Part 10 (2/2)
In the last three national conventions of his party preceding his death, he was presented by the Illinois delegation to be nareat office The last of these--the Charleston convention of 1860--is now historic It assembled amid intense party passion, and after a turbulent session that see doolas there received the almost solid vote of the Northern, and a portion of that of the Border States, but the hostility of the extreme Southern leaders to his candidacy was iinning at length occurred, and the great historical party--which had administered the Governuration of Jefferson--was hopelessly rent asunder This startling event--and what it htful men of all parties It was not a mere incident, but an epoch in history Mr Blaine, in his ”Twenty Years of Congress,” says:
”The situation was the cause of solicitude and even grief with thousands to whom the old party was peculiarly endeared The traditions of Jefferson, of Madison, of Jackson, were devoutly treasured; and the splendid achievements of the American Democracy were recounted with the pride which attaches to an honorable family inheritance The fact was recalled that the Republic had grown to its imperial dimensions under Democratic statesmanshi+p It was remembered that Louisiana had been acquired from France, Florida from Spain, the independent Republic of Texas annexed, and California, with its vast dependencies, and its myriad millions of treasure, ceded by Mexico, all under Democratic administrations, and in spite of the resistance of their opponents That a party whose history was inwoven with the glory of the Republic should now coro in a country where his labor was not wanted, was to many of its me They ht of the factional contest, the representatives of both sections were hurried forward to the National Convention of 1860, with principle subordinated to passion, with judge”
The withdrawal froe , led by Caleb Cushi+ng and Benjamin F Butler from the North, resulted in the immediate nolas as the Presidential candidate The platform upon the question of slavery was in substance that contended for by the candidate in the debates with Lincoln The De the support of the South--Douglas's candidacy was hopeless froe, that knew no faltering, never appeared to better advantage than during that eventful canvass Deserted by former political associates, he visited distant States and addressed immense audiences in defence of the platform upon which he had been nominated, and in advocacy of his own election His speeches in Southern States were of the storle that has scarcely known a parallel Interrogated by a proinia, ”If Lincoln be elected President, would the Southern States be justified in seceding frolas replied, ”I emphatically answer, No The election of a man to the Presidency in conformity with the Constitution of the United States would not justify an attereat ambition, broken in health, the sad witness of the un sectional strife--the few reloo vanished--his deep concern was now only for his country Standing by the side of his successful rival--whose wondrous career was only opening, as his oas nearing its close --he bowed profound assent to the iural address: ”I am loath to close We are not eneh passion may have strained, it must not break our bonds of affection”
Yet later--i of the fatal shot at Sumter that suddenly summoned millions from peaceful pursuits to arlas addressed his countrymen for the last time
Broken with the storuished, standing upon the threshold of the grave, his soul burdened with the calamities that had befallen his country, in tones of deepest pathos he declared:
”If war must come--if the bayonet must be used to maintain the Constitution--I can say before God,for a peaceful solution of the trouble I deprecate war, but if it must coency, and under all circumstances At all hazards our Government must be h the most stupendous preparation for war”
Who that heard the last public utterance that fell froet his solemn invocation to all who had followed his political fortunes, until the banner had fallen from his hand,-- to know only their country in its hour of peril?
The ordinary lith unabated; his loftiest aspirations unrealized; at the critical rave What reflections and regrets may have been his in that hour of awful ht and anguish onized eyes, whose lipsof sweet household ties, what sundering of strong ht of what has been discussed, ed, he would during the perilous years have been the safe counsellor--the rock--of the great President, in preserving the nation's life, and later in ”binding up the nation's wounds”
Worthy of honored and enduring place in history, Stephen A Douglas --statesreat city whose stupendous developely the result of his oise forecast and endeavor,--by the majestic lake whose waves break near the base of his stately monument and chant his eternal requiem
VIII THE FIRST POLITICAL TELEGRAM
SENATOR SILAS WRIGHT NOMINATED FOR VICE-PRESIDENT--WORD OF HIS NOMINATION SENT HIM BY THE MORSE TELEGRAPH--MORSE'S FIRST CONCEPTION OF AN ELECTRO-MAGNETIC TELEGRAPH--OBSTACLES TO THE CARRYING OUT OF HIS INVENTION--A BILL APPROPRIATING 30,000 TO TEST THE VALUE OF HIS TELEGRAPH--EARLIER FORMS OF TELEGRAPHIC INTERCOURSE--A EULOGY ON THE INVENTOR BY MR GARFIELD--ANOTHER, BY MR cox--THE FIRST MESSAGE THAT EVER PassED OVER THE WIRE--DR PRIME'S PRAISE OF MORSE AFTER HIS DEATH
By all odds, the most venerable in appearance of the Representatives in the forty-sixth Congress, was Hendrick B Wright of Pennsylvania
After a retirement of a third of a century, he had been returned to the seat he had honored while many of his present associates were in the cradle Of , lofty courtesy; neatly appareled in blue broadcloth, with brass buttons appropriately in evidence, he appeared indeed to belong to a past generation of statesrand old naentleman”
In one of the many conversations I held with him, he told me that he was the president of the Democratic National Convention which met in Baltiates to that convention were favorable to the renomination of Mr Van Buren, but his recently published letter opposing the annexation of Texas had rendered him extremely obnoxious to a powerful le, Mr
Van Buren, under the operation of the ”two-thirds rule,” was defeated, and Mr Polk nominated The convention, anxious to placate the friends of the defeated candidate, then tendered the noht, the close friend of Mr Van Buren
At the time the convention was in session, Sa in a room in the Capitol the electrical experies” Under an appropriation by Congress, a telegraph line had been recently constructed froton to Baltiht, as mentioned, the president of the convention sent hie, the first of a political character that ever passed over the wire, advising hi his acceptance Two hours later he read to the convention a ton, pere of this e to the convention, it was openly declared to be a hoax, not one e could possibly have been received The convention adjourned till the next day, first instructing its president to coer, by hard riding and frequent change of horse, bore the letter of the convention to Wright in Washi+ngton, and returned with his reply by the time the convention had reasse in his declination, George M Dallas was nominated and duly elected
Later, in conversation with the Hon Alexander H Stephens of Georgia, he told me that he was in the room of the Capitol set apart for the experiments which Mr Morse wished to make, and distinctly ree to and froht, as stated
The incidentof the obstacles encountered by Morse in the marvellous hich his name is inseparably associated He first conceived the idea of an electro-e froe, his plans for a series of experi constructed his first recording apparatus, his caveat for a patent was filed five years later; and in 1838, he applied to Congress for an appropriation to enable hiton to Baltimore in order to demonstrate the practicability of his invention His proposal was at first treated with ridicule --even with contempt; and for ress With abiding faith, however, in theyears of poverty and discourageress, Representative Kennedy of Maryland--at a later day Secretary of the Navy--introduced a bill appropriating thirty thousand dollars ”to test the value of Morse's Electro-Magnetic Telegraph,” to be expended under the direction of the Secretary of the Treasury
By the untiring efforts of Mr Kennedy and other Representatives, the bill was finally brought before the House for consideration near the close of the session In the light of events, the discussion that immediately preceded the vote is of interest, and in no seneration On February twenty-first, 1843, Mr
Johnson of Tennessee wished to say a word upon the bill As the present Congress had done e science, he did not wish to see the science of Meslected and overlooked He therefore proposed that one-half of the appropriation be given to Mr Fisk to enable him to carry on experiht that Millerism should also be included in the benefits of the appropriation Mr Stanley said he should have no objection to the appropriation for Mesentleman from Tennessee was the subject