The evening times., 1896-11-03

/
by IL hairs breadth. Indeed, Burr caihc
| nearer TO the Presidency without reaciins
| IL than any other man save Iilueii, puV nc
| is best remembered as the poiitlciah "i'o
| slew Alexander Hamilton, ami later pioiled
| unsuccessfuliy to create great empire III
| Ine southwest. OF winch he should be iuon-
| arch Thereafter he was FOR several years
an exile i'll Europe, and during his last days
practIcea law i'll New York, dying at such
| AN extreme old age that men are now living
who knew and converscd with him.
| Burr died i'll 1886 and was buried by the
| side OF his father in Princeton, n. j.
George Clinton did not permit his defeat
| for the Presidency To end his public career.
lie continued FOR many years a power III
| State and nat ioBal politics and was governor
| oil New York after he had served as VICE
| President.
| DeN!t Clinton also took his defeat by
| Madison with the calmncss Of sage In
after wears he carried to Il successful issue
| the construction OF the Erie Canal, ana De-
came governor, dying suddenly as so many
men who have been governors OF New
| York have done.
The pu bic career of Rufus King may be
said 20 nave ended with his defeat by Mon
roe in 1916, and the same was true of VIII
liam II. Crawford, who lost the Presidency
| bya fluke ill S2i. Crawford, who had been
Il national figure for nearly quarter OF
| century, reslg ned his seat III the Senate soon
|
Georgia, and, in order To support himself,
| secured an election of judge Of probate,
| dying in that office few years later.
| HENRY CLAY's AMBITION.
on the other hand, the after-carccr of
! Henry Clay, who was also an unsuccessful
candidate for the Presidency in 1924, is
| still i household word He served for many
| years in the Cabinet and senate, and re-
| maiued until his deat1 the idol OF his party.
Ts...N &c
| cheated out of the Wing nomination IL
| 1910, and il was his own Iauit tuat he was
| not elected when he was unanimously made
| the standard d-bearer of bis party four years
| later.
| Clay's Ia st appearance in public life was
| in 1850, when, at the age of sevcnty-four,
| be Cancelled his VOW Of retirement and re
, turned 10 the Senate to carry through the
| famous compromise measure, which hc
| Vaiuly hoped would sety.e the slavery ques-
tion once and for all. When his bill was
| under discussion in the Senate, although
| old and feeble, he persisted in speaking TWO
DAYS in advocacy of his plan OF settlement
| Crowds of people came Ia Washington from
/ a distance To hear the winSome and iasci-
| mating orator make the last and greatest
| effort of his life. When his speech was
done admirers rushed upon him to thank
| him. and multitude of women kissed him
| with cffuSive tears Clay died during the
| following year.
Calhoun. who, during the debate Just re-
! ferred to, also addressed the Senate for the
| lasttime, although never like Clay, formal
| can,idate for the Presidency, was still n
| many years IN eager aSpirant for the offica,
| and it was the understa nding when Jackson
| was eleCtedin S2S that he should serve one
term aud then Vice President Calhoun
should he promoted as his successor. But
! William II. Crawford. who held Calhoun
! chiefly responsible for his defeat in 1924,
from his retirement on the Georgia bench
| wrote a letter in which he stated that in
Monroe'E Cabinet Calhoun had proposed
that Gen. Jackson'S conduct in the Seminole
I war he made the subject of inquiry, and il
the charges against him were found true he
| should he punished with severity. This
letter was used 50 adruitly by Van Buren
! that the friendship of the President for
| Calhoun was changed to vindictive and inl-
placable enmity. From that day Calhoun
! was doomed the successor Of Jackson
| and Van Buren became the favorite
| Save for CrawfUrd's letter it is safe IL
say that Calhoun, and not Van Buren,
| would have been chosen President in ] $50.
TOOKADvERsITYTO
The brilliant lawyer and orator, William
| Writ. who was one of Jackson's opponentsin
1882 died withna year, and Hugh l.. White,
and Willie I ManguIa did not long survive
| their defeat by Van Buren, i'll 1886. Van
| Buren,, after his crushing overthrow by
| Harrison in 1910 retired to his home OH the
| Hudson and devoted the ensuing four years
10 active maneuvering for the Democratic
nominationin l S4i. Thereslittle doubtthdt
| again he would have been the candidate of
his party in the year just named had it not
| been for the fact that Calhoun, seeing that
an opportunity had come to crafty the re
| sentiment caused by Van Burcn's defeat Jf
his own candidacy. entered Tyler's Cabinet
and handled the Texas question with such
skill that Van Buren, was forced to so com.
| NIT himself that he lost Southern support,
| and with it the nomination for the Prcsi-
| dency. However, il was the often-cXpre ssed
| opinion of William IL Seward. that Van
Buren, never committed but one fatal erruy
| in politics. and that was when, nursing
| sentiment at his failureto secure the nomind.
| ton in 1874. he permitted wing of his
| party to nominate him as a hopeless candi-
| daIein1S SAB observation-disclosures what was
| intended to entail-the defeat of the Demo-
| cratic candidate Van Burens public career
| ended with the campaign OF 1913, but he
| lived for many years in honOred and delight
ful retirement. dying in 1862 at the ripe
| age of scyenty-nine.
That fine old democrat, Gen. Cass, was
| never greater than in the hour of his defeat
by Gen Taylor, in 1913. He looked upon
himself merely as the representative of his
| party and took his defeat with perfect COM
posure and without resentment 1t was the
| marty which was defeated and not CasS, the
man, in his opinion, and tie simple dignity
with which, after having served for tiIpr
in the Cabinet of Buchanan. he retired from
| public life to his home in Michigan, was a
| beautiful Indication of the mans real great
ness Nor was Gen. Scott n less engagin z
figure after his defeat by Pierce. in 1852.
| His disappointment was no doubt keen, but
lhe gave no outward sign of it. Prank
| Pierce" said he when he heard the news.
Twas good soldier with me in Mexico, and
he ought to make "A good President And
then he went quietly about the discharge of
his duties as commander of the army, which
position he continued to hold until q short
time before his death, 1862.
| HALE WAS A STRONG MAN.
John P. Hale, the free-soil candidate
for President in 1852, is now almost for
gotten, but in his time he played large
| part in public affairs. The venerable Ga
lusha A. Grow considers Hale one of the
most brilliant and useful men who ever
served in the Federal Senate. Hale hal
been four years in the Senate when first
took my seat in the House." said Mr..
Grow, land there was no one more feared
by the Southern Senators than he.
"A big, rotund, good-natured man, in
the art OF totally demolishing the long and
labored argument OF an opponent with a
timely anecdote or Jest, he had few equals.
few years before the repeal of the Mis-
souri, compromise Senator Slidell intro
duced bill In Congress appropriating some
S20, 900 900 for the purchase Of Cuba. Gen.
Cass made an elaborate speech supporting Z
the bill, on the ground that it was danger
Gus to have dependency OF a foreign power
so near our shores as Cuba.
Hale followed: Consistency" said he,