The copper country evening news. [volume] (Calumet, Mich.) 18??-1907, 1897-02-19
ROMANCESO OF AMBITION
Picturesque Figures In the State
Department.
MEN PROMINENT IN HISTORY.


Case Of Timothy Pickering-The Roll OF
Great Men Who Have Been Secretary
of state-A Look Backward
WASHINGTON Feb 10 Especial John
Sherman will be the thirty fourth secretary
| of state of the United States There Is no
other office IN the government. excepting
the presidency whose roster of incumbents
shows so many names distinguished In the
history of the country Indeed OF the SO
men who have been secretary Of state no
fewer than six afterward became president
These were jefferson, Madison Monroe
John Q Adams, Van Buren, and Buchan.
an. A majority Of the remaining secre.
taries Of state were conspicuous candidates
for the presidency, and some OF them mar
| rowly missed achieving their ambition
| Among the more prominent of these great
| men who were near to the presidency and
| yet never quite reached IL may be mention.
| ed Clay, Webster, Calhoun. Lewis Cass
| Blaine. Gresham and now John Sherman
sherman's Worthy Ambition.
For 20 years Mr. Sherman was an aspir.
| ant for the presidential nomination of his
| party Time and again has he been de.
feated He some years ago announced his
| ambition. but there Is to this day feeling
among Republican leaders everywhere that
| Mr. sherman had fairly earned the presi.
| dency-that he had won 1t by his services
| and his leadership
OF all the secretaries Of state only three
| or four failed 10 impress themselves upon
| the history of their country Only three or
| four are now forgotten men, In the sense
that the masses of the people cannot recall
their names and do not know anything Of
their history. No one will forget the six
presidents who graduated from the state
department. nor will any one forget such
great names as Clay, Webster Calhoun.
Marcy, Cass, Fish and Seward But who
remembers Timothy Pickering or Robert
Smith or Louis McLane or John Forsyth or
Hugh 5. Legare or Abel p Upshurf Yet
all OF these were great men in their day.
OF all the romances of ambition and
fame connected with the state department
that of Timothy Pickering is in some re-
spects the most interesting. He was a
Massachusetts man, educated for the law
but he never practiced In the early days
of the Revolution he was q militiaman
He published little book on discipline
For the Militia Washington made him |
adjutant general of the Revolutionary |
army and then ouartermaster general |
When peace came, he went into business |
as commission merchant in Phladel
phia, but was not successful. The people |
of Massachusetts offered to make him q |
judge If he would return to that state, but !
he declined and took his family to the |
frontier in the valley of Wyoming, Pa. !
There he became involved in the Connect
lieut. settlers instruction. One night his |
house was attacked, and he had 10 flee |
through the woods TO Philadelphia Later
he returned TO his home and was taken
out of bed at midnight by masked men
and held captive In the forest for three
weeks
An Eventful Career.
Washington appointed him postmaster
general and later secretary of war. and
finally secretary OF state He remained in
this post for a time under President Adams.
but becoming involved in quarrels was dis
missed Colonel Pickering was poor and
In debt Again he went into the valley of
Wyoming ard with his own hands felled
trees and started TO carve out farm
Thus the man who had held more cabinet
appointments than any other American
has ever held went from the second place
in the government 20 log cabin The
people of Massachusetts raised fund of
$4,000 to relieve him from debt, and he
returned to his native state and became a
farmer. But the people twice elected him
to the United States senate and afterward
to congress for two terms He was once
censured by the senate was once burned
In effigy in Philadelphia but closed his
days in peace and honor.
Robert Smith of Maryland was lawyer
soldier, secretary of the navy under Jeffer
con and secretary Of state under Madison
Louis McLane of Delaware began life az
midshipman in the navy. became mem
Der of congress, senator, was twice min
lister TO England. was secretary of the treas
ury and finally secretary of state
John Forsyth of Georgia was lawyer
congressman. senator. governor OF his
state, minister 10 spain and secretary OF
state.
Hugh S. Lcgare of South Carolina (pro
nounced Leh-grec) was a French Huguenot
He was student and an orator and con
tributor 20 the reviews He came to con.
gress. was appointed attorney general is
President Tyler and succeeded Webster as
secretary of state He died suddenly at
Boston while attending the ceremonies OF
unwilling Bunker Hill monument
His successor as secretary of state, Abel
p Cpshur OF Virginia, also met a tragic
fate He was killed with several others by
the bursting Of n gun on board the warship
Princeton or the Potomac river near this
city President Tyler would probably have
met the same fate II he had not fingered in
the cabin to pay his attentions to the young
lady whom he aftcrward married
Great Names In History.
Some of our past secretaries OF state are
better known in history for other services
For instance, John Marshall who was sec
rotary of state under Adams, Is remember
cd chiefly as chief justice of the supreme
court. What career was his Six years
soldier successful lawyer one of the
three American ENJOYS to France who were
snubbed by Talleyrand and the only one
who had the courage to defy the dictator.
author of the phrase. Millions for defense.
but not one cent for tribute" secretary OF
war. secretary OF state and for 36 years
chief justice OF a court which his learning
and wisdom made the greatest judicial tri.
bunal In the world and won for him indy.
ing fame as an expounder Of the constitu-
ton
Webster. Clay and Calhoun are rcmem-
borcd bpffpr &C eena tore than ne eocrofa rtoe /