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Personal feuds have played their
part , and n fateful one , In the hIs-
tory of the prcsldency. Had not Alexander -
t1IHlor Hamilton been the unyielding
toe uf Aaron Burr , the latter , and not
Jefferson , would have succeeded the
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Aaron Burr
older Adams ; but even more moment-
' 0118 In Its consequences was the long
'battle between Andrew Jackson and
: Henry Clare When Jackson first ran
: for the presidency , In 1824 , the candidates -
' dates 1 opposing him were Adams ,
Crawford and CIa ) . . None of the four
_ secured : a majority of the electoral
college , and the election thus devolved
.ed upon the House , with choIce to
ibe made from the three candldates-
. ! Adams , Crawford and Jacltson-who
il1ad received the most electoral votes.
'This debarred Clay , who , forced , as he
expressed It , to choose betwenn two
'evlls , announced that he had declaed
'to support Adams. But Clay's deter-
ImlnaUoa no sooner became known
than some of Jackson's frIends attempted -
tempted to drive him from It. at-I
A tow days before the time set for
1.110 election In the House a letter apI I
, Iwarel In a Philadelphia newspaper ,
: naserting that Clay had agreed to sup
: port Adams upon oI1lHton ! that he be
. made Secretary of State. The same
'terms , the letter alleged , had been of
erell ' to Jaclson's friends ; but none
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Roscoe Conklin
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. ' of them would "descend to such mean
i ' barter and sale. " The letter was
( : anonymous , but purported to be writ-
ten by a member of the House. Clay
i ; nt once published a card , In which he
I pronounced \ writer "a dastard and
i a liar , " who , If he dared avow his
name , would forthwith bo called to
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: 'the field. Two days later the letter
II : s , was acknowledged br a witless mom
: her from Pennsj IYanla , Kremer by I I
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II 'Ilame , who asserted that the statements - I I
, ; ments he had made were true , and
, , that he was ready to prove them. A
: duel with such a character was out
, ; I -or the question. Something , however ,
had to be done , and Clay immediately
' demanded an Investigation b1 a spe-
- -
clal committee of the House. Such a
commIttee was duly selected. None
of Its members had supported Clay for
the presldenc Kremer promptly declared -
clarcd hIs willingness to meet the inquiry -
quIry , but In the end the committee
reported that ho had declined to ap-
pear before It , sending Instead a communication -
mt\nlcatlon In which he denIed time
power of the House to compel him lo
testify. No further action was taken :
and In thIs shape , for the time being ,
the matter rested.
Soon , however , came the election of
Adams by the House , followed quickly
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Alexander Hamilton.
by his appoIntment of Clay as his Sec-
retary of State. Though It Is now
generally acknowledged that there
has been no bargain between Adams
and Clay , It was natural that , at the
momeut , the rank and file of Ja.ck-
son's following should regard Clay's
appoIntment as conclusIve proof that
such a deal had been made. By accepting -
cepting It Clay made himself the vIc-
tim of circumstantial evidence. As
11. matter of fact , he hesitated to ac-
copt the place , and finally assumed !
its duties with reluctance. What chiefly -
ly determined him was the belief that
If he did not accept It would be
argued that he dared not. This to
Clay was more obnoxious than the
other horn of he i dilemma He , there-
fore , took the alternative of bold defi-
anco ; but In so doIng commUted a
calamitous error.
In 1880 the unrelenting animosity of
Henry B Payne alone prevented Allen
G. 1'hurman from being made the
nominee of the democratic' national
convention. In 1857 : Payne was a
candidate for the democratic nomina-
tion for governor of Ohio. The convention -
vention met in Columbus , and Thur-
man , then fresh from a perIod of brll-
t
:4Si
_ . James G. Blaine
1IP-'lt service on the supreme bench of
his state , had a friend In whose candidacy -
dacy for state treasurer he was much
Interested. Some of Pa 'ne's lieuten-
ants , , without his knowledge , - promised - .
Thurman the support of the Payne
forces for hIs frIend In return for the
votes he controlled in the convention ;
but the Thurman candidate for treas-
UI'p.r failed at the last moment to receive -
ceIve the promised support of the
Payne following , and was defeated.
Payne was not aware of the trick that
had been played upon Thurman , but
the latter , who scorned double dealing
In any form , was quick to resent It.
Within the hour the opportunity to do
fell in his way. The convention ended ,
Payne went to a hotel for dinner , accompanied -
companIed by some friends , and in
jovIal mood opened wine in celebra-
tion of his success. Presently Thur-
man and a few friends came In and
took seats at an adjoining table.
Payne bade the waiter carry a bottle
of wine to the newcomers , but In a
moment It came back with the gruff
message that Mr. Thurman did not
care for any of Mr. Payne's wine. In
evident surprise at this refusal , Payne
rose from his seat and crossed to the
group of which Thurman was the cen-
tral figure.
