The Montgomery advertiser., 1903-01-23
MIR. HEWITT AND MIR. T1LDEN
The Formers Real Attitude in the
 Crisis of '76.
Brooklyn Eagle.

Or15lS Ok tO'
 Brooklyn Eagle.
 To A. s. Hewltt's memory general tribute appears today in every paper, in-
 cluding The Eagle. The side phases of his life are so many as to make it more
 suggestive than that of most great men. He was, for instance, about the best after-dinner speaker in the United States
 and certainly he was one of the most
 difficult to obtain. Perhaps the rarity of
 his appearances in that role increased the
 appreciation of him in 1t. Every time.
 however, he did appear he had something
 to say worth hearing. something notable,
 virile and charming, too.
 Brooklyn well remembers the contro-
 versy which arose from the suppression
 of letter written by MT. Hewitt to d
 dinner of the Young Mems Democratic
 Club here. some years ago The sup precision of the letter was made the con- ditlon on which a politician from up1the
 State would speak at the dinner at all
 The Eagle printed the letter. in which the politician who insisted on its sup
 precision found his demagogical proposi-
 tions badly scored. In defense that poli-
 tician denied that he had ever seen or
 read the letter before 1t was printed.
 That was true, but 1t was read aloud to
 him by a time-serving weakling in the
 carriage in which the politician was
 really a falsehood. The politician who
 thus made it so was David R, Hill.
 Nearly every paper has It's own story about MT. Hewitt's difference with MT. Tilden on the way to assert the latter s
 claim to the Presidency in 1S76-7. The
 general tenor of all the stories is that
 Mir Tilden preferred q lawsuit to fight
 and lost the lawsuit as all the world knows. That may be correct though the
 idea that by a fight MT. Hewitt meant a civil struggle which would signify a civil
 war probably does injustice to Mir. Hew- it. As we understand. he contended that Al TO-r, ft. en fttf against the Republican Senate and either declare Mir Tilden was elected or itself elect him by vote of States. As Presi-
 dent Grant always and often said he be- lieved MT. Tiden was elected and was amazed that the House did not say so, the chances are that Mir Hewitts plan
 would have put Mir. Tilden in the Presi- dency. The Democracy. however, gave
 way. and Hayes went in.' with results that all remember.
 Mir. Hewitt. we think, was never satis- fled with the tactics or policy of the Til-
 den men then. He certainly had John Morrissey called off from New Orleans. where he had assuredly bought up the
 Republican State Returning Board. MT. Hewitt would sanction the purchase of
 no results. even though he thought they were righteous results. Politicians who
 regarded him to be "a purist' on that head he regarded to be knaves. Neither could he separate Ttlden from Pelton in
 the remarkable series of cipher telegrams from New Orleans Tallahassee and Co., lumbia. No more could he sympathize with the efforts of sundry men to throw out Hayes electors in Oregon and Yer
 mont on technIcalities which would have falsified the expression of those States. Much remains for disclosure of Mir. Hew- its action in that serious time. It will probably be disclosed and when 1t is we | believe that it will rebound to his honor, for if there ever was an honorable man.
 he was. He may have come to recognize -as others certainly did-that the outcome of the lST6-7 contention was less ill for the country than a contrary result would
 have been in the entail of circumstantial scandals that would have ensued. The Democrats did not renominate Mir. Til- den, but won when they named capa- hle. unhampeFed and courageous man in 1884