First Blows of the Civil War THE TEN YEARS OF PRELIMINARY CONFLICT IN THE UNITED STATES. FROM 1850 TO 1860. A CONTEMPORANEOUS EXPOSITION PROGRESS OF THE STRUGGLE SHOWN BY PUBLIC RECORDS AND PRIVATE CORRESPONDENCE. LETTERS, NOW FIRST PUBLISHED, FROM THE FOLLOWING PERSONS : Horace Greeley, Charles A. Dana, Wi. Pitt Fkssenden, Hon. I. Washburn, Jr.. Hon. Benj. F. Wade, Gen. Fitz Henry Warren, Joshua R. Giddings, Hon. Thomas Corwin. Chief Justice Chase, Wm. H. Seward, Count Gurowski, Dr. G. Bailey, Charles Sumner, Gen. Wm. Schouler, Truman Smith, Hon. E. B. Washburne, and others. BY JAMES S. PIKE, Former V. S. Minister to the Netherlands, NEW YORK THE AJVL^-RTCAJST J^EIWS COlVUPAIISrY, 39 ats t d 41 Chambers Street. . C'OFTKIGHT, 1879, BX JAMES S. PIKE. ft - /4< / 23 * TABLE OF CONTENTS. FROM JANUARY TO APRIL, 1850.— PAGES 1 TO 20. Will the plan of disunion work? 1 ; Dissolution a folly, 2 ; Practical diffi- culties, 3 ; States cannot be allowed to secede, 4 ; Slavery in the Terri- tories, 5 ; Abolition in the District of Columbia, 6 ; Mr. Clay's oratory, 6,7 ; Jeff. Davis's interruption, 7; Apprehension of disunion, 8 ; General Taylor, 8, 9 ; Letter from editor Boston Atlas, 9 ; In the midst of a great national quarrel, 10 ; Claims of the South, 11 ; Admission of California, 11 ; South opposed, 12 ; South blind, 12 ; Disunion means civil war, 13 ; Mr. Clay's two days' speech, 13 ; Senator Foote, 14 ; Mr. Webster beseeched, 14 Makes his famous 7th March speech, 15 ; Mr. Calhoun's last effort, 16 Governor Seward's speech, 17 ; Brilliant speech from Horace Mann, 18 The public yawns, 19 ; Death of Mr. Calhoun, 20 ; Eulogies on his char acter, 20 ; War in the Whig party, 20. APRIL, 1850.-PAGES 20 TO 40. General Taylor and the Whig party, 21 ; His administration and the Territorial question, 22 ; Mr. Clay and Mr. Webster against him, 23 ; Dangers ahead, 24 ; Whigs must support the administration, 25 ; Letter from the editor of the Boston Courier, 26 ; Is obliged to support Webster, 26 ; Pistols drawn in the Senate, 27 ; Mr. Clay's excited appearance, 28 ; The Great Leader, 28 ; Change of leadership, 29 ; Benton heading the Whigs, 29 ; Foote draws a pistol on Benton and flees down the aisle, 30 ; Benton in a rage, 30 ; Mr. Clay's retreat, 31 ; Old Bullion subsides, 31 ; Letter from editor Boston Courier, 32 ; Opposition to General Taylor, 33 ; Insubordination in the ranks, 34 ; Some considerations, 35 ; Mr. Clay as an actor, 36 ; His great influence, 37 ; Hia overbearing temper, 38 ; General Taylor and his friends, 39 ; Letter from editor Boston Courier, 40. APRIL TO MAY, 1850.— PAGES 40 TO 60. Letter from Horace Greeley asking for letters from Washington, 41 ; Letter from Wm. Schouler, editor Boston Atlas, describing state of things in Massa- chusetts, 42 ; War on General Taylor's administration, 43 ; Division in Whig ranks, 44 ; The Omnibus Bill, 44 ; The child of consternation, 45 ; Proposes to settle agitation, 46 ; Comments and letter of Mr. Greeley, 47, 48 ; Offers pay, 48 ; Letters from Mr. Greeley, Locofocos not Democrats, iv CONTENTS. 49 ; Roast baby, 49 ; Proposes to take no liberties, 50 ; Duty of the Whig party, 50 ; Reasons for opposing Omnibus Bill, 51 ; Party considerations, 51 ; Whigs should preserve their unity, 52 ; Should support General Taylor's policy, 53 ; What Texas wants, 54 ; Must defeat the Omnibus Bill, 55 ; Comments by Mr. Greeley, 56 ; Compromise exploded, 56 ; Creates great sensation, 57 ; Mr. Greeley on its failure, 57 ; Mr. Clay discomfited, 58 ; Frowns defiance, 58 ; Fermentation on the Texas question, 59 ; Mr. Calhoun's former hopes and present hopes of the slaveholders, 60. MAY, 1850.— PAGES 60 TO 80. Admission of California, 61 ; Let Congress act on one subject at a time, 61 ; Letter from Horace Greeley, 62 ; Row over the Omnibus, 62 ; Danger of rending the Whig party, 63 ; Comments by the Tribune, 64, 65 ; Mr. Clay and General Taylor, their antagonistic plans, 66 ; California and New Mexico, 67; Buying off Texas, 68 ; Omnibus can't pass, 68; Advice to the politicians, 69 ; Letters from editor Boston Atlas on Tribune letters and General Taylor, 70 ; Insists upon correspondence, 70 ; Mr. Clay's great speech, 71 ; Its characteristics, 71 ; His impetuosity and fervor, 72 ; De- nounces the President's plan, 72 ; Mr. Clay's bleeding wounds, 73 ; Screed from Albany Register, 73, 74 ; Comments on Mr. Clay, 75 ; Action of the President and Mr. Clay's criticisms, 75, 76 ; Arraigns the President, Taylor, 77 ; Character of the charges, 78 ; The bill of particulars, 78, 79 ; Exposure of Mr. Clay's attitude, 80. FROM MAY, 1850, TO JANUARY, 1852.