The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1900-06-17

OF kentuekyi WlLliain nenry All ~ them
were natives Of Virginia. and the pride OF VT,
ginia. then the Mother, OF Presidents, Wouiu
have been inspired In the, support OF eltnsI OF
them. Clay was unavailable because he was .
high Mason and a very large proportion OF me
opposing elements TO Van. Buren, were Anu
Masons. The convention deyoted tnIee uays
10 private conferences between the commltu*s
from each delegation TO agree upon a CANDIDATE.
and the Virginia delegation was the cenue
OF interest. as II was known, that II was evenIH,
ally 10 decide whether Harrison or Scott ,snoulu
be the candidate. Thaddeus Stevens, who was
the immediate representative OF Gen. HARRISON
and the leader Of the Anti-Masons. had me as
surance OF Harrison, that Stevens wouio % ha
the Cabinet II Harrison were elected. ana ne
decided the Virginia delegation 70 support naI-
rson instead Of Scott BY discreeuy Dropping
a letter from Scott 70 Mr.. Granger, N wh,Sn
he expressed approval In some measure OF the
anti-slavery views OF that day; The letter wa
found and promptly decided. ue vTslnians
to support Harrison. John Tyler was at me
OF Clay, but he cordially accepted Harrison as
the candidate. and was unanimously nominaveo
for Vice-President. But for the Scott letter
dele CATION, III quite doubtful whether Harrison
would have been successful over Scott
The Presidential contest OF is44 Is full OF con.
trolling incidents or accidents In politics; Nan
denomination. and a decided majority q me
delegates were either Instructed or pupllcly
pledged TO his support, They could nave hon-
lDHtu IllH1 DN fltlfNllnk NhV sN'
but 1t was adopted obviously because a portion
OF those who were supporting him feared that
he could not be elected. He received a ma
jority OF 20 OF the vote Of the entire convention
on the first ballot, but the same convention. had
adopted the two-thirds rule by q vote OF las
TO lis, and that sealed the fate OF Van Buren,.
as It was known that he could not obtain Ina, q Two W.n
were all prominent and active ,comPetitors
for the nomination. James X. POLK had never
been discussed rs a Presidentlal possibility
II,u mama ~ not avan praSaptpd tn tha nOn-.
vention until the eighth ballot, after several
days devoted to the struggle, IN which great
bitterness had developed. On, the ninth ballot
the friends OF Van Buren, decided to defeat he
leading candidates, who were obstructinG Van
Buren's two-thirds vote, by going to Polk. TN,
unthought OF and nndiscussed candidate, and
for the first time a "darkohorse cSmpsti n,n
The nomination Of Polk was the defeat OF
Henry Clay. He would have distanced Van
Buren, In the race beyond IA doubt, but Polk,
who was at first ridiculed and belittled as a
competitor Of Clay, proved to be the strongest
man the Democratic party, with It's serious
d!sscns.ons on the slavery question growing out
OF the Texas issue, could have presented.
But Henry Clay seemed to be fated, as. every
event OF the campaign developed to his dis
advantage. Senator Silas Wright, Van Bnren,s
chief lieutenant, was nominated FOR Nlce-Presl,
dent. The telegraph line had just been laid
between Washington ard Baltimore. and when
advised of his nomination by telegraph ne
curtly and peremptorily. declined a. the an
DuTfil lblloWNIN IllColil w utiNue 'tn 49,
he been communicated with by letter, with time
to confer with his friends on the subject. he
would have accepted, as the Van Buren elements
soon after the nomination made such arrange
ments with the Polk leaders as to warrant them
In giving an earnest support to the ticket, but
the difficulty then was TO carry, New YORK
Had Wright remained on we mcse wo ,Ir f havs
been met, but as he had hastily and inconsid-
erately declined, he was compelled to leave the
Senate and accept the nomination ior Governor
. u. =, ,r. tha Gtatn far DOLL Ha unn the victory
for himself and for Polk, but suffered a terrible
defeat two years later for reelection thai ended
his career,
were each In itself sufficient 70 turn the. tide
against Clay. The death Of Mr.. M~uhlenberg.
