Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1898-09-18

king Matty Van Buren," when he pen
ned or recited the lines:
He wires in and wires out.
And leaves the people still in doubt,
Whether the snake that made the track
Is coming south or going back"
The dear. old Major was satirist o.
the gentee sort. whose strokes never
| transcribed the limits of discreet criti
cism. He described Calhoun not as hap
PLY. but still decorously. in the follow
| ing vein:
There is man lives in the South,
Who has a most capacious mouth;
| He said he'd eat up every coon.
But you can't come IL, John Calhoun
Martin Van Buren, had begun his politi
| cal life somewhat under the baneful In
| fiuence of Aaron Burr, who believed thai
! parties should be disciplined as armies
| are; that TO the victors belong the spoils
| He had enforced this view at the head
| Of the Albany Regency; had risen into
| prominence by questionable arts; had
| wormed himself into the confidence OF
| Andrew Jackson-a good man, but bad
| President; had outwitted Calhoun, a
| mere child in sef-seeking; nay, it is
1 said. had undermined him. and brought
| and President; had written. or else
Livingston had written, the proclama-
| tion-that out and out Federal document,
against which even the warmest personal
and political friends of Jackson had pro-
tested, and which did more than any
other hlgh-handed act of the President
to sever from the Democracy some OF
its wisest and brightest intellects; and
| finally had been unbushingly named by
Old Hickory as his successor, with prom
Use of the official influence and the official
support of the henchmen of the admin
istration.
WERE HARD. TIMES.
When subsequently little king Nat"
came to be President, the times were
singularly out Of joint, the banks sus-
pended specie payments; wheat was SELL
Ing at l6 cents a bushel; workmen's
wages were low-never so low before;
hard times was the cry OF every trades
man; all the evils attendant on an in
choate system of finance; all the evils
which had come nobody knew how and
for the existence Of which the President
was held responsible by the Wings, but
was no more responsible than the child
unborn-so handicapped him as to leave
the November course open to the stride
Of any competitor, whether he were Web
ster, or Scott, or Clay. or Harrison.
Even a much stronger man than Van
Buren, might not have been able to allay
the rage of the people, that had been so
craftily worked up by the opposition, or
stem that torrent of vituperation under
which he sank, never more to be the
leader of the fierce Democracy. Henry
Clay knew this. When the news OF his
defeat at Harrisburg was broken to him.
BILE. 1T isl he said, "a diabolical in
trigue, l now know which has betrayed
me. l am the most unfortunate man in
the history of parties; always run by my
friends when sure to be defeated. and
now betrayed for a nomination, when I.
or any one would be sure of an election"
The nomination of Tyler had been pre-
determined; he was sure OF being Sc
cond, unless Clay were first. And here
by hangs a tale. / cannot tell II In the
brief compass of a newspaper article. Old
John Webster's quaint description OF an
old-time intriguer, however, is sugges-
tive:
- a politicians
The devils quilted anvil; he fashions
What blows he likes, and they are never
heard"
The campaign Of 1910, from beginning
TO end was a campaign Of the passions.
Men of the highest culture were not
ashamed 10 hurl the most envenomed
shafts at the President, as the head and
front of an offending oligarchy. King"
'Tyrant," Caesar" "Sorcerer," Devil"
were Numbered from every stump, were
caught up by the orators of the Logs,
and repeated with virulent variations in
the street.
Well might the much betrayed and
besmeared President have exclaimed
- the little dogs and all
Tray, Blanche, and Sweetheart. see,
they bark at me"
and we'll might also a dispassionate OBJ
server have cried out, with Poor Tom.
in the play: MY tears begin 10 take his
part-avaunt. We ours" John Tyler came
to the Logs leaning on the arm of Cover
nor Gilmer, and was received with loud
huzzas. Though usually the pink of |
courtesy in debate, he too, paid his re-
spects to King Matty Van"
PRESTON'S GREAT~SPEECH.
William c. Preston, of South Carolina, |
so captivated the Wings by a Demosthe- |
mic display of oratory as to carry away |
the next day in his train to Petersburg, |
200 or 300 devoted followers. The cyclone |
swoops down on the earth from its ex- |
allied region. and prostrates in its narrow |
course everything 1t touches, but in the |
up-whirl it carries only the lightest par
Iicles. Though General Leslie Coombs, |
Of whom l shall presently speak, was
said 10 have equalled Patrick Henry when
he spoke al the Logs, IL is the opinion OF
good judges, who heard him and Preston,
that the latter made the speech OF the
In "a grand peroration or summing up of
the strong points OF his argument he
mathematical the king" with the ter
rible "Sic Semper" of the old Virginians.
William c. Rives spoke four hours at
the Logs He was fresh from the coun-
.ry, where, 1t is said, he had iayed alive
Extra Billy Smith. To the horror of
Thomas Richie, who had regarded him
With a brothers love-had chung TO him
n the vain hope of retaining him from
lis political errors-he described little
King Matty Van" as living in oriental
iplendor, at his dining and winning tables
,old spoons and silver trays; in his draw
ng-rooms Italian sideboards and other
costly furniture, covered with Parian
marbles. and shining in blue and gold;
l his chambers-he had even the hardi-
food TO invade those precincts held sacred
~ men Of honor-French bedsteads, l
'rench tabourets. and French unmen-
ionables; four sofas and two dozen arm
hairs were inventoried piece by piece.
md were said by the orator 10 have cost
he dear people the extraordinary sum OF
6O0i No poor man, continued the whilom
Little Expunger," and now Wandering
Willie" may enter the Kings palace and
eel himself at home there!
Hugh SwInton Legare, scholar. diplomat,
tatesman, charged in his log-cabln