Show i Tijt I I TILDEN DECLINES f i j l f Your Uncle Sammy Thinks I H I I fie is Too Old jft IH 1 t i To Undertake The Necessary i I I Reforms I i I i J t if Tbe Letter of a Patriot t V Statesman But the People Will Have V i i V Him 1 New York 11Th9 following t V j Communication fre m Samuel J V i Tilden has been given the Associated J V As-sociated Press V NEW YORK June 10 184 V To Daniel Manning Chairman of It I the Democratic State Conv < nton i t I I iii New York IV t ii In my letter of J J u e 18 1880 addressed r it ad-dressed to the delegates from the t 1 V State of New York to the Democratic V V Demo-cratic national Convention I saId 1 Having now borne faithfully my 4 iit fall share of labor and care in the V public service and wearing the IV marks of its burdon I desire nothing J V noth-ing BO much as an honorable discharge i 11 1 I dis-charge I wish to lay down the J V honors and toils of even quasi party leadership and to seek the ret re-t I pose of private life In renouncing t 3 the nomination for the presidency j r 3i I do BO with no doubt m v mind as j i to the vote of the State of New York I 4V V or of the United States but because I believe that it is a renunciation of JI1ii1L reelection to the presidency To those who think my renommation il and reelection indispensab to an 91L effective vindication of the right i1 of the people to elect their rulera I U violated in my personI have accorded I s ac-corded as long a reserve of my decision de-cision as possible but cannot overcome I over-come my repugnance to enter It en-ter Ito a new engagement 11 V engage-ment wcich involve four years 1m of ceaseless toil The dignity of I the presidential office is stove any I I il 1g merely personal ambition but it creates in me no illusion Its value II I L is its great power for good to the country as 1 said four year ago in accepting the nomination Knowing 4 4 as I do therefore from fresh experience 1 fry ex-perience how great the difference is between gliding through an official routine and working out reorm of V 11 systems and policies ic is impossible tt for me to contemplate what needs to 11 be done in the federal administration V administra-tion without an anxious sense j of the difficulties of the undertaking I V I undertak-ing If summoned by the suffrages t of my countrymen to attempt this V work I shall endeavor with Gods V iV help to be the efficient instrument V of their will Such a work of renovation I reno-vation after many years of misrule t such a reform of systems and policies 1 V c poli-cies to which I would cheerfully i have sacrificed all that remained tome to-me of health and life is now I fear i beyond my strength My purpose to withdraw from t further public service and the grounds of it were at the time well r known to you Though respecting i I my wishes yourselves you com I rSI I I municated to me an appeal from I many valued friends to relinquish t relin-quish that purpose I reiterated V jfl my determination unconditionally I In the four years which have V S fV since elapsed nothing ha occurred to weaken but everything to V iii strengthen the consideration which induced my withdrawal from public V I life To all who have addressed me 1 on the subject my intention has V been communicated Several of my V V Vconfidential friends under sanction I of their own names have publicly I tt stated my determination to be Irrevocable SI Ir-revocable That I have occasion J t now to consider the question is an i 4 i event for which I have no refpons I ibility The appeal made to me by i 1 the Democratic masses with apparent T V ap-parent unanimity to serve them i once more Is entitled to ii the most deferential consideration V considera-tion and would inspire the V deposition to do anything desired i V of me if It were consistent with my I 5 5 I1ttj judgment of duty I believe that there ia no instrumentality inhuman JJJ 1 in-human society so potential in its V J tjiji influences upon mankind for good or evil as the governmental machinery 1I 1J ma-chinery for administering justice Jl 9 V and for making and executing laws I I Not all eleemosynary institutions II t V ot private benevolence to which philanthropists I I lanthropists may devote their life V are so fruitful in benefits as I the rescue and preservation of this I machinery from the perversious V J J that make it the instrument of conspiracy V spiracyfraudand crime against the V moat sacred rights and interests of the people For fifty years as a private i II pri-vate citizen never contemplating VS I j I an official career I have devoted I at least as much thought and effort I to the duly of influencing aright S J the action of governmental institutions V in-stitutions of my country as to all i other objects I have never accepted official service except for a brief r I II petlod for a special purpose and S J I i only when the occasion seemed to require from