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on the result by the use of the simple but picturesque refrain:
No king, no clown,
To rule this town!
It rung the changes on this couplet in a manner which drove it home to the comprehension of the average voter, and gave a notable illustration of the force which a popular refrain may exert in such a contest as this was. The public mind was greatly excited, many excellent speakers took part in the canvass, but it may well be doubted if any argument used was more effective than this in the final overthrow of
Tammany.
In personal and social matters the
Sun was always quite as independent as it was in politics.
This is well shown by its attitude in regard to the Beecher-
Tilton scandal, which for a season was an absorbing topic of discussion in both religious and secular society.
Beecher was one of the most eloquent men of his day. He had done great service in presenting the cause of the
Union in
England, and was a preacher of unusual prominence, influence, and popularity.
The sympathy of the public was strongly in his favor, but when his correspondence, as brought out in the trial, was considered in connection with the lady's confession and the undisputed facts of the case, the
Sun did not hesitate to pronounce
Beecher guilty nor to declare that
... his great genius and his Christian pretences only make his sin the more horrible and the more revolting.
It was on October 1, 1878, that the
Sun published an elaborate and circumstantial article recapitulating the career of
General Garfield as a member of Congress, and charging him with complicity in the
Washington ring, the operations of
Oakes Ames and the
Credit Mobilier, the