— PAGES 80 TO 100. Mr. Clay's great effort, 81 ; Whigs of Pennsylvania and Massachusetts ma- nipulated by him, 82 ; Letter from Charles A. Dana, 83 ; His comments and propositions, 83 ; Letter from Mrs. Governor Davis, 84 ; Senator Dayton and Governor Davis, 84 ; Letters from I. Washburn, Jr., V and H. Greeley, 85 ; Froni Truman Smith, 86 ; Letter from Charles A. Dana, 87 ; Greeley going to Europe, 87 ; Profits of the Tribune and names of stockholders, 87, 88 ; Bayard Taylor going to Africa, 88 ; Salaries of editors, 89 ; Invitation to the fraternity, 90 ; Who are our " national statesmen ?" 91 ; Mr. Webster's course, 92 ; The men who made sacrifices, 93; A Golgotha party, 94 ; Caleb Cushing's enterprise, 94 ; One- idea men, 95 ; Repeal the Fugitive Slave Law, 96; Letter from C. A. Dana, 96 ; Prospects of Presidential candidates, 96 ; Letter from " Uncle" Truman, 97 ; Letter from Dana, 98 ; Tribune stock, 98 ; Great dinner to Kossuth in Washington, 99 ; His speech, 100. JANUARY TO MARCH, 1852.— PAGES 100 TO 120. Speeches at the Kossuth dinner, 101 ; Seward, Douglas, Cass, Cartter, 101 ; Webster against Fillmore, 102 ; The Fugitive Slave Law and Mr. Clay, 103 ; President refuses to withdraw as a candidate, 104 ; Mr. Webster and his friends concerned, 104, 105 ; John Davis's speech, 105, 106 ; Letter from Col- lector Groely, Boston, 107; The Fugitive Slave Law a great offence, 108 ; Northern Whigs hostile, 109 ; General Scott and the Presidency, 109 ; Pascal on Cleopatra's nose, 110 ; Letter from editor Kennebec Journal, 111 J CONTENTS. V Letters from P. Greely, Jr., and Charles A. Dana, 112 ; Don't wish to lose contributions, 112 ; A correspondent wanted, 113 ; The compromise meas- ures, 113 ; Senator Foote's impending dangers, 114 ; Buchanan and Douglas, 115 ; Mr. Seward makes a great speech, 116 ; Compared with Clay and Webster, 116 ; Letter from P. Greely, Jr., on Webster men, 117 ; Cass and Douglas, Congressional grist, 118 ; From P. Greely, Jr., 119 ; Agitation on the Presidency, 120. MARCH TO JUNE, 1852.— PAGES 120 TO 140. Mr. Clay out for Fillmore, 121 ; Mr. Webster and General Scott not "tried" men, 122 ; Letter from Thomas Corwin, 122 ; His opinion on newspapers, 122 ; Complaints of Boston Courier, 122 ; Mr. Webster and Mr. Fillmore lack intrepidity, 123 ; Mr. Corwin's high character, 124 ; Letter from P. Greely, collector, 124 ; Whig party has two wings, 124 ; General Taylor's policy, 125 ; President Fillmore's policy, 125 ; Northern and Southern Whigs, 126 ; Cannot compromise the question of human freedom, 127 ; Congress cannot control public opinion, 127 ; Resolutions and declarations powerless, 128 ; Northern Whigs will not support slavery, 129 ; Edward Stanly, 130 ; Letters from P. Greely, 131, 132 ; Charles Hudson, 132 ; Re- marks on great men, 133 ; Source of the prosperity of Massachusetts, 134 ; Orators poor legislators, 134 ; Political apostates, 136 ; Letter from Horace Greeley, 136 ; Presidential convention, 137 ; Speech of Cartter, of Ohio, 138 ; Irritated condition of parties, 138 ; Letters from H. Greeley and P. Greely, 139 ; Horace Greeley's Scott letter, 140 ; General Scott upsets letter arrangement, 140. JUNE TO DECEMBER, 1852.— PAGES 140 TO 160. The Scott letter, 141, 142; President Fillmore's efforts to obtain nomination, 143 ; General Scott's prospects, 144 ; Letter from P. Greely, Jr., 145 ; Letter from John Otis, 146 ; Letter from Horace Greeley on platform, 146 ; Letter from Charles A. Dana on Life of Scott, 147 ; Commodore Perry and Bayard Taylor, 147 ; Letter from C. A. Dana on Scott's prospects, 148 ; On Life, 149 ; In German, 150 ; Baltimore Whig convention, 151 ; Unfair proceedings, 151 ; Vote of Maine, 153 ; Letter from Samuel Haight on Pittsburg Gazette, 153 ; Letter from W. H. Seward, 154 ; Cuba annexation, 154 ; A bubble, 155 ; Wages of diplomacy, 156 ; Reports from our ministers abroad, 156 ; Abbott Lawrence, William C. Rives, Neil S. Brown, 156 ; Mr. Folsom, Mr. Barringer, 157 ; Annexation of Cuba, 158 ; Senator Allen's novel argument, 158 ; Putnam's Magazine, 159 ; Spain opposed, 160. JANUARY TO MAY, 1853.