Year: 1874

tue break OF day.


National Convention OF Defested


Candidates.


Our proposition that national convention
of defeated republican candidates shall be
held has been received with such hearty ap-
proval that there is no doubt that it will be
formally adopted. Some persons have sup
posed that this suggestion was ironical and
Satanic in spirit but we beg to say that it
was nothing Of the kind. We advise the hold
ing of such convention with absolute sim
cerity and with the serious conviction that it
is solemn duty the republican party has to
discharge for itself and the country. The con-
ventlon would be a perfect success, notwith-
standing the fact that every member of it is
an utter failure, for it must be remembered
that although man may be defeated
for Governor, Senator, Representative or
legislator, his usefulness may not only
survive that defeat, but may actually
private life which is often far above the daz-
cling honors of mere political success, and no
spectacle is nobler than that Of men bearing
adversely with magnanimity, and finding,
perchance consolation in the sight of each
Others distresses. There is no more touching
picture in the Bible than thai of Job sitting
among ashes and bewailing his bois. Solo
mon in his glory may be admired, but we love
Job. It may not be irreverent either to the
patriarch or to the republican candidates if
we say that their conditions have certain
likeness. Yet Job had no companions in his
misfortanes, and was deprived Of that sooth-
ing consciousness which the republicans pos
sess. Forty or fifty Jobs sitting on the
same ash heap and each afflicted with an equal
number OF boils would have refreshed him in
his misery; but even that privilege, alas was
refused to the aged man.


Yet there are considerations connected with
such convention which seem to us to be
superior to even the comfort of it's members.
Pleasing as it would doubtless be for General
Butler to condole with Mr.. Sypher, or for
Senator Carpenter to sympathize with Senator
Chandler, we do not urge the convention
simply as method Of relieving their personal
suffering. High above the alleviation Of in
dividual grief stands the interest of the repub-
ican party. It il that interest which we believe
the convention would serve. 1t is plain that
nothing can be expected tor the relief of the
republican party from the next House of Repre-
sentatives. The reason for this, as all these
gentlemen must admit, is that the next House
will have democratic majority Where, then,
can relief for the party be found? Clearly


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didates. In the first place it would be
ON easily organized body; the expense
and trouble Of electing delegates would
not exist, the delegates having been
already chosen, and q non-certifcate of cleo
ton to the Office for which he ran would en-
title any man to seat. Thus all the bother
about credentials would be avoided. A simple
sum in subtraction would be all that Governor
Dix, for instance, would have to do to obtain
unchallenged admission. In the second
place, it would be composed of leaders of the
republican party, representative men, pos
sessed of national influence True, it may be
said that they led the party to defeat, that
they represent ruin, and that their influence
was exerted to restore to power the democratic
party; but this would be only the taunt Of their
opponents, not of their friends Does any one
imagine that Job cared what the Tishbites
said about his bolls? No, it was not what
was said, but the boils that hurt him. We
trust these gentlemen can forgive sneer and
will not shrink from holding this solemn con-
vention, because it might, to superficial
minds, seem an absurd mockery of
their splendid meetings in the past.
In the third place, no persons are
as competent to explain the defeat
of the republican party as it's candidates. They
are experts in the matter, and what they
would say would be pertinent and practical
If we wanted to know how it feels to have a
leg amputated, would we go to n man with
both legs? Certainly we should ask of one
who had undergone the operation. So with
these candidates. The President gives one
explanation, the Vice President another, Mr.
Bristow another, Mr.. Kellogg another, and SO
on, till we are puzzled to decide why the re-
publican party was beaten. Was it the panic,
the third term, or the Civil Rights bill These
are questions the convention might debate,
ana III 30 uOlnR ulScoSeI tne Ie1SOn 1Or lCS
own existence. 1t must be conceded that not
one of the delegates would admit it to be his
own fault that he was defeated, but surely none
of them are beyond conviction. Mr.. Dawes
might explain to General Butler the causes of
his unpopularity, and General Bntler might
do the same service to Mr.. Dawes. Thus the
convention would be as improving as Shaker
meeting, where every member points out the
sins of his companions.


Unless this convention of defeated candi-
dates is held there is no hope for the republi-
can party. We soy this frankly and with no
other motives than those of kindness The
only objection that seems to have any force
is based upon its enormous size. They say
that there is no building in America large