Oxford Democrat. [volume] (Paris, Me.) 1833-1933, 1891-07-14

nate him, and WITH impressive ofatory
moved tomAks the nomination unanimous,
although he knew that the heart. of ths
friends of seward were heavy with disap
pointment. Something that Mr.. liamliu
said later indicated that this rrcollection
Was Ia his mind
Thec hal tsen some controversy In one
or two publications some year aso about
the COMMITTEES which Informed Mr.. Ham
lin % his nomination for vice president.
and asked him about H. lie sssmed Ia
IL at nrst not entirely clear In his own
mind, bat be at Last saidi "les. renem-
Ter now; the COMMITTEES brought ms my
formal notification at my boarding house
10 Washington. Judge Kelly wa. % thai
oommitiss, but I do not at TIL. moment
remember who the others were. The com.
mittec did no, come to me In Bangor.
rcoollect the incident now very we'll"
askei the ea-,ice president u he hal
ever heard the story of what happenci
when the sams COMMITTEES notified Mr.
Lincoln Of his nomination. anil he seemci
anxious Ia know what the aneoiois was.
said thai Judge Kelly hal told M. that
after the fornlAlltlcs lstwesn the commit
h.. aud Mr. Lincoln hal snde.i, In Mr.. lin.
coln'. psrlor In Springfield. Lincoln stool
Tor some moments looking at judge Kelly.
who va. very tall man. This smtarnass
al the judg. little. the morv ESPECIALLY a.
he hail only one. before met Mr.. Lncoln.
lie dbl not know what was In IAnooln'.
mind. but at last the tall rail splitter saidi
"Judgr, I have t.sn looking at you la.
oans. yOu are about the tAilest man
that ever saw from the east, and ] have
l..n wondering who IL the taller, you or I.
let. mcasuw." And ~ iAnooln male
Kelly .tAnI up hack o. back with him.
while the other msmler- ~ the committee
stood aghast at this rcmarkAble psrform'
Aucc
Mr.. IlamlIn was greatly Interested In
this sneciois. and ne said. why. I should
ssy that Kelly was no, quite 80 tall ss lin.
coin. although he was one ~ the tsllest
men ! ever met In my public experience" T"
I told him that Mr.. Kelly aid bs vas
abput an inch shorter than Lnooln. Mr.
IIamlin muscl fOr sons moment. over
this aneolote III. eyc- twlnklci and
thsr, va. jus, . suggestion 81 a smile
upon hi. lir~, and be aid a las, that hs
hal M dnubt the sneo,iot. was true, ss u
was quite characteristics u Mr. Lnooln'.
simplicity and plain and homsly ways.
The cDuVsrsation here b--rafns quite splr
ii-l. ami turn~l upon msn ~ ability sh0m
Mr.. IIamlin hal known. IL VA. % course
n rather disioinie'l ani disconnected oon
ver-aiion. such a. would occur informally
lstwccn g.ntlsmsn In q smoking compart
msnt ~ an sNpr-s- train. but will try to
gather into some regularity ~ statement
th. ulop important ani Interesting things
which NJ iiamlin said II was suggested
,o him that Mr.. CharIc- A. Dana. who was
assistant secretary ~ war. hal declared
that william pitt f-sssnslen was In some
RESPECTS III. ablsst man u his generation
Who ssr,vi In congrr>s, and that thai was
also the opinion of Mr.. llnooln.
Mr IIamln removed his cigar and
.s.fns,l fnr an instant to t-trying to fran.
IN hl. mini q brief characterization % Mr.
r.-.ensiea lie al iAst ss.ii That opinion
/. alsout cJrrcct, I think. fcs-snien's abil
ity va. extraordinary. ms purity ~ char
ao,sr "a. very great. aud be !. surr
o. ~ rvmenl-w,L Yet ! think In the
state ~ Maine there Il, or used Ia h..
an imprlssion that s . statesman on
financial questions. q profound thinkeraDi
brilliant cxscutiv. when th. subject u that
~ flnanos-, which 1. after all the great
.nhJer, for governmental consideration.
