The Irish standard., 1908-10-10

1t aroused the enmity of Van Buren's
friends, who laid the blame for Van
Buren's defeat largely on him, and
they remembered this four years later.
when he received the candidacy. Cass'
persistence in remaining In the fight
in the convention of 1874 had the ef-
feet merely Of defeating Van Buren
and of bringing in a dark horse, Polk.
On the eighth ballot Polk, who had
rot previously been considered in con-
nection with the presidency, received
some votes. Then the convention wen:
over to him and he got every vote OIL
the ninth ballot
New York's disappointment at the
defeat of it's Democratic favorite n
the convention may or may not have
had any influence on Polk's vote in that
state. But if it took away any sup
port from him this was more than
neutralized by the detection on the
whig side through the indiscretions
of Clay. The Texas annexation issue.
which made trouble for Van Buren IN
the convention. was fatal to Clay at
the polls. Through the opportunities
of a Southern Whig, Clay was induced
by letters to make concessions to sla-
very on the Texas question. which
may or may not have won him votes
III the South. but which turned votes
against him in the Northern States.
did on the other side OF the Mason
and Dixon line. Birney, the Liberty
partys presidential candidate. received
only 1000 votes in the country as
whole in the canvass Of 1870. He was
in favor Of the abolition of slavery. In
the canvass of 1914 Birney appeared
again. This time he received $4,000
votes, and nearly 10000 Of these wer..
cast for him in the state Of New York.
1t was believed that at least tw,-
thirds of these were drawn from the
Wings. because OF Clay's surrenders
on the slavery issue on the Texas
question. Thus Polk received the
thirty-six electoral votes OF New York
and with them the presidency. At that
time Pennsylvania had twenty-six
votes, Ohio twenty-three, and Virginia,
the leader In the early days. had only
seventeen.
In nV~
all over the country at Clay's defeat
in 1874, and some of his New York
friends who went over to Brney, and
thus helped to cause the defeat, were
inconsolable. But a. little later a New
York diversion defeated the Democrat
ic and elected the Whig candidate. This
was in 1S4s, when Cass was tho DEM
ocratic nominee. and when the Whig
politicians. utilizing Zachary Taylors
military glory in the Mexican war,
just ended, made him the presidential
nominee in place of Clay, who was still
the favorite with the Whig masses,
despite his defeats at the polls in 1924,
1882 and 1874. The anti slavery or
barnburner section Of the Democratic
party in the State of New York. an
gercd at the treatment accorded to
them by the administration section of
their party, aided in organizing the
Free Soil party, which held it's Ma
tional convention Of 1S4s in Buffalo.
and which nominated ex-Presidcnt
Van Buren, for president. The barn
burners, under the lead of Samuel j.
Tilden, Prince John Van Buren, (son
Of the ex-president). David Dudley
Field and others, made a strong call
vass in New York, split the Demo.
cratic party in that state in tho mid
die, and thus gave the state and tho
presidency to Taylor, the Whig cam
djdate. Van Buren's New York friends
had a special grudge against Cass for
aiding to defeat Van Buren, for the
candidacy in 1874. Their influence
was so effective against him that they
polled 100000 votes in the state of
New York, as compared with 114,o00
which went to Cass, the regular can
didate. Taylor received 21s.Ooo votes
in that state. Had the Democrats
been united Cass would have won New
York's electoral vote and thus would
have been chosen president instead of
Taylor.
It was in 1880 that New York. for
the first time in the recollection Of
the present generation Of voters, b.-
came tho dispenser Of the supreme
prize of politics.
May Decide This Election.
In two other presidential canvasses
those Of 1884 and 1sSs-New York
turned the scale also, and in each case
the margin for the winner in that
state was much narrower than 1t had
been in 1880. In 1884 it was the Dem