The Columbian. [volume] (Bloomsburg, Pa.) 1866-1910, 1898-06-16
CASS FOR PRESIDENT,
t'ALF CsNTu%7Y SINCE H.lS Aesslhl.A-,
TON FOa THAT eFnlE.

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nation of Lewis Cass to the Presidency
reminds us of when annexation was
an issue in American politics. General
Cass was one of those great Americans
whose fate 1t was to be first in their
day in the hearts and esteem of their
countrymen and yet who were never
destined to reach the Presidency. He
was candidate in 1874 for the Presi-
Dental nomination which fell to James
X. Polk; again when the annexation
of Texas was the issue and once more
in 1852 while representing Michigan in
the United States Senate.
The northwest is said to be the fosssf
child of the republic, and il so, General
Lewis Cass was its putative father. A
great portion Of his life was devoted to
introducing settlers, popular govern
ment, modern habits of life and legal
methods Of procedure into the rive
deserves an abiding place in the his
tory of American statesmen.
Politically considered Cass like Hen
ry Clay and James G. Blaine was from
the standpoint of the statesman better
qualified by experience and attain
ments for the executive Office than any
Americanizing this immense region he
states north Of the Ohio River. IN
man Of his day. He was also the man
for whom the people would doubtless
have voted IL the choice had been
theirs, but he was apparently too timid,
too fine-grained and too scholarly a
man to find favor with the caucus and
the ring. He was jurist and pleader
of national reputation, a soldier who
had seen service in the war with Eng
land under General Hull, an admins
traitor Of affairs first as Governor of
Michigan and later as Secretary of
War and finally as Minister to France.
AS statesman whom Lord Brougham
thought 1t necessary to cross swords
with Cass in his day and throughout an
extended career proved to be prudent
cautious legislator who could have
brought ripe experience and rare at
tainments to the Presidency, had he
been elected in 1S4S.
The defeat of Cass and the election
Of Taylor are principally interesting
now because the annexation of new ter
ritory and the desire of the people for
expansion and for foreign policy diff
ferent to that Of the whimpering
wings, was the chief cause which told
in the National Democratic Conyep-
ton. Cass was man of argument and
of peace. Taylor was rather a man OF
action than of argument who favored
the Texas war and who despised these
n.etlI hysical niceties and ethical prin-
ciples which are usually the stock in
trade of the peace at any price party.
Cass had negotiated no fewer than
twenty-five treaties through which
were secured the cession to the United
States by the various Indian tribes
what Is now the great northwest. Tay-
lor, too, had led the Texas campaign
and had brought into the Union but in
the opposite direction, viz, the South
west, country as large as France.
Southern interests were then predomi-
nant and though Cass was the plumed
knight Of peace chiefly from the circum-
stance that he had made effective reply
to Lord Brougham in the Senate. and
had resisted the English right to search
American vessels, nevertheless General
Taylor's policy won the day and he
YVES elected. On the first attempt of
Cass to reach the Presidency he was
not an active candidate. His name had
been put forward by his friends. and
everywhere throughout the Union there
was general acquiescence as to his
fitness, but Polk triumphed at the con-
vention. Cass then took the stump
vigorously for him throughout the can
vass. In the following January, Cass
was elected to the Senate. But pre-
vious to the second attempt Mr.. Cass
made no secret of his Presidential in
tentions and in order to fit himself for
the campaign he resigned as Senator
for Michigan to thus meet his fate a
second time. He was then &C years of
age and had accumulated a large pri-
vate fortune. Cass was then probably
the richest man in the Union and had
for an American attracted unusual at
tention in Paris by the sumptuous ma
ture of his living, and by his social
tLiltl LuiHIleNlS. OtSluB tue failure OF
his earlier attempt, and how by follow
ing the Weakened foreign policy of
the Wings he had been superseded by
o dark horse like Polk on the previous
occasion, Cass now made himself the
special champion Of the famous Fifty
four, forty or fight" demand which
statesman than a mere politician he
tickled the hearts and aroused the
highest patriotism of the people
throughout the homes of the north
west He had early seen the impor-
tance of Americans possessing Canada,
and in December, 1S45, Senator Cass
had introduced a resolution similar to
that of Senator Chambers in October,
1925. holding up the spectre of war,
and insisting that nothing but conces-
sions or sensible precautions could pre-
vent armed collision with Great Brit
ain. From henceforth he was the
leader of the "tifty-four fifties" or the
jingoes as they would now be called.
Accordingly in the campaign of 1S4s