The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1867-08-19
our POLITICAL HISTORY.
PAST PRESIDENTIAL NOMINATIONS.
PART III.
BY JAMES PARTON.

w.rch resulted in the elevation of Taylor and
Fihpore. How hard for the old friends of
Heny Clay to give up again the idolized chief
who Amd been their standardized in so many
hard.tWght contests The heart of Massachu-
setts, tO, was set upon seeing Daniel Webster
raised, az length, to the Chief Magistracy of a
nation OF which they believed him to be the
noblest onament o The Wing Convention of
1949 cons. tied of two hundred and eighty
members, he hundred and forty-two of whom
constituted q majority. The first ballot,
though not decisive, plainly foretold the result.
Taylor received one hundred and eleven votes;
Clay, ninety-seven; Scott, forty-three; Web
ster, twenty-two scattering, six. The success
full soldier gained at every ballot, and on the
fourth secured a majority. Some of the dis
contents, headed by Henry Wilson, of Massa-
chusetts, left the Convention, joined the Free
Sellers, and thus contributed their part to the
election of General Taylor who was, perhaps,
of all the men who have filed the Presidential
chair by the choice of the people, the one least
competent to perform its duties. His admins
tration leaves few traces upon the history of
the country, and those few are not favorable to
the system of rewarding military services by
civil honors.
Calhoun soured by his miserable failures,
but not instructed by them, continued to play
his sorry game. 'The last days of Mr.. Polks
administration, says Colonel Benton, "were
witness to an ominous MISUNDERSTANDING
less than nightly meetings of large numbers Of
members from the slave States to consider the
state of things between the North and the
South; to show the aggressions and encroach-
TnpOts thew aalladN Of tba former
upon the latter; to show the inoompatibility
of their union; and to devise measures for the
defense and protection of the South. Mr. Cal
houn was at the bottom of this movement
which was conducted with extraordinary pre-
cautions to avoid publicity None but slave
State members were admitted. No reporters
were permitted to be present, nor any specta-
tors or auditors. As many as seventy or eighty
were assembled; but about one-half of this
number were inimical to the meeting, and
only attended to prevent mischief to the
Union, and mostly fell off from their attend
ance before the work was concluded. At the
first meeting grand committee of fifteen (Mr.
Calhoun one) were appointed to consider of
resolutions: when they met, subcommittee
of five (Mr. Calhoun at their head) was carved
out of the fifteen to report an address to the
slave States; and when they met, Mr.. Calhoun
produced the address ready written. SO that
the whole contrivance of the grand and petty
committees was a piece of machinery to get
Mr.. Calhoun's own manifesto before the public
with the sanction of meeting"
This manifesto was equally preposterous
and wicked. 1t declared that the North
was resolved upon the forcible abol
ton of slavery in the Southern States
and drew an awful picture of the
fell consequences of such an event. which
was we'll calculated to alarm the igno-
rant masses whose votes Mr.. Calhoun sought.
We need not, however, dwell upon the vaga-
49, of &c fol-
although they have since Rindled the flame of
civil war and filed the land with mourning,
they had little to do directly with the nomi-
nation of candidates for the Presidency. There
never was moment, after the attempted null
lification of 1882, when there was the remotest
possibility of national party putting Mr.. Cal
houn in nomination for any office whatever.
The nullifers themselves never contemplated
it; for their object was never the elevation OF
an individual, but always the promotion of an
interest. AT all times they preferred to pull
the chesnuts out of the fire by Northern cats
paw.
A new character appeared upon the scene.
The recent struggles for power had been be-
tween the aged politicians, who derived most
of their importance from the favor OF General
Jackson, and it seemed as though no new man
could entertain hopes until their ambition had
been satisfied. But an individual now loomed
up, who represent ed the young men of the
Democratic party, who was not disposed to
yield the precedence to the grey-haired sires
of the last generation. This was Stephen A
Douglas of Illinois. Of the subsequent his
tory of the Democratic party, this bold, able
and impatient man was at once the centra
figure and the impelling force.
How interesting, and how instructive also
the story Of this mans life In the autumn
of 1888, at frontier town of Illinois, there
was a great auction sale, which drew to the
place a concourse from the surrounding
country. When the sale was about
to begin, the auctioneer looked about in the
crowd for person to perform the office o
clerk. He fixed his eyes upon a young man
short, pale, sickly-looking, apparently abou
nineteen with his coat upon his arm, who
looked as though he might be able to write
well enough for the purpose. The auctioneel
called to the youth, and offered him the vacant
place, which was promptly and gladly ac
cepted. This young man was indeed in mos'
pressing need of employment. He had made
his way from his native Vermont, and haC
walked into the town that morning with six
teen cents in his pocket, all his worldly effects
upon his person, and had not a friend within
Thousand miles. AS the sale went on, ~
exhibited a remarkable aptitude for the worl
he had undertaken, and in his intercours
with the crowd he displayed tina
nice turn of urbanity and familiarity which il
so captivating to frontiersmen. His repartees
though somewhat rough, were always ready
and, by the time the three days' sale ha
ended, he was master of six dollars and of tn
Goodwill of the people Such was the frs