Show F 1 Perry Belmont of New Nevi York BY SAVOYARD l When August Belmont was chair chairman chaIrman chairman man of ot the Democratic national corn como that body had no headquarters and when Zachariah Chandler was chairman of the national Republican 4 It had but b t one clerk That ThatIs ts Is sal all l changed Politics in our country Is a 8 game that resembles war w r in that organization is necessary to success and money is requisite to organization Hence it Is becoming a saying aying with ith ua us that just as victory inclines to the side with the heaviest battalions In war be between between between tween nations so victory comes to the side with the largest large t campaign fund in struggles between parties And It fol follows follows follows lows that both political parties are busy before the conventions finding out who of the candidates can com command coyt cor mand the fullest camp cam n chest Mr Ir Perry Belmont is convinced that the only way Avay to better politics is to ele elevate elevate vate Yate the Idea above the man or the dollar and to that end he is striving to secure legislation that will force oree publicity in the two mater o of contributions of money for political campaign pur purposes purposes purposes poses He believes that the one way to Improve conditions ton In our elections Is la to first improve conditions in party organizations The way to do that is isto isto to nominate for tor office men for what I they believe and for what they the are for tor the Idea they stand for rather than the money mone they can command He re recognizes recognizes recognizes cognizes that political campaign funds are necessary but he would make mak po political political Ideas ever more essential He would have a party to appeal to the reason and the conscience rather than to the passion and the greed of the electorate And where is the patriotic honest man who has read and pon pondered pondered dered the revelations touching the na national national national campaign of 1904 who is unwilling unwillIng unwilling ing to aid Mr Ir Belmont in this endeavor endea endeavor endeavor vor William J Bryan has hils expressed his hia approval of It and nobody has openly opposed It For some reason rea lOn or other that It Is not difficult to conjecture conjecture conjecture ture the animus of the con congress congress congress gress refused re used to enact the legislation Mr Belmont suggested 1 Perry Belmont B lmont is the eldest son o of 01 August Belmont who was wa as so long lon prominent In politics diplomacy and finance Born in Alcy Alsace in 1816 the son gon of the leading citizen of that province who was a republican but not a terrorist when the mighty revo revolution revolution revolution lution of 1789 burst upon Europe and an later appointed to a political position of or responsibility by Napoleon leon then first consul August Belmont received re an excellent education and when a avery aery avery very ery young man entered the banking house of the tIe ot at nt Frankfort Frank Frankfort fort So ready was he to master the science sence that ere he lie was 20 he was ap appointed appointed appointed pointed at the head of the bank b at Naples Italy At the age of 21 1 he went to New York and there opened the house homm of August Belmont company which became the corre corie correspondent of the In the th United States Not long after he be began began began gan business he became an American citizen dUzen joined the Democratic party and was active in behalf of Polk and Dallas in the campaign of 1841 There were two factions of the New NewYork NewYork NewYork York Democracy De At the head of wa was Martin Van Buren with Silas Wright and Samuel J Tilden for lieu lieutenants lieutenants lieutenants tenants These became the Barn Barnburners Barnburners Barnburners burners The other faction was bead head beaded beaded headed ed by William WilHam L Marcy then and for years later the man In the entire country for tor the office of president president president dent of the United States Belmont be became became became came a partisan of Marcy larcy and when the latter was appointed secretary of state he selected Belmont for minister to The Hague Ha e While James Buchan Buchanan an minister to England Pierre Soule minister to Spain and John Y Mason minister to France were writing the Ostend manifesto Belmont was enter enterIng enterIng entering Ing Into conventions with Holland that opened the Dutch East Indies to our trade and resulted In incalculable ad advantage advantage vantage to American commerce that began to grow about that time He also participated p In the diplomatic con congress congress congress gress at Paris and his discussions of M the practice of In time of war ar commanded the attention and ex ox extorted extorted the admiration of every Eu European European chancellery When Marcy Marc ceased to be of state Belmont returned to America j lIe He was now active In politics not for office but for ideas He might have been governor or senator had his am been In that direction He had gone to The Hague only with the view to serve the country in a diplomatic capacity for which he was splendidly quipped When Buchanan and Doug las tas parted company Belmont followed th the latter and supported him In the harleston Charleston convention