the Democratic candidate for Governor OF
Pennsylvania, soon after the, campaign was
gotten fairly under way, saved the Democrats
from defeat in that state. He had been noml,
mated for Governor after a desperate iaclon4
fight. and as he had run independently against
years before. resulting In the election OF an
anti-Masonic Governor, the party could not
have been thoroughly ~harmonized in his sup
port. lie would have been defeated, in DC
tober, and that would have carried Clay, into
the Presidency In November. His death re-
suited In the union Of the Democrats on Fran
els r. Skunk. who was elected Governor oy tne
narrow majority Of 1897, and that was fatal 70
CLAY. Another illogical incident In New YORK
gave that State 10 Polk instead OF Gay. james
3. Birney was the abolition candidate Tor Pres
DENT, anu Int ISSUE vi INC tdLipseh N"' -,
annexation Of Texas, a new slave state, with
the right to divide II into four new states 70
maintain the slave power OF the south. Gay
was opposed to Texas annexation and the, ok,
tension OF the slave power. but Birney received
IS sl2 votes in New York State alone, four,
ffths OF which would have gone to Clay instead
Of Polk and would have rsyersed ths Vo'e
Gen. TAYLOR was elected President IN lS45
solely because OF an accidental battle fought
at Buena Vista: In this respect he repeated
n = - -lYaD, n HAa mazda pIaGl-
dent solely because he fought the Battle OF
New Orleans on Jan. 8, 1915. a full fortnight
after peace had been declared between Eng
land and the United states, had mere pe ~
never would have reached the Presldency. py
which he was made a political chisftain who
moulded y,I; the political A.. POLICY ssv % the Sad pa won t tSs
battles of Palo Alto, Resaca de la Palma and
Monterey. He was receiving very generous
plaudits from the nation for these victories.
Administration decided 70 halt him in his mill
tary career. Gen. Scott was summoned 70
plan a campaign against the Mexican capNal
and Scott proceeded with an army OF SOM
on his march for the City Of Mexico, As Taylor
was not expected TO fight any, more battles
Scott drew from him nearly. all ms regulars
leaving Taylor only a force Of some four thou
sand mon, chiefly volunteers; Gen. SANTA Anna
then Dictator Of Mexico, finding that Taylor
was isolated with a feeble. army, marched against
nun Wltn llf 1OWtT vi ll' ~ 1--WE
numbering %. 600. and attacked him at Buena
pretty well whipped ali the way through until
1 Whip S5etT' and nd' san ns on Glf his aR Ror ksO With SP his leg as over SeI
the pommel OF the saddle. giving. the order
More grape, Capt, Bragg" and, the Mexican
army, was scattered IN confusion by the deadly
thunders Of Bragg's batteries. was such an
extra ordinary victory that Il, made Gen. TAYLOR
President In spite Of a considerable measure OF
political laundering on his own part.
A.,tn q, 1870 ,n and ,nplitina1 anntdapf ar
incident making a President Of the United
States. The Democratic Convention had as
its competitors such political giants as Cass,
aTSi dnSs tb RSusSI att,s ana fo Ma ,Ss m ana -Sr w dtS.
out success, Franklin Pierce had not been
named as a candidate for the Presidency; had
not been even thought of as such by MS own
HH Mothe aF'e Of Prs;si etar decided to present.
Pierce's name and give him, tho vote Of the
ninth ballot he received the entire vote Of the
body with but four executions, two for Cas-
| and two for Douglas. The party was Their
| the slavery issue, and Piercs,, although com.
| paratively unknown, proved to be q very strong
candidate. He defeated Gen. Scott, the WhiR
nominee. carving every state IN The Inion
| and Tennessee and Kentucky in the South,
The Presidential election Of 1865 turned
upon the vote Of Pennsylvania, in October,
on the state ticket that was intended 70 be
the f%orerunner Of n Union electoral ticket,
and only the mastery ability and tireless ef.
Democrats. and thereby made Buchanan .Presi-
| lent Of the United States. Had Pennsylvania
chosen the Union State ticket in October. the
cassfm, f IN Pennsy yi Ivsnia wS Sea 9aTs BEEN indiana s"S,
and Illinois. and Fremont would have been
chosen President, instead of Buchanan. The
Repnblicans, and ,Americans. who united