Southern standard. (McMinnville, Tenn.) 1879-current, 1891-12-19

entering Congress, part Of the time a
Senator and part of the time as Sec
rotary of State under John Quincy
Adams.
When Mr., Clay first resigned the
Speakership he was succeeded by
Langdon Cheves, of South Carolina,
and his unexpired terms in the Six
teenth Congress was filed by John
w. Taylor, of New York.
Philip P. Barbour, Of Virginia, was
the Speaker Of the Seventeenth Con-
gress, 1S2l-lS23.
John NJ. Taylor, of New York, was
Speaker of the Sixteenth Congress,
succeeding Mr.. Clay.
The Twentieth, Twenty.frst,
Twenty-second, and part of the
Twenty-third Congresses were presid-
ed over by Andrew Stevenson, of
Virginia. Mr.. Stevenson resigned
to become Minister to Englane. John
Bell, of Tennessee, succeeded him as
Speaker. Like Clay, Bell served in
both branches of Congress, was a
member of the Cabinet Secretary of
War under Harrison) and was an I'M
successful candidate for the PreSiden-
cy
James X. Polk, of Tennessee, was
the thirteenth Speaker, presiding
over the Twenty-fourth and Twenty
fifth Congresses. This Speaker, with
the unlucky thirteen" against him,
was the only one who became presi-
ident. Mr.. Polk was also an eXcep-
ton in this-he declined during his
term of Office denomination for the
Presidency.
The career of r. NJ. T. Hunter, OF
Virginia, the next Speaker of the
House (1S39-lS4D, was .unlucky.
While he was Speaker his name was
often mentioned in connection with
the Presidency. AS soon as it be-
came certain that the Southern States
would secede, Hunter was mentioned
as the most suitable leader for the
new Confedracy. jeff Davis, how
ever secured the unhappy prize, and
Hunter had to content himself with
Cabinet position under Davis. AT
ter the war he was pushed aside by
younger and more active men, and
he became so much a part of dead
question that when he was appointed
to a Federal Office in Virginia in 1885,
the people outside of Virginia were
surprised to learn that he was still
alive. He was resurrected from OBJ
scnrity by Grover Cleveland, who
was not yet born when Hunter was
Speaker and q Presidential aspirant
already in the Democratic party.
Another pathetic career was that Of
John White, of Kentucky, the Speak
er of the Twenty-seventh Congress
White retired from the SpeakershiT
in 1S43, and two years later, while s
circuit judge in Kentucky, he com
mitted suicide, being the only one o
the Speakers to end his own life.
In the Twenty.eighth Congress
the Speakership went to Virginia
again. John w. Jones was elected
He was soon forgotten. AT his ole
estate now, near Drewry's Bluff, il
Virginia, in the garnet of the little
brick Office his books lie in confused
heaps, worm eaten and yellow witt
neglect and age.
John w. Davis, of Indiana was tht
Speaker of the Twenty-ninth Con
gress. This was the first time thu
Speakership had gone so far West.
The Thirtieth Congress was pre-
sided over by Robert C. Winthrop, o
Massachusetts, the Oldest ex-SpeakeI
now living. Winthrop was a pupi
of Daniel Webster, and served par
n 4 A
ate. But for forty years he has beer
for The most part out of politics
While. in political life he was
Wing, and became republican a
the birth of that party. In lat
years Mr.. Winthrop has been activ
in educational and benevolent move
ments, and his whole life has beer
one of great honor and credit.
Howell Cobb, of Georgia, wa
Speaker of the Thirty-frst Congress
1849-lS51. The office went furthe
South in this election. Before enter
ing Congress Cobb had been Govern
or of Georgia, was Buchanan's Secrt
tary Of the Treasury, and afterward
General of the Confederate army.
The Thirty-second and Thirty-thir
Congresses had Linn Boyd, Of Ker
tuckY. for speaker.