— PAGES 160 TO 180. Cuba, 161 ; Edward Everett's able despatch, 162 ; Objections to his conclusions, 163 ; The argument, 163 ; Senator Badger, his character and talents, 164, 165 ; Champions of manifest destiny, 166 ; General Cass one of them, 166 ; His speech, 167 ; Letters from Mr. Corwin 168 ; A collapsed balloon, 169 ; Young America's wind-bags, 169; Pierre Soule's futility, 170; Filibusterism on the ebb, 170 ; Douglas's speech, 170 ; Senator Westcott on turtles, 171 ; Gets them protected, 172 ; Sabine and Andrews. 172 ; People of the Bahamas CONTENTS. intrude, 173 ; Westcott's versatility, 173, 174 ; Letter from Truman Smith on a new party, 175 ; Pierre Soule appointed minister to Spain, 176 ; Santa Anna as Dictator, 177 ; His overtures to Spain, 178 ; Mexico in a state of decay, 178, 179 ; Lieutenant Maury in a state of enthusiasm on Amazonia, 180. MAY, 1853, TO JANUARY, 1854.— PAGES 180 TO 200. Lieutenant Maury's rivers that run up stream, 181; Offers Nashville convention the Tabatinga trade, 182 ; Humorous letter from George Ripley, 183 ; Senator Atchison on Nebraska bill, 184; Double bondage, 185; William Walker founds a new State, 186 ; Lower California and the Code Napoleon, 187 ; Walker's finances, 188 ; Douglas assails the Missouri Compromise, 188, 189 ; The repeal denounced, 190 ; Character of slavery, 190 ; Ex-Senator Foote down in the boots, 190 ; His funeral oration, 191 ; More news from the Amazon, 192 ; Coal and hams on the equator, 192 ; Character of the country, 193 ; Dress of leading citizens, 193 ; Lieutenant Herndon on their domestic luxuries, 194, 195; Tigers, anacondas, etc. ,195, 196 ; England's trading policy, 197 ; Slavery an Ishmael, 198 ; Foote's resurrection, 199 ; Walker's designs in California, 200 ; Supported by the administration, 200. JANUARY TO MARCH, 1854.— PAGES 200 TO 220. Attempts to make Lower California a Slave State, 201 ; Whig and Freesoil parties a majority, 202 ; Can they be united? 202; Influence of Nebraska bill, 203 ; Southern men, 204 ; Letter from George F. Talbot, 205 ; Missouri Compromise, 206 ; Badger and Stephens, 206 ; Fallacies exposed, 207, 208 ; Excuses considered, 209 ; Violation of compact, 210 ; Sophistries, 211 ; North- ern doughfaces, 212 ; Douglas led by Toombs and Stephens, 213 ; Their memorable interview with President Taylor, 214 ; Their character, 215 ; Troy Whig, 215, 216 ; Night scenes on passage of Nebraska bill, 216-18 Mr. Fessenden's maiden speech a great success, 219, 220 ; Thomas H. Benton's characterization of the Senate, 220. MARCH TO JUNE, 1854.— PAGES 220 TO 240. Benton and Douglas, 221 ; John Bell, 221 ; Missouri Compromise, 222 ; Coming storm, 223 ; Letter from E. B. Washburne, 224 ; Thirty-six hours' session, V 224 ; Defeat of the conspirator?, 224 ; Appeal to the people, 225 ; Letter from J I. Washburn, Jr., 226 ; Upham's speech, 226 ; Southern policy denned, 227 ; Slaveholder's scheme, 228 , What they propose, 228 ; Letter from Lewis D. Campbell, 229 ; Gerrit Smith hangs fire, 229 ; Revolution in progress, 230 ; Ominous murmurs, 231 ; Public sentiment invoked, 232 ; Letter from ~J E. B. Washburne, 233 ; Letter from Dr. Bailey, 233 ; An address needed, 234 ; Letter from L. D. Campbell, 234 ; Revolution accomplished, 235 ; North- ern democracy under Whig leaders, 235 ; Liberty the great interest of the state, 236 ; Letter from Dr. Bailey, 237 ; Truman Smith and B. F. Wade for v' a new party, 237 ; Albany Journal against it, 238; Death of Governor Davis of Massachusetts, 238 ; His character and qualities, 239, 240. CONTENTS. vii JUNE TO SEPTEMBER, 1854.— PAGES 240 TO 260. Fugitive slave Anthony Burns, 241 ; No more surrenders, 242 ; Taunts of the South, 243 ; Doughfaces, 244 ; Coming doom of the traitors, 244 ; Great excitement in Massachusetts, 245 ; Trial by jury demanded, 246 ; Letter from Senator Wade, 246 ; Letter from Dr. Bailey, 247 ; Straub, 248 > Extracts from his speech, 249, 250 ; Extraordinary rhetoric and commenda- tion, 251, 252 ; Count Gurowski, his character, 252 ; Letters from, 253-5 ; Letter from I. Washburn, Jr., 254 ; England fails at Cronstadt, 256; Ces- ■/ sion of Russian America, 256 ; Letter from Gurowski, 257 ; Kossuth, Hun- gary, and Poland, 257 ; Greytown, 258 ; Letter from Mr. Fessenden, 258, 259 ; Letter from Governor Grimes, 259 ; His successful campaign, 259 ; Letter from Charles A. Dana, 260 ; Tribune affairs, Greeley for Governor, 260. SEPTEMBER, 1854, TO MARCH, 1855.