("POLITICAL COWARDICE")
"The following facts are instructive:
In 1876 Tilden majority was 32,818
In 1879 Robinson's vote was 375,790
and Kelly's vote was 77,566
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Total Dem. Vote in 1879 453,356
Cornell's Vote was 418,567
-------
Democratic Majority 34,789
But the votes for Cornell being 418,567
and Robinson's Vote 375,790
-------
gives Cornell his plurality of 42,777
"The following table shows the number of votes cast for Kelly in
1879 and the Democratic loss in 1880, as compared with 1876 in each
of the counties named:
Kelly Loss in 1880
Cayuga 712 557
Duchess 673 2,171
Kings 5,788 9,179
Monroe 2,088 1,749
New York 43,047 12,640
Niagara 574 861
Onondaga 1,468 658
Orange 980 762
Oswego 1,327 678
Queens 1,586 783
Rens' 1,144 1,313
Saratoga 452 1,317
Ulster 1,666 1,882
Westchester 1,755 1,985
------ ------
63,260 36,535
"The following table shows the same facts as to the counties therein
named:
Kelly
Franklin 16
Jefferson 86
Otsego 74
St. Lawrence 35
Schoharie 16
Tompkins 35
Warren 83
Wyoming 65
____
410 In these 8 Counties the Democratic loss
was only 684.
"These eight counties, having a population of about 350,000 and
nearly 100,000 voters, gave to the Kelly bolt in 1879 only 410
votes, and in 1880, as compared with 1876, they lost only 684. If
only this ratio of loss had obtained throughout the State, our
candidates would have succeeded by more than 25,000 majority.
"But political cowards lacked the courage so to bear themselves
as to command success. At the behest of the malcontents, who only
one year before had fatally conspired against the Democratic party
and its principles, they committed the cowardly act of calling
the Saratoga convention for the avowed purpose of reinstating the
traitors of 1879, and restoring them to influence and power. Being
thus restored to position and power, the figures above presented are
useful as tending to show how that power was used.
"This, however, is by no means the only act of political cowardice
connected with the late canvass. In 1876 the people elected Mr.
Tilden to the Presidency. There is not at this day an intelligent,
fair-minded man in America who doubts it. He was cheated of his
rights, and the people were defrauded of their choice of President
by the most atrocious crimes known to civilization. The time arrived
to select a candidate for 1880. Mr. Tilden still lived, and, though
his physical powers were somewhat impaired, he was conceded to be
one of the ablest statesmen living. He was reluctant to enter upon
the canvass, and asked the people to relieve [him] of so great
a burden. Those by whom the crimes referred to were committed,
impelled by the desire for self-protection, had devoted themselves
for years to unprecedented efforts to destroy him. The logic of
the situation, and the exercise of a manly courage, pointed to
one single line of duty. That duty was to refuse to accede to Mr.
Tilden's request, and to move forward with united voice and action
to right the great wrong that had been done by placing him in
nomination and electing him to the office from which he had been
excluded only by the high crimes of his adversaries. Instead of
doing this, men forgot their courage, and took counsel only of their
fears. They listened to the clamor of the criminals by whom this
great man was maligned, and allowed themselves to be intimidated
even by the malcontents who defeated the party only one year before.
Mr. Tilden was abandoned, and another candidate was selected. That
abandonment was a most conspicuous act of cowardice! And who shall
say it has not borne just such fruit as might have been expected?
"The selection made was undoubtedly an excellent one. General
Hancock is a true, pure, and able man, and eminently worthy of the
high place for which he was named. His nomination was, however, the
outcome of a great act of cowardice, and there is not a State in
the Union in which multitudes of men did not experience a feeling
of disgust at the manifest lack of courage to stand manfully and do
what clearly ought to have been done.
"JAMES F. STARBUCK.
"This was completed Dec. 9th, 1880. Mr. Starbuck _died_ Dec. 11,
1880."