to the end and later was active In his behalf at Balti Baltimore Baltimore Baltimore more No o man in the country countr had a clearer vision of the situation when se secession cession came than August Belmont His letters and speeches of that period are models of strong terse terso convincing c logic expressed d in perfect English that any anyone one born to that tongue might well envy In the light of subsequent his history history history tory they read like prophecy No man manat manat manat at the north was a better friend to the south Few men of the north saw sow the 1 inevitable result as clearly as he But his warning fell feU on deaf ears and at Appomattox APP the south was crushed About 1862 the government sent I Archbishop Hughes and arid Henry Ward War Beecher to England to make public I opinion for the north At that time Lord Jord Palmerston was prime minister He Ha was a southern sympathizer A Atypical Atypical Atypical typical Englishman he was to statesmanship what Tow To Sayres was to pugilism He hoped the south would wn wIn and believed it would win Two sentimentalists like Hughes Hushes and Beether Beecher were only calculated to irritate such a man ns DS Palmerston but the cool heads at Washington requested August Belmont B lmont a man of aa as a much common commonsense sense flens as aa Palmerston himself to talk the thing over oCr with the British h foreign office He soon them that the cause of the south was waR boneless as long as the north was determined and It was wm manifest to all aU that the north was as determined No man did more to prevent pr vent English Interposition and no other man did dic so much to place United States government loans with Eu European European European bankers Had he been secre secretary secretary secretary tary of the treasury the war would have cost about 40 per percent cent of what It did cost cos so far tar as was shown hown In the national debt statement There would have been no greenbacks greenback gre Mr Belmont supported McCellan in 1864 and Seymour In 1863 When hen Gree Greeley Greeley Greeley ley was nominated he resigned from the chairmanship of the national committee com committee committee He was a delegate to every national convention from 1860 to 1884 both Inclusive He died in 1890 after att r having haing been a leader of his party and anda a conspicuous citizen of the United States for fifty years yean ac Edmund Perry of Devonshire Eng England England England land was as a direct descendant in the sixth generation from Sir Sit William Wallace hero ro of Scotland He came to America in l 1630 and settled In Massa 0 t ti i A descendant of his Chris Christopher Christopher Ray Perry a naval officer of or orthe the United States was the father of five sons all nil officers of the United States navy Oliver Hazard Raymond H J Matthew C James Alexander and Nathaniel Hazard The history of our navy could not be written without copious narration as to at least two of o these the eldest hero of Lake Erie Eric and the third son Matthew C the theman theman theman man who Introduced Japan to civilization civilization tion The Rodgers family contributed as abundantly to the American navy as did the Perrys and the two are of close kin Commodore Matthew C Perrys wife was a sister of John SlIdell formerly States senator from Louisiana who with James M 31 r Mason of or Virginia i was a confederate commissioner to the courts of or Europe They were taken from the British merchantman Trent during the war of and but for forthe fori forthe i the coolness and good sense of Abra Abraham Abraham ham Lincoln the episode would have been followed by b war when the United States had on hand all an the war she could stand August Belmont married a daughter of Matthew C Perry and of that union Perry Belmont was the eldest child Perry Belmont was born Dec Dee 28 1851 He received his education at the best schools of both hemispheres Harvard and University of Berlin and Columbia law school He chose the law for a profession and upon his admission to the bar entered the office of the firm of which William M Evarts was the head His father and Charles the dean of the American bar were in intimate intimate intimate associates and personal and po political political friends but had practically practically retired from practice and per perhaps perhaps perhaps haps that is if why young Belmont was not associated with him On form torm formas as the race folks say Evarts was our greatest lawyer He appeared for tor Andy Johnson In the Impeachment proceedings He was chief counsel of the th United States before the Geneva tribunal of International arbitration He was senior counsel for Hayes be before before before fore the electoral tribunal He was successful suc in all It was in the office of the firm headed by this great jurist whose life ambition it was to be chief Justice of the United States supreme court that Perry Belmont was fitted for a public career car er erIn In 1880 young oung Belmont was elected to congress from a Long Island district It Is the general Impression that he was a Tammany man That is an er error error error He first appeared in the national councils in 1881 upon the assembling of the congress Kelter Keifer was speaker and the Republican ma majority majority majority very narow No one dreamed