St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1892-06-12

VI lIl6 SO-Cdllcu AuloIlCdu S}SG6Ill vi pTU-
lection; indeed in the main the public
careers of Clay and Blaine bear resem-
blauce that must grow more marked as
time goes on. Both have
Performed Great Services
for their country, and, while historians
and statesmen may not indorse their
policies and views, they will accord
both the honor of places among the first
statesmen of the country.
But it was at Minneapolis that the ca
reer OF Mr.. Blaine eliminated, and he
can no longer be considered leader of
his party. In this elimination, how
ever, the similarity between him and
Henry Clay and their respective public
careers becomes closer. The last at
tempt made by Clay to secure the posi-
tion of president of the United States,
which he had coveted so long and which
he so richly deserved at the hands of
the old Whig party, was made at the
Philadelphia convention in 1913, when
Gen. Zachary Taylor, of Louisiana, was
nominated.
To the convention of 1913 and the
Whig party Henry Clay stood at that
time as James G. Blaine stood to the
Minneapolis convention and the Repub-
lican party. An old man, worn out in
the service of his party and his country,
Henry Clay would not engage in
A Scramble for the NO:nfnation
although he foresaw }hat the nomina-
tion would be almost the equivalent of
an election. He assented to the use of
his name at the eleventh hour, as did
Mr.. Blaine last week, and received the
same treatment in the convention.
Speaking of the feeling of Mr.. Clay over
this defeat, Carl SchurZ, his latest and
ablest biographer, says:
''Clay was deeply mortified. Some of his
friends had cruelty deceived him, especially
those who had promised him the enthusiastic
support of Ohio. Neither had he thought it
possible that, in crisis. the vote of the dele
gates gs. from Kentucky would fail him. He
felt Keenly that in defeat in which he had
been abandoned by his own state. his pres
tge had suffered. But more than that The
party which he had built up, of
which which he, he had been proud, and
proud of him, had thrown him aside for a a
man who had only at the eleventh hour
called himself Whig, and who did not pro-
Tess to know anything of Wing principles.
de saw in the conduct of his party confession
OF moral bankruptcy. The old chief retired
to his tent. One of the seats for Kentucky in
the senate of the United States, having be-
came vacant before the expiration of the
term, the governor offered him the executive
appo ntment. Clay promptly declined. With
out hesitation he informed his friends. who
Qy tO ott
would do nothing against nor anything to
upport Gen. Taylor's candidacy.'
A Difference.
Personally there was no ill-feeling be-
tween Gen. Taylor and Mr.. Clay as there
is at the present time between Gen.
Harrison and Mr.. Blaine, and Gen.
Taylor's friends made no war on Clay,
nor did they accomplish their ends by
the use of federal patronage. Mr.. Blaine
has more reason to keep hands off in
this campaign than had Mr.. Clay in the
great battle of forty-four years ago. His
course will, it is needless to state, be
watched with interest during the next
five months.
But their positions towards and de-
feats at the hands of these two conven-
tions do not complete the resemblance
long and unsuccessful efforts to secure
the presidency are concerned, by any
means. Both men entered public life
at stirring and critical periods in the
history OF the country. Both were
splendidly equipped and speedily took
high rank in the halls Of congress.
Blaine, like Clay, was speaker of the
house Of representatives, and, like him,
made in these halls the
Bitterest Enemies of His Life,
and tr ON the ranks of his own part Y
The flee of secretary of state fell to
Blaine twice as it did to Clay, from the
hands of smaller men he had placed in
the presidency.
The Latin-American republics ap-
pealed to Clay as they did to Blaine, and