[_From the "Sun," April 7, 1900._]
"A man with half a memory writes a long letter to the _Evening
Post_ of this city recalling the circumstances of the once-famous
Fifth Avenue Hotel Conference of May, 1876. He thinks the political
situation is ripe for another such demonstration on the part of
eminent citizens who do not want to vote for McKinley again, yet
view with apprehension the probability that Bryan will be the
alternative choice. There is as much time now before the two great
nominating conventions, he points out, as there was when Carl Schurz
and others met in the Fifth Avenue Hotel to save the country. A
quarter of a century has considerably idealized his mental picture
of that conference and its results. This is his description of it
now:
"'It was a gathering of the foremost patriots in the nation,
regardless of party affiliations, to discuss the political situation
and suggest to the country a programme for the Presidential canvass
which was soon to begin. There were philosophers and scholars of the
first rank, eminent lawyers, and brilliant editors, and men who had
won renown in many a fierce campaign as "practical" politicians and
popular leaders. The call which brought them together distinctly
disavowed the idea of nominating a candidate or framing a platform,
except, possibly, in the barest outlines. The whole purpose of the
conference was to end at one stroke some of the false conditions
against which the conscience and intelligence of the country were in
revolt, but not to pull down anything for which it was not prepared
to offer something better as a substitute.'
"This conference to which the writer in the _Evening Post_ refers
in terms of reverence, amounting almost to awe, met at the Fifth
Avenue Hotel on May 16, 1876, in response to a call signed by
Mr. Schurz and a few others. There were present about two hundred
gentlemen, mostly of the type which afterward came to be known as
the Mugwump; that is to say, the type addicted to proclaiming its
superior intelligence and conscience in political affairs. As might
be expected, the Hon. Carl Schurz, the Flying Dutchman of American
politics, was the most conspicuous figure. He made the principal
speech, and he was chairman of the committee which prepared and
reported a pretentious 'address to the country.' This address to the
country constituted the sole fruit of the conference's deliberations.
"Let us supplement the half-memory of the man who wants another
such demonstration of the foremost patriots, philosophers, and
scholars, under the leadership once more, as we assume from the
tone of his letter, of the Hon. Carl Schurz. At the time the
conference met there was nothing murky in the political situation.
On the Republican side the nomination of Governor Hayes, of Ohio,
was clearly indicated. The _Sun_ had predicted it long before the
patriots and philosophers assembled. Mr. Blaine was an aggressive
candidate, and there was some third-term talk about Gen. Grant;
but the Conkling-Blaine feud and the Bristow disaffection already
rendered practically certain the nomination of a compromise
candidate not identified with either faction, and the logic of the
situation pointed directly to Governor Hayes. On the other side
everything was shaping towards the event which occurred at St.
Louis six weeks later, the nomination on the second ballot, by far
more than the required two-thirds majority, of Samuel J. Tilden,
a statesman and reformer representing with singular closeness the
ideal which was declared to be in the minds of Mr. Carl Schurz and
his associates.
"That celebrated address which Mr. Schurz drafted, with the
assistance of the intelligence and conscience of the country, could
scarcely have called more pointedly for Tilden and barred out Hayes
as the President desired by the foremost patriots, philosophers,
and scholars, had it mentioned their names. We quote from Mr. Carl
Schurz's address to the country:
"'We shall support no candidate who, however favorably judged by his
nearest friends, is not publicly known to possess those qualities of
mind and character which the stern task of genuine reform requires,
for the American people cannot now afford to risk the future of the
republic in experiments on merely supposed virtue or rumored ability
to be trusted on the strength of private recommendations.
"'The man to be intrusted with the Presidency this year must have
deserved not only the confidence of honest men, but also the fear
and hatred of the thieves.
"'The country must now have a President whose name is already a
watchword of reform, whose capacity and courage for the work are
matters of record rather than promise.'
"There was much more of the same sort in the address which Mr.
Schurz signed and the Fifth Avenue Hotel conference issued. Within
a few weeks the Republican party nominated the man whose capacity
and courage for the work of reform were matters of promise only,
and the Democracy put up the statesman already publicly known to
possess those qualities of mind and character which the stern task
of genuine reform required.
"What was the sequel? A few weeks later the Hon. Carl Schurz, the
author of all the high-sounding professions in the address to the
country, was hard at work persuading citizens of the Mugwump type
to cast their votes for Hayes and against Tilden; and a few months
later, after Mr. Hayes had failed to secure a majority of the
electoral vote, but had been counted into the office to which Mr.
Tilden was elected, the Hon. Carl Schurz, reformer and leader of the
Fifth Avenue Hotel conference, got his pay for partisan activity;
it came in the shape of a Cabinet appointment, which he promptly
accepted.
"Such is the true story of the May conference of 1876."