— PAGES 260 TO 280. Letters from Charles A. Dana, 261, 262 ; Letter from I. Washburn, Jr., 263 ; Pierre Soule's diplomatic fiasco, 264 ; His capers in Europe, 265 ; South try- ing to capture Nebraska, 266 ; Bowie-knife tactics, 267 ; Kansas our Crimea, 268 ; Polygamy in Utah, 269 ; Mormon priesthood, 269 ; Letter from a lady, 270 ; Domestic tragedies, 271 ; U. S. Treasury besieged, 272 ; The mystic Sam, a new pope, 273 ; Old-line Democrats lugubrious, 273 ; Inop- portune issues, 274 ; Belittling questions, 275 ; Know-Nothing politics, 276 ; Fugitive Slave Law made more obnoxious, 277 ; Northern State courts growing independent, 278 ; Toucey, Douglas & Co., 279 ; One good action of President Pierce, 280. MARCH, 1855, TO JANUARY, 1856.— PAGES 280 TO 300. Collins steamship line, bribery denounced, 281 ; New party of the North, 282 Democratic party destroyed, 283 ; Requirements of anti-slavery party, 283 Country can be carried, 28i ; Designs of diplomatic brigands on Cuba, 285 Soule's programme, 286 ; Famous Ostend manifesto, 287 ; Buchanan, Soule and Mason, 287 ; One hundred and twenty millions offered, 288 ; A peni tentiary crowd, 289 ; Objects of the oligarchy, 290 ; Soule's woes, 291 Shipwreck in New Hampshire, 292, 293 ; Letter from Mr. Chase, 294 Letter from Count Gurowski, 294 ; Letter from Mrs. Governor Davis, 295 Theodore Parker, 295 ; Letter from Mr. Chase, 295 ; As candidate for President, 296 ; Letter from C. A. Dana on domestic felicities, 296, 297 ; Fry, Bayard Taylor etc., 297; Israel Washburn for speaker, 298; The West Indies, 298 ; Letter from Governor Chase on his successful canvass in Ohio, 299 ; Letter from Charles Sumner, 300. v J JANUARY TO APRIL, 1856.— PAGES 300 TO 320. President Pierce shirking his duty, 301 ; Special message of Governor Chase, 302 ; Speaks for freedom, 303 ; Lordly strain of Richmond Enquirer, 304 ; Doughface does not fight, 305 ; Letter from Horace Greeley, 305 ; Needs money, 306 ; What the Know-Nothings are driving at, 306 ; Nominate Fill- more, 307 ; Aim to defeat the Republicans, 308 ; Row with English au- thorities over enlistments, 309 ; Diplomatic action and correspondence, 310, vni CONTENTS. 311 ; Lord Clarendon and Mr. Marcy, 311 ; the law and the practice, 313 ; London Times takes a hand, 312 ; Kansas, 313 ; Governor Reeder, String- fellow, Atchison & Co., 313-15 ; Woes of British Consul Barclay, 316 ; Tries to bully, 317 ; Marcy's statement, 318 ; Joseph Howe, of Nova Scotia, 319 ; His talents and good nature, 319 ; Douglas's voluminous report, 320. APRIL TO MAY, 1856.— PAGES 320 TO 340. Demagogism of Douglas, 321 ; Sharp's rifles wanted, 321 ; Candidates for the Presidency, 322 ; Fremont doubtful, 322 ; Condition of Kansas, 323 ; W. L. Marcy, 324; Idealess administration, 324 ; Jeff. Davis, 325; Slavery the test of party orthodoxy, 326 ; The filibuster Walker, 327 ; Grotesque pre- tensions, 328 ; Senatorial discussions, 329 ; Mr. Cass, 329 ; Divisions of the Democracy, 330 ; Critical state. 331 ; Cass's post-mortem examination, 332 ; Tergiversation and apostasy of Northern men, 333-334 ; Mr. Sumner's ora- tion, 335 ; He is menaced, 336 ; Letter from Horace Greeley, 337 ; Letter from Charles A. Dana, 338 ; Attack on Sumner, 338 ; Great excitement in Washington — Members go armed, 339 ; Seward offers resolution, 340. MAY, 1856, TO FEBRUARY, 1857.— PAGES 340 TO 360. Campbell's resolution on the Sumner case, 341 ; Benton's criticism on the as- sault, 342 ; Senators Wade and Wilson denounce it, 343 ; Letter from Horace Greeley, 344 ; Republican convention, 344 ; Fremont, 345 ; Letters from Charles A. Dana, 345, 346 ; Letters from Horace Greeley, 346, 347 ; Letter from Dana, 347 ; H. Greeley on results of Maine election. 348 ; Wants one every week, 348 ; Letter from Charles A. Dana on election canvass, Fry, etc., 349 ; Greeley on St. Paul and Governor Banks, 350 ; Congres. sional discussions moderated, 351 ; Cass and long speeches, 352 ; Letter from C. A. Dana, 352 ; Important decision expected from Supreme Court, 352 ; Reverdy Johnson — argument before the Supreme Court in the Dred Scott case, 353 ; Defends slavery, 353 ; Supreme Court a political body, 354; The coming decision will have no moral weight, 355 ; Washington Union, new turn to its arguments, 356 ; Letter from George F. Talbot on a dissolu- tion of the Union, 358; Criticises the Tribune, 359; Letter from T. W. Higginson on Massachusetts disunion movement, 360 ; The Dallas Treaty, 360. FEBRUARY, 1857, TO FEBRUARY, 1858.— PAGES 360 TO 380. Dallas Treaty, 361 ; Lord Palmerston in a conceding mood, 361 ; Bay Islands, 362 ; No war, 362 ; President Buchanan's policy, 363 ; In the hands of the oligarchs. 