The Sun. — 1868-10-16 (London, England)

STORIES OF THE CANDIDATES.  A commotion has been raised through the means of an old Confederate journal, wherein an announcement was made that Frank I'. Blair, jun., having been captured in one of the great battles, had at his own request taken the oath of allegiance to the Confederate Government. The National Republican of Washington appears to have got hold of this paper, for it publishes the telegram in question : " The Southern confederacy, a newsparer we have seen printed at Atlanta, Georgia, during the rebellion, contains a telegram dated Richmond, Virginia, May 9, sent immediately after the battle of Chancellorsville and prior to the taking of Vicksburg, or the battle of Gettysburg, which is in these words :—" Passengers repurt Frank P. Blair, jun., among the captured. The oath of allegiance was administered at his request." This is alleged to be untrue, and naturally so, as Frank Blair, though often wounded, was never taken prisoner. The secret history of the late Democratic Convention at Tammany Hall is " as good as a play," and perhaps some day or other will give the material for a screaming farce. Chase sold—the real Simon Pure, supposed to be his seconder, demurely seated in the chair to receive the coming and wholly unexpected nomination, which was no sooner made than he retired to weep, while an undercurrent was directed to place Frank Blair's name on the ticket for the Vice-Presidency, which, though little less erratic, in the presence of the greater events escaped comparatively unnoticed The moving spirit in the latter intrigue was Mr. Montgomery Blair. It was he who dictated the Broadhead letter, it was he who showed up General Hancock as the officer who had issued an order urging • the pursuit of Booth on the negroes of Maryland, as the murderer of President Lincoln, their best friend, and while thus flooring Hancock, General Ewing was " snuffed out" by his order of 1863, wherein all disloyal persons were turned out of his lines. The strange part of all this by-play was that in securing the immediate object it defeated the ultimate object. Mr. Montgomery. Blair admirably managed to obtain for his brother the nomination, but' the very means he used have gone far towards the defeat of the whole ticket, for what raised enthusiasm in the Southern mind created dread and aversion in the Northern. What Montgomery Blair overlooked was that though the Conservatives, and, perhaps, their most extreme section, nominated their candidate, it was the nation who were to elect him.,-and what answered the former purpose was what was likely to defeat the latter. Mr. Seymour attributes the check to the Democratic sentiment to the injudicious way in which the Blairs have acted, and we understand that he has plainly expressed this. By the way, an amusing story is told of him by the Standard's correspondent, from whom people should take what they can get, which is fun only ; for if there is little reliance to be placed on the correspondent, his very exaggeration, contradiction, and untruthfulness make up an entertaining budget. He says:-It is a wretched custom on the part of certain people in this country to spend their time during a Presidential canvass in travelling about on railways and steamboats to importune tourists to declare their political preferences. " Haow er yer goin' to vote, stran-ger ?" may be heard in an American railway car at the present time as frequently as the "conductor's" cry of "tickets." When the incurable button-holers, have canvassed an entire train or boat they communicate the result to some newspaper, which prints the statement as " a straw." Of course these reports are utterly valueless ; first, because the canvassers are partisans who can change the figures to suit themselves, with nobody the wiser; secondly, if correct, they would only show the sentiment of a shifting class. On the New York Central Railroad the other day, Governor Seymour was approached by a very large and dirty Yankee, who said, "Saay, yew look like a nice ole feller ; you wear putty good clothes ; guess yew'll vote for hewmanity ; but, ennyway, who're ye fer ?" i 6 Well," replied the Governor, "I think that I shall sustain Mr. Seymour." "So? I never was more dis'pinted. Yew look like a gentleman, but we can't allays tell."