The Montgomery advertiser., 1901-09-01
TALES OF CLOAKROOM
(continued from Page I'D

l (Continued from Page 17.l
 aouri Democrats for Van turned to bitter loathing, and they wrathfully l changed the name of Van Buren coun- Y ty to Cass and that of Kinderhook to Benton. The old proverb says: Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned." That may or may not be true. At any rate. the scorn of Missouri Democrats is terrific. "SEzet is revenge" declares Byron. He ought to have known. Van Buren revenged himself on Cass. and the Missouri Democrats revenged them selves on Van.
 Martin Van Buren is an enigma of American history, just as the Duke or Marlborough is an enigma of English history. Some one says of the Duke: | He never fought battle which he | did not win. never besieged city which he did not take, never made a | movement which was not successful" l The same may be said of Van Buren in politics until after his election to the Presidency. The same fate has | come to the great Englishman, and the great American in this: Nobody has a kind word for either. Most assuredly they do not need the warning words of the Bible as tcA%oS danger of getting into the condition when all men speak SOOQ OI 1AdNlDOIOUkh HAS lAAS one great advantage over the Sage of kinderhook:" Even his bitterest ene- mics his most vicious detractors, must ex necessitate ref admit and do admit his consummate genius for war. But the heroic eneIDies of Van Buren not only iterated and reiterated the accusa- tion that he was a cold hearted, self serving trickster, a thimberrigging political sleight of hand performer, but they deny to him that capacity which he must have possessG and which his success ipso facto proves that he did pOS4eAa-
 Nor are the reasons far to seek of the woeful historic plight of the British soldier. the first captain of his age, and of the American President, the first diplomatist of his age. the well beloved of Andrew Jackson. Avarice, a vice of ignoble souls. a sordidness which has no parallel among men of brains. cou- pied with an astonishing lack of fidel- itw to any sovereign or to 'any cause. are the foul blots on the escutcheon ot the hero of RamelIius, Malplaquet. Blenheim and OudInarde, while Van Buren suffers from the contrast be- tween himself and Jackson, from the ridicule heaped or him by the Whlgs in the coonskin. log cabin. hard cider hYsteria of 1S40. which ended In ms defeat. and most of all perhapS rom his defection in Js4S. By that caper ne alienated the affections of the Demo crats. Consequently there is no one in- terested in defending him in the forum of history or at the bar of posterity He not only gave the coup de grace to his own fame but he rendered lmpos- sible a great career to his son. Prince John.~ one of the most brilliant of the children of men. A fine. but cruel and unfilial mot Is recorded of John. Once while President his father was chiding him for his wild ways. John retorted: You think you are a great historic parsonage, but you will be remembered chiefly because you are the father of John Van Buren,"
 ' In a former letter I set forth two fine ep4grams. In a recent. magazine article Professor Goldwin Smith gives one by the Duke of Wellington as fol- | lows:
 When he first went to the court of Louis XVIII. the French marshals whom he had defeated turned their backs upon him. The King apologized for their r1deDess. iGeYGr mipds your