New-York tribune., 1880-01-11
THE RECORD OF FIFTY YEARS.
RE MINIsCFNCEs OF A JOURNALIST.
BY CHARLES I. CoNGDoN.


AND DISCIPLINE OF IHE DEMOCRATIC PARTY
AMOS KENDALL's CIRCUIAR-nICHARD HAUGH-
TON-THE BOSTON ATLAS AND MP. wEBsIER-
THE BEGINNING or HENRY WILSON'S POLITICAL
CAREER--EDwARD EyERETT-ALExANDER II.
EvEREIT-RUFUs CHoATE.
During the warm political contests which pre-
ceded the great Wing victory of 1S4O the wing
pa rty was, with all its numbers and ability, In
dsOrganized condition. lacking discipline concerted
action, unaniuity even of opinion. ard especially
harmony as 10 candidates for the Presidency. Ihe
friends of Mr.. Webster and of Mr. Clay were so
governed by personal admiration that they formed
hardly more than personal factions Each OF these
statesmen thought most enormously. that he had
claims" upon the Presidency as If, under our Con-
stitution any man could have such: and so once III
four years. he set his squadrons In the fied ana just
as often they went down to the dust before the
serried pbalaDx of the Democracy then the most
thoroughly compact party which this Republic had
ever seen-more compact, perhaps, than any
which it has seen since. For it believed in
What John Quincy Adams feicitously called
the cohesive power of public plunder." 1t
held all the National offices of emolumeDt in an iron
grip and disdained to even affect any secret OF the
uses which it constantly made of them. During
Ibe hot battle of 1910, before he surrendered the
,fice of PostmasterG General to 20 personally INTO
The field Amos Kendall issued a confidential circu-
hr-letter which / saw and read, calling upon his
deputy postmasters and uDon Others Ill place. TO 90
sverything in their power to promote the re-
election OF Mr.. Van Buren. Coming from such an
official source written by such man, and sent 10
such persons this letter in itself significant
and suggestive But the language which Mr.. Ken
dali saw fit to use still more So 4" shall take
care" he said. "that the high-minded and patnotc
men who do this service shall have no cause to re-
gret their exertionsn These words may be copsid-
cred ambiguous. but those who read them under
stood them we'll enough. My only wonder is that
in the existing state of political morality, there
should have been about such general orders from
headquarters any affect alton of privacy.
The canvass of 1910 owed its peculiarities.
and they were many, to general popular
dissatisfaction The Democrats had been In power
for twelve years and had contracted many of those
vices into which consciousness Of great strength
and prolonged continuance in Office will usually be-
tray any party. 1t is customary to ascrbe the NOM
ination of General Harrison 20 the tact and foresight
of Richard Haughton. the Editor of The Boston d.
las and to the vigorous way IN which his plans were
supported in that newspaper by Richard Hiidretn'
II is curious that the cherished aspirations of MI
Webster should have been thus blighted In the
house of his friends. But Mr.. Haughton was man.
as Ne has been described to me- Of remarkable en-
ergy of character and moreover he was not Boston
man, for he had received his political and newspaper
training in New-YOrk He was not himself much OF
q writer, but he had the faculty OF getting ana ol
keeping about him clever men. The strong article
In which Mr.. Webster was thrust aside as candl-
date. and General Harrison put prominently in his
place. were mainly written by Mr.. Hildreth, but un-
doubtedIy they were inspired by Mr. Haughton and
ELL, hui He1 did what think few
editors would think it necessary to do now he ooka
proofsheet of the first article i'll which be Indicated
the course which he intended to pursue TO Webster
himself There was stormy interview. of which
have heard several versions but / shall follow the
traditions current in The Atlas Office when was
one of the editors of that newspaper When Mr..
Webster had read the article his rage was bound
less and have heard it intimated that he ordered
Mr. Haughton out of his house, a command which
the man was hardly likely to heed until he had
said what he had come to say. He waited until
Mr. Webster had grown calmer. He then set forth
the political situation with great plalnness OF
speech. "YOu cannot be President" lie SAID
but you can have an Office quite as important and
honorable; you can be Secretary OF state. Ihis
article is to be published tomorrow morning. You
know how it will irritate your friends in Boston,
do not ask You to say to them that you approve of
III, nor tiDat you ulbHppIONoOl hOipiJ ooh ""
to say nothing Mr.Webster was finally persuaded
that this course would be at least the most
d0niied So when the Atlas appeared on that
eyentful day, great was the commotion IN
Safest. down which Mr.. Webster walked
with more than his usual stately dignity
Out rushed respectability from many doors Mr.
Webster have you seen The dtlasW cried one.
Have YOU read that shameful articler asked an
other People who saw the scene have told me that
Mr. Webster's bearing under this fire OF questions
was magnificent " / have not seen the article
be said. nor do care to see it. lsnppose that
the editor of the newspaper expresses his opinions
"a he has right to do" This was precisely what
Mr. Haughton wished Mr. Webster to say. The
great man who was also great obstacle had taken
himself out of the way; and do not suppose that
the editor of The atlas would at that moment have
given anybody sixpence to insure the nomination
of General HarrisOn-perhaps not shilling to Sc
cnre his election. Mr.. Webster swallowed this in
dignity as he did others, when resentment would
have cost him too much. and made more than one
speech during the campaign, though none OF thein
were particularly good ones.
Massachusetts, gracefully acquiesced in the in
evtabe and gave General Harrison an enormous
majority. But only the year before she had suffered
what to her was the modification of seeing Marcus
Morton. who had from time immemorial been the
Democratic candidate for Governor elected by
majority of one and the Wing supremacy in the
State for the first time shaken Governor Norton by
singular coincidence several years after was again
elected by majority of one. Once there was de-
Law of the train running TO Boston, and tue
Governor consulting his watch, said, impatiently /:
81 suppose that we shall get in by one" Well,
yes. Governor" said Attorney-General Clifford !;
:" Your Excellency usually gets in by one." In the
vigorous campaign which followed General Harr-
sons nomination. the State furnished its full quota
of able speeches, while The atlas fired daily broad
sides into the sinking ship of Van Buren, with a
yehemence which manifested itself in the constant
use of capital letters and italics and Of words Sc