The weekly tribune., 1892-05-21

| HOW HAkklSON WAS NOMINATED.
expectedly. The name of the successor
is not a mystery. As well known. as
much studied, as thoroughly canvassed
as the rising and the setting sun. In
monarchy, the death chamber, the
muffied sounds, the weeping of kin, the
awful hush and son or daughter ris-
ing from the bedside to receive a crown.
That is all. Nature, chance, disease,
control on the one hand; the accident of
birth on the other.
In this republic, myriad of caucuses
in all the hamlets, wards and townships
of vast country; county gatherings,
next in the scale, in thousands of coun-
ties: then district conventions, more
pretentious and Important; state con-
ventions follow. accumulating the spirit,
| the essence. the strongest, the various
movements Of all that have preceded.
and finally the great national assem-
blage, composed of nearly thousand of
the participants or products of the lesser
gatherings. This is the work of brain,
of Drawn, of genius, of life-not of
death. Man rules, not nature. Through
all these preliminaries run certain cur
rents of ambition. of conference, of di-
rection, meeting almost everywhere in
keen rivalry, and pregnant always of
keener rivalries to come.
| The seemingly trivial contest between
two handfuls of countrymen, by the
light of three or four oil lamps in the
backwoods school house, finds its echo in
the grand, the spectacular, the inspir-
ing, the indescribable clash of human
! forces-the battle of peace which
eclipses most of the battles of war-in
some gigantic auditorium toward whose
walls the ears of an entire nation are
inclined.
A national convention makes history.
but the history of a national convention
| was never written. Chroniclers by the
hundred, and the keenest and brightest
in all the land are there. They appear
ubiquitous, they never sleep, they tire,
though stop not. They load the wires
with hundreds of thousands of words,
day after day and then the story is only
half told. The midnight conferences,
the secret plots, the conspiracies, the in
trigues, the treachery are often buried
in oblivion, never to see the light of
print. The true and full history of any
national convention would read like "a
romance.
Sometimes u conventions action is
materially affected by trivial incident
occurring many miles away. In 1888
the national Republican convention was
held at Chicago. There were many
candidates But over them all hung Il
peculiar spell, a cloud, a charm. which
paralyzed progress, prevented crystalli-
zation. 1t was the name of Blaine.
Mr.. Blaine was in Europe. whence he
had sent a letter declaring that he was
not candidate. Some of his friends
accepted this as final, but more did not.
1t finally appeared that there was plot
to nominate Blaine, Notwithstanding his
letter. The men who were engaged in
it had difficult, delicate task before
them. 1t would not do to make the eff
fort and fail. Nor would it be wise,
considering that it is always desired to
have election follow nomination to ride
rough shod over the other candidates, the
avowed candidates, whose friends had
brought them forward in good faith on
the assumption that Blaine was out.
Therefore these men who had deter
mined to nominate Blaine moved with
caution and tact.
Their plan was to give each of the
principal avowed candidates try at the
prize. Each in turn was to be put for
ward with seemingly powerful assist.
ance, and when all had made their run
ming and failed TO reach the goal Blaine
was to be brought out as the only man
who could attract to himself the dis
cordant elements, as the only possible
solution of the problem. Thus nomi-
mated, argaed the manipulators, Blaine
would have to accept, aud under such
circumstances there could lie no charge
If bad faith or sharp practice.
This plan made satisfactory progress.
Monday morning came, and no nomina-
ton had been made, though the cOnven-
ton had been in session five days. This
candidate and that had had his chance
and failed. The convention was at sea.
Choice seemed impossible. and the
friends of all the aspirants We're becon-
ing weary and discouraged.
''The hour has come, now we must
strike" agreed the Blaine managers. A
secret conference of the trusted Blaine
men was called. II met at o'clock in