364 ; Doctrines of his inaugural address, 365 ; No freedom out- side the Free States, 366 ; Slavery is King, 366 ; Supreme Court the citadel of slavery, 368 ; Judge Curtis'a great argument, 369 ; Judge McLean's opinion, 369 ; action of court provokes civil conflict, 370 ; What are you going to do about it ? 371 ; Answer to the question, 372 ; North must act, \r 373 ; State-rights doctrines good for the emergency, 374 ; Letter from Joshua R. Giddings, 374 ; Letter from Horace Greeley, 375 ; Letter from Count Gurowtki, 375 ; Letter from Donn Piatt, 376 ; An non est man, 376 ; Letter • \ CONTENTS. ix from Charles A. Dana, 377 ; Letter from Dr. Bailey, 377 ; Letter from Sena- tor Wade, 378 ; Hopes to preach funeral sermon of the Democratic party, 378 ; Fessenden on Seward, 379 ; Grow knocks Keitt down, 379 ; Increase of the army, 380. FEBRUARY TO MARCH, 1858.— PAGES 380 TO 400. Army hill debate, 381 ; Senators Hale and Fessendeu oppose increase, 381 ; Wanted for crushing out purposes, 382 ; New York City rotten, 383 ; Le compton meeting called by respectables, 384 ; Gentlemen called by name, 384 ; Some questions asked, 385 ; Slave trade reopened, 386 ; Richmond Whig favors it, 387 ; Some striking statistics, 387 ; The army for rebels, 388 ; Two sides to that proposition, 389 ; Slave trade in Virginia, 390 ; Some im- portant facts, 391 ; Virginia pauperized, 393 ; Letters from Fitz Henry War- ren, 393 ; Senator Seward's generalizations, 394 ; Senator Collamer's phi- losophy, 395 ; His errors, 396 ; Mr. Seward on annexing new territory for Slave States, 397 ; His proposition and objections to it, 398 ; Governor Hammond of South Carolina, 399 ; His theories, 400. MARCH TO MAY, 1858.— PAGES 400 TO 420. Massachusetts and Virginia, 401 ; Slavery profitless, 402 ; British West Indies illustrates it, 402; Letter from Hon. I. Washburn, Jr., 403 ; Judah Benjamin, 404 ; His argument for slavery, 405 ; Attacks Lord Mansfield's decision, 406 ; A feature of the reaction, 407 ; Mr. Benjamin's talk will perish, 408 ; Letter from I. Washburn, Jr., 409 ; Letters from Fitz Henry Warren and Senator Wade, 410 ; From Count Gurowski, 411 ; From W. Pitt Fesseuden, 412 ; Death of Thomas H. Benton, 412 ; His peculiar characteristics, 413 ; His intense personality, 414 ; A man of measures, 415 ; His private life and character, 416 ; Letters from W. H. Seward and Dr. Bailey, 417 ; From Gurowski and Mr. Chase, 418 ; Mr. Chase explains his position, 419, 420 ; Letter from Dr. Bailey, 420. MAY, 1858, TO JUNE, 1859.— PAGES 420 TO 440. Letter from Nicholas P. Trist on his Protectorate scheme, 421 ; Letter from Horace Greeley — thinks the Tribune old " Hunker," 422 ; Letter from Count Gurowski on the Atlantic telegraph, 423 ; Letters from I. Washburn, Jr. , and William P. Fessendeu, 424 ; From Mr. Fessenden and Mr. Dana, 425 ; From Henry Wilson — his congratulations, 426 ; Same from Mr. Fesseuden, 426 ; Letter from Hon. Thomas Corwin, 426 ; Speaking thirty-six hours in every twenty-four, 427 ; Letters from Mr. Fessenden and Governor Morrill, 428 ; From Hon. E. L. Hamlin, 429 ; From Hon. Amos Nourse, 430 ; From Charles A. Dana, 431 ; Judah Benjamin on Cuba, 432 ; Advocates slavery everywhere, 433 ; A remarkable speech from Senator Thompson, of Ken- tucky, 434, 435 ; Senate convulsed, 436 ; Senator Collamer on Cuba, 437 ; Buchanan Cuba-crazy, 438; Incompetence of Democratic leaders, 438; Let- ters from J. E. Harvey, William P. Fessenden, and Governor Morrill, 439, 440. CONTENTS. JUNE TO DECEMBER, 1859.— PAGES 440 TO 460. Letter from Charles A. Dana, 441 ; Tbe Count promises good fashions, 441 ; Letter from Mr. Fessenden, 441, 442; Best way to avoid danger, 442 ; Too busy to travel, 442 ; Letters irom Charles A. Dana, 443, 444 ; Anxious about Hildreth, 443 ; His incomparable professional utility, 443 ; Weed < and Morgan, 444 ; Letters from Mr. Fessenden on Presidential candidates, * Great Eastern, etc., 445 ; Murder of Senator Broderick, 446 ; Slavery begets the duel, 447 ; Confederate assassins, 448 ; Old John Brown, 449 ; Child and champion of Kansas, 450 ; Letter from Charles Sumner, 451 ; Governor Wise on John Brown, 452 ; Post-office incendiaries, 452, 453 ; The Herald incendiary, 453 ; Appeal to Postmaster-General Holt, 454 ; Letter from Charles Sumner, 454 ; Letter from Truman Smith, 455 ; Postmaster- General Holt and the Herald, 455 ; A second Mrs. Partington wanted, 456 ; Resisting civilization, 456 ; South wants to be let alone, 457 ; So does the burglar, 457 ; Irrepressible conflict, 458 ; South lets nobody alone, 458 ; Rights of the North, 459 ; Branch challenges Grow, 460 ; Death on a punctilio, 460. JANUARY, I860.