
fronted at the outset with the necessity OF
determining controversy between dele
cation bearing the tDprtmdtur OF the regu-
lar party organization in New York, pro-
testing that the nomination OF MIR. Cleve-
land is the only nomination which can be
made that will imperil the electoral vote
of the State, and contesting Delegation
backed by o constituency of perhaps loo,-
600 Democratic voters equally as earnest
in their protest that Mr.. Hill can
not carry the State Il nominated. The i'm
portance, If not the absolute necessity, OF
the vote Of New York to elect the nomi-
nees of the convention is conceded by
eyeaybody. Can it be imagined. then, tnat
two thirds OF the convention will be guilty
of the folly of nominating either one or
the other Of these opposing candidates.
4 l.. h. .0,xlI gaAm
TO be that both of these gentlemen VIII
have to be set aside.
II ia not premature, therefore, for the
warmest friends of either OF them TO be
considering the question OF a second
choice.
CLEVELAND AND HILL.
The election OF Democratic President
ean be assured beyond peradventure II
ali the friends of Cleveland and of Hill
can be brought to unite upon the same
candidate. As to the friends OF Hull, GER
tainly outside OF the state OF new ior5
they are thorough party men, hide-bound
Democrats, loyal to the core to the tradi-
tions and usages of the party, who never
scratch a ticket, and may be relied upon
as certainly as the sun rises on the hrst
tuesday of November to be at the polls 10
vote for the nominees. whoever they may
be. of the Democratic National Convention:
This cannot be said of all the friends OF
Mr.. Cleveland. His manly personality, ms
stern standard of official moraiity, ms
LOYALTY TO his convictions OF right, ms
ciyil.seryice opinions, and the clean and
pure administration with which bis name
Is identified for all time III American his
tory have attached to him outside OF his
marty a large body of friends who are
clsmorous tor his nomination by the De-
mocratic convention. This independent
yote-stigmatize 1t as much as you please
as Mugwump-ought to- chaiienge the
men. 1t is much stronger numerically
than most OF us unconditional Democrats
have been willing to acknowledge.
TIE MuGwUMPs SHOULD BE CONSULTED.
The Democratic party Is under great OBJ
legations to these Mugwumps TOR having
contributed in great measure towards
dispelling the idea that prevailed IN the
North to very large extent since the
war. that the entree to respectable society
was the exclusive privilege OF the hepuo-
lIcan voter. Their numbers may be over
Swallowed In the crowds that throng the
polls on election-day. But they are. never
theless. strong in the literary circles. in
the mercantile and money exchanges, IN
the professional chairs OF universities. ana
in that army of educated young men who
are every year going out from northern
colleges, each one of them to be centre
of influence in every circle OF So
clety in which his life duty may
place him. The maiden vote gives dlrec-
ton 70 the future life, and many of the
now most active and influential of our
political friends in the North were brands
plucked from Republican burning. by
their Mugwump association to blaze for
lifetime as lights in our Democratic house
hold. These Mugwumps are strong IN
the editorial chair and find voice IN edl-
torials aud newspaper columns, reaching
every day hundreds of thousands OF open
ears. They control q vote which did turn
the scale in 1854 and elected Mr.. Cleve-
land, and which may turn the scale this
fall in New York and half dozen other
States.
II is vote which must be consulted, and
il Cleveland be not nominated, must be
conciliated. The friends of Mr.. Hill may
object that in this matter the Cancellation
is TOO much like the handle Of jug. But
1t Is not more SO than their forbearance
under the TRADE of wanton detraction
with which they and their candidate are
even now every day the object of assault
from the par excellence friends Of Mr.. Cleve-
land. am not one of MIR. Hills friends,
though if he should be nominated would
vote for him with the greatest pleasure,
and not without a prayerful hope OF his
election; but. like almost every one ofthem,
i am Democrat, as Governor Wise would
dence in their readiness to surrender all
personal feeling and preference to the ne
cessities of the cause OF Democracy.
EASTERN AsPIRANTs.
The factional feud in New York, which
occasions the necessity OF setting aside
both Cleveland and Hill, will most proba-
bly, involve in the same fate all other New
York aspirants. AIR. Whitney, as one of
Clevelands old Cabinet, would perhaps be
the second choice of his friends. but Whit
ney's family and business association with
the Standard Oil Company puts him out Of
the question. 1t is possible that the New
York people might harmonize upon Gov
ernor Flower, but that seems now not
within the range of reasonable calculation,
and if they should, the nomination. 1t Is
scarcely probable, would be conceded to
New York by the other States -,
Governor Albeit, OF New jersey, will
have the backing of bis own delegation,
but il seems to be conceded that the vote
OF New Jersey for any nominee OF the con-
vention is as certain as that Of Virginia.
and Governor Albeit is persona non grdtd
to the Mugwumps to almost as great an
extent as Governor Hill himself.
Governor Russell. of Massachusetts.
would probably hold more OF Cleveland's
independent MugWump strength IMAM any
other man. but upon the silver and civil
service questions his position ls almost as
pronounced and dogmatic as Cleveland's,
and that, taken in addition to his locality,
renders his nomination an impossibility.
THE wEsT's LIST.
The difficulty about going to the West
for nominee is that just at this time al
most any western candidate would encoun-
ter the distrust of the eastern money cen
tres.
Governor Palmer. of Illinois, is too
old, especially as the contingency must be
contemplated of the failure of an election
by the electoral college, in which event.
while the Democratic candidate for Presi-
dent would be sure of an election by the
House of Representatives, the Republican
candidate for Vice-President would as GER
tainly be elected by the Senate.
MIR. Villas, of Wisconsin, ana Mr.. Dicken-
son, of Michigan. were both members of
Cleyeland's Cabinet. and are pronounced
advocates of his nomination and under
stood fully to sympathize IN his opinions.
But Mr.. Villas, like Governor Palmer, is
now member Of the Senate. and il either
of them should be elected President or
yice-President. unless we could carry at