The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1867-07-27
PAST PRESIDENTIAL NONJNA.
TONS.
BY JAMES PARTON.

Inc wing party took an unusually earlv
art IN that celebrated campaign. still so well
% 'mI.einbered. Its nominating convention was
olu al Harrisburg, in December, 1889.
even months before the election. Three
lnoldates were presented for its considera-
Svn, one civilian and two soldiers, Henry
iiay, GENERAL Harrison, and General Scott.
~, ~ clay, as the founder and chief of the
\ mig party, its most brilliant orator and most
iustrious name, would naturally have been
Ile candidate selected, and large plurality of
Ile delegates were most warmly devoted to his
terests: The party expected his nomina-
on' Inc younger Wings, however, and
PINE older ones, whose motives were less dis.
|terested, brought against him the objection
al ne mad once been signally defeated, and
| ey urged upon the Convention to borrow a
Fylce from the tactics of their opponents.
ID nominate soldier. After three days of
eiiectual balloting, the friends of Harrison
"a Scott united, and, to the inexpressible
rrow Of the Wing party, General Harrison
celved the nomination. Mr.. Clay promptly
Hd gallantly acquiesced. General Harrison
as elected by two hundred and thirtv-four
fectoral votes to sixty for Mr.. Van Buren,.
The Wing victory, the first national triumph
haniltOnian principles since 1895, was not
to General Harrison's military reputation,
|Pt as before remarked, to the commercial
lloarrassments OF the country, and, in some
|kgree, to national revolt of a free people
anst overstrained wire-pulling. Fortunately
X the country as it proved, the triumph
|fS barren of results. The early death
the amiable Harrison placed the
'Pvernment in the hands of John
|Fler, an old Virginia Republican, who re-
|lained true to his former opinions and to his
|lnerlted instincts, and thus prevented the re-
Establishment of a national bank, and that
Implete reinstatement of the Hamiltonian
Rstem to which Mr.. Clay was committed.
PIT, on the other hand, he was a weak and
|lort-sighted person, who sought to use the
htronage of his place to secure his own re-
ection. How ridiculously he failed in the
Noject last named is fresh in the recollection
most OF us. President fully supported
his party, and supporting his party, is
lster of the situation; President estranged
pm his party may obstruct and hinder its
pastures; but he is curiously impatient to
atify his personal ambition.
IFrOm 1874 to 1860 the tactics of the Demo-
8atic party seem, to the casual observer, tor
bus and inconsistent. In reality, they were
y so. At every nominating convention, the
Kruggle for the ascendancy was essentially
Ne sane, and even the leading competitors
ere generally the same. The controlling
#hportaIt years, was the small, compact band
# Southern men who had adopted the opinions
Mr.. Calhoun, and the main object of whose
Plicy wa to keep the General Government
a bserviNt to the interests of the owners of
3aves. This was not Mr.. Calhoun's object.
Bis ain was the Presidency; but the men
phom htled always kept their personal am
&tion Subordinate to the darling interest
hich thy represented and served. And this
bas the secret of their power. 1t was be-
kuse hey could always be counted
"A init on every question relating
slavey, that so small band of men
Rere abl, for so many years, to control, abso
ttely aIl at every moment, the course of
reat naional party. During those sixteen
S0Sfs, ifa candidate was rejected in open con-
ention, I was because they had first rejected
i'm in sbret caucus; if a candidate was nomi-
hted, itFas because he had first been the
ighest ldder for their support.
The sol of this faction, as long as he lived,
had longG, was John G. Calhoun, of South
4 arolina. It was as far back as 1928 that he
buceivedihe scheme of making an issue which
hould u1te the South in his support, without
Iestroyin, himself in the North. The first
sue of his kind, as every one knows, was
Mr. Clay protective system, OF which Cal
Ioun hadieen one of the defenders in 1916.
esults. was in every sense failure-since
4ulifcatin was not merely crushed by
Eeneral .ckson and Daniel Webster, but it
hiled to ute the South in support ofits author,
md total and forever destroyed his stand
r. no as astatesman. Blinded, however, by
'.he mostegregious vanity that ever led a
4 Mortal array, he renewed the attempt, and
'mapinedle had found an issue so broad and
Jopular tat he could easily ride upon it into
3he Presidential mansion. This was the an
Iaxation 4 Texas, which was sprung upon
he county towards the close OF Mr.. Tyler's
erm. Tdthose who desire the fullest in
brmationr respecting the maneuvres Of Mr..
alhoun b making Texas the issue of the
residentil election in 1874, we recommend
e perual of the one hundred and thirty.
th chatter of Colonel Benton's "Thirty
ears VSw." Why should Colonel BentoI
ave beh so learned upon this sub
kctY was because the maiI
Inject @ the movement was to pu
own Main Van Buren,, and eXalt John G,
Alhoun 1 his place, at the head of the De
OOcratic hrty. The suppression of Mr.. Var
mren deEroyed the prospects OF his heir
his doubtless, was one of the reasons why
olonel Baton, as he tells us, ''put an eye" OF
he move1ent, and acquired the intimate and
xtensive knowledge of the Texan intrigue
hish he nparts to his readers with so much
ivacity a1 emphasis.
In the inter of 1912, he tells us, nearly
NO years hfore the expiration of Mr.. Tyler's
Iar1n, there appeared in Baltimore paper {
ana letter rging the immediate annexation
Texas, fr the reason that, if we did no
may IL, ERland would. 1t was written by
4, Gilmer,R member Of Congress from Vir
Lnia a particular friend and ally of the grea
sIuIider of South Carolina, and himself on
ftbe few Mllifers of Virginia.
gputting m these circumstances together,
40 ColoneIBenton, 81 believed, the momen