Democratic Sentinel, Volume 4, Number 27, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 20 August 1880 — THE RADICAL CONFERENCE. [ARTICLE]

THE RADICAL CONFERENCE.

A Cartons Collection of Patriot* Something'' to Cheer the Hearts of Civil-Service Reformers. [From the New York Sun.] Taken individually and collectively, the patriots who were invited to this city to meet the Credit Mobilier candidate for the Presidency were peculiarly adapted to the man and to the occasion, Ex-Governors, ex-Ssnators, ex-Secreta-ries, ex-Commissioners, ex-Ministers, ex-Generals, ex-Colonels, ex-clerks, and" other extraordinary personrges of the past, together with a few pr< sent dignitaries, made up the motley assemblage at the Fifth Avenue Hotel. Landaulet Williams, Secor Robeson, Belknap; Banks, now United States Marshal, and a patriot of many sides’; Bullock, the-notorious ex-Goveraor of Georgia; Conover, ex-carpet-bag Senator ; Warmoth, ex-carpet-bag Governor of Louisi; na; Syplier, ex-carpet-bag Congressman; Orth, the Venezuela jobber ; Storrs, who defended Babcock in the whiskey-ring trial, and now fitly defends Garfield in the paving job ; Filley, ex-Postmaster at St. Louis, whom Scliurz pursued to the bitter end ; Dorsey, ex-carpet-bag Senator; Pinchback, whom the Republican Senate refused to admit* to a seat, afterward voting him $17,000 for more than three years of salary ; Clerical-Erron* Stoughton, and other distinguished personages, were conspicuous in the throng around the Credit Mobilier candidate. John Sherman, with, a specially-de-tailed "force of Collectors and revenue officials as his staff, gave a festive air to the occasion, and tendered the olive branch to James G. Blaine, who was liberal enough to make two speeches, and to tell the audience that a political campaign was a matter of business, and not of sentiment or gush. John Logan appeared in his war-paint, and, with uplifted tomahawk, threatened to annihilate the old secessionists if they insisted on voting for a Union General who had taught them a lesson of duty and submission. Tliurlow Weed made a noble effort to excite enthusiasm by referring to the campaign of 1840. He fought liis old battles over with great bravery, and felt confident of carrying New York if the Republicans could get votes enough. The great feature of the occasion was a hot debate between the Southern patriots, some of whom wanted money and moral support—principally the former —while others declared that any expenditure at the South would be a waste of resources. Conover, Hicks, Pinchback and a noble West Virginian advocated the former policy ; Sypher and Freeman took the latter side. This is the first time in a long experience that Sypher has ever been found against hard or soft money. Perhaps liis antagonism was excited by distrust of the virtuous Republicans who expect to handle the appropriation. The appeals for aid and comfort carried the day, and Mr. Marshall Jewell’s conglomerate convention voted to strengthen the hands of the faithful in the Virginias, North Carolina and Florida. It is gratifying to know that Conover and company have a prospect of getting their expenses to New York repaid, with perhaps a chance for something more for the good of the cause. They will not have another opportunity very soon, and it is not necessary to advise them to draw upon the Treasurer promptly and liberally. Don Cameron sat through all these scenes like a philosophical spectator, and neither opened his mouth nor his pitrse. In fact, lie is said to have clung to the latter with an exceptionallyifirm grip during an outburst of Conover’s eloquence. He had served with him in the Senate and knew his dangerous fascination. Mr. Conkling manifested a most remarkable interest in the candidate and j in the conference, for, although he j lodged in the same hotel with Mr. Gar- i field and near the room where this meeting was held, he took pains not to see the candidate and not to participate in the conference. Blaine and Sherman were both grieved by his absence, while Marshall Jewell, as master of ceremonies, was sincerely distressed at the failure of the New York Senator to make tlie greatest effort of his life. Senator Bruce, who had named his baby after Roscoe Conkling, was also sorrow-strick-en and despondent. Altogether this was one of the most curious collections of politicians on record.