The Cecil Whig. [volume] (Elkton, Md.) 1841-current, 1880-11-06

vice President. ''Office, not greatness
said Mr.. Benton, was thrust upon him,
but he telesraphed back n positive decli-
/ nation. The convention, however, re-
/ fused to consider information thus con-
veyed as authentic, and adjourned until
! the next day that committee might
proceed to Washington by rail. and ascer
tain Mr.. Wright's real views. The com
mittee brought back repetition of the
declination received by wire, but did not
inform the convention that Mr.. Wright
had said privately to its chairman that
he did not propose to ride behind on the
black slavery pony, at the funeral of
his slaughtered friend, Mr.. Van Buren,.
Mr.. George NJ. Dallas was accordingly
nominated.
The presidential campaign of 1874 was
very exciting and bitter The oligarchs
of the South were resolved to extend the
area of slavery, but their defeat was GER
tain, until Mr.. Clay was beguiled by
them into writing letter to his friend
Mr. Stephen Miller, of Tuscaloosa, Ala
bama, in which he estranged thousands
Of his Northern supporters. Nearly
twenty years before. toast was given at
a public dinner in Boston: John Quincy
Adams,-may he confound his enemies,
to which Daniel Webster. who was pres
ent added, 'as he has his friends Mr..
Clay COMPOUNDED many of his Northern
friendS-among them John G. Whittier,
Horace Greeley, and Henry Wilson-bH
sneering in his Miller letter at = the abo
litionists,' and by announcing that he
should be glad to see Texas " annexed
without dishonor. without war, with the
common consent of the Union, and upon
just and fair terms
This letter fell like wet blanket upon
the Wings, and enabled the adroit Dem
ocratic managers to deprive Mr.. Clay of
the vote of New York. by organizing the
liberty party. which nominated James G.
Birncy, of Michigan, as President. and
| Thomas Norris of Ohio, as vice-Pres
dent. This nomination received the sup
port of the anti-slavery men, of the dis
appointed adherents of Mr.. Van Buren,,
and of the anti-masonic and anti-rent fac
tions of the Wing party in the State of
New York, which had been organized by
William II. Seward. The consequence
was that over sixty thousand votes were
thrown away on Birney, nine-tenths of
them being drawn from the Wing ranks
Mr.. Polk, who had been selected some
months before his nomination by the
Southern leaders, went into the canvass
pledged to secure the annexation of
Texas at all hazards, and to make the
latitude g tifty-iour forty the boundary
| line between the United States and
British Columbia. In the Southern
States he was sustained as an advocate
of comparative free trade; in Pennsyl-
vania his supporters inscribed on their
banners, Polk, Dallas, and the tariff Of
40" The Evening Post, the most re-
spectacle Democratic newspaper in New
York, repudiated the issue of Texas and
opposed annexation, while Silas Wright,
who had opposed the Texan treaty in the
Senate, accepted the Democratic nom-
nation for governor of the State.
In addition to this duplicity and con-
cealment of the opinions Of Mr.. Polk,
extensive and systematic frauds were I'M
questionably practiced. In New York,
Pennsylvania and Georgia, some of the
offenders We're afterwards brought to
Justice. but the most notorious frauds
were in Louisiana, where law was tram
pied under under foot by judges and
other officials. Several hundred New
Orleans roughs, having voted early and
often in that city. were conveyed in steam
| boats to the parish of Plaquemine, where
they went the rounds of the precincts
voting at each pollingplace. 1t was
subsequently proven that, although the
parish was legally entitled to less than
| five hundred votes. the number of ballots
thirty seven were for the Wing ticket.
| 1t was by such frauds that Mr.. Polk re-
ceived a majority of $50 in the State of
| Louisiana, in vote of 26,S 65. The
friends of Henry Clay boldly asserted
that he had received majorities of the
legal votes in New York, in Pennsylva-
MIA, in Georgia, and in Louisiana, in adj
dition to the States reported for him.
and that he was legally elected president
| by an electoral vote of one hundred and
eighty-three against ninetyto. But as
the returns reached Congress, James
Knox Polk had received majority, and
he was declared elected.
At the birth-night ball" on the 22d
of February, 1915. President Tyler was
accompanied by President-elect Polk.
| Mrs. Madison was present with Mrs.
Alexander Hamilton, and the members
of the diplomatic corps Wore their court
uniforms. A few nights afterwards,
President Tyler gave a 'parting ball y at
the White House, his young and hand
some wife receiving the guests with great
grace. Mr.. Polk was prevented from at
tending by the indispositon of his wife.
but the vice-President elect, Mr.. Dallas.
with his crown of white hair, lowered
above all other guests except General
Scott and Long John" Wentworth.
There was dancing in the East Room.
Mrs. Tyler leading off in the first set of
quadrilles with Mr.. Wilkins. the Secre-
tary of War, as her partner This en-
tertainment concluded the " Cavalier
reign within the White House, which
was soon ruled with "Puritan austeri-
ty by Mrs. Polk.
Near the close of the session of Con
presS with which the administration of
John Tyler terminated, a joint resolution
le.islating Texas into the Union was in
troduced. When it had been passed by
the House after determined resistance.
it was discussed, amended, and passed
by the Senate. 1t reached the President
ON the I'd of March. received his immedi-
ate approval, and the next day messen-
ger was started for Texas, bearing that
portion of it which had only to be accept
ed to secure nnexation. Senator Benton
and four other Democrats declared that
the passage of the joint resolution had
been accomplished by fraud, and Mr..
Polk was very indignant that the work