The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 1907-07-06

coin S name, is said to nave jumped
from his seat at that challenge, and
shouted Yes, sir. Lincoln can fight.
He is son of Kentucky"
Many Republicans regretted FIRE.
nonts nomination in 1856, and wished
some leader like Seward or Chase had
been selected instead Robert Emmett
Of New York. who had been chairman
pro tenn of the convention, said at a
ratification meeting a few weeks later:
The rush that was made for the name
Fremont when the name was first
whispered was ineSplicable. 1t Is STILL
in a mea sure, a mystery to me. because
am unable to fathom the causes which
should induce such men as were in the
convention to take up, apparently with
out consideration, a man who has no
political antecedents whatever-as
John c. Fremont may be said not to
have any" Judge Emmett added, how
ever: But it was because he had no
political antecedents; because he was
the representative young American;
because he was the type and enbodi-
ment Of everything honest. manly,
self sustaining; because he was indiv-
idual in his character ready for any
emergency, self-sacrifcing for the
good of those wis are connected with
him in fortune and in misfortune. 1t
was because those things were fresh
in the minds Of the delegates that they
said is the crisis in which such a man
as John C. Fremont is better calculat-
ed than any Of your old politicians to
lead US on to victory"
The Republican party was young its
issues were new, the crisis was deem
ed to be different from any that had
previously come to the country. and
| therefore the young men who constitut-
ed the majority of the convention and
the bulk of the party concentrated on
q young man for standard bearer.
!! His youthful wi fe,too, Thomas H. Ben
tons daughter, with whom Fremont
had contracted a romantic marriage
few years earlier. and who was we'll
known and personally popular. was an
asset of great Consequence on FREE
anont's side. She figured conspicuously
by her first name. Jessie, In the CAM
paign songs of the year. This element
Of youthfulness. in the party and it's
candidates. and the vigor and the en-
thusiasm which are commonly connect
ed with 1t. went far toward overcoming
the two things which the Republicans
lacked in that first national campaign
of neutrality-suspicious. and money.
They were compelled to do their or
|Eanizing after the national canvass
started. and their creed and their aims
were deemed by large portion Of the
business element Of the country to be
radical and disruptive. Therefore their
campaign fund was small.
1t was the good fortune Of nearly
all the early Republican chieftains and
their Democratic rivals to be young
enough to figure as aspirants in several
presidential campaigns. Buchanan,
who defeated Fremont. was one of the
men who deadlocked the Democratic
convention Of 1874 and compelled the
delegates to give up all the big as
spirants and concentrate on some new
man. That is how Polk got the can
didacy. Buchanan remained In the role
, Of a presidency seeker for a dozen
years. AT last the nomination came
i to him in 1855, because. by being out
4. Of the country in 1854. when Douglas
=: threw his dynamite bomb OF Kansas
Nebraska bill into politics. he was not
compelled to take sides on that n1ea-
:. sure at that time Therefore, he was
/! more available than was any of the
( Democratic chiefs who were at home
during that contest of 1s54-55. He was
less likely to arouse antagonism in his
. party in the North or South than were
i. those who took part in he fight.
I idential quantity as early as 1882. when
he with Cass, Buchanan and Marcy
:. tied up the convention and brought in
+ Pierce as a neutral parsonage. Douglas
was prominent in the convention OF
+ 1856. which nominated Buchanan, and
!; he split the party in the Charleston
[ CONVENTION Of 1860, the South refusing
{. to support him. He had a long lead
:, over all the other aspirants. but he
lacked the two thirds vote which was
Z required. Even when Douglas died, in
!. 1851 he was only 4s years Of age.
), Seward and Chase. who were men,
toned in the Republican convention OF
/. 1855, were prominent in the convention
I. Of 1860, and Seward led at the outset
I. in the balloting. Chase lived to be
: mentioned as a possibility for many
years later. There was a serious belief