me that sacrifice of Ii I private preference to the public t welfare I undertook the State administration tiS ad-ministration of New York because S it was supposed that in that way I D only could the executive power be V ii V arrayed on the side of and interest In 4 V reforms to whi b as a private citizen V 1i citi-zen I had given three years of my 11iI life I accepted the nomination for Vt V the Presidency in 1870 because of V the general conviction that my candidacy f can-didacy would best present the issue r of reform which the Democratic V I majority of the people desired to V have worked out in the Federal government I gov-ernment as it had been In that of fl I S T l t tN S 14 nl V the State of New York I believed V ihat I had strength enough then to renovate the almlnstranon of the government of the United States and at the clo e of my term to hand over the great trust to a successor faithful to the eame policy Though anxious to seek the rep se of private lire 1 nevertheless neverthe-less acted upon the idea that every power is a trust and involves a duty In reply to the address of the committee com-mittee communicating my nomination nomina-tion I depicted the difficulties of the undertaking and likened my feelIngs ings in engaging it to those of a soldier going Jnto a battle but I did not withhold the entire consideration considera-tion of my powers 10 the public sevicE Twenty years of continuous maladministration under the demoralizing de-moralizing influences of intestinal war and of bad finance have in fected the whole governmental syttem of the United States with the cancerous growths of false cons structions and corrupt practices Powerful classes hava acquired pecuniary pe-cuniary interest in official abuses ana the moral standards of the I people have been impaired To redress i re-dress these evils is a work of gi eat difficulty and labor and cannot be accomplished without tne most energetic and efficient personal tion on the part of the chief executive exe-cutive of the republic The canvas and administration which it is de sin d that 1 should undertake would embrace a period of nearly five years nor can I admit any illusion as to their burdens Three years of experience in the endeavor to reform the municipal government of the I city of New York and two years of experience in renovating the administration ad-ministration of the State of New York have made me familiar with the requirements of such a work At the present time the considerations which Induced my lacton in 1880 have become imperative I ought not to assume a task which 1 have not the physical physi-cal strength to carry through Tore To-re orm the administration the federal government to real ze my own ideal and to fill the just expectations ex-pectations of the people would indeed in-deed warrant as they alone could compensate the sacrifice which the undertaking would involve but in my condition of advancing years and declining strength I feel no assurance of my ability to accom pUsh those objects I am therefore constrained to EJilY definitely that I cannot now assume the labors of an administration or of a canvas undervaluing un-dervaluing 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 Euch a beneficent function to me I am consoled in 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 on any one man for their successful progress in the path of a noble destiny des-tiny Having given to their welfare whatever of health and strength I Pssessed 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 deem-ing my public career forever closed SAMUEL J TILDEN HENDRICKS ALSO Indianar olie 11 Hon Thomas A Hen rioks in an interview concerning con-cerning Tildeiis letter of declination declina-tion said the news did nor surprise him for when he vieited Tilden in August last that gentleman very firmly announced his intention to remain permanently out of politics On a succeeding visit in April last the same determination was expressed ex-pressed Hendricks thought there was little doubt that the old ticket would have been unanimously unani-mously nominated at the Chicago convention if I it had not been for the declination today He said that the demand for it among the Democracy was almost universal and greater than any msvement af the kind he had ever seen in politics poli-tics Personally he felt no great disappointment He did not want the office of VicePresident eight years ago and did nct want it now If the old ticket had remained in the field he should have considered election to that place a great honor conferred by the people as a rebuke to what they considered a great wrong it would have prevented the seating of Hayes in 1573 from becoming be-coming a precedent for future elections elec-tions HendrIcks added that only in the expression of indignation by the people would he have regarded the electon to the VicePresidency IH an honor to be sought |