The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1905-07-23
THOMAS A. HENDRICKS.
BY SAvOYARD-..In Washington Post.

brillil1t nv in the Senate, but his
dissipated habits destroyed his in
fiuence. Willard Salisbury was from
Delaware, and a gentleman of the
name of Riddle was his colleague.
Lazrus w. Powell a very able and
pure man was the colleague of Gar
rett Davis, but he was looked on as
Southern sympathizer and was barely
tolerated. James r. DOOlittle was
from Wisconsin. He was a Republi-
can, but when the Radicals got COM
plete control of his party he opposed
the Reconstruction acts and subse
quently Joined the Democratic party
He was a man of very great ability
and one of the great lawyers of the
State.
1t was among these men Thomas
A. Hendricks was thrown, and in
Stinctively they saw in him leader
He was a war Democrat, and voted to
the administration men and money
but he never hesitated to criticise the
policy of the government and to de-
hounce the unconstitutional and ar
bitrary arrest of citizens by the mill
tary. He condemned the arrest, i'm
prisonment, and prosecuted, not for
disloyalty to the government, for that
he never was, but for his opposition
to the Republican party. That par
ty found out as early as in 1856 that
it was reasonable to disagree with it.
and by 1863 it was convinced that
it was reasonable to diagree with it.
With the inauguration of Abraham
Lincoln in 1861 it began to think the
Republican party was the same as
the Union, and by 1868 it was con-
WINGED that the Republican party was
a great deal samer than the Union,
a hallucinatiOn that has affected it
from that day to this. The consti-
tuition never had any binding force
on the party, and it and the laws
made in pursuance of it were unlli-
fed by the Republican party time
and again even before the election
of Mr.. Lincoln. 1t was a curious fact
that the Republican party never pur-
sued Hendricks with the insatiate
malice with which it haraSSed VAL
landigham and Voorhees,, and it is
not too much to say that the gov
eminent of George III never visited
a greater outrage on an American
patriot than the administration of
Abraham Lincoln perpetrated on
Clement L. Vallandigham.
When he retired from the Senate
in 1869 Hendricks was one of the
most distinguished men in the coun-
try The year before he had narrow
~ escaped the Ol his parry
for the Presidency, and perhaps it i
was fortunate for him, for defeat was
inevitable the platform being what it
was. Chase might have been elected, |
even on that platform. His election
would have been certain If the DEM |
ocrats had been loyal to him, just as
Greeley's would four years later. had
the party took him for the candidate, |
voted for him solidly. There was a
story that Samuel j. Tilden prevented
the nomination of Chase, which VAL !
landigham strove to bring about, and
the story was supplemented with an |
other to the effect that it was Mrs. |
Kate Chase who brought about the
defeat of Tilden in the winter 1851. |
In 1872 the Democrats nominated |
Hendricks for governor, and he was |
elected, Notwithstanding it was the
year Greeley was so disastrously de- |
feated for President. Hendricks had
been twice defeated for the office of
governor-1S60 and 1868-and now
he was elected after one of the most |
hard fought campaigns ever Indiana !
knew. He was now the pronounced
leader of the party at the West. with |
more Influence than Thurman or |
Morrison. 1t is altogether probable |
that had there been no Greeley
movement he would have been the
nominee of his party in 1872, and he
would have carried Indiana that year
for President, as he did carry it for
governor.
In 1876 Hendricks was a formidable |
candidate for the nomination, but the
demand for Tilden was resistless, and
Hendricks was dragooned into accept |
ing second place. No doubt his name
was a tower of strength to the party
and nobody was surprised when In
diana went Democratic in October.
When the office to which he had been
elected was given to another, he
threw away his only chance for the
Presidency by announcing that he
would not again accept second place.
He might have known that repec-
ton of the head of the ticket meant
he rejection of it's tail, and SO it did.
. In 1884 Hendricks was a delegate to
the national convention and pleaded
for the nomination of Joseph E. Nc
Donald At one time it looked as
though Hendricks himself would be
nominated. Finally, in a fit of inSpi-
ration Cleveland was named, and
Hendricks was again dragooned into
accepting second place. Again he was
elected President, and this time
ne was inaugurated.
He died not long afterward. and
died as he lived-1ndiana's greatest
Democrat.
AID OF FIRE DEPARTMENTS.