The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1873-05-09


Others In tho List Withdrawn.
In the character of o politician and Presi-
Dental candidate our late Chief Justice for
many years filed position so conspicuous
and welded an influence so great and far
extending in shaping the vicissitudes of our
political parties and the destinies of the coun-
try that in this role he doubtless stands more
prominently to-day than in any other before
the minds Of our readers of all parties. Look
ing to the White House, his claims his aspira-
tions. his plans and movements, his hopes and
disappointments will, from our city million
naire's town residence to the miners cabin in
the Sierra Nevada, be theme Of discussion
for days and years to come. His case will be
added to the examples of Clay, Calhoun, Web
ster, Seward, Cass, Douglas and others, as con-
firming the opinion that obscurity, and not
distinction. is the passport to the Presidency,
and that the prize for which our greatest
statesmen have struggled all their lives in
vain is sure to be won by some military chief
tain or given to some second rate politician as
q compromise in our juggling party conven-
tons.
There is too much truth in this opinion;
for it cannot be questioned that from jackson
to this day the important question Of 'avail-
ability has superseded oil other considera-
tons in the nominations of our Presidential
candidates, and that accordingly the Presiden-
tial succession has been controlled by military
glory or the chapter of accidents among the
hucksters of our party conventions from Gen.
eral jackson down to General Grant, except
ing Van Buren,, who was nominated and
elected as the choice of sOld Hickory for
his successor. But when we come to consider
the Presidential aspirations of our leading
politicians of the last fifty years, the claims
of Salmon P. Chase, on the basis of party
services and personal merits and qualifca-
tons, we think, were superior to those of any
other disappointed candidate, always except
ing Henry Clay, ''the noblest Roman of them
ALL"
Military glory carried Jackson, Harrison,
Taylor and Grant into the White House.
jackson carried in Van Buren, Polk and
Pierce were mere accidents, resulting each
from make-shift compromise in juggling
convention. Buchanan was forced upon
another huckstering council of his party man
ayers as Pennsylvania favorite sou"
Fillmore, Tyler and johnson, each elected
as Vice President, became each, in the chap
ter Of accidents, with the death of his Presi-
dent, the successor to his unfinished term of
| Office, while Lincoln himself was only bold
venture at Chicago in the way Of a compro-
mise between the supporters of Seward,
Chase Cameron and others. This summing
| up covers the successful list Of our Presi-
Dental aspirants Of the last forty-fve years
and yet Van Buren,, Tyler, Polk, Fillmore,
Pierce and johnson belonged to the unsuc-
cessful list as candidates for another term.
We leave Buchanan out Of this category, for
we believe that in the Spring of 1860 he had
seen enough and had felt enough of the
rough riders for Southern Confederacy to be
anxious to get out Of their way and safely back
to the quiet shades Of Wheatland.
We have, then, only to consider in the period
from jackson down and in connection with
the White House those
Kings and prophets who waited long
/ But died Without the sight.
First among these stands the great Harry
Clay, who, in 1874, came SO near an election
that an honest count all through would most
probably have carried him in. We need not
here enlarge upon his claims and qualifica-
tons nor upon his heavy disappointments--
first, in being defeated by Polk, and next in
being superseded by Taylor on the ground of
availability. Calhoun, though disappointed
as Presidential aspirant, abandoned the field
| ~ xr.k To-
self to sowing the dragons teeth of his
Southern distractions, which in due season
produced, heavy crop Of armed men.
Webster had nothing to recommend him for
the Presidency beyond his magnificent
strength in Senatorial debates and Supreme
Court arguments. He was great statesman
but there is no great law on the national
statute books credited to Webster He was
rather q follower than leader in the Senate,
and he shrank from those aggressive battles
which were the hearts delight Of Clay. 1t
was in 1850 that Webster, in support Of Clays
compromise measures on slavery, sacrificed
Massachusetts, for the broader field of the
Union and it was in 1852, in being cut out
by General Scott as the whig candidate for the
Presidency, that Webster succumbed to his
great disappointment, and he never rallied
from the blow.
Seward, in 1856, was set aside by the Re-
publican Convention, and Fremont as "the
pathfinder" on considerations Of expediency
was nominated; and to this our illustrious
Sage of Auburn" cheerfully consented In
1860, when superseded by Lincoln, he felt
the ungrateful treatment Of his party; but
instead of organizing mutiny and breaking
up his party camp like Van Buren,, he stopped
to the blow, and during the first term of Lin.
coin generously proclaimed himself in favor