The Montgomery advertiser., 1903-07-08
CLEvELALD'S ATTITUDE
WILL ACCEPT NOMINATION. II SHOWN THAT THIS IS HIS DUTY TO HIS COUNTRY
 AND. HIS PARTY.

Life, But Would Sacrifice Per
 sonal Preferences If Demo-
 cracy Could Thus Be
 Rehabilitated.
 Buzzards Bay Special to Brooklyn Eagle.
 The former President, Grover Cleve- land. Is occupying his summer residence here. He is hardly settled, for his re- movai is too recent. That might be the reason why interviewers are not welcome, but 1t is not. Those who know MT. Cleveland best know that the former l President regards his annual visit to Buzzard's Bay as retirement which he is entitled to enjoy. undisturbed. Hence newspaper men seeking to discover the state of his mind on public or political | questions are not welcome. There are number of the craft in the offing but they have not obtained an entrance to the har- bor of Gray Gables, nor are they likely 1 to. if they fly the flag of the press
 Mir. Cleveland will not at present talk for publication on political matters, so far as they may be related to him in per- sonal way, and this is well settled deter | imitation, not made without serious con- sideration. By this time tlse country knows that when MT. Cleveland has reached determination after serious thought. he is not easily swerved, so that 1t can be set down that until matters take a different form than they now have nothing will be heard from him on this phase Of politics in the way of an authorized public utterance.
 And while this Is so. nevertheless there are few people in the country who are l not anxious to know what MT. Cleveland | thinks of the present situation and what l his future course with relation to 1t will l be. This has been so ever since The Eagle formulated the demand for his can- l didacy. And, whether these people are l party opponents, anxious to be able to l shape their courses in the knowledge. antagonists within party lines, adherents anxious to subscribe fidelity to the flag if he would but raise 1t, or that great body of citzens who have thrown off party allegiance and follow conscience. 1t | is the same All want to know. In- deed, there has been a demand that he should declare himself, but all such de- | mands are from antagonists within his party lines.
 why MT. Cleveland Cannot Declare | Himself.
 | Speaking of this a day or two ago a man who knows MT. Cleveland as we'll as one can another said: Friends of Mir. Cleveland are not making such demands; they come only from those who would embarrass him and serve their own petty ends. Such demands can only confirm Mi. Cleveland in his determination to re- main silent during these days of develop ment. And, indeed, l imagine there is enough Adam in the former President to refuse to gratify them by an expression. | If he were to signify that he would accept a nomination they would immediately lift up a great shout that they had smoked | him out; If he were to say that he would 1 not take a nomination. they would declare with a flourish of trumpets that they had driven him off. Whatever he might say would be tortured to suit their ends"
 But, after all. if MT. Cleveland is af- fected by such consideration 1t Is merely "a contributory and not the prime reason for the stand he has taken. Those who are closest to him know that he does not look upon present conditions as calling upon him for a final and irrevocable an- nouncement. They know that he Is greatly pleased over the manifestation of the response to The Eagles demand, not so much because he was the object of it as because he saw in 1t unmistakable evidence of the tendency of Democratic | thought that would lead to a rehabilita- tion of the party in the esteem of the people, would bring 1t back to the old l the errors and sophistries that had led 1t into disaster and nearly into destruction. Why Mr. Cleveland is Pleased at Re-
 cent Developments.
 Those who are closest to him know that the only personal consideration he has permitted himself in this demonstration is that he saw 1t in a vindicauon of the | firm stand he took when the party went l headlong after false gods and into strange alliance. They are convinced that MT. Cleveland believes, from the testi- mony which has been put into his posses 1 sion. Democratic sentiment is running in a deep and powerful current in the right l direction, that Democratic conscience has been aroused and that 1t Is not necessary that his personality should be obtruded on the situation and that what there is of him as a Democratic factor is to be found in the tenets of the party for which he stands and which he has sincerely tried | to enforce-tenets which when closely adhered to by the party led 1t to victory and power with the possibility of the ap- l plication of such principles to the admin istration of government Therefore, there is no doubt that he looks with leniency and equanimity on the use of his name in giving direction to the movement | within the party which cannot fail to I love and enthusiasm for the creed of pure Democracy.
 The Path of Inclination May Not B. the Path of Duty.
 l It Is doubtful if there is one among those to whom MT. Cleveland gives his confidence who Is in doubt as to what his course would be were he to consult only his preferences in the matter. and that would be to continue the life he is leading. They believe that to him the path of inclination is clearly marked out, that as to that he is in no doubt. but what Is or what may be the path of duty is another thing, and that the stage Is not yet reached when he Is, or should be. called upon to take decisive stand. A year will ciapse before the convention | will assemble to make a nomination. There arc other considerations which, given thought to. must have their in- l huence. Were MT. Cleveland to follow his inclination and. at this time. declare that he would not accept a nomination and yet in the final development of the situation should be called upon to fore go his preference and obey the call of l duty, he then might find himself the sub ject of criticism in that he was not sin bR