Year: 1874


as to make the danger of his nomination i'm
minent resulted from the weakness and in
activity of other candidates. 1t was the sense
of the party that Judge Church was its one
victorious leader. and SO long as there was
the faintest chance of his acceptance every |
candidate except Mr.. Tilden stood back
wisely relinquishing such claims as they had
in favor of the only man whom they all be-
ieved could be triumphantly elected against
SO strong and popular an opponent as Cover
nor Dix MIR. Tilden and his Tammany
hackers took advantage of this praiseworthy
reluctance by pulling every wire to bring
him into the foreground. Judge Church him
self was inactive from self-respect and
sense Of Judicial propriety as others were from
Difference to his superior strength and MIR.
Tilden with the astuteness in which nobody
ever thought him deficient, saw his oppor-
tunity and entered the field which nobody
was prepared to contest. he knew that
Judge Church did not want the nomination,
that he could consent to take it only at
great personal sacrifice, that judicial dignity
as we'll as personal disinclination held him
back and in this absence of competition Mr.
Tilden saw the one chance Of his life for Sc
curing coveted official prominence. Tammany
was quick to perceive the value OF
such candidate for its selfish local
purposes and was too willing to sacrifice the
party in the State if it could thereby recover
its ascendapcy in the city, whose spoils and
| plunder, which the Tammany men would
| enjoy alone, so far exceed the patronage OF
the State government, of which they would be
obliged to give the lions share to the rural
democracy. Tammany Hall accordingly gave
its most energetic support to the preten-
sions of Mr.. Tilden, and when, at late day,
Judge Church decided that he would not
permit his friends to make him candidate,
Mr.. Tilden had stolen SO long march on all
the other candidates that he seemed to have
the field quite to himself


This state of The canvass filed the demo-
cratic leaders of the interior OF the State with
foreboding anxiety. They had no objection
to Mr.. Tilden on personal grounds, but they
did not believe he could be elected. They
were alarmed at the prospect of losing the
State for the benefit of the Tammany organ
ization in the city. 1t now seems that they
again beset Judge Church, and this time with
an urgency which would listen to no denial,
to consent to be candidate and rescue the
party from the defeat which they believed
would follow the nomination OF MIR. Tilden
1t appears that Judge Church yielded on con-
dition that all rival candidates would with
draw and that the nomination should come to
! him as the unanimous wish of the democratic
party of the State. Hence the assembling Of
the rural democratic leaders at Albany, their
invitation to Mr.. Tilden to meet and confer
with them, and their attempt to bring about
graceful retirement for the good of the party.


This vigorous effort to get fatal candi-
date out of the way exposes the hollowness
of some recent defamation to the effect
that if Mr.. Tilden is rejected it will prove that
s'Tweed can stretch forth his hand from Black
wells Island and dictate the nominations of
the democracy Such frantic rhetoric can
have little weight with .judicious, selt-poised
citizens, who see that the strenuous protests
against MIR. Tilden nomination come from the
rural districts of the State which abominate
Tweed and all his belongings, and think that
Tammany Hall, scarcely yet disinfected of the
scandal of his leadership, would be mill
stone on the neck of the New York democ-
racy if it were allowed to dictate
the name for the chief place on the
ticket. They believe health and safety re-
quire that ship which has so recently had
the putrid yellow fever on board should be
kept for reasonable time in political quar-
antine. It is not from Blackwelrs Island,
but from the honest rural masses of the in
terror, that the remonstrance comes against
taking democratic gubernatorial candidate
from the city, put forward by Tammany Hall,
which has not yet established confidence by
ssworks meet for repentance" 1t is because
the old Tweed taint is not yet washed out of
Tammany, or, at least, not out of its reputa-
ton, that the rural democrats whose hands
are clean Of municipal plunder, so vehemently
object to Tammany domination in the coun-
cils Of the party.


1t does not yet appear what course the
rural democrats will pursue after their unsuc-
cessful attempt to induce Mr.. Tilden to with
draw. They are embarrassed by Judge
Churchs refusal to run without the unani-
nous support Of the party. Their contention
with Mr. Tilden has no tendency to slacken
their opposition, and since Judge Church has
yielded so far, they may think it expedient to
nominate him without his consent and put
upon him the responsibility of declining
against the wishes of the Convention. Such
nomination, even if he refuses to accept it,
would dispose of Mr.. Tilden, and as Judge
Church can be communicated with at once
by telegraph, while the Convention is still in
session, the delegates who have defeated
Tilden can unite on another candidate.


The Capture OS General Caiixto