The Ely miner. [volume] (Ely, Minn.) 1895-1986, 1931-10-09

turning TO their next best bet, the Anti.
Masons picked upon William Writ of Maryland
as their choice. Writ had been one of the at
torneys who had prosecuted Aaron Burr for
treason had served attorney general in the
cabinets of both Madison and Monroe and was
widely regarded as an able and outstanding
man. So when the first national nominating
convention ever held in the United States as
sembled in the old Athenaeum in Baltimore in
September, 1881, it selected Writ as its choice
for candidate for President and named Amos
Ellmaker of Pennsylvania as his running mate,
for vice president. And this despite the fact
that Writ was Mason of many years standing
and had never renowned his allegiance to that
order!
His letter of acceptance has often been cited
as a practical remuneration" of Masonry but
it was far from that. In it he said in sub
stance that both in conversation and in letters
to friends, he had spoken of the contentious
over Masonry as q subject more fit for farce
than tragedy and "had been grieved at seeing
some of my friends involved in what appeared
to me such wild and unjust persecution
against so harmless an institution as Free
masonry"
The candidate of the Anti-Masons then ad-
mitted his ideas upon the subject had under
gone some modification, however, and that he
did find some cause for alarm in the actions
of .'overZealOus members of the order" Con-
corning the party he was asked to lead,
Writ wrote, after describing his own utilization
with Masonry extending over a period of 30
years:
II had supposed that the very principles OF
your union a war Of indiscriminate pro-
scription against all persons throughout the
United States who had ever borne the name
of Mason that you would put in nomination no
persons who had ever been Mason and who
would not moreover pledge himself to become
party to such war of indiscriminate extermina-
ton and WELD the appointing power Of the office
under your dictation; who would not, in short
become the president of your party instead Of be-
ing the President of the United States. I am
happy to find that this is an error"
This attitude of their candidate was far from
satisfactory to the more earnest of the Anti
MasOns and they became even more dissatisfied
when the campaign got under way. For Writ
made no attempt to carry on on active cam
paign. How plainly he felt that an unpleasant
job had been wished off on him" and that there
was no hope of his being elected is shown by
a letter which he wrote to Judge Carr, an init
mate friend. In it he said:
81 had thought had no right to object to the
ti-NIasons proposing to the consideration
of the people for the office of President. Every
other chance Of uniting the opposition Ito
Jackson) had vanished This alone remained
and. faint as it was considered it my duty to
permit the offer to be made 1t has been made
the National Republicans have declared
against the union, which alone had in view, !
can perceive neither dignity nor decency in con-
tinuing the nomination.
ut is true that when 1 accepted the nomina-
ton knew that this state of things might arise.
But it is not true that knew, if it should arise,
the anti-Masons would still persist in the NOM
nation It never entered into my imagination
that they could wish to do vain and foolish
a thing What end can 1t answer to themselves?
IT will only expose their weakness They cannot
carry a single state, except, perhaps, Vermont.
In such circumstances what figure will
they and their candidate make in Presidential
contest. 1t will annihilate them and me, too, by
the mere force of ridicule.
He was a true prophet. Not only did Cha.
fail to beat Jackson as Writ had hoped but, as
he had also predicted, Vermont, with it's seven
electoral votes was the only state carried by the
anti-Masons Even John Floyd of Georgia, who
ran as an independent, did better than that He
got IL electoral votes. After the election Of
1892 this party disappeared from the national
scene. Most of its members were absorbed by
the Wings, although in Pennsylvania it con.
tinued its identity for several years and elected
a governor in 1885. But even though 1t played
such small part on the American political
stage, the anti-Masonic party and its standard
bearer, William Writ, are deserving Of remem.
brance as the party which gave to the country
the national convention system.
"a by Western Newspaper Unon)