Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1892-03-20

grave error. He is in IL. He - In ~ 10
stay. says tho New York Word. IT cannot
be said he has got the bee. He Is not u
man who gets bees. He IL politician who
calculates political forces on the basis OF
wider and more varied political experience
than any man now living in the country,
and upon the basis of a long-beaded and
totally unfeverIsh judgment. That ludg-
ment and that experience tell him that.
with the way things are now shaping them
selves. he has fighting chance tor the
Democratic presidential nomination at
Chicago. He is in the contest TO take that
chsnce.
THE WESTERN GLADSTONE.
Suppose the Grand Old Man of the West
is nominated, what sort of a candidate Will
we have? Suppose he is elected what
manner of President will he make!
Let US begin with the physical man him.
self. In the first place. he has lived within
SIX months of three quarters OF @ century.
Ii he Is elected, he will be an octogenarian
at the end of his first term. If he is re-
nominated aud reelected, at the end OF
bis second term be will lack but sixteen
years of being a centenarian.
Now this matter of age with most men
would mean great deal. With Senator
John NJ. Palmer. of Illinois. it amounts TO
ton of his eligibility. His three-score
years and fifteen sit as lightly on his
shoulders as do two-scoTe years and ten
on ninety nine men Ia every hundred.
His eve ~ brighter and clearer, his
face fresher and ruddier, his step
more elastic. his bearing frmer and
more erect than with scores of men young
enough 10 be his son. Immense vigor. tre-
mendous vitality leap out of every line Of
his thiok-set, compact, rugged figure. He
stands 5 feet IL inches in his stockings
lie weighs now 220 pounds. having deyel-
oped of late years a slight. but only a
slight, tendency towards st0utness. tie
is IN no sense Of the word a corpulent man.
HIS bodily ro.undity IS not dispropOrtion-
ate TO the strong, oaklike frame which
supports 1t.
OF VIRGINIA STOCK.
II will be seventy-fve years on the 18th
Of September next since Senator Palmer
joined the family group IN Louis ID.
PGlmer's log cabin IN the Eagle-Creek set
Element in Scott county, Ky. Babies wero
not novelty in the Palmer household.
There had been four arrivals before John
put in an appearance, and three OF them
were boys. 1t was in the year 1917 that
John appeared, and his father had not
been long back from the 1912 war. He had
taken an active part in that contest.
My father and my grandfather on my
fathers side were Baptlsts-it ran In the
blood to be Baptists," said Senator Palmer
the other evening. Ihey were very re-
hgiOus men. but either one of them would
have taken down his rifle to shoot red
coat as cheerfully as he would shoot
squirrel"
POST-BELLUM POLITICS.
When Senator Palmer moved TO Spring
field it was with the firm intention of GO
inc on with the practice of law. His old
est son, John MAYO Palmer, mad been adj
mitted to tho bar, and with him the Sena-
tor formed partnership. They hung out
O modest tin single winch bore the le-
gend, John VI. q John Mayo Palmer, at
torneys and ounsellOrs-at-law." 1t was
very plain and dingy country law-oflice,
with the conventional amount OF dust
and the usual assortment OF cane-seat
chairs and Ink-spattered desks. The one
feature of the shop was a splendid law
library. When Senator Palmer began the
practice of his profession he had three
books; he now takes some niue prlde III
being the possessor of one OF the best prl-
vate law libraries in the State.
But he was soon dragged into the polltl-
cal whirl. Perhaps 1t did not take very
much dragging after all. The clash Of po-
litIcal contest was always and still is like a
bugle blast 10 the old war horse.
At all events the very next year after be
returned from the war his friends tried to
make HIM United States senator. He
took no active part and General Logan
was elected The next year no was noml-
mated for Governor and elected on the
Republican ticket. Then 1t was that he
again DEVELOPED that spirit of lndepend-
ence which before had made him trample
over party lines end rebel against Uae
party whip. His very inaugural address,
in 1869, sounded the signal of defiance; In
e.. L II InHaTcl
encroachment on State rights In the mat
ter of granting corporate charters.
HOME RULE DOCTRINE.
He still further carried his home-rule
doctrine during the Chicago fire IN 1871.
A weak mayor turned his authority over
TO General Sheridan, and Sheridan brought
IN ten companies of United States troops
| to do police duty. Governor Palmer wrote
vigorous letters TO the President, the Gene
raj. and the weakened mayor. Later
on, when Mr.. Medill was chosen mayor,
and he. with ten other. citizens, joined
IN note TO General Sheridan, ask
| ing for four companies of troops, and
| Sheridan, having referred the letter to
| Sherman, received orders to place four
companies in Chicago for police duty, Gov
ernor Palmer again protested. The fede-
raj Government, he vigorously argued,
| had no authority TO detail troops TO pre-
serve the peace IN State except Mt the
| reauest OF the Governor of the State.
| The Governor laid all the documents be-
! fore the Legislature. The lower house
sustained him the Senate passed the mat
| ter over in silence.
| Governor Palmer had now lost conf
! dence in President Grant. lie believed him
| to be absorbed with the one idea OF a cen
! tralIZed government and bind TO the
| faults and evil conduct of his friends. At
| al III, Of "a N no narlinQn
! Republican nomination on the ground
that the convention would be controlled
| by men whose leading object would be the
denomination of President Grant.
ABANDONED THE @. or.
This meant the practical abandonment
| of the Republican party, aud Governor Pal
mer carried the meaning To Its logical con-
| clusion. When the Liberal convention
met in Cincinnati Governor Palmer was
| talked of as q candidate for President. He
refused to make any pledges or promises
| dency.
1T is too exalted an Office" he said,
"for one who must work. and too insignlti-
| cant for one who feels himself capable of
practicing law"
Greeley was nominated and Governor
Palmer gave him his hearty support on the
stump.
! MQeu III 1919 lue iIlpeIdi duu btmO-
cratic parties Joined hands Governor
Palmer found himself back once more
within the old party lines from which he
| had been driven by the storm of the slavery
agitation. His first act after the fusion was
TO write a strong letter urging the adoption
of a cean-cut. hard-money. and States
rights. platform, and his advice was taken
to the letter.
In the Hayes-Tilden contest Governor
Palmer was strong supporter of I1iden.
The state went for Hayes, but the Repub-
leans lost the Legislature. In the cleo
ton for United States senator to take the
place of Logan, Governor Palmer polled
the entire Democratic strength for twenty
five ballots, and when he withdrew his
followers united on David Davis. who was
elected Governor Palmer was member
! of the Louisiana Commission, and bitterly
denounced the surrender of that State,
Florida, and South Carolina.
A GEEAT CANVASS.
In 1892 Senator Palmer was again nomi-
mated for the United States Senate by the