The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1867-06-27

|
OF whom no one received more than nine. In
l192 the party lines were strictly drawn.
caucus OF the Republican members OF Congress
nominated for the Vice-Presidency George
| Clinton, of New York, and q caucus Of Fede-
raj members nominated John Adams. In the
short space of four years party discipline had
become so well developed in the country that
every elector but five cast his vote for one
of these candidates. John Adams received
seventyseven electoral votes; George Clinton,
| fifty 1t was only far-off Kentucky that had
not yet fallen into line. Kentucky cast its
| vote for Thomas Jefferson, and one elector in
South Carolina voted for Aaron Burr.
A caucus of members of Congress, then,
was the first method hit upon for the selection
of candidates. 1t is difficult to conceive of any
other plan suited to the state Of things at that
time. A National Convention, even If it had
been thought of, would have absorbed the
greater part OF year, and there was then no
press which could in any sense be called
national. The newspapers were few and of
limited circulation and nomination by them
would have been considered impertinent by
the country gentlemen then so influential.
The Congressional cauouses were held with
closed doors, and no part of their proceedings
was communicated to the public except the
result. 1t is obvious that such mode of no.
nomination was open to,objections, since it gave
opportunity for personal intrigue and solicita-
ton, and it rendered President who desired
reelection, and a Cabinet minister ambitious
Of the succession, subservient to those men,
bers of Congress upon whom would soon de-
volve the nomination of candidates, and whose
nomination was frequently equivalent to an
election. These objections, however, though
Immediately apparent to the few thoughtful
observers, were not at first regarded by the
people-sertainly not considered formidable.
Five Presidents in succession were nominated
in this manner, who, upon the whole, were
the best men entitled to the confidence of their
party, and all of whom served their country
we'll.
In 1896, when it was known that General
Washington would retire at the expiration of
his second term there was no man in the
Federal party of such commanding prominence
as to be its natural and Spontaneous choice. The
Federalist who was most active, and who pos
sessed most of personal force and influence,
was Alexander Hamilton; and it is somewhat
remarkable that so shining a light in the
Federal party should never have been thought
of for the Presidency. 1t is true, he was not
a native of the United States; but special
clause of the Constitution had provided for
such cases as his, by making foreign born
citizens eligible to the Presidency who had
been citizens at the adoption of the Constitu-
ton. Why, then, was the creator and soul of
the Federal party never its official head
Partly because he never desired it. He was
not ambitious of official distinction. What
ever Alexander Hamilton did in politics,
whether wrong or right, was done with
single eye to the public good If he in
trigued, he intrigued for his country. If
he used improper means for the success
of his party, it was because he believed that
the honor and safety of his country depended
| absolutely upon its being governed by Fede-
| ralsts. Destitute of fortune, he was COM
! PEELED to devote himself to the labors of his
| profession; and at that day man but forty
| Of dor,f1 Ind,
his livelihood, had not that kind of weight in
| the country which would have drawn atten-
| tion to him as a possible candidate for the
| highest Office. Besides this, he was the author
| of the very measures most odious to the Re-
| publicans. He was, we may say the Charles
Sumner of the Federalsts; and who has ever
| proposed Charles Sumner for the Presidency?
The Federal members of Congress in 1896
| recommended to their fellow w-citizens John
Adams for the Presidency, and Thomas Pinck-
ney for the Vice-Presidency. The Republican
members nominated Thomas Jefferson and
Aaron Burr. Here we see at once both the
| excellence and the perils of this mode of nomi-
nation. Adams, Jefferson, and Pinckney were
| fit and proper names to be presented for the
| consideration of their fellow-citizens. The
| impetuous and unmanageable Adams, during
| the seven years of his Vice-Presidency, had
been in position which kept him aloof from
| party politics, and concealed from those around
| him his eminent unftness to rule. His revo-
| lutionary services, his diplomatic career, his
! oratorical talents, his fine personal presence,
and the English cast of his mind, made him a
| suitable representative of the party with which
! be sympathized.
Thomas Jefferson-the author of the Decla-
| ration Of Independence, the conspicuous cham
| pion of France and the defender of the French
| Revolution, and the first Democrat of his age
! was peculiarly entitled to the suffrages of the
! party himself had created. Pinckney too as a
member of an important and wealthy Southern
| family, of dignifed demeanor and respectable
| talents, could not have been considered
out of place in the chair of the Senate But
| Aaron Burr-what was he, and what had he
| done, that at the age of forty he should have
| been feckoned fit man to succeed John Adams
| in the second Office His nomination was un-
| questionably due to the fact that, having sat
| in the Senate for six years, he had brought to
bear upon members of Congress at once the
magic of his personal presence and the arts of
the politician. popular convention might
| not have selected either of these names; or, if
| either, the deXterity of a Burr might have had
| better chance than the earnest wisdom and
| sublime humanity of a Jefferson. We can say
that through the fundamentally of Con-
| gTessional caucus the best attainable states
men were sometimes placed in nomination
and only once the mere politician.
Candidates in those simple old days were
usually passive, and if they were not so, it
was felt to be dishonorable. The letters
diaries, and private memoranda of Washing
ton, John Adams, Jefferson, Madison, and
John Quincy Adams, convince us that neither
OF those gentlemen wrote line, or uttered a
word, designed or calculated TO promote their
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