Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1891-09-06

publican party had one pre-eminent leader
who was recognized as the coming candidate
for President. The one man who had done
most to inspire and crvstallize the Republi-
can organization was William h. Seward, of
New York Certainly two-thirds of the
delegates chosen to the convention prefer
red him for President, and decided ma
ioritv went to Chicago expecting to vote
for his nomination. Had the convention
been held in any other place than Chicago,
it is quite probable that Seward would have
been successful; but every circumstance
seemed to converge to his defeat when the
delegates came face to face in Chicago to
solve the problem Of q Republican national
victory.
Of the 231 men who voted for Lincoln on
the third and last ballot, not less than 100
of them voted reluctantly against the can
didate of their choice. 1t was q Republi-
can-Seward convention; it was not Sew
ard-Republican convention. With all its
devotion to Seward it yielded to higher
devotion to Republican success; and that
led to the nomination of Abraham Lincoln.
LINcoLN's OWN STATE WASN'T SOLID.
1 have read scores of magazine and news
paper articles assuming to explain how and
why Lincoln was nominated at Chicago in
1860. Few of them approach accuracy and
no one of them that 1 can recall tells the
true story. Lincoln was not seriously
thought of for President until but q few
weeks before the meeting of the National
Convention. Blaine has truly said that the
State Convention of Illinois, held but o
short time before the meeting of the Ma
tiOnal Convention, was surprised at its own
spontaneous and enthusiastic nomination of
Lincoln. He had been canvassed AT home
and in other States as a more than possl.
BILE candidate for Vice President. well
remember of Lincoln mentioning the fact
that his own delegation from Illinois was not
unitedly in earnest for his nomination, but
when the time came for casting their votes,
the enthusiasm for Lincoln in Chicago, both
inside and outside the convention, was
such that they could do no less than give
him the united vote of the State.
Leonard SWEET, who was one of the most
potent of the Lincoln leaders in that
struggle, in letter written to Mr.. Drum
mond on the 9th of MAY, 1860, in which he
gives detailed account of the battle made
for Lincoln, states that of the % delegates
from Illinois would gladly have gone for
Seward" Thus. not only in many of the
other States did Lincoln receive reluctant
votes in that convention, but even his own
State furnished a full share of votes which
would have been gladly given to Seward
had he been deemed available
TWO POTENTIAL GOVERNORS
The defeat of Seward and the nomination
of Lincoln were brought about by two men
Andrew G. Curtin, of Pennsylvania, and
Henry S. Lane, of Indiana, and neither ac-
cident nor intrigue was a material factor in
the struggle. They not only defeated Sew
ard in q Seward convention, but they de-
cided the contest in favor of Lincoln against
Bates, his only real competitor after Seward.
Curtis had been nominated for Governor in
PENNSYLVANIA and Lane had been nominated
for Governor in Indiana. The States in
which their battles were to be fought were
the pivotal States of the national contest.
1t was an absolute necessity that both Penn
Evlvania and IndiaR should eject Repub-
lican Governors in October to secure the
election of the Republican candidate for
President in November.
Curtin and Lane were naturally the most
interested of all the great host that attended
the Chicago Convention in 1860. Neither
of their States was Republican. In Penn
sylvania, the name of Republican could not
be adopted by the party that had chosen
Curtin for Governor. The call for the con-
vention summoned the opposition to the
Democratic party to attend the Peoples
State Convention and all shades of antago-
nism to the administration then in power
were invited to cordial and equal participa-
tion in the deliberations of that body. The
Republicans had made distinct battle for
Governor three years before, with David
Wilmot as their candidate, against Isaac
Hazelhurst, the American candidate, and
William L. Packer, the Democratic candi-
date.
A DEMOCRAT PRECEDED CURTIN.
The result was the election of Packer by
q majority over the combined votes of both
the opposing nominees. The American or
ganization was maintained in Philadelphia
and in many of the counties of the State
Fillmore had received large majority of
the votes cast for the Fremont Fillmore
fusion electoral ticket in 1856 in various
sections These elements had been CON-
bined in what was then called the Peoples
party in Pennsylvania in the State elections
OF 1858 and 1859, and the Democrats had
been defeated by the combination, but the
American element remained very powerful
and quite intense in many localities. With j
out its aid, the success Of Curtin was simply
impossible.
4 like condition of things existed in
Indiana. The American element had polled
over %, 900 votes for Fillmore in 1856, and
in 1885, when the same effort was made
in Indiana to unite all shades of opposition
to the Democracy, the combination was de-
feated by a small majority. While the
anti-slaverv sentiment asserted itself by the
election of majority of Republicans to
Congress in 1885, the entire Democratic
State ticket was successful by majorities
varying from 1,534 TO 2,S96. 1t was evident,
threfore, that in both Pennsylvania and |
Indiana there would be desperate battle |
for the control of the October election, and |
it was well known by all that if the Re- |
publicans failed to elect either Curtin or
Lane the, Presidential battle would be ire
trievably lost.
POWER OF TWO PIVOTAL STATES.
Both of the candidates presented in these |
two pivotal States were men of peculiar fit |
ness for the arduous task they had assumed. |
Both were admittedly the strongest men |
that could have been nominated by the op- |
position to the Democracy, and both were |
experienced and consummate politicians. |
Their general knowledge of politics and the
bearing of all political questions likely to |
be felt in the contest, made them not only |
wise eounselors, but all appreciated the fact |
that they were of all men the most certain
to advise solely with reference to success
Neither of them cared whether Seward, Lin
coin, Bates or any of the other men named |
Tor President should be nominated, if the
man chosen was certain to be the most avail
able They were looking solely to their
own success in October, and their success
meant the success of the Republican party
in the nation.
With Lane was John D. Defrees, Chair
man Of his State Committee, who had been
called to that position because he was re-
garded as best fitted to lead in the desperate
contest before him. was with Curtin and
interested as he was, only in his individual
success, as he had summoned me to take
L r L