Year: 1876




cordial acceptance Of the ticket by the New
York State leaders, Mr.. Tilden seems to have
been lulled into false security. Naturally
enough it did not enter his mind that any
portion Of the party in this State would
fail to cooperate with him or evince any
slackness in promoting the wishes of the
Presidential candidate. The interests of the
State democracy and of the city democracy
had become so identified with his own
that he assumed that there was no further
necessity for his usual vigilance in control
ling the choice of delegates to the
State Convention. For once he relaxed
his activity, expecting that the prestige
of his Presidential nomination would
insure the zeal and partiality of the
whole party. This proved to be a mistaken
calculation, for when the State Convention
assembled it was found that he had no
power to control it. There was no open op-
position to him, but, on the contrary, an
affectation of Difference; but the candidate
he was supposed to favor encountered stiff
and strenuous opposition. There was no
period, from the meeting of the Convention
to the wild stampede to Seymour, when DORIS
decisive majority if his claims had been
brought to the test of q vote. If we were to
say that majority was hostile to Governor
Tilden the statement would be broader than
the fact all that is true is that the majority
refused to be influenced by his supposed
xvio fol ifofi in, ~
them. Their indisposition to accept his
control was not obtrusive they had
no desire to weaken or humiliate him !;
but it was manifest enough that there
was an absence of that subserviency
to his dictation which was so marked
conventions, majority of whose men,
bers had been virtually selected by him
self. In forbearing to exert himself in the
Assembly districts according to his wont he
presumed too much on that tide of favor
which would naturally be set in motion by
his position in the national Canvass


This unexpected attitude Of the majority,
made SO evident by the weakness Of Mr..
Dorsheimer when Governor Tildens init
mates and familiars were pushing him, was
q revelation to the Immediate friends of the
Governor. To save him from open defeat
their weakness by going over en- masse to
Seymour and joining the stampede. The
state of facts thus developed is the principal
reason why Governor Tilden processes to
stand aloof and take no part in the selec-
tion of candidate to replace Mr. Seymour
If he could control the Convention his
abstinence would be as impolitic as it is
contrary to his usual practice. If he should
attempt to force candidate his opponents
believe that he could not control moro than
one-third of the delegates, and he is too
wary to make contest against such odds.
He has nothing to rely upon, except the ap-
peal his friends may make to the good sense
of the Convention and the fact that they
can turn the scale between contesting can
didates. Among candidates who are his
known friends he will stand perfectly neu-
trail but if an attempt is made to bestow
not supported his administration he will
take advantage of rivalries to defeat such q
choice.


From his own point Of view, which is not
without reason, it would be fatal blunder
for the party in his own State to put for
ward candidate who would nullify the
peculiar claim on which Mr.. Tilden is run
ming for the Presidency. His whole strength
lies in his pretensions as q reformer 1t was
solely on his record rs q reformer that he
succeeded in getting the St Louis nomina-
ton. The most recent part of this record,
and that on which he chiefly prides himself,
is his onslaught on the Canal Ring and his
administration as Governor. The demo-
cratic party of New York cannot afford to
belittle this claim nor to seem to belittle it
They could not do so without knocking his
main prop from under him and bringing the
whole fabric of his canvass down in ruins
about his ears and their own To nominate
q candidate for Governor who has not cor
daily supported Mr.. Tilden's administra-
ton would be proclamation by the demo-
cratic party of this State that the Presiden-
tial canvass rests on q false basis and that
the reform issue is played out before the
contest has fairly opened. This would be
an act of such egregious and destruc-
tive disqualification that it is no
wonder Governor Tilden deemed it
impossible and accordingly took no
pains to control the choice of delegates to
the Convention. To nominate candidate
for Governor who has not supported MIR.
Tilden in his war on tho Canal Ring would
be equivalent to striking the reform flag and
trampling it in the dust, and the party
would thenceforward have no rallying point.
If the democracy of New York treat Mr.. Til
den's vaunted reforms with contempt or seem
to slight and undervalue them the campaign
is lost. The party has nothing else to stand
upon. On the currency question it is like
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