The Montgomery advertiser., 1904-04-12

Chester A. Arthur for the nomination.
 though there was a division in the party
 in the Empire State, and possibly in the
 delegation. Again Blaine was candidate
 and the favorite in the balloting, and the
 nomination went to hiTu on the fourth
 roll-call. Perhaps there never was else-
 where in national conventlon-not even in Chicago. in Isee-such delirium as was
 seen on that occasion. The darling of the party was now the commissioned leader of the party, and he carried 1t to defeat, but it was to politics what the charge of Pickett was to arms. In 1888 New York again had a favorite son-Chauncey De- pew, the debonair, a statesman, a law yer a scholar. wit, an orator, a busi- , ness man and a millionaire. John Sher-
 man would have been nominated had the
 colored troops from the South kept ranks
 and not gone foraging. There Is a story
 that Senator Allison would have been
 nominated if Chauncey Depew had not resented the intense hostility of the gran-
 gers to his candidacy, on the ground that
 he was the President of a great railroad
 corporation, and the story has the air of
 great probability. Ben Harrison was fn-
 ally successful. and New York had se-
 cured second-rate victory as she had
 in 1876. New York can scarcely be said
 to have been a party to the struggle for the Republican nomination in 1896. That
 was a battle between Mark Hanna and
 Tom Reed, and when the latter lost sev-
 erai New England States the campaign
 was practically won. There was but one
 ballot, and Mckinley received 6s1 to
 Reeds S4 out of a possible 906.
 New York has never dominated politi-
 cally as she does financially and com
 mercially Hamilton was the founder of
 the Federal party and the premier of
 Washingtons administration, but New
 York played second fiddle to New Eng lang in Federal council, so far as the
 politics of the party was concerned. The Virginia dynasty ruled the old Repub- lican party of Jefferson and the Clintons of New York could not prevail against it. but had to follow or suffer defeat. In 1872 De Witt Clinton rebelled, and ran for President against Madison. He car- ried New England-all but Vermont New York, New Jersey, Delaware and part of Maryland, but in the college he had but eighty votes, against Madi- sons 12S. Nor did New York dominate in Whig councils in proportion to her popu- lation. It never gave the Wings can- didate for President, though Thurlow Weed controlled the national convention of 1S4S When the Democratic Party grew out of the election of John Q. Adams In 1s24-25, it was dominated by Gen. Jackson until his death. in 1e45. Van Buren. a New Yorker, was twice nominated for President, but 1t was more Jackson's work than New York's It was not until after the war that New York
 dominated in Democratic politics.
 Tn the last nine Democratic National conventions New York determined the result in four; in three there was no con- test, and in two her delegations were overthrown. Opportunity seems to never
 weary of soliciting the Democratic party, and the party Is eft careless of taking
 advantage Of suspicious occasions. In
 1888 there was a chance for Democratic
 restoration, but the opportunity was re-
 jectcd, and Democracy got so 1t could
 subsist on the thistles of heresy and the chaff of defeat A traditional sound- money party, in 1868, the platform was plea for an irredeemable paper currency that was to be legal tender for all
 debts, public and private, except in con- tracts where it was expressly excluded.
 That was the year when demagogue elo- ouence first separated our population into
 ''bond holders" and "plow-holders." The convention spent three days balloting be- tween Pendleton, Hancock, Hendricks and Andy Johnson. The plan was to nom- mate Salmon P. Chase, but the precious moment was frittered, and with it fled victory It was one of the whims of fate, one of the tricks the jade loves to play on the children of the earth.
 The most brilliant woman In America was in New York that July scheminG for the political advancement of the father ste ;dolized. There have been
 more beautiful women perhaps more in-
 teIlectual women. possibly more graceful
 women. mayhep more tactful women in
 this western world than Kate Chase; but
 for beauty. intelligence. grace and tact
 ccnioined, she surpassed all rivals, and
 was first at a capital that knew Garcia
 and Catacazy from the Eastern world,
 and admired Mrs. Attorney-Generai Will
 Hams and Mrs. Senator Ames. of our
 own country. She was to political so-
 ciety of the National Capital what Sid
 dcns had been to art, what Eliot was to
 letters She was to our politics what
 Dsvonshire was to English politics-De-
 vonshire, whose lips. more persuasive
 than those of Fox himself, had carried