The Norfolk Virginian. [volume] (Norfolk, Va.) 186?-189?, 1896-02-06
ssnss | $50 It Has Had Remarkably Little
& Influence In Congressional Affairs.
A0AIAuRl0W WEEDS TRUE PREDICTION
NE Said New York Was to ne servant
Stewards Defeat Have New York
Men Been Prominent In Construct
Ssss Ave Sfntesmanship.
slCopyright, 1895. by s. s. Mcclure, Lin
itedl


Y OF New York bankers with the national
n administration were the subject OF eN-
getting criticism In and out OF Congress
% very suggestive remark was mace by
Sso one of the bankers who formerly nero
IAN important Office under the unateo
n States Government. He said that II ING
y State of New York had influence III
4 Congress compared with its financial
4. power, and its Importance as n state
3 upon election day. to both OF the ma
~ ional parties. It might have nappeheu
fEthat the occasion for these criticisms
would not have arisen
XXX Xxx This passing remark suggested 10
SNsome of those who heard it the amaZ-
Cling fact that in the national Congress
3SNew York's influence for many years
ssseems to have been in inverse ratio 10
&the Importance OF its electoral vote.
d This fact Is the fulfillment OF prom
Is ecy which was made more than thirty
years al so by that prince OIL poiticiahS'
YThurlow Weed
.I'Yg When at the moment OF the nomina
& ton cf Lincoln. in the Chicago w!gwam
lin 1860, banner was mysteriousiy en-
y posed upon which roughly sketched
i portrait Of the candidate appeared. the
\ delegates were seized with one OF those
& paroxysms of happy frenzy which only
. war or politice create. Contrasting
{ strangely, almost weirdly and ominous-
n " with that tumultuous acclaim was
Il the silence of one group which till that
VI moment had maintained supremacy in
II the convention. William NJ. Evarts.
& as the leader Of that group. sat with Il
{ face as pale as the ashes to which his
u hopes had just been turned George
ssSWilliam Curtis-whose eloquent speech
H had moved that great body as few
& Speeches have ever Influenced any rep
n resentative gathering, for II comprised
81 a parliamentary victory-Curtis with
Il bowed head and lips compressed seem
led like one to whom that mighty shout
s6ing was as the wall Of a dirge and thus
8the New York delegation sat mute
n mourners amid the impressive joy OF
8;the moment.
sSt EThurlow Weed would not be consoled.
5GHe. who had made Governors and Sen
q ators, and who had planned and,
VI brought about the nomination OF Zach
ssnry Taylor, esteemed all these achieve
ssments as nothing when set against his
sEpurpose to make New York in the per
n son of William II. Seward, pre-emincn,
sin the new Republican party. so that
q at laststhe Empire State might name a
n candfdate who was not OF the Demo-
Ncratic faith.
1.-THE PREDICTION OF THURLOW
SS3 WEED.
Weeds anguish was SO great that he
Il forgot or cared not for the courtesies
{ OFF personal intercourse. He was no;
y only deeply disa appointed, but he was
Saiso angry. The supreme ambition OF
mis- life, almost In the moment of at
Btninment, had been lost TO him. He
INVENT to his rooms raging. he whose ac-
&ttvity In President-malxlng stretched
X PACK Tor forty years to John Quincy
y adams day. In all that time Weed
j; had been master of himself in victory
+ or overthrow. The same bland smile.
t,,r, . -
genius 90 tact concealed mis- heart when
CLAY was defeated as well as when Tay-
tslorw as elected. But when Seward
s5Weht down in the Chicago wiewan,
Z PSasion mastered Thurlow Weed. For
thonce In his life he was ugly and rude
sfie vented his passion upon Col. 4 x
SAaicCiure, who called upon him on the
of the day which had ended
isthe dream of Weeds life Col. Mcclure
Shas recently written that he then found
Weed 'sullen and offensive In manner
and expression" A few hours lotor
Governor Curtin paid Mr.. Weed a visit
EiHea regretted that courtesy before no
gshaa been In weeds presence two min
5Ntes. The great politician was offensive
}ly rude.
More than "A quarter of a century af-
ter that greatest of New York defeats
9Thurlow Weed. then an aged man ~
ikindly "reminiscences, explained why his
passion OH that day was too great for
control. 1t was, he said. because he
saw haiat New York was to be the ser
want, rather than the master of the new
party. and he added that his intuition
was correct, as political history since
1850 would show.
S since that year the influence of New
york State, with a single exception I'm G
sbeen exerted through national admins
iE s,I3 instead OF national legislation.
ii;ishe influence Of Maine has surpassed
any that New York has been abie to ey-
sert, except that which is que to marc
numerical majority in either Housa of
congress since that year Although II
had been chief among Northern Stat ns
its influence in Congress, throneb
the ability OF Van Buren,, Marcy
Wright. Dickinson and others New
york while politically OF the utmost i'm
portance seems. since the defeat of
Seward at Chicago and the pre-cmi-
5lence Of the Republican party for MANY
years thereafter. to have been unohie
TO maintain the influence which #
8hould have. from its commanding posi-
LION as q deciding State in natiennl
elections. MIR. Weed always Thought
that In the defeat Of Seward could ho
discovered that explanation of this loss
of5lesislative authority.
DEFEAT REPEATED IN NATIONAL,
CONVENTION.
Only since 1860 have New Yorl, Ro-
pnblicans made such aggressive and
ssiShusiastic attempts to name a candt-
late for the Presidency as character
gsd the ambitious Evarts the bang
Weed, the brilliant Curtis.
Ind 8s the tTtrnneD6OuSly aorpact STa.a..'