In his relations with politicians of high or low degree there was not a trace of dissimulation or double-dealing.

His nomination attaches to the ticket all the odium of machine politics, and will greatly endanger the success of Garfield.

In other words, Kelly thought Tilden an unfit candidate because he did not decide for himself that he had been elected and proceed to take his seat at the cost of a tremendous civil convulsion.

These were conditions, not theories, that confronted this hard-headed man of affairs, who, without sentiment, never failed to understand the inexorable logic of facts.

He attacked the Tweed ring after its exposure; he made war upon the Canal ring after its record had become notorious; and he reduced the State taxes after the war debt had been paid.

Upon these reforms he rode into power, and upon the cry of fraud he hoped to ride again to success.

He was much too acute not to know that the cipher disclosures had robbed him of the rôle of reformer, but he seems to have been blind to the obvious fact that every one else was also aware of it.

The platform favoured a tariff for revenue only, exploited the election fraud, demanded honest money of coin or paper convertible into coin, and stoutly opposed Chinese immigration.

The vote combined a compliment to Tilden and an official utterance against the action of his great enemy, and as the States, answering promptly and sharply, dealt death to bolting and paralysis to Tammany it became evident to the blindest…

Spurred to greater effort by this blighting disappointment, the Republicans regained courage by a spirited presentation of the industrial question, which was strongly reinforced by returning activity in trade and commerce.

He had many of the noblest qualities and some of the wildest fancies, growing out of an extravagant imagination that seemed to control his mind.

Nevertheless, he struggled on with industry and courage for more than twenty years, occasionally coming into public or political notice as a writer of caustic letters, or as a candidate for office.

For twenty years he lived a life of poverty, yet of tireless industry, with a simplicity as amazing as his genius.

As he read he forgot that he was poor, forgot that he was ragged, forgot that he was hungry.

He was large and awkward; but even as a boy there was a charm of manner, a tender, sympathetic nature, a sweet, sparkling humour, and a nobility of character that irresistibly drew people to him.

With the true instinct of his fine nature, he made his friends and companions among the wisest and highest of his time, although he loved all company that was not vicious and depraved.

The election in the fall of 1822 was one of those sweeping, crushing victories that precede a radical change; and the confidence with which the victors used their power hurried on the revolution prophesied in Clinton's clever letter to…

He was impulsively ambitious, sensitive to opposition, fearless in action, and such an inveterate hater that he could not always act along lines leading to his own preferment.

But the blunder that broke his heart, and sent him into unexpected and sudden retirement, was his opposition to a change in the law providing for the choice of presidential electors by the people.

The selection of a candidate for President had, however, become intensely personal, dividing the country into excited factions equivalent to a division of parties.

Though seven years younger, he had already made himself prominent, not merely as a politician of general ability, but as a reporter of the United States Supreme Court, whose conscientious and intelligent work was to link his name forever…

His ambition to shine as a statesman, and an extraordinary power of application, equipped him with varied information, and made him an authority on many subjects.

The people did not love Clinton, but they believed in his policy, and a blow at him, in their opinion, was a blow at the canal.

Nothing in the whole of Van Buren's history exhibits a more foolish disregard of public sentiment, or led to a greater disaster.

Had Clinton been assassinated, the news could not have produced a greater shock.