— PAGES 460-480. Burlingame's peril on account of a duel, 461 ; Difference between North and South on duelling, 461 ; Grow's lack of knowledge on the Code of Honor, 462 ; Professed duellist ridiculous and detestable, 462 ; A gang of assas- sins, 462 ; North don't send their fighting men to Congress, 463 ; Plenty of bruisers, but they stay at home, 463 ; N. Y. Herald an inflammatory sheet, 464; Promotes slave insurrections, 465; Mr. Raymond's soothing speech, 465; His prescription, 466 ; Duty of South and North, 467, 468 ; Mr. Cushing and Mr. O'Conor, 468 ; The Helper book, 469 ; Its clandestine circulation, 469 ; Mr. O'Conor in a muddle, 470 ; Neither rational nor logical, 471 ; Mr. Raymond's fresh screed, 472 ; His remarkable diagnosis, 473 ; Lack of pre- cision, 474 ; His treatment and final specific, 475 ; Mr. George Wood pro- trudes, 476 ; On Cuffee and Sambo, 476 ; Mr. Amy ou John Brown, 477 ; A crowd of border ruffians, 478 ; Letter from I. Washburn, Jr., 479 ; Lon- don Times on the situation, 479, 480. JANUARY 31 TO MARCH 4, I860.— PAGES 480-500. Jefferson Davis on disunion, 481, 482 ; Letter from I. Washburn, Jr., 482, 483 ; Letters from Fitz Henry Warren, 483-5 ; Letter from Benjamin Stanton, 485; Representative Hickman assaulted, 486; Slavehunters quelled in Kansas, 487; Lessons taught thereby, 487; Washington may follow suit, 488; Senator Broderick's obsequies, 489 ; Toombs officious, 489, 490 ; Senators Brown and Mason, 490 ; Activity of the slave trade in the United States, 491 ; Causes of it, 492, 493; The only cure, 493 ; A sudden demand for scamps, 494, 495 ; Letter from Fitz Henry Warren, 495 ; Wit of Fitz Henry, 496 ; The Vice-President's apology, 497; Where is Keitt? 498; Diabolical attack, 498; Letter from Horace Greeley, 499; Letters from Greeley and Dana, 500, CONTENTS. xi MARCH TO DECEMBER, I860.— PAGES 500-526. Letters from Horace Greeley and Charles A. Dana, 501, 502 ; Letter from Sal- mon P. Chase, " the Era's" affairs, 502, 503 ; His position on the Presidency, 503 ; Horace Greeley on being a bore, and the use of a devil, 504 ; Letter from Mr. Chase on Dr. Bailey's affairs, and neglect of Republicans, 504, 505 ; Owen Lovejoy's fiery speech, 506 ; Two million copies should be circu- lated, 507 ; Perversions of the New York Herald, 508 ; New divisions of parties, 509 ; Combination of Southern and Northern aristocracies, 510 ; It must fail, 511 ; A great political tempest portends, 511 ; Reply of the Herald, 512 ; Letters from Mr. Corwin and Gurowski, 513, 514 ; Count exhibits great rage, 514 ; Mr. Seward's defeat in National Convention, 515, 516 ; The reasons stated, 517, 518 ; Thurlow Weed on Mr. Greeley, 519 ; Letter from H. Greeley, 520; His experiences at the Convention, 520 ; Last night of the Democratic party, 520, 521 ; The funeral orations in detail, 521, 522 ; A rampant slave trader, 523 ; Letters from Gurowski and Greeley, 524 ; Let- ters from Mr. Fessenden in high spirits, 525, 526 ; Letter from Fitz Henry Warren, 526. The following alphabetical table refers to the private letters printed in this volume : Bailey, Dr. G., editor of the National Era. . . .233, 234, 237, 238, 247, 377, 417, 418, 420, 421 Carter, Henry, editor of the Portland Advertiser 27 Campbell, Hon. Lewis D 229, 234 Chase, Salmon P. . . .294, 295, 296, 298, 299, 300, 418, 419, 420, 502, 503, 504, 505, 506 Corwin, Thomas 122, 168, 426,427,513 Dana, Charles A. . . .83, 87, 88,89,90, 96, 97, 98, 112, 113,147, 148, 149, 150, 151, 153, 260, 261, 262, 296, 297, 298, 338, 345, 346, 347, 349, 352, 377, 425, 431, 432, 441, 443, 444, 500, 501 Davis, Mrs. Governor 84, 295 Fessenden, Hon. William Pitt. . . .259, 260, 379, 412, 424, 425, 426, 427, 428, 439, 440, 441, 442, 444, 445, 525, 526 Giddings, Hon. Joshua R 374 Greely, Philip, Jr., Esq., Collector of Boston. .. .107, 112, 117, 119, 124, 131, 132, 133, 138, 139, 145, 146 Grimes, Governor 259, 260 Gurowski, Count . . .253, 254, 255, 256, 257, 258, 294, 375, 376, 411, 418, 423, 424, 513, 514, 515, 524 Greeley, Horace. . . .41, 48, 49, 50, 62, 85, 136, 137, 139, (Scott letter) 140, 141, 142, 146, 147, 305, 306, 337, 338, 344, 346, 347, 348, 349, 350, 375, 422, 499, 500, 501, 502, 503, 504, 519, 