Delaware gazette and state journal. (Wilmington, Del.) 1883-1902, 1894-03-01

lhe following letter, which appeared
originally in Harper's Weekly and wa!
reproduced by the New York Egeaint
Post, is of interest for the indirect
tribute which it bears to President
Cieveland's independence of factional
ism and his unwillingness to allow even
The claims Of friendship to divert him
from the pursuit, according to his own
Judgment, of his higher and broader
duty to the nation at large. 1t is an
Arraignment in which the writer, who
has evidently borne a not inconspieuous
part in the upheaval against the domi.
nation of machine politics, bears testi.
mony, perhaps unwittingly, to the emf
nent fitness of Mr.. Cleveland, in the
very accusations that he would bring
against him-thereby making the ar
raignment its own refutation to readers
less susceptible than himself to the i'm.
preston that the first duty of a Presi.
dent of the United States is to straighten
out things in New York. We append
10 "Anti-Snapper's' letter a reply
which its publication in the ESeain0
Post elected. ...=.
AN ANTrsEAPPER's VIEW.
To The Editor Of HafperS Heckly In
your issue of February Sd you published
hn article entitled THE Failure Of the
Democratic Party" 1t is true that the
party has accomplished next to nothing
during the 20 years in which ii has
been returning to power. and that Its
promises and the purposes of those whose
alliance has given it its victories have been
brought 10 naught by reason of the ascen.
dency of men whose courage and virtue
have been destroyed by long efforts to beat
the Republicans at their own games, by
the corruption of politics and politicians
In New York, and by various other causes.
The spirit of the new Democratic party is
too strong and too modern for the wracked
body. The lettering Senators who are
carrying on a senie Irritation with
The Populists, and the plotting heads
that sport with Il Supreme Court Justice
snip as if it were u seat on the rombs
bench, are not the leaders for the party OF
Charles s. Fairchild, George Gray, William
X. Morrison, William l.. Russell, Roger
Q. Mills, John Quincy Adams, William l..
Wilson, John q, Carlisle President Elliot
Wheeler II. Peckham, and the young and
hopeful tariff reforme-s of the east, the
northwest and the south. The old machine
IS rusty and creaking. Its crank is in the
hands Of fantastic folly and degrading cor
ruption. 1t cannot be reformed: il must be
smashed. IL has not patent right to the
name Democrat. Even under the ballot
law OF New York that designation can be
taken from it. The best Democrats are for
revenue reform, for sound money, for
civil service reform, for local self-goyern-
ment, for the maintenance of the liberty
and Independence of the individual. And
OF this Democracy German, Croker Pugh,
Hill, Morgan, Bruce and Murphy know
nothing.
do not write this letter to you, how.
ever, simply for the purpose of expressing
my concurrence in what you have already
published. ! write to say that the task Of
making the leadership of the Democratic
party worthy of its principles and its allies
might now be nearer accomplishment if
Grover Cleveland had understood his duty
and had taken advantage of his opportui-
nifty. IL is because Mr.. Cleveland DECLINED
to regard himself as the leader of a cause.
and TO lend what might have been his
powerful and effective assistance TO those
who were ready to bear the brunt of the
nghtlng, that the Democratic party is to.
day in SO deplorable condition.
Mr.. Cleveland was nominated at Chicago
BY the anti-snapper movement. Before
Mr.. Fairchild ana his associates effected
their organization there was no possibility
OF Mr. Cleveland's nomination, The State
of New York had chosen d delegation
pledged TO Hill. 1t is true that Hill him
self was never formidable rival, but his
snap convention seemed to Democrats oul.
SIDE OF New York to make Mr.. Cleveland's
nomination impossible. The Syracuse con.
vention and its enrolment gave to the
Democrats of the other States the as-
surance that New York could be carried
Tor Cleveland in spite of Hill and of the
angry protests of his friends. William &,
: Whitney claims the honor of nominatinp
Mr.. Cleveland. He is entitled to no credit
whatever. His work was done for him
by the patriotic Democrats whom he
pretended at hrst 10 countenance, but
from whom he ran away when il was
thought, TO use vernacular of The
contest, that Cleveland and Hill would
XIII of one another" leaving behind
sneering fling to be printed in the
newspapers after he had escaped to sea
II It had not been for Fairchild, Whitney
/ could have found no excuse to 20 tn
Chicago But he went, and the first in.
Justice done by Clevelands intimates to
Cleyeland's real friends was Whitneyis
claim to the credit OF making the nomii,n.
ton, and Whitney's silence when the
newspapers were publishing the untruth
that he had turned down. the man WIN
had been a fellow member of his in Mr..
Cleveland's first cabinet. One other man
might have prevented Mr.. Cleyeland's
nomination and secured his own. The
!ilnols delegation insisted OH nominating
Mi. Morrison. The Hill delegates from
New York were inclined to support Inc
effort. Even Mr.. Carlisle on the eve of
the convention urged Morrison to accent,
lie was the one man who could have
beaten Mr.. Cleveland, but he honorably
and almost angrily refused to permit his
name to be used, because the Illinois dele.
CATION had been elected us u Cleveland
ueiegatlon, IN a contest between Palmer
and Morrison, in which the latter won,
During the campaign the New York
men, who had made Cleveands nomina.
tion, possible, remained silent. They took
hardly any part in the campaign, The
machines, State and local, We're in the
hands Of their opponents, who were inter.
ested IN making anLl.snappers appear to be
OF little political importance. The anti-
snappers, however, were willing to oblit-
crate themselves for the time in order that
the party might succeed 1t must be borne
IN mind that the leaders of this movement
did not enter upon the contest for the con-
troll of the convention because they were
Cleveland men. They were not hero.
worshippers. They recognized Mr.. Cleye-
lands faults as well as his strength. They
were Democrats of the kind you describe
as giving the party whatever strength il
has. They desired TO advance Democratic
principles, and TO wrest the leadership from
unworthy men. 10 these ends tliey re,
garded Mr.. Cleveland as the fittest instrri.
inent. They knew that he might be the
leader Of the cause they believed in. and
which they fondly thought he represented,
They remained silent through the cam.
paign because they knew that the machine
IN New York was treacherous, and that
their activity would excite it to further
effort TO defeat the ticket. Mr.. Cleveland
did nothing to bring them into the cam
paiga. He grumbled because his friends
were not consulted, and because he was
thus deprived Of the aid of the most intelli.
gent men of the Democratic party in this
state. But he agreed that silence was best
and bis friends have no cause of complaint
against him for that. They did not believe
the Tammany version of the Victoria Hotel
dinner, and they do not now.