te, and that
the supreme issue in 1880 must be whether "this shall be a government
by the sovereign people through elections, or a government by
discarded servants holding over by force and fraud."[1705] The
reiteration of this proposition made Tilden, it was claimed, the
necessary and inevitable candidate of the Cincinnati convention,
called to meet on June 22. The party seemed to believe, what Tilden
himself had announced from his doorstep three years before, that the
country would "never condone fraud," and it did not propose to
sacrifice a winning issue.[1706]

[Footnote 1705: Tilden's letter of June 18, 1880.--_Public Writings and
Speeches_, Vol. 2, pp. 502-506.]

[Footnote 1706: "If the Democrats do not nominate Mr. Tilden, they do
relinquish the fraud issue--the strength of their canvass."--New York
_Sun_, June 22, 1880.]

Nevertheless, many New York Democrats disliked Tilden. Their number,
which the cipher disclosures materially increased, grew into
threatening proportions after Kelly's dissatisfaction had settled into
a relentless feud. This condition made Tilden's chances of carrying
the State uncertain if not absolutely nil, and encouraged his critics
to magnify his weaknesses until the belief generally obtained that
serious, perhaps fatal opposition would array itself at the State
convention on April 20. Statements as to Tilden's ill-health likewise
found currency. When not displaying evidence of unimpaired mental
vigour in the courtroom, he was said to be on the verge of total
paralysis.[1707] To his burdens the government also added another by
pursuing his income tax. This suit, commenced in January, 1877, and
destined to drag through five years until dismissed by the prosecution
without costs to either party, was fixed for the April term in 1880,
although the United States attorney admitted his unpreparedness for
trial.[1708] "Thus was he persecuted with unrelenting virulence by the
Administration," says his biographer, "and by the Republican press,
which neglected no opportunity of refreshing the memory of its readers
in regard to his imputed capacities for wickedness."[1709]

[Footnote 1707: The _Nation_, April 22.]

[Footnote 1708: See district attorney's letter, Bigelow, _Life of
Tilden_, Vol. 2, pp. 254-259, 264.]

[Footnote 1709: _Ibid._]

Meanwhile, to escape interruptions to which Gramercy Park exposed him,
Tilden settled in the summer of 1879 at Greystone on the Hudson, three
miles beyo