Year: 1877

| The speech of the Hon. Samuel J. Til
den at the Manhattan Club the other
night was enough to draw tears from a
paving-stone. Nothing can be more af-
fecting than the solemn and warning
words of an aged statesman who, as he
nears the end of his career, reviews the
sins and errors of his course, and leaves
few pages nitentreminiscence and
moral advice as political testament to
his partisans. Mr.. Tilden called around
him the persons who once tried to make
him President and who are now trying to
do the same service for somebody else,
and, standing cold and sad in the midst
of the meditatlve throng, he proceeded
to tell them that they had all made a
mess of it by putting too much trust in
fraud. Fraud, said he, is the great
temptation against which the Democratic
party must arm itself. 1t is always
present: devices will always be found
to give the color of law, and false pre-
lenses ON which to found fraudulent
judgment will not be wanting;" and if the
American Republic is to endure the peo-
pie must condemn dishonest practice in
politics in manner that shall prevent
their imitation hereafter, they must
deny, they must refuse success and pros
porous immunity to fraud"


Which the people have done. Mr..
Tilden did notsay to what he specifically
referred, but that was unnecessary. The
whole assembly knew that he was think
ing of Gobble, and Patrick, and the Lit
tie Dictionary His mind reverted to
that fatal day when there came to Gram
ercy Park a cipher telegram from Pat
rick, calling for money to purchase
Republican elector in Oregon and so
prevent trouble"-a dispatch to which
Nephew Pelton replied by agreeing to
pay the bribe if the purchased elector
would wait till he had earned it. IF
you make obligation contingent on result
in March, it can be done, aud incremable
slightly" was the cautious answer of
Mr.. Tilden's household agent and assist
ant; and the world has not forgotten that
when Patrick telegraphed back: Cant
make fee contingent; will take So, 900 for
Republican elector," the money was sent
with the message: Let no technicality
prevent winning" This is what Mr..
Tilden and mis- listeners were thinking
about on Tuesday night, and the refec.
tion that fraud does not pay was perfect
ly natural under the circumstances.


With respect to the practical questions
of the present day, Mr.. Tilden offered a
little advice which we fear the party
may not be prepared to accept with do
cility. He insinuatcd it in the sugared
form Of gentle hint, instead of cram
ming it down their reluctant throats as
an unwelcOme bolus. Look, said he,
at the corrupt dynasty which ruled the
people of New York seven years ago.
IL seemed invincible; but the people are
stronger than any ring, land a year or
two later the members of it were either
in the penitentiary or in exile" At this
point, with the remark that "a great ma
tion must never separate its political
from its moral life," Mr.. Tilden abruptly
dropped the history of the Tammany
conspiracy. He omitted to add that the
exiles are coming home again in swarms,
that only one of the prisoners remains in
jail, that the suits are being discontinued
as the lawyers drop off gorged, that the
members of the old ring are resuming
their places in the party on terms which
involve no compromise on their part
and no reflections upon them" that some
Of the most eminent of that distinguished
band were present at the Manhattan
Club that very evening, drinking punch
in the back parlor, and applauding Mr.
Tilden's disapproval of fraud-in a word,
that the comedy of Democratic reform is
ended, and Tammany, with a wild halloo
of relief, is going back as fast as it can
to the old order Of things. These points
Mr.. Tilden did not think it prudent to
state in words, but they must have oc-
Cured to great many minds while he
was speaking. What a pity the Demo
cratic party will not learn from the lips
of this venerable expert that in the long
run fraud will never prosper.-N y
Tribune.