It is
herein presented with the fullest details.
Mr. Bigelow, the editor of the collection, has happily taken the time
for publication when Mr. Tilden has retired from active political
service; and thus the volumes may now be read with a less prejudiced
mind than in a former period of years.
It is impossible not to derive information and suggestions from a
careful perusal of these discussions, and inspiration from the
_dignity_ with which they are conducted; at the same time the
reader is somehow impressed in the perusal that Mr. Tilden is neither a
_great_ statesman _per se_, nor always a safe one to follow.
At this hour, it would be difficult to estimate the influence which he
has exerted upon the politics of his time. The accident of a political
defeat, rather than any extraordinary ability of his own, won for him
the remarkable and enthusiastic loyalty of his party, and perhaps also
a political immortality. As is still remembered, he bore his defeat
manfully and with a dignified grace unexampled in history, when all the
circumstances are considered, and this will be to his everlasting honor.
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