ge that election. Mistake number six was in the charges made
against General Garfield. They were insisted upon, magnified and
multiplied until at last the whole thing assumed the proportions
of a malicious libel. This was a great mistake, for the reason
that a number of Democrats in the United States had most heartily
and cordially indorsed General Garfield as a man of integrity and
great ability. Such indorsements had been made by the leading
Democrats of the North and South, among them Governor Hendricks
and many others I might name. Jere Black had also certified to
the integrity and intellectual grandeur of General Garfield, and
when afterward he certified to the exact contrary, the people
believed that it was a persecution. The next mistake, number seven,
was the Chinese letter. While it lost Garfield California, Nevada,
and probably New Jersey, it did him good in New York. This letter
was the greatest mistake made, because a crime is greater than a
mistake. These, in my judgment, are the principal mistakes made
by the Democratic party in the campaign. Had McDonald been on the
ticket the result might have been different, or had the party united
on some man in New York, satisfactory to the factions, it might
have succeeded. The truth, however, is that the North to-day is
Republican, and it may be that had the Democratic party made no
mistakes whatever the result would have been the same. But that
mistakes were made is now perfectly evident to the blindest partisan.
If the ticket originally suggested, Seymour and McDonald, had been
nominated on an unobjectionable platform, the result might have
been different. One of the happiest days in my life was the day on
which the Cincinnati convention did not nominate Seymour and did
nominate English. I regard General Hancock as a good soldier, but
not particularly qualified to act as President. He has neither
the intellectual training nor the experience to qualify him for
that place.

_Question_. You have doubtless heard of a new party, Colonel.
What is your idea in regard to it?

_Answer_. I have heard two or three speak of a new party to be
called the National party, or National Union party, but whether
there is anything in such a movement I have no means of knowing.
Any party in opposition to the Republican, no matter what it may
be called, must win on a new issue, and that new issue will determine
the new party. Parties cannot be made to order. They mu