The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1900-08-26
FEN WORDS THAT KILLED.
THINGS SAID ON THE STUNT, THAT
WE'RE BETTER LEFT
UNSAID
BLAINE BEATEN BY BURCHARD
Douglas Lost Many secessiOnist
Votes by an Open Declaration of
NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS. "The
Enemy's Country"
St Louis Globe-Democrat.

St Louis Globe-Democrat
II is said that both William ]. BRYAN
and Theodore Roosevelt are going TO be
particularly active on the stump this
year Both are to begin early and to
continue late. 1t may be said, in fact,
that both have begun already with their
speech making. though each is expected
to be far buster In the closing four or
five weeks of the campaign than they
have been thus far. 1t is not expected
that Bryan will equal his record Of
speech-making in 1856, In which canvass
he addressed over 600 audiences. No
ether presidential candidate ever SPOKE
ottener in a campaign or visited so many
states. He far exceeded the record OF
Douglas, Greeley and Blaine in this re,
spect, although each OF these candidates
took very active part in the canvass
in which he participated. In the earlier
Gays OF the government presidential can
dldates deemed 1t beneath the dignity of
the office to which they aspired to go
upon the stump and appca! for the votes
of their fellow citizens. William Henry
Harrison made a few speeches in 1910
though neither he nor any other candi-
date previous to 1860 ever made a speech
making tour of the country. Even Clay,
who was the most effective political
orator of his time and who did good
deal of travelling throughout the country
and comforting with leaders of his party,
never formally took the stump in any
of the cauvasses in which he was a can
didate.
Clay's electioneering activity took diff
ferent direction, however He wrote al
most as many letters as jefferson, but.
unlike the case of Jefferson, all Of them
which were calculated to damage him
were published at incpportuue times.
Some of his letters written in the cam
paign of 1874 were probably responsible
for his defeat in that year Two letters
written by him TO Stephen f. Miller, a
Wing, in Tuscaloosa, Ala, created a
great excitement all over the country
Personally. L could have no objection to
the annexation of Texas SAID Clay in
the Hrst of these letters, 'but [ should
certainly be unwilling to see the existing
Union dissolved or seriously jecparded
for tho sake Of acquiring Texas" Texas
annexation was the burning issue Of the
candidate, was an avOwed and pro-
nounced anneXatiOniSt Van Burens op-
position to annexation defeated him for
the nomination i'll the Democratic con-
veption of 1874, ard the candidacy, after
long contest. went to Polk. The Demo-
cratic party as a whole favored annex
alton, the Southern end being ardent
champions Of that idea. So were most
of the Southern Wings. The Wings of
the North were against it, partly because
they thought it would bring war with
Mexico. but chiefly because they knew it
would add largely so slavery area of the
country. Clay was rather more favor able
to the Northern Wing view than he was
to that of his own section, though he
tried to placate the Southern Wings and
said very little about the question to the
Northern element of his party. Miller,
the Tuscaloosa Wing. was not quite SAT-
! lsticd with Clay's answer to his request
for his candidates views, and Clay wrote
him another letter. 81 have no hesita-
ton IL saying that. far from having
| any personal objection to the anneXa-
ton Of Texas. l should be glad to see it,
without dishonor, without war, with the
| common consent of the Union, and upon
just and fair terms. L do not think that
the subject OF slavery ought to affect
the question, one way or the other"
This settled the question Of Clay's
chances for election. These letters were
| made public, contrary to their writer S
expectation, and they We're published
! throughout the North by the anti-slave
press. Joshua r. Giddings and Cassius
M. Clay, Henry Clays cousin, were book
ed to address Wing meeting in Cleve-
| land on the day that printed copies of
! these letters were placed in their hands
| and they instantly saw that the conces-
| sions made therein would be fatal to
their candidate in the North. The sur
renders which Clay made to the slavery
| interest enraged the more radical portion
| Of the Wings and sent enough of them
over to the Liberty party. which had
abolition for its creed, and which had
James G. Blrney for a standard bearer
| to give the state of New York, which was
decisive that year, as several times be-
fore and often since, to Polk, and with
it the presidency. Birney, who was also
! the candidate Of his party in 1910, re-
! ceived only 1000 votes in the country as 2
whole in that year, but he got $1,000 In
1874, and 1900 Of these were in New
York. This detection from Clayton
| most of them would probably have voted
the Wing ticket if Clay had been silent
on the slavery issue-enabled Polk tt
secure a lead Of 5000 votes in New York
and to gain the presidency.
The next candidate Of Clay's party
Zachary 1dylor, was ldheH III ndnd DS
Thurlow Weed, John ]. Crittenden ant
the rest Of the Wing party managers i'm
mediately after his nomination in 1913
He was allowed to neither talk nor write
except under the direction of his censors
| and he was comparatively silen'
! throughout the canvass. One Louisiana
Wing stakeholder. who was afraid tina
Taylor, If elected, would fall under TIKI
influence of the abolitionists, addressed
| Taylor in something like this fashion
HT am the owner of 100 slaves. and wish
to know whether my property will BIZ
endangered by your election Taylor
Immediately responded thus: my dear
| sir, I am the owner Of 300 slaves" Thai
| a.n-.,o- ma ~ Ia r,reaIlmad To have a nr,ca