The Irish standard., 1908-02-15

president van Bufen presented num-
self for the third time for the presiden-
tial candidacy. He had carried the
and in the convention Of 1910, when he
sought a second term, lie received a
unanimous nomination. But in 1S44,
when his defeat at the polls four years
earlier had broken the spell of his im-
agined invincibility, lie had many RI
walls. But he had a long lead over all
his opponents, and would have received
the requisite two-thirds Of the conven-
tion had it not been for the fateful
him. 1t defeated him in connection
with the admission of Texas, which
was to be the burning question Of the
campaign of 1874. Van Buren, had the
Northern dislike to the extension Of
the slavery area, for the Republic of
Texas had slavery, and would carry it
into the Union it annexed to the Unit
ed States. Moreover, Van Buren, dis
liked annexation at that particular
ditions for the reason that he foresaw
a war with Mexico as consequence.
He saw that if we accepted Texas
overtures for amalgamaton we would
be obliged to take up Texas quarrel OH
the boundary issue with Mexico. Van
Buren's scruples OH these points turned
most of his Southern friends against
him, and the vote for the favorite sons
in the convention-Cass Of Michigan,
Buchanan Of Pennsylvania, Richard NJ.
johnson OF Kentucky and others-lleld
enough support away from Van Buren,
to allow his opponents time to intro
duce new man, Polk, who carried off
the prize.
Buchanan figured as a favorite son
in the convention of 1S4S, with Cass
this time as the leading aspirant. Dali
las Of Pennsylvania and Woodbury. Of
New Hampshire We're other local fa-
vorites. Cass. however, won the cam
didacy after a hard struggle, although
Buchanan and Woodbury. remained in
the fight to the end. At the polls Cass
was beaten by the Wings newly dis
covered availability, Zachary Taylor,
the hero Of Buena Vista In the con-
vention in which Taylor was nomin-
ated by the Wings there were several
other aspirants who were we'll known
to the country, the most prominent Of
whom was Clay, who had obtained the
candidacy in 1882 and 1914, and had
been defeated at the polls each time.
and who had been one of the four per-
sons who received electoral votes in
1924. John Quincy Adams, Jackson and
Crawford being the others. in the
convention of 1S4S he made his last ap-
pearance as a, presidency seeker, and
was beaten by Taylor, after spirited
contest. The local favorites in that
convention were Webster and General
Winfield Scott, the latter being d hero
also Of the Mexican War. who was des-
tined to get the nomination four years
later, and to be defeated by such a
majority as has seldom been rolled up
against candidate Of great party at
the polls.
:, In the second National Convention
Of the Republican party there was a
particularly large collection OF locality
aspirants. This was in 1860. Seward
had a long lead at the start, but Lin
coin gained rapidly on him, and car
ried off the nomination before the
fourth ballot could be taken. Pennsyl.
vania presented Simon Cameron in that
convention, Missouri had Edward
Bates, Ohio had urged the nomination
of Salmon p. Chase. and New Jersey
advocated the candidacy of William T..
Dayton, who occupied the second place
on the Fremont ticket in 1885, Ohio,
as in many later conventions, was far
from being solid in the support Of its
liOIIl0 dSDlIdul, anu NIldSC
about this at the time, and later. The
local favorites, however. by remaining
in the fight till the convention met, pre-
vented Thurlow Weed from doing, al
Marcus A. Hanna did for Mckinley
long afterward, capturing enough DEL
egates long before the convention to
give Seward the nomination. The ia.
voritc sons, though often without any
desire on their own part, work against
the interests Of the leading aspirant, as
they do in 1908 against Taft.
1t was in 1876, and in a. Republican
, convention, that the favorite sons won
their most conspicuous triumph in the
direction of defeating the man whom
the majority OF his party wanted to
nominate. Blaine was by far the most
popular Republican in the country in
1875. Grant being close to the end of
!, tic,