Year: 1872

THE CONFERENCE TO-DAY.


We can repeat this morning our hope of
good results from the Conference at the Fifth
Avenue Hotel, to-day, without giving too much
pain, we hope, to our amiable cotemporares who
insist thatwe ought to be frightened or indignant
about it. We have no information Ill regard
to the general intentions or the method OF
procedure to be adopted in the Conference.
But the call is addressed to those "whO are
Opposed to the present Administration and
ats continuance in Office, and deem 1t
" necessary that all the elements of the OppOsi-
"tion should be united for a common effort at the
"coming Presidential election" 1t Is true
that some of the names signed to the Circular
are of persons bitterly hostile to AlT. Greeley,
and among those invited to be present there
are some who have declared themselves i'll
favor of the reelection of Gen. Grant But
the call itself contains nothing to which any
supporter of the Cincinnati platform and ticket
can object, and if this had not been so the
Circular would have been deprived of the most
illustriOus name among its signers and the
Conference would have failed to secure the
presence of the only men who will give it
significance.


Owing to this circumstance the meeting to-
day will be an important, and If practically
unanimous, an authoritative one. 1t will num-
Der among its most prominent members the
two Senators who at this moment possess in
the highest degree the confidence and the adj
herence of the most intelligent and thoughtful
men who are interested in American politics.
Senator Trumbull stands to-day foremost
among the trained and experienced statesmen
of the time, as the representative of the pOpu-
lar demand for the restoration of law, and the
end of the rule of the sword. He is one of
the few men left in the Senate to whom Law
is supreme, above any individual self-seeking,
and above any demands of partisan expe-
diency. Gen. Schurz represents with equal
ability and equal distinction those high and
enthusiastic aspirations for a - republican
government which influence Tn, young and
educated men of the country. The one is the
first lawyer and reasoner, the other the most
magnetic orator of the Senate. Both are
equally distinguished by their unassailed in
tegrity and the purity of their lives in an
assembly where these qualities ought not
to be distinction. They have both occupied
positions of difficulty in relation to the Gin
cinnati movement. Senator Trumbull was the
favorite candidate Of many for the Presi-
dency. The candidate of the majority was
not the choice of Gen. Schurz. 1t is only
from men of this elevation of character that
we can expect an absolute independence of
personal disappOintments. But in the cases of
both these Senators there is no fear that any
tinge of personal feeling will enter into their
action to-day.


Among the leading Editors who have figured
in ho ba
most influential who will attend this Confer
ence are Mr. Horace White and Mr.. Henry
WattersOn. 1t is needless to say that neither
of these gentlemen was primarily in favor Of
the nomination of Mr.. Greeley. At this hour
the only object for which they are laboring is
radical reform of the National Administration
in the interest of peace and of honesty. The
integrity of each is as absolutely beyond
question as his ability. No men are better
qualified to speak with authority as to the
possibilities of the campaign, and there are
none whose statements will be received with
more perfect confidence. They know the
science of politics thoroughly, and they are
beyond the least temptation for misrepre
sentatiOn. There are many others in the
Conference who are actuated by the same
loyal regard for the best interests of the
country Independent of selfish or partisan
considerations.


We do not forget that the Conference will
embrace, beside these able and irreproachable
men, q considerable number who have come
with no other object than to defeat the Gin
cinnati nominations. This object has been
frankly avOwed by several gentlemen of the
Free Trade League and by the Editor of The
EUeniag Post. Whether these gentlemen choose
to support Gen. Grant secretly or openly is
their own affair. 1t is difficult to see how they
find it becoming to attempt this in Confer
ence called to unite The elements of the Op-
position to him.


OF course we have nothing to suggest, and
no appeals to make, TO the gentlemen who
will assemble to-day at the Fifth Avenue
Hotel Most of them are sagaciOus enough to
see what is possible in this campaign for re-
form which is opening with such brilliant
promise. Most of them arc men Of too much