"I trust you and your friends wlll
drink a bottle of wine with me , judge , "
he saId , ' urbanely. "Drink to my suc-
cess and the victory of the democratic
parb' "
"I do not want any of your wine ,
sir , " was the reply. "I told that
damned walter to say as much to you ,
sIr , a moment ago. " And so saying ,
Thurman turned his back abruptly on
the man from Cleveland.
Payne never forgot nor forgave this
public insult. The quarrel thus begun !
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Henry 8. Payrte
ever after kept the two men apart , and
three and twenty years later thwarted
Thurman's hIghest ambition. In 1880
ho was a candidate for the presidential
nomination before the democratic national -
llonal convention Had he had the unflinching -
flinching support of the OhIo delegation -
tlon , there Is little doubt that he
would have been the nominee The
delegation was solid for him on the
first ballot. Then it broke and the
chances of his nomination vanished
into thin aIr. Payne was behind the
break. The delegates from the dIs-
trict in which his influence was su ,
preme led It and were strongest In the
claim which stampeded the convention
to a dark horse As Ohio was then an
October state and practically certain
to go for Garfield , the result would be
disastrous to the democratic cause
That argument defeated Thurman and
nomInated Hancock , and the revenge ,
of Payne was complete.
But the most dramatic of all the
political feuds of the last forty years ,
both in Its Inception and Its sequel ,
was that between Blaine and Roscoe
Conkling. The two men entered the
popular branch of Congress at about
the same time , and both soon became
leaders In that body. There was ,
however , little in common between
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them save the girt of pre-emInent ahll-
ity. Conning made Blaine the ob- \ ,
ject of his sarcasm whenever oppor- I
y
tunlty offered , and the member from
Maine was prompt to retort In Idnd.
Thus the enmIty grew until , In the
course of one of their many encoun-
ters , Blaine stung to the quick by an
unjust and ungenerous taunt , burst
forth In an onslaught on hIs torment- .011II. ,
or whIch wrought the House into a ' ? 7
i high pItch of excitement and marked
I . the beginning of a fierce struggle in
the Republican party that ended in
. the humiliation of Conlellng and the
defeat of Blaine for President. Here
arc Blalne'3 ! words , and they are a
model of excorIation :
"As to the gentleman's cruel sar- ' . .
casm , I hope he will not be too se-
vore. The contempt of that large-
mInded gentleman is so wilting , his
haughty disdaIn , his grandiloquent
swell , his majestic , supereminent ,
overpowering turkey-gobbler strut has
been so crushing to myself and all
members of this House that I know it
I was an act of the greatest temerity \ '
for mo to venture upon a controversy
with hIm. "
Then , referrIng to a chance news-
paper comparison of Conkling to
Henry Winter Davis , lately dead , he
continued :
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"The gentleman took It seriously
and It has given his strut addItional -f 4
pomposity. The resemblance Is
great ; It is strl1dng-H 'perlon to a
satyr , Thersltes to Hercules , mud to
marble , dunghlll to dIamond , a sInged
cat to a Bengal tiger , a whipped pup-
py to a roaring lion. Shade of the
mIghty Davis , forgive the , almost
profanation of that jocose satire. "
There could be no reconciliation -
after such an onslaught , and the bat-
tle was to the death. Defeated for
the Republican nomination by Conk-
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ling and his friends in 1876 and again p
In 1880 , Blaine in the latter year 4y
threw his following to hIs friend
Garfield , who , nominated and elected ,
made Blaine his secretary of state
and official \ rIght hand. Then came the )
struggle over the New York patron-
age , which retired ConkJlng , and was
followed by the assassination of Gar- ,
field. In 1884 , when Blaine was .final-
ly the formal choice of hIs party ,
Conkling was no longer in politics ,
but the sequel proved that hIs was
still the wlll and power to strike a
mortal blow. A defection of a few
hundred votes In Conkling's home
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Allen G Thurman
county of Oneida gave that county ,
normally Republican , to Cleveland , .
and with It the electoral vote of New
York and the presillenc Conkling
had wIped out the score against his
ancient . enemY.-Uufus Rockwell Wil
son In Philadelphia Ledger
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What a City Boy Mlsse:1. :
Poor 11'1 Boston kid !
Ever seen a muscadlnc . -
Scuppernong on hanging vIne ?
net you never did ,
You city boys don't have much fun :
Never do the stunts wc done
When I was n Idd
Ever heard n mock' bird sing--
Fished for tadpoles In spring ?
Bet you never did.
Ever go out Idlllng snakes ,
Over bogs and through cane-brakes ?
net you never dill.
Ever seen watermelons grow
Hundreds of 'em row by row ? .
Oh , you never dId ! ' . . . - '
-Hoston Transcript.
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