520, 524 Ml CONTENTS Haight, Samuel 153 Harvey, James E 439 Hamlin, Hon. Elijah L 429 Higginson, T. W 360 Kettell, S., editor of the Boston Courier 26, 32, 40, 41 Lady, A 269, 270, 271 Lovejoy, Owen , 417 Morrill, Governor Lot M 428, 429, 430, 440, 441 Nourse, Amos 430, 431 Otis, John 146 Piatt, Donu 376, 377 Ripley, George 183 Seward, William H 154, 342, 417 Smith, Hon. Truman 86, 97, 174, 175, 176, 454, 455 Schouler, William, editor of the Boston Atlas 9, 42, 43, 70 Sumner, Charles 300, 451, 454 Stanton, Hon. B 485, 486 Talbot, George F 205, 358, 359 Trist, N. P 421, 422 Wheeler, William H., editor of the Kennebec Journal Ill Washburn, Jr., Hon. I 85, 226, 259, 260, 263, 403, 404, 409, 424, 479, 482, 483 Wilson, Hon. Henry 425, 426 Washburne, Hon. E. B , 224, 233 Wade, Hon. Benjamin F 246, 247, 378, 410 Warren, Gen. Fitz Henry. .. .393, 394, 409, 410, 483, 484, 485, 495, 496, 497,526 PREFACE. While the following contemporaneous exposition does not undertake to give an exhaustive history of the subjects with which it deals, but presents rather, a compilation of historic materials, it is thought it may possess an interest and an atmos- phere of its own that may commend it to public notice. It especially treats of the course of public events in this country, bearing on the questions of disunion and slavery, during the ten or eleven years immediately preceding the civil war. It offers a picture of the strenuous exertions of the slaveholders to annex Cuba and to plant slavery in the Territories, or, failing in that, to accomplish secession ; and of the equally determined efforts of the people of the Free States to prevent the execution of those purposes. The leading men of the country, with their vivid hopes, fears, and designs, all pass in rapid review before the reader. The par- ties engaged in that great struggle are here brought face to face, and their statements, arguments, objects, and methods are, it is believed, delineated with sufficient distinctness to show the pro- gress of the great question involved, through the several years during which the controversy was carried on. "We must observe that this record is drawn from a great mass of material, which < it has been necessary to sift and greatly abridge, in order to bring the work within reasonable compass. The reader will require this explanation in order to understand some of the private correspondence, which refers to events and discussions then taking place, but not herein recorded. Many of the topics thus referred to, not being germane to our present purpose, have been set aside, and nowhere appear in the text. xiv PREFACE. The period covered by the following pages being one of deep historical interest and importance, must always attract a large share of public attention. It will always be memorable as the era of the last argumentative and legislative struggle on the part of the slave-holding statesmen, and that in which the advocates of African slavery received their death-blow after a contest in the national councils of near half a century. It will be evident to the reader that much of the following matter, with the exception of the private letters, which now first see the light, has already been laid before a wide circle of read- ers in the New York Tribune during the period of its largest circulation. That paper, under Mr. Greeley, was the great anti- slavery journal of the period, and at that time the spokesman of the most numerous and determined body of men ever associ- ated for public purposes in the United States. Of the private correspondence, we wish to remark that it is presented as it was written. A more rigid rule would have excluded some of its personal features ; but it was thought best to preserve the individuality and local coloring by allowing the letters to stand as originally composed. The sentiments expressed in the following extract from a cotemporary journal, the New York Times, we trust may find an echo in the public mind : " And now that all of the great anti-slavery leaders in Con- gress have gone ; their services, their sacrifices, and their heroism may be recalled, to the exceeding profit of their survivors and successors. They perfected a great work for humanity — a work which the world may long regard with admiration. They stemmed the rising tide of human slavery in the republic. They resisted the encroachments of an odious barbarism. They de- served well of their country, and they have left a valuable legacy to the human race." FIRST BLOWS OF THE CIVIL WAR. A CONTEMPORANEOUS EXPOSITION. 