George Evans 10 r,gAri~l as an ablsr
man even than Fcs-cnden. Evans was ~
an earlier day, however. anil hl. service Ia
bubble life was brisfsr. Yet Mr.. Evans
framed aud carried through congress the
gr,Et tarifi ~ iSia-ohs which va. la iis
,iay a. important a. Any later tariff. aud
IA. rrgarissl 10y men ~ all parties ~ sn
extraordinarily able financial determine
ton. EvAn. was one ~ the greatest men
thl. country has ever prSiuocl
Mr. iIamlin aid that he himself entered
Congrr.. At the tim. when Mr. Eyans was
la IN. rsnlth of his fame. within q year
% half n csntury ago IL. aftsrwarl en-
,er,.i the senate. IAske,i him II thsrc wsrv
any survivor. ~ that .snaie. which was the
flr-t on. % Folks administrator. tcSldes
himself lie rvpll@i INSTANTLY, Yes. there
arr thrc. bsside. myself .till living - scns
tor BrA,lbury. - Maine. SENATOR fish, of
New York. who wss afisrwari s.criarJ
of state under Grant, and r.nai0r Jones.
% Indiana" Webster. with whom Mr..
Ilamlin hal q mos, pleasant acquaintance.
Vas ..crrtAry of .tA,. when Mr.. liamlin
flr.t went % Washington. lie sfterwsrd
served In the senate with Mr.. liamlln as q
colleague, aud then rvsignesi again Ia t-.
come s-crv,ary % stat. la FILLMORE. AL
minlstrliion. Mr.. Clay" SAIL Mr.. Ham
lin, IVA. not In th. senate When ! fr-t
went thsrr, bat he cam. tack 10 the cham
lsr anil VA. a senatorial associate ~ mine
Cor some yesrs, but Mr.. Calhoun was
senator when ] l-csme one, aud served
with him continuously until his death.
I Aske.i Mr. iIsmlin what his imprr>slons
w.rr at that time % thr-s thrre men who's
name. have come down to us as prrhap'-
the mott able meml-r~ ~ the earlier ssn-
st~s. The answer was not speedily forth
soming II Wa = question Mr.. iiamlin
wants.l to mus. Ipon for moment. In
fact, I thought 10 would not answer 10 at
all. for he turnei "a the window. smokei
vigorously for little while. and then said.
in a rather indifferent way, "Thsrci. Ear les
snow a. We approach New York than there
was In Maine when left the state Hut
this uttsranc. Wa. evidently mere device
to gain time. for even ~ be spoke 'here
came into hi. eyes that peculiar AMI pleas.
Ing twinkle which has always tsen Que of
the per-onal charms ~ Mr.. Hsmlin, and
then he aid: while these thrc men. OF
oour>., we're men of extraordinary ability.
yet IL seem. to me as look hack that We
dld no, put the same glamor around them
which exist. today. Of conr-- We knew
them to lie conspicuous. and deser'-dly ~,
but my impression is that We thought that
there were others whose abilities wer.
great enough To command Just attention
from the country.
"You See" he aid, "when young eyes
look lac ekwar,i and see the men of the past
A. they are revealed In history and through
tradition or anec,lOts, therr " q tendency
to enIargr, to indulge In some 81 the Wis
ions u romance. I suspect that that is
the case now In the younger generation
when they think Of Mr.. Clay or Mr.. Web
stsr or Mr.. Calhoun. These were great
men, bat they are not the only Ones the
country has produced. even OF their times.
Thsre were great men tsforc them; there
have b-en very great men since, there arr
very great men now-the equals, la my
opinion, of any who have gone before--and
there arr SURE to i- men of commanding
influence anil intellect In the future. Zach
generation proiuc-s men equai To the &C
casions which aris-. and IL l. absurd to
think that the day ~ great men IL past
Il never passes. IL never will pAsA. at least
In country like our..'
I knew that Mr. IIsmlin was a great
admIrrr of Ro-os Conkling. and whils
disgusting this matter of great men sug
grsts,i the name OF Conkling The old
gentlemAn's countenance lighted up In
stantiy. By his manner more than by hi'
words he indicated how great was his sp
probation and admiration Of the lsts
senator from New York. lie .aid thai