McCook weekly tribune. (McCook, Neb.) 188?-1886, 1884-05-15

democrats to the wall, and the election
of MIR. Gay was thought to be certain.
But in an evil hour Mr.. Clay was
tempted to write the famous Gala
bama letter." in which he said ssthe
slavery question was only q temporary
one," and s'personally I have no OBJ
jections and should be glad to see Tex
as annexed" etc. These words de-
feated Mr.. Henry Clay as the whig
candidate for president in 1874. It was
not the late Archbishop Hughes and
the Catholic vote in New York, it was
the unfortunate, ill-timed and unwise
letter of Mr.. Clay, that, from the time
OF its publication, put his party on the
defensive in that canvass.
You will remember the feeling of the
Wings in Cleveland on the morning of
the day when the Alabama letter of
Clay was received in Cleveland, in an
extra of the Ohio Statesman. 1t was
on the goth of May, when mass meet
ing of the wings of the "Reserve" had
been called in Cleveland. Mr.. Cor
win, Mr.. Liddeys, Mr.. Caskin, Mr..
Clay, Mr.. Sesbury Ford, Judge Reu-
ben Hitchcock and others were in
room No. 20 at the old American
House, where Mr.. Burknell White
came in and handed Mr.. Corwin the
Alabama letter of Mr.. Clay. Mr.. Cor
win read it, and said: "Gentlemen,
may as well take my hat and 20 home.
We are defeated, as from this hour we
must fight on the retreat, and up to
this hour we have been driving our
foe" He was right.
The late Mr.. Thomas Ewing told me
"that after Mr.. Clay's nomination, in
company with few of Mr.. Clxy's most
trusted and intimate friends, he visited
him at his home in Ashland, and there
the whole question of the canvass was
discussed. Mr.. Clay said he must
write one more letter in reference to
the charge that had been made against
him that he had made bargain with
Mr.. John Quincy Adams, as to his
election to the presidency in 1925. Mr..
Ewing told him such letter was
wholly unnecessary, as he could add
nothing to the force of the disclaimer
in that matter made by MIR. Adams, in
his letter to the New Jersey committee,
in which letter he said: Before you,
my countrymen, and before high
heaven pronounce that charge to be
absolutely false; and if I could meet it
at the throne of the Eternal, I would
pronounce it false there All agreed
that letter from Mr.. Clay was unnec-
essary. Mr.. Clay in his own parlors,
with the gentlemen then present,
agreed that he would not write any
more letters. On all the great ques-
lions of yublic policy, for long years,
he had declared his opinions on the
floor of congress, and on the Texas
question his Raleigh letter. was salts
factory to his party Mr.. Ewing
said she returned home, and in a few
weeks entered upon the canvass in
southeastern Ohio, and was speaking
for Clay and Frelinghuysen until the
Alabama letter was published. Then
he took his carpet-bag and returned
home, and did not make another speech,
as Mr.. Clay had not kept his promise. I"
/ Defeat came. Mr.. Ewing said she
never mentioned the canvass OF the
presidency to Mr.. Clay after that. and
if Mr.. Clay had been nominated in
1s4s, or in 1852, he would not have
voted for him.
It was the Alabama letter that lost
Mr.. Clay the vote of the anti-slavery
wings in New York in 1874. See the
Albany Evening Journal of November,
1874, after the election, as to the cause
of defeat.
Mr.. Clay defeated himself and ruined
his party. He was the great compro-
miser, and his compromises were
always in the interest of slavery.
And now, as to 184S. You say
"Gen. Taylor, the wing candidate car
ried New York against his democratic
competitor by majority of 104, 285. :"
You do not say that Gen. Taylor had
two competitors in 1S48, in New York,
Gen. Cass the regular nominee of his
party and Mr.. Van Buren,, the nominee
of the new free soil party. Mr.. Van
Buren, was nominated at Buffalo in
August, 1S4S, for the purpose of de-
feating Gen. Cass, and his nomination
elected Gen. Taylor, and gained Cali
fornia and New Mexico from the NAV
of alavery.
The Free Soiler was power in the
election in 1S48 for good. The in
| dependent voter is to be a power in
November, 1884. His vote had better
be looked after at Chicago in June,
1884.