Every evening, Wilmington daily commercial., 1920-09-28
Presidential Campaigns
VIII. Tho Pserce-6cott Rscs a 1852.
ByRro1ertc j. Hask1n
ByPrederic J. Haskin.

4 sIIEIfeICy DpIoI6 k1luCtp6 VI BOuiiate
a war hero for President Winhsld Scott
was the hero of the War N 1872 and of
tho War with Mexico. He had boeD do
/ fea.od in the convention by q marrow mar
| gin by William Horny Harrison whom it
was necessary 20 choose hero candidate
| to oppose Van Buron in 1870. That was
/ Tippecanoe agninst Jundy's lane, and
| Tippecanoc won. As will be remembered
| Scott was defeated in 1910 by A l~tter
written to secure Abolition support in
| New York. Writing letters wss the one
great business of General Scott's bfs.
| He wrote letters TO everybody, about
everything, and at all times. His letters
ruined him and bis party, and when the
votes were counted it wss found that ne
had been overwhelmingly defeated by the
Democratic OZARK horSs, I" Franklin Pierce
Scott carried only four states IN the Union,
receiving but ~ electoral votes to Pierce's
254.
Whom President Taylor died be was
succeeded IN the White House by Millard
Fillmore. AS has been the case in every
instance III which a Vice President has
become chief magistrate with a single
cxception) the policy Of the adninistra--
ton was reversed Taylor had permitted
his policy TO be dictated by the con
servative Wings. Fillmore wns liberal.
AS a result OF the right-about-face attitude
taken by Daniel Webatcr who went over
TO the non-interference-v vith-slavery side
in his speech of March z, and Of the suc-
cession of Fillmore, all parties w-ro
enabled 10 get together once moro on q
compromise basis.
ONE MORE coxpnosnsE.
II was Henry Clay, the Great Pacihca-
tor, whose compromises had kept him
out Of the White House, who WAS once
more called 10 the front in his old age %
bring about peace. The Compromise of
1850 was arranged. IL included several
measures. The most important was the
admission of California as Free State,
as that broke the balance Of power bo-
tween Free and Slave states in the United
States Senate. II was the orc conceesion
to the North, but il was Of far greater
Importance than the South realized. To
the other side the concessions we're q
stringent Fugitive Slave iav, the main
tenance of slavery IN the District Of Co
lumbia, the payment 70 Texas Of $40 ,OCO,-
900 for yielding it's claims 10 New MEXICO,
and the organization of Utah and New
Mexico az territories without restrictions
az to slavery. By this compronise, Henry
Clay united the warring elements Of the
AttUfpffHtft N,1EtF hflo 1T1ttOFfs ABA at
time the party which he organized and had
csptained for 50 many years.
President Fillmore was a candidate for
the nomination. General Scott and Mr.
Webster were the other aspirants. Mr..
Fillmore had urged the COMPROMISE
through Congress and had approved II.
He wished the whole country 70 accept u
as the final disposition Of the whole
slavery question. The country, for the
most part, wished 20 accept IT IS such.
The Democratic convention approved.
The Wings hah to do so. To swallow the
Fillrnore-ClayI compromise the northern
Wings were forced, but they would not
swallow Fillmore So they took Scott,
whose syrnpathies were believed 20 be
with the anti-slavery wing OF the party.
General Scott was nominated on the
fIfty-third ballot IN the convention, after
heated sessions In which delegate would
now and then arise 70 sprIng letter from
Scott. When the nomination WAS made,
Senator Jones' OF Tennessee, the Lean
Jimmy Jones who had twice defeated
James X. Polk for governor, leaped 10 the
platform with letter from General Scott
It was q letter of acceptance couched in
less than hundred words, but pledglng
loyal and exclusive support 10 the plat
form. That all too sudden letter helped
TO do his business in November
ANOTHER yoTE-wRITER-
General Scott had in years gone by
affiliated with the NetlvIst party IN Penn
sylvania TO the extent Of writing letters
attacking the Catholics and opposing the
foreign element IN politics. These old
letters the Democrats used against him
with great effect Horace Greeley shouted
L L L. I - T. -.
defend Scott from Scott's letters, but Il
was of no avail.
General Scott himself took the stump N
an effort to WIN over the voters of foreign
blood. He .as great fatterer' and his
references TO the frich Irish brogue" and
the sweet German accent" OF some of MS
hearers were nothing less than ludicrous.
The Wings soon realized that Scott would
be defeated, but the candidate hoped on.
When it was al over he gave out an inter
view in which he declared that he owed
his defeat TO the New York Herald, the
Webster detection and the lukewazmness
of the Fillmore administration.
Daniel Webster consented 20 become
the head of a boiling Union ticket, but he
died few days before the election and his
little party died with him. A few days
before his death Webster sent for his
bosom friend, Peter Harvey, and asked:
is Rufus Choate going 20 vote for Scott?'
81 don't know" was Harveys reply, "but
| think not" Then Webster said: TEL
him not 10 ruin his future by voting for
Scott, and tell him, as my dying message TO
him, that after the second day Of Novem-
Der Eext the Whig party as a national
party viii exist only IN history" The
publication of this interview in the Demo
cratic papers few days before the cleo
tion did not aid the Wings dying cause,
although Choate announced his fealty 10
Scott. Webster's prediction was correct.
In 1852 the Wing party died and IN the
sameyear Henry Clay and Daniel Web
ster, its greatest leaders ard its worst
enemies, were gathered to their fathers.
In the election the Whig ticket carried but
four Massachusetts, and Vermont
In New England and Tennessee and Ken
tueky In the South.
THE 'MAINEAcs."
In the Democratic party that wear
there was great fight for the Presidential
nomination. Lewis Cass, James Buehan-
an, Stephen A. Douglas, and William L.
Marcy were the principals, but from the
first it was believed that dark horse"
would win. Sam Houston, then Senator
from Texas, who had been governor of
Tennessee and president of the Republic
of Texas, was formidable possibility for
awhile, But Houston had lately become a