The Baltimore County union. [volume] (Towsontown, Md.) 1865-1909, 1906-11-24
TRAVELLED PRESIDENTS.

In the sense Of having sojournet
abroad even Washington was trav
eled man, though he went outside
the United States but once. Tha
was when, in his youth, he accom-
panied Lawrence Washington in {
tour of the West Indies, which the
latter made in the vain hope of re-
storing his health. But of Washing
tons associates, both of his prime and
his later life, many were distinguish
| ed foreigners, and his quick percep-
ton of the trend of European affairs
was undoubtedly stimulated by his
cosmopolitan acquaintanceship. In
the course of the revolution Wash.
ington could draw for information on
the stores of the experience of Lafay-
ette, Rochambeau, Count Fersen,
Kosciusko and Steuben, two bril-
liant Frenchmen, gifted Swede, a
famous Pole and most observant
German. Washington was visited
after the revolution by most foreign
ers travelling in this country. He
did not need to go to Europe, says
the Boston Transcript. Europe came
to him.
Our second and third presidents,
| Adams and Jefferson, had seen mnch
of the "great world" abroad. They
knew it at first hand. Both had
been diplomats and Jefferson at least
close student of the social conditions
of Europe on the eve of the French
revolution. Madison appears to have
been home-staying man but James
Monroe, who succeeded Madison, was
twice in France-once as minister
and once as special envoy. His name
will ever be associated with the Lou
isiana purchase. He also carried on
important negotiations in Great Bri-
tain and Spain, which made him fa-
miliar with the society of London and
Madrid.
John Quincy Adams may be de-
scribed as travel bred from boyhood.
He was at school in Paris when but
II years old, and in his subsequent
diplomatic career he acquired knowl-
edge of Europe which few Americans
of his time could rival. London,
Berlin, St. Petersburg were familiar
cities to him. He watched at close
range the great game on the Euro
pean chess board, and when he be-
came secretary of state simply moved
from one department Of diplomacy to
another.
Martin Van Buren was the next
of our presidents to gain foreign
experience. He was our minister to
Great Britain just long enough to
feel the whole bitterness of forced
recall when the senate refused to con-
firm his nomination. His martyrdom
helped toward making him president,
however, greatly to the chagrin of
those who thought they had put an
ineffaceable humiliation upon him.
William Henry Harrison was occu-
pying a diplomatic post in South
| America when Jackson was Inaugural
ted, and "Tippecanoe" did not save
him from removal.
Not until sixteen years after Van
Buren went out of the White House
did we have a president who had
known the old world by travel and
residence. Buchanan had been at one
time our minis ter to ST. Petersburg,
and later had represented US at the
court of St. James. Although the
facilities for European travel were
greatly improved after 1850, Of all
our presidents since Buchanan, Roose-
velt is the only one who appears to
have acquired familiarity with Europe
by travel previous to becoming a
presidential candidate. Europe, in
deed, seems to have been considered
the resort Of ex- presidents. Fillmore,
Pierce and Grant travelled extensive
ly in the old world, and Benjamin
Harrison went abroad as chief coun-
sci for Venezuela before the arbitra-
ton tribunal. Pierce. Taylor and
Grant are to be included among those
who had been beyond Our borders be-
fore their candidates., for military
service carried them to Mexico.
The emphasis which Mr.. Bryan's S
friends are placing upon his extensive
foreign travels as qualification for
the presidency suggests that the oc-
o,.,,o,,+e of thot off1ca have heen thus
| favored more than would be general
ly supposed, especially the presidents
of the earlier half of the century.
when travel was much less general
than now. No president had evel
been around the world before hi:
election to Office, to be sure. ane
there are no immediate signs that a
new precedent will be established.
|