The herald., 1896-06-21
STATESMEN IN RETIREMENT

1t is currently reported that Thomas
Is. Reed, who can have the vice-presi-
Dental nomination at St Louis by
simply saying 50, is seriously contem
plating retirement from public life at
the close Of his present congressional
term. Should he do so he would not be
the first of our statesmen who found
the private station to be the post Of
honor, and sought in retirement that
surceaSe from veXation and disappoint-
ment which are the Interchangeable COM
panions. the irremovable shadows. of
political preferment. We all know how
reluctantly both Washington and Jeffer-
son accepted the great office to which
their countrymen called them. and how
gladly they laid down it's cares to regain
the freedom of private life, but there
are many instances in lesser degree than
these where men who had every right to
believe that even the highest office in the
land was not beyond their reach gladly
turned away and found their peace and
happiness in so doing.
One Of these was Langdon Cheves of
South Carolina, a predecessor of MIR.
Reed In the speakers chair Cheves was
one of the foremost of those brilliant
South Carolinians elected to congress
in 1870 He identified himself with the
young war party under the leadership of
Henry Clay, that forced Madison to de-
clare war against England.
Washington Irving who heard Cheves
deliver speech in congress in 1911, said
that 1t was the ideal of eloquence, and
that his manner must have been the
manner of the great orators of antiquity.
He succeeded Henry Clay as speaker of
the house when the latter was sent to
Ghent as a peace commissioner, and his
most notable act as speaker was the
Of TTY,if foI
States bank
AFTER serving two terms in congress
ne declined reelection and returned to
MS practice as a lawyer in Charleston.
acquired large practice and accum-
ulated fortune. He held a judgeship
Tor a time and was appointed a COM
missioner of claims under the treaty of
peace with England but he never sought
nor cared for great public station.
lie was master of finance and wrote
mucn on financial topics for the reviews
Of the period. When the second United
states bank was chartered it was mis-
managed to such degree that it was
nearly ruined. Mr.. Cheeves was elected
It's president in 1919, and in three years
restored its credit and made it prosper
Gus: In 1872 he resigned the presidency
ana was succeeded by Nicholas Biddle.
For the remainder of his life, nearly
thirty years, he lived in chosen obscur-
ity, dying in 1857 at the age of IS.
Our country has produced few men
OF greater intellectual power than Lang
don Cheves.
Another American statesman of great
personal power and ability who pre-
ferred the private station before great
public office was Silas Wright.
He was representative in congress.
senator of the United States and gov
ernor of New York, and could have been
vice president and possibly president of
the United States. He peremptorily re-
fused the Democratic nomination for the
ce-presidency, though unanimouslv
rendered him by the convention of 1874
just as Mr.. Reeds friends say that he
Will refuSe the unanimous nomination
at ST. Louis. Mr.. Wright was the fore
most of the Democratic free soilers of
New York, an unwavering friend and
supporter of Martin Van Buren, and had
ne lived would probably have been one
or the founders of the Republican party.
In lo4f, after serving one term as govern
or, he retired to private life, and al
though ne was rendered cabinet posi-
tlon, foreign mission and a United
states Judgeship, nothing could allure
MIN from his much loved farm. He died
universally respected and admired.
Horatlo Seymour was another great
New Yorker who reluctantly took office
ana gladly left 1t, and so was Daniel 6
Dickinson, The latter might have had
the presidency in 1852 if he had said the
word. but his personal loyalty to General
Cass forbade his consideration of thn
subject. '-'e
Ihere are few persons we'll acquainted
with public men in public life who will
not ADMIT that George F. Edmunds of
vermont might not reasonably aspire
10 tne nlgnest offices in the gift of the
people. HIS state delighted to honor him
IN every way that honor could be con-
lerred, and elected him four consecutive
terms to the United States senate. where
ne might still have been a powerful and
honored member had he so desired. And
yet he voluntarily laid aside his senator
ial robes. For number of years he
had the support of a strong element in
ms party for the presidential nomina-
ton.
He now finds in private life that nleas-
ure and freedom from responsibility thai
pubic life can never give. Not that he is
unmindful of his duties as citizen. for
ne IS active In many ways and displays
MS interest in great public measures. but
once has no longer any charm for him.
ana these were the characteristics of
Cheves of Wright and of Seymour who
civ oJo oilOWeu themselves to be great
c1tizens, keenly alive to every thing per-
tanning to the welfare of the country.
The case of Roscoe Conkling was
somewhat different from any of those
above mentioned in SO far that it is not
clear that he actually preferred private
to public life. The circumstances at
tending his resignation of the senator
ship are familiar and need not be here
enlarged upon. He sought reelection
mainly as vindication of his attitude
toward the Garfield administration, and
in this he failed.
His phenomenal success at the bar,
however, must have reconciled him to
private life, and it is not likely that any
inducement could have drawn him back
to public life after he had once tasted
the sweets of independence. Even in
private life he had such adulation as
few public men receive and which must
have more than satisfied his vanity. In
the courts he was the object of all OBJ
servers. Judges listened to him with re-
spect and attention, juries We're swayed
by his eloquence, while at every an
nouncement of his appearance the court
i