Wilmington journal., 1876-06-23

ton, of which the following is an ex-
tract
cannot allow my name to be used
against Judge Taft. lie became can
didnte after I deolIned He is pure
man. and sound Republican. 1 will
not accept a nomination obtained with
contest against him.
The pith and point of the voluntary
Endorsement which Mr.. Hayes gives to
Jvdge Taft lies in the fact that the
contest of the convention turned on an
energetic effort to placate the Liberal
Republican parry by his nomination.
The attempt failed, and Mg.. Hayes
became a candidate. accepting the
domination by telegraph the same
day. In the bitter and hard-fought
canvass which followed Mr.. Hayes
was successful, receiving a majority
Of 5,644 over Mr. Allen. The duties of
the third term to which Mr.. Hayes
was thus raised on an anti -third-term
platform, like the two terms that pre-
ceded it. have been SO far success
fully executed by Governor Hayes.
without affording the slightest ground
for comment, for observation or for
reflection, and Mir. Hayes enters the
Presidential contest the best figure
head hich the party could furnish. I"
Then comes a sketch of the candi.
date for the Vice Presidency:
WILLIAM A. WHEELER.
Mr.. Wheeler would bring no load to
heavily burdened party but the OBJ
scurity of country lawyer, and the
record of legislator who has sat long
and done little of nothing. Born June
3, 1919, in Malone, within the county
which he has since represented in both
branches of his State Legislature, in a
Constitutional Convention, and in the
Lower House at Washington, he is
now IN his fifty-seventh year. His
public life extends over the past twen-
ty five years, tue greater portion Of
which has been devoted rather to
private than to public life. A COM
mon school and an academic education
in his native town was followed by n
short course of year or two in the
University of Vermont, an obscure
college which has had !: lingering ex-
istence of over half century. Mr..
Wneeler was connected while i'll col
lege with the class of 1912, and had ne
graduated, would have completed his
course in 1912. He left, however, after
years study, and making up i'll d
lawyers office the seven years study
then required before admission to the
bar, he began the practice of his pro-
fession in Franklin county. He had
been practising but a few years when
he was elected as a Democratic candi-
date to the office of District Attorney
in Franklin county, the election
being the first held under the
new Constitution. At the close
of his term of Office he was
selected to the Assembly. this time as
Whig, the couaty having cast a tie
vote at y previous State election be-
tween the Wing and Locofoco candi
dates, but having ut this time taken its
place among the Wing counties of the
State a reelection to the Assembly
| followed, and for a time MIR. Wheeler
retired from public life. His practice
as lawyer soon ceased to be an en-
crossing pursuit, and he became first
the cashier of his local bank, Il position
| he held for fourteen years, and ut Il
| Ogdenburg and Rouse's p ,int Rail
road, continuing the supervision oi
the road for eleven years. With the
rest of his party he passed out oi
Whiggery into Republicanism, and
| Mr.. Wheeler reached the State Senate
in January, 1853, to take his seat i'll
the first Legislature fully controlled
| by the Republican party. Robel
| Campbell, a Republican, was at the
time Lieutenant Governor, and the
position of President pro tenn, tO
which Mr.. Wheeler was elected, was,
IN consequence, a purely honorary po-
| sition. Through the sessions of 1853
and 1879 Mr.. Wheeler served in the
Senate, and in the fall of the last
named year he was elected to a
seat in the Thirty-seventh Congress.
carrying all three OF the strong Repub-
Frauklin-of which the Sixteenth Dis
trict was then composed. Through
the long sessions of this WarCongress
Mr.. Wheeler voted with his party, and
with that constantly recurring duty
exhausted his usefulness in Congress.
OF the measures which came before
this Congress and which were of
strictly peaceful interest, the act ap-
propriating public lands to the Union
Pacific passed the House April 8, 1862
For this bill Mr.. Wheeler voted. With
the close of the Thirty-seventh Con-
gress another interregnum of four
years in his public life followed.
In April of 1867 Mr.. Wheeler was
elected member of the Constitutional
Convention which met in the follow
ing June. The Republican party had
majority of the delegates, and the
Monday before the Convention met a
Caucus WAS held and Mr.. Wheeler was
nominated as the caucus candidate for
theposition of chairpan. Neither of his
competitors, Thos. G. Alvord, of Syra-
cuse, or Charles G. Folger. of Geneva,
permitted their names in be used in
the caucus. The chan ICES of the form
er had never been remarkable; but
Mr.. Folger was the generally accepted
candidate, and would, So it was under
stood at the time, have received the
nomination but for his Independence
at the close of the session of the pre-
vious Senate, when he refused to vote
for party rider to New York bill,