Democratic Sentinel, Volume 8, Number 21, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 20 June 1884 — TILDEN SPEAKS, [ARTICLE]

TILDEN SPEAKS,

And Announces His “ Irreversible Determination” Hot to Be a Candidate. l> His Advanced Age and Infirmities the Reason for His Withdrawal. The following communication from Samuel J. Tilden has been given to the Associated Press: _ New York, June 10. To Daniel Manning, Chairman of the Demo-. cratic State Committee of New York; In my letter of June 18, 1880, addressed to th< delegates from the Bute of New YorktotiM Democratic National Convention, I said: “Having now borne faithfully my full share of th< labor and care in the nubile service, and wearing the marks of its burdens, I desire nothin! so much as an honorable discharge. I wish tc lay down the honors and toils of even quasi party leadership and to seek the repose of pnvat< life. In renouncing the renomination for the Presidency, I do so with no doubt in my mind as to the vote of the State of New York, or o 1 the United States, but because I believe that it is a nomination of re-election to the Presidency. To those who think my renomination and reelection indispensable to an effectual vindication of the right of the people to elect their rulers, violated in my person, I have accorded as tons a reserve of my decision as possible; but I cannot overcome my repugnance to enter into a new engagement which involves four years oi ceaseless toil. The dignity of the Presidential office is above a merely personal ambition, but it creates in me no illusion. Its value is as a great power for good to the country. I said four years ago, in accepting the nomination, ‘Knowing as I do, therefore, from fresh experience, how great the difference is between gliding through an official routine and working out a reform of systems and policies, it is impossible for me to contemplate what needs to be done in the Federal administration without* ar anxious sense of the difficulties of the undertaking. If summoned by the suffrages of my countrymen to attempt this work I shall endeavor, with God’s help, to be the efficient instrument of their will ’ Such a work of renovation, after many years of misrule, such a reform of systems and policies, to which I would cheerfully have sacrificed all that remained to me of health and life, is now, I fear, beyond my strength." ‘ My purpose to withdraw from further public service, and the grounds of it, were at that time well known to you and to others, and when, at Cincinnati, though respecting my wishes yourself. you communicated to me an appeal from many valued friends to relinquish that purpose, I reiterated my determination unconditionally. In the four years which have since elapsed nothing has occurred to weaken, but everything to strengthen, the considerations which induced! my withdrawal from public life. To all whei have addressed me on the subject my intention® has been frankly communicated. Several of my most confidential friends, under the sanction of their own names, have publicly stated my determination to be irreversible. That I ■ have occasion now to consider the question I is an event for which I have no responsibility. The appeal made to me by the Democratic masses, with apparent unanimity, to serve them once more is entitled to the most deferential consideration, and would inspire a disposition to do anything desired of me, if it were consistent with my judgment of duty. I'believe that there is no instrumentality in human society so potential in its influences upon mankind for good or evil as the governmental machinery for administering justice and for making and executing laws. Not all the elementary institutions of private benevolence to which philanthropists may devote their lives are so fruitful in benefits as the rescue and preservation of this machinery from the perversions that make it the instrument of conspiracy, fraud, and crime against tho most sacred rights ant interests of the people. For fifty years, as I private citizen, never contemplating an officla career, I have devoted at least as much thought and effort to the duty of influencing aright the action of the governmental institutions of my country as to all other objects. I have never accepted official service except for a brief period, for a special purpose, and only when the occasion seemed to require from me that sacrifict of private preferences to the public welfare. ! undertook the State administration of New York because it was supposed that in that way only could the executive power be arrayed on the side of the reforms to which, as a private citizen, I had given three years of my life. ’ accepted the nomination for the Presidency in 1876 because of the general conviction thai my candidacy would best present the issue oi reform which the Democratic majority of the people desired to have worked out, in the Federal Government, as it had been in the State of New York. I believed that I had strength enough then to renovate the administration of the Government of the United States, and. at the close of my term, to hand over the great trust to a successor faithful to the same policy. Though anxious to seek the repose of private life, I nevertheless acted upon the idea that every power is a trust and involves a duty. In reply to the committee communicating my nomination,*! depicted the difficulties of the undertaking and likened my feelings in engaging in it to those of a soldier entering battle; but I did not withhold the entire consecration of my power to the public service. Twenty years of continuous maladministration, under the demoralizing influences of intestine war and of bad finance, have Infected tho whole govermental system of the United States with the cancerous growths of false constructions and corrupt practice*. Powerful classes have acquired pecuniary interests in official abuses, and the moral standards of the people have been impaired. To redress these evils is a work of great difficulty and labor, and cannot be accomplished without the most energetic and efficient persona] action on the part of the Chief Executive of the Republic. The canvass and administration which it is desired that I should undertake would embrace a period of nearly five years. Nor can I admit any illusion as to their burdens. Three years’ experience in the endeavor to reform the municipal government of the city of New York, and two years’ experience in renovating the administration of the State of New York, have made me familiar with the requirements of snch a work. At the present time the considerations which induced my action in 1880 have become imperative. I ought not to assume a task which I have not the physical strength to carry through. To reform the administration of the Federal Government; to realize my own ideal, and to fulfill the great expectations of the people; would indeed warrant, as they could alone compensate, the sacrifices which the undertaking would involve; but, in my condition of advancing years and declining strength, I feel no assurance of my ability to accomplish these objects. I am, therefore, constrained to say definitely that I cannot now assume the labors of an administration, or of a canvass. Undervaluing in no wise that best gift of heaven—the occasion and the power sometimes bestowed upon a mere individual to communicate an impulse for good—grateful beyond all words to my fellow-countrymen who would assign such a beneficent function, to me—l am consoled by the reflection that neither the Democratic party nor the republic, for whose future that party is the best guarantee,, is now or ever can be dependent upon any one man for their successful progress in the path of a noble destiny. Having given to their welfare whatever of health and strength I possessed, or could borrow from the future, and having reached the term of my capacity for such labors as their welfare now demands, I but submit to the will of God in deeming my public career forever dosedSamuel J. Tilden.