The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1848-05-22
WASHINGTON, April, 1913.

| In the interval the national convention Oime and
place designated,) of either party, has to nominate
| its ticket for the campaign Both paRi les now
in an nexplicable state of delightful confusion
| the wings being divided upon men, and the demo-
Gratis split up and sub-dvided upon men and prnci-
! pies.
| Let first consider the present aspects and
prospects of the wings, and ascertain thereby the
| drift of the tide, if we can.
| The visit of Henry Clay to Washington last win
ter, revived the old flame, and his subsequent move
ments have placed him as prominently forward as
if he had made an electoneering tour of the Uni
| ted States. The old school whigs with scarce
an exception, are for him. We find the steady
wing States still steady in his support In Vir-
ginia, and in Aabama-States inevitably de-
mocratc-we find the wings leading off for
General Taylor. The design Is Obvious
The object is, from the neutral position of Gen.
Taylor, and his military popularity, to subtract
sufficency OF the floating materials OF the demo-
cratic party, and, upon this device, not only to
carry those States for the ticket but also
to carry along with them the district and local wing
candidates, who may be mixed up in the election.
The old wings demur to this expedient; they have
no faith in it, even applied to Virginia and Ala
| New York But there are associated with the
| Taylor men many influential wings of Pennsyl-
vania, Kentucky, Tennessee, and other States south
of Pennsylvania-none north of it, to the best of
! our understanding of the case: Louisiana is
| clearly for Taylor; Mississippi is for him, and
| Georgia and South Carolina have decided
leaning in that direction. Superadded to these
agencies, have the Tyler party, the noparty men,
Of Mr.. Tylers administration, his office men, his
Baltimore convention men, his corporal's guard,
excepting the few retained under the present adj
minlstration, who, OF course, are democrats-,such
men, for instance, as General Gushing and Mr..
| Wise, shrewd and able men-whigs under Har-
rison, Tyler men under Tyler, and democrats UNI
der Polk The body of the Tyler men, displaced
| devotion to Tyler, are for Taylor He, they sup
pose, IS no party man, and they are of the same
! party They support him consistently, because
they are not considered wings or democrats.
the Taylor party But there Is large body of the
people, all over the country, and especially in the
Soutl-a large body who are in favor of Taylor,
without regard to party, but simply because of the
sterling qualities and shining military exploits of
| the war.
But the whigparty have resovled upon conven-
| ton. All the States will be represented in that
convention, and there General Taylor will fall be-
hind hand. He has only the prospect of five
States, south of Mason and Dixon. The chances
for Mr. Clay that he will receive large major
lty OF States and larger majority of votes on the
| first ballot.
Quiet however, as they have been, the friends
OF John MCLEAN do not despair; Between the
81 hc IT. qTd h
probability of balance of power; while the advo-
Gates of the claims of General Scott expect to use
him successfully to offset the military influences
| OF General Taylor, In case OF necessity.
Mr.. Clay, by all odds, has the prospect of the
nomination, and they rest his availability upon his
| chances for the Irish vote, and for the vote of
from the detection in the democratic party, on the
Wimot proyiso. Add to this their calculation that
Mr. Clay will carry all the States that he carried in
~, and his prospects in Indiana and Georgia, and
L AN W. Lt a,.yp
tional convention, appears to be one of the most
probable occurrences of the coming 9TH OF June.
We assume, therefore, that Mr.. Clay viii live in
good health to the meeting Of the cenventlon-we
| to come; assume that he will be nominated as
the wing candidate. Wefurther assume that. from
the settlement fthe Texas queston-from his past
efforts in the of liberty, all the world
from his known sympathy for lreland-from his
undoubted sympathy with the French people-and
| from the magnetic influence of his personal popu-
| arity-that he will be hard to beat in fair field
| A word upon the democratic side of the question
| Here we have host Of candidates; but the only
ebodment of the party is the proceeds of success,
| There is no personal embodiment of the democra-
TIC party-there has been none since the death OF
| Old Hickory.
AT this juncturc, Cen Cass stands forth the most
prominent man, but he is not the favorlte of the
| Sou tn. The South would prefer Mr.. Polk; the
East would prefer him the least dangerous COM
| promise candidate. But 1t Is understood that the
nominee of the democrats must come from the
| North-so Mr. Benton has said, at all events. Who
Is your man! What man but James X: Polk can
be acceptable from the Souhl And do not his
river and harbor vctoes emphatlcay kill him in
| the Westl They do, in our humble Judgment. Mr..
Polk could not carry either Indiana, Michigan, or
illinois in another election, more than he could
carry New York. If the harbor and river vetoes
which he has sent to Congress are not sufficient,
he will have another to give at the present session,
and possibly before the meeting of the Baltimore
convention, which will settle the question.
We will, for the present, then, consider Mr..
Polk out OF the question; and we will also as
sumo that the friends of Gen. Cass will not give
way to Mr.. Buchanan. How thenl The case is
easy of arrangement. The friends of the adml-
nstration of Mr.. Polk, of Mr.. Dallas, and Of Mr..
Walker, may find il to their interest to split the
haps compromise the New York discussions, who
is not hopelcssly committed against rivers and har.
bors, and who has no irreconclleable sectional
Jealousics arrayed against HIM. We hear this
compromise spoken of by men behind the scenes,
and also that II is contemplated TO place Jefferson
Davis, of Mississippi, the leader of the Mssis-
sippians at Buena Vista. the son:in-law of Gen
Taylor, on the ticket, for Vice President IN order
TO- neutraze the Taylor interest IN the South.
We conclude, then, that the wing candidate for
the Presidency will be Mr.. Clay; that Mr.. Wood
bury is as likely to be the democratic nominee as
candidates in the field
But what then becomes of Gen Taylor, and
the Taylor party! He has promised to stand can
didate only upon the spontaneous movement OF the
people. After the party nominations shall have
been made, this spontaneous movement will
be cut of, and the Taylor party, including all the
no-party Tyler men, will be left to choose their
sides in the contest or to scatter their sufirages
1t is probable, however, that South Carolina will
run Mr.. Calhoun; and Mr., Hale, on the part of the
aboltionsts, is already in che fed SO that the
will have four candidates from which 10 make a
selections; and if the barnbuncrs OF New York
should run John Van Buren, (and we doubt not he
would "run like the cholera'o then the no-party
men, and the disafiectcd of all parties, aforesaid,
will have five candidates from which to make
choice. The DocroE,