that Perry name would be beon beon beon on every tongue before the first session was completed but It was heralded from one end of the country to the theother theother theother other in the spring of 1882 when wb n he had the temerity to enter the lists against James G Blaine then the Idol of the Republican party and one of the very powerful individuals in public affairs In the United States Mr Blaine became secretary of state in 1881 1851 against the advice of his friends and contrary to his personal Inclination Nobody knew better than thanh he h that his place was in the forum than In the he be closet He had had no training for the cabinet least of all aU aUthe the state department whose head is expected to write dispatches for the criticism of every eve foreign office of the theold theold theold old world In the senate or the house he was at home ready read for all an comers If It not the ablest certainly the most dashing ashing and audacious debater of his day But Blaine was uxorious that accounts for his becoming the head of the cabinet He could and would haVe hao managed Garfield anyhow from the senate chamber as from the state department de department department In a HUe litle while Blaine fell feU fellIn fellin In love with his new Job and doubtless had dreams of Richelieu of Chatham of Bismarck Maybe he hoped to splinter splinter ter a lance with that greater Blaine Benjamin Disraeli Perry Belmont speaks reads and writes French like the most cultivated Parisian and one day Samuel J Ran Randall RandaU Randall dall daU said to him that a Frenchman was persistently after aft r him about bout some claim or other In connection with Peru and he asked Belmont to talk with the theman theman theman man In his own tongue ton e and find out what It was Belmont did have the interview In Interview Interview and that Is the beginning be of the story Chile and Peru were Just out cut of a war In which Peru was disastrously disastrously defeated It was a good time timeto to administer on her affairs and our government was sought to be made a collecting agent for some rather shady shad claims Morton Bliss Co were inter interested Interested interested ested in it and Mr lIr Blaime had written n a letter the import im ort of which was Avas to In force the collection I wish I had the space to enter into particulars though it is a 3 not very edifying chapter In our history A C Belmont was on the committee on foreign affairs He cared nothing about the claim cl lm but he hI cared much about the practice of making the Unit United United ed d States a collecting agent for all aU sorts of scamps and especially foreign scamps stamps whose pretensions had been re repudiated repudiated repudiated by their own on state departments depart departments ments Then as now In the matter of campaign funds Belmont honed hoped to cure the disease and disregard the symptoms He prepared a resolution of inquiry but butIr Mr Kasson another member of the committee rose at the bame same ame time was recognized and offered a resolution practically identical with The Investigation began and nd the house on foreign affairs af affairs fairs became the news center of the capital Belmont had no disposition to assail Blaine and no Intention of doing so but M Mr 1 Blaine voted himself Im Impugned impugned impugned and md came down on the commit committee committo to tee In characteristic Bla fashion fash fashIon Ion He was wes mad and mad clear through What was more he be was astonished and resolved to sweep Perry Belmont off the thc political chess chessboard chessboard chessboard board The testimony of Mr Blaine consumed con consumed Burned many sittings of the tha commit committee Committee tee and examination of him was Just jUt like Senator Morgans exam examination examInation of or C P Huntington was resolved resoled to have an answer and Elaine Blaine was waR determined not to give an answer There was a quibble about quotation marks There was a ques question question question tion as to the Integrity of our minister to Peru and a great many other things but Belmont clung with bull bulldog bulldog bulldog dog tenacity to Blames letter of In Instruction Instruction in instruction and Blaine persisted in an nn attitude of insolence that grew Into insult This policy had served him well In a former Investigation and md he had little doubt that he would brow browbeat browbeat browbeat beat Belmont now no He H was never so much mistaken in role his life and probably probably probably ably never so much astonished as when Belmont met his bluster with a resolute and aggressive emphasis that ment business of or the most serious character Kasson a consummate di dl diplomat Interposed and put p tan an inter on Blames Blaines language that amounted to a s retraction Blaine as assented rented and Belmont acquiesced There would have been no trouble If Blaine hall hail understood that Belmont was was as assailing assailing assailing sailing a system m and policy and was moved mod by no personal animosity The result of that Inquiry or whether It resulted from It or other cause the system was destroyed and no longer does our government sell its recognition re of ot this or that revolution revolutionary ary in a a South American state In con consideration consideration consideration of the |