The Baltimore County union. [volume] (Towsontown, Md.) 1865-1909, 1904-11-26
5W DETEArED CANDIDATES FELT.

test for the Presidency and then miss
-soinetimes by the slenderest of
margins?
In many instances our Presidents
have tasted of both the bitter and the
sweet Of politics. They have known
what it was to go down in defeat, and
they have also experienced the emo
tion Of victory. This was the case
with John Quincy Adams, Martin
Van Buren. General Benjamin Har
rison and Grover Cleveland.
These men seemed to accept both
victory and defeat with philosophy.
In other countries an unsuccessful
dash for throne is frequently fol-
lowed by tragic consequences. Here
it is accepted as regular occurrence
once il every four years.
ItRas Henry Clay who said that he
would rather be right than President.
His unsuccessful attempts to achieve
his deares ambition are known to
every American.
After his lefeat by Andrew Jackson,
he felt very bitter, and did not at
tempt to conseal his feelings. From
that day until the hour of his death
possibility of ieaching the Presidency
at some time lever entirely deserted
him, and even after his defeat by Polk
in 1874 he made hard fight against
Taylor III I848-his last great political
battle.
General Winfield Soft Hancock was
one ofthe defeated Presidential candi-
dates who accepted the result with
great calmness. His wife reported
that at 7 o'clock on the evening of
election he had yielded to extreme
WEAKNESS, after FIVE months of hard
campaigning, and went to bed, beg
ging her not to disturb him, as the
news of the result could wait till the
next morning.
At daylight he awoke and turning to
his wife, asked for the news. She
steeled herself up to the ordeal, and
said, as quietly as possible
"It has been complete Waterloo
for you."
"Thatis all right, answered. II
can stand it."
And in another moment he was
asleep again.
Very few men came nearer the
Presidency without obtaining the
coveted prize than James G. Blame,
and yet he managed to accept his fate
with better grace than Henry Clay,
the other idol of his party.
It was in the convention of 1876
that Ingersoll made hisfamous plum
ed Knight" speech but in spite of
that outburst of oratory Hayes was
the successful man. Before the de-
cisive vote had been fully counted
Blaine was writing a letter of con-
graduation to Hayes and assuring
him that Maine would give him as
big a majority as it would have given
himself.
When Blaine did receive the NOM
ination he was confident of his elec-
ton. His defeat must have been a
severe disappointment ; but ifit was, he
controlled his feelings very successful
ly. The day following the election,
William Walter Phelps sent him a
telegram of coincidence ending with
"Are you fairly well ?" Blaine an
swered: "Never better in my life. !"
Probably the most tragic episode
in the history of Presidential elections
was the candidacy of Horace Greeley,
followed by the breaking down of his
robust body and mind, and by his
death.
No one ever knew just how Samuel
J. Tilden felt over the result Of the
contest of 1876. He was bachelor
and quite reserved in his personal hab-
its, and his innermost thoughts and
feelings were known to very few
men. He was practically a recluse
after the election and retired to his
apartments and was extremely cau-
tious in all he said or did concerning
the controversy of that time.
General Mcclellan was very much
disappointed man when he learned of
the result of his political campaign.
but he was scarcely surprised at the
result and had very little to say about
it even to his intimates.
Grover Cleveland received the an
nouncement of the result of 1888 with
a stolidity of countenance that amaz-
ed where it did not irritate his friends.
They had gone into the campaign in
the belief that it was a sure thing ;
and when the returns of the election
were received they sustained a shock
from which they did not recover for
many days.
But Cleveland himself received the
returns with calmness that would
have made the Sphinx look like a
nervous and irritated pile of rock.
Before dusk of the day when the re-
suit was known he was calmly arrang-
ing his plans for one of his favorite
fishing trips.
This apparent indifference to results
was also true of Benjamin Harrison
who thought that he would be elected
in 1892. He took the result like a
stole, and Immediately began to make
preparations for lecturing and for re-
suming his practice of law.
William Jennings Bryan, while not
showing the coldness and indifference
of Cleveland and Harrison, received
the news of his two defeats with a
calmness which was proof of the self
control of the man. He heard the
news of the result of his first CAM
paign at his home in Lincoln, Ne
braska, with smiling countenance,
and if he felt any chagrin he did not
show it to those who surrounded him.
His successful competitor on each oc-
casion had not been fairly inaugurated
before the champion ofthe silver forces
was laying out plans for the contest
four years from that time.