The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1906-09-25

anu MA De AaAItA . E'FA
.dols-Henry Clay. Stephen A. Doug
James @. Blaine. and William Jen-
BRYAN. Washington and In
DIN were IN another class. yenerattd
rather than admired, trusted more
loved. Jackson was n military
hero and got 10 Re the head Ct Il party,
bat he cannot be classed as "a man
Of magnetism" New England admired
Webster for his giant intellect. despite
laxity Of his morals and the 1910
syncrasy Of his integrity. The south
Calhoun for his exquisite m
and venarated him for the Ro-
nan ausJerity Of his private character.
John c. Breckenridge was the fayo"lte !
Of an epoch and Thaddeus Stevens was
the incarnation of an idea.
But. after all, Clay, Douglas, Blaine.
and Bryan are our popular idols Ard f,
Of these Clay was immeasurably me
He was not only a great
orator, but Il grea- statesman. he
was not only a superb popular leader,
but an u~nrivaled constructive states
man. He made the war Of 1912. He
was the a%rtiioer OF h mlScaI!"d
Missouri Compromise" He saved me
country from revolution and blood IN
the real compromise IF 1888. He wore
the mantle of Alexander Hamilton rs
the apostle OF the "AmericAn system
of P~rOtec.ion." He again aVerted wfr
by the compromise of 1890. HIS fOl-
lowing was the most devoted army
America ever had. Men loved him 10
delirium. Though he was a chaSte
man. women ravsd about him. lie
was Alcibiades without his VICES and
Coriolanus without his treason. Thrice
he was his party's candidate for pres!-
lent and thrice he vas defeated, but
his fame is the brighter for it, and
he lives in history as the knightliest
man in our entire citizenship.
Douclas. like Clay, sprang from he
people. He did not have the graceful
person, the mellifuent voice. the COM
manding individuality Of Clay; but he
was the greatest debater of an age
richer IN great debaters than any other
epoch of our annals. Fsa knew 10
history but American history; he was
acquainted with no literature but the
literature of American politics. Il IS
doubtful if he knew whether the
house of Tudor preceded the house OF
Plantagenet or succeeded the house
of Stuart. He probably could not have
told whether William | reigned be-
fore or after Edward II. If he 2ver
read a classic. he KEEP, that fact to
himself. There is not a DOetical QUO
tatiOn in all his speeches. He was dc
void Of the sense of humor. but on the
stump he was matchlesS, and in the
senate, that contained TOOmbs and
Davis, Fessenden and Sumner. Benja-
min and CrittenGen. Seward and Chase
he was the first personality and tn
strongest man.
Douglas might have bean president
if he had organized his following IN
1852 or 1856, as he organized il in 1850.
But the fact is that Douglas did not
court the nomination in 1852 or 1855.
He felt that the senate was his held,
and he was right. Men loved him de-
votedly. He was a~DDrOachable and
cOnvivial. He lived fast and died early
| shall not speculate IN what might
have been had he survived the war.
Would he have sustained Lincoln in
~suspending the con tuition for the
preservation of the union? 1t does not
require a very vivid imagination 20
speculate that his death was rs neCes-
sary to the triumph of the union arms
as Stonewall Jackson's. What if he
had Led the political revolt that Nc
Clellan headed?
James G. Blaine was more loved BY
his following thar Douglas was by his,
or Bryan is by his; but men did not
idOlize him as they did Clay. He was
in congress while Grant, Thomas, Sher-
man, and Sheridan were in the field,
but nome of these was the popular idol
Blaine was. Conkling was an ADLER
man, Carpenter an ADLER and a mora
brilliant man. Morton n man:
but the young guard everywhere sWoTe
by the man from Maine Ben Hill
endorsed him IN the famous debate,
but he emerged from it "a plume1
knight, who threw his shining lance
full and fair in the braZen face Of
treason Carpenter set him upside
down, and Thurman turned him inside
out in the great debate on the DISPOSE
ton Of the proceeds of the Geneva
Award" but the galleries rose 10 him.
No other man Of his day could have
survived the "MulligaR Letters" AMI
it is a tribute TO him that millions II
his followers never read them.
He would have teen president If he
had oteyed his own instincts. Late
in 1884. against his own judgment. he
was dragged to the middle west. He
insisted that the battle ground was
New York and was kept in Ohio and
Indiana the ten days that would have
made New York safe. There was Il
fatality in il. and maybe a benidc-nt
Providence that Clay and Douglas and
Blaine all failed in the ambition to lie
president
Mr.. Bryan is Just come from forejen
parts. where he went 10 study politi-
Ca systems. Before he got home he
republicans We're walking the fgOr:
now the democrats are walking tie
floor But Mr.. Bryan is q mar Of
w. ~@ q ~