The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1896-11-05
DEFEATED CANDIDATES.
DISTINGUISHED MEN WHO ASPIRE
TO BE PRESIDENT.


If PhiIosOphicaIIy Aaron Burr,
George Clinton, Dewitt Clinton.
Rufus King, William II. Crawford,
Henry Clay, John c. Calhoun,
william Writ, Hugh l.. White, w.
p. Mangum, Gen. Cass, John p.
Hale. JnO. c. Fremont and Others.
From the st. Louis Globe Democrat.
MANY Of the names of defeated Presi-
Dental candidates have already faded
from popular memory and those that still
hold a place in peoples minds could be
counted on the fingers of ones hand. To
This class belong Aaron Burr, who in 1900
v,as defeated for the Presidency by hairs
breadth. Indeed, Burr came nearer to the
Presidency without reaching it than any
other man ave Tilden, but he is best re-
,,,embered al the politician who slew Alex
ander Hamilton, and later plotted unsuc-
cessfuily TO deate a great empire in the
southwest. of which he should be mon
.rch Thereafter he was for several years
an exile in Europe, and during his last
da,s practiced law in New York, dying
at such an extteme old age that men are
now living who knew and conversed with
him.
Burr died in 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.
He continued for many years power in
state and national politics and was gov
ernor of New York after he had served as
Vice President.
Dewitt Clinton also took his defeat by
Madison with the calrnness of a sage. In
after wears he carried to a successful issue
the construction of the Erie canal and be-
came governor, dying suddenly, as SO many
men who have been governors OF new
York have done.
The public career of Rufus King may De
said to have ended with his defeat by Mon
roe in 1876, and the same was true of Will
liam H. Crawford who lost the Presidency
by a fuke in 1924. Crawford, who had been
a national figure for nearly a quarter of
century. resigned his seat in the Senate
soon after the election, went back to his
home in Georgia, and, in order to support
himself, secured an election as judge OF
probate, dying in that office a few years
later.
on the other hand. the after-career of
Henry Clay, who was also an unsuccess-
full candidate for the presidency in 1924,
is still a household word. He served Tor
remained until his death the idol OF MS
party. Defeated by Jackson in 1925 he
was cheated out of the whig nomination
in 1910, and it was his own fault that ne
was not elected when he was unanimously
made the standard-bearer OF his party
four years later. Clay's last appearance
in public life was in 1850, when, at the
age of "A, he cancelled his vow of retire
ment and returned to the Senate to carry
through the famous compromise measure,
which he vainly hoped would settle the
slavery question once and for all. When
his bill was under discussion in the Sen
ate although old and feeble, he persisted
in speaking two days in advocacy of his
plan of settlement Crowds of people
came to Washington from distance to
hear the winsome and fascinating orator
make this 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 eff
fusVe tears. Clay died during the fol-
lowing year.
Calhoun, who, during the debate just
referred to, also addressed the Senate for
the last time, although never like Clay,
formal candidate for the presidency, was
still for many years an eager aspirant for
the Office and it was the understanding
when Jackson was elected in 1923 that he
should serve one term and then Vice Pres
ident Calhoun should be promoted as his
successor. But William H. Crawford,
who held Calhoun chiefly responsible for
his defeat in 1924, from his retirement on
the Georgia bench wrote letter in which
he stated that in Monroes cabinet Cal
houn had proposed that Gen. Jackson's
conduct in the Seminole war be made the
subject of inquiry, and if the charges
against him were found true he should
be punished with severity. This letter
was used so adroitly by Van Buren, that
the friendship of the President for Cal
houn was changed to vindictive and i'm
piacable enmity. From that day Calhoun
was doomed as the successor of jackson
and Van Buren, became The favorite. Save
for Crawford's letter it is safe to say
that Calhoun, and not Van Buren,, would
have been chosen President in 1896.
The brilliant lawyer and orator, VIII
liam Writ. who was one of Jackson'S OPP
ponents in 1882 died within a year, and
Hugh L. White and Willie P. Mangum did
not long survive their defeat by Van Blu
rem in 1886. Van Buren,, after his crush
ing. overthrow by Harrison in $780, retired
to his home on the Hudson and devoted
the ensuing four years to active maned
vering for the democratic nomination in
1874. There is little doubt that 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 resentment caused by Van Buren, 3
defeat OF his own candidacy, entered ~
ler's cabinet and handled the Texas ques-
ton with such skill that Van Buren, was
forced to so commit himself that he lost
southern support, and with 1t the nomina-
ton for the presidency. However, 1t wa
the often-expressed opinion of William II.
Seward that Van Buren, never committed
but one fatal error in politics, and that
was when, nursing resentment at his fall
ure to secure the nomination in 1874 he
permitted a wing of his party to nominate
him as a hopeless candidate in 1913, there
by entailing just what was intended TO
entail. Van Buren's public career ended
with the campaign of lS4S but he lived for
many years in honored and delightful re-
tirement, dying in 1862 at the ripe age Of 70.
That fine old democrat, Gen. Cass, was
never greater than in the hour of his de-
feat by Gen. Taylor in 1S48. He looked
upon himself merely as the representative
of his party and took his defeat with per-
feet composure and without resentment.
1t was the party which was defeated and
not Cass, the man, in his opinion, and tho
simple dignity with which, after having