1850. WILL THE PLAN OF DISUNION WORK ? [From the Boston Courier^ "Washington, January 15, 1850. Will the plan of disunion work ? "What will it accomplish ? It can neither prevent slavery in the Territories, nor pre- vent emancipation in the District of Columbia. Yet these two objects are what the South is driving at, and is in arms to accomplish. If disunion takes place, it will be because the South secedes. But she will leave the District of Colum- bia behind her, and the Territories behind her. They belong to the existing States and government. The new Southern nation must be limited to the points of secession. The pres- ent designs of the North, then, namely, to maintain freedom in the Territories, and to abolish slavery in the District, will not be frustrated by disunion. The secession of the slave States will only the more quickly precipitate both events. "What, then, will the South gain by a rupture of existing relations ? Certainly neither of the objects for which she professes to be now striving. One other result she longs for, namely, freedom from agitation. But will disunion secure her this ? Agitation is electric, atmos- pheric, imponderable. It is incapable of suppression, incapable of restraint. It will go where the winds go. If every inch of the line which shall surround and mark the borders of the new confederacy, shall have a glistening bayonet planted upon it, pointing defiantly outward against all the world, and resting upon a living wall of defence, they will not keep out agitation. It will still enter, penetrate, and permeate all within. The 2 DISUNION NO REMEDY. [Jan. spirit of freedom, that universal perturbator, seeks forbidden ground, and there forever continues its restless wanderings and agitations, impalpable and invisible. The South will not gain tranquillity, then, on the subject of slavery, by disunion. Her legislators might, however, escape to some extent the irritation to which they say they are constantly subjected in consequence of sitting together in council with men in whom belligerent propagandism is an active principle, and who consider it their especial mission and foreordained destiny to announce freedom and denounce slavery. But this trivial matter of personal com- fort is really a very small affair to be thrown into the scale against the wholesome influences which bless not only us, but the world, through our national unity, and the substantial advan- tages which attach to every man of the country while he remains a citizen of the great, united American republic. To dissolve the Union for such a cause would be as great a folly as to ampu- tate a leg to get rid of a corn. But if it be alleged by the South that it is future aggressions to which they are looking, and that if the Union continues the North will not stop with her Wilmot provisoism, or the abolition of slavery in the District of Columbia, but will proceed to strike at slavery in the States, it is answer enough to say that for slavery in the States the North has no responsibility and no remedy, and that if it were ever so much disposed, it could no more practically interfere with slavery there than it can now prevent its colored citizens from being whipped into jail on their arrival in Southern ports ; and who, failing to foot the bills of their own unlawful incarceration, are themselves sold into slavery to the highest bidder. No ; the South can, and does, and will continue to guard her peculiar institution most effectually while in the Union. She has no need to go out to do it. And, in our view, it is a most ex- traordinary spectacle, for which no unprejudiced mind can divine any good reason, to find her legislators indulging in such parox- ysms of wrath, and wielding the terrors of disunion, because the North insists upon freedom in the Territories and freedom in the District. They might well be excused for resistance by their speeches and their votes, but the constitutional authority to do both being clear to every man of common understanding, it seems preposterous to threaten to tear down the pillars of the govern- 1850] PRACTICAL DIFFICULTIES. 3 ment in case it is exercised. There is really nothing but what is perfectly natural and perfectly proper on the part of the North in what it claims of its representatives on these two points. For the plain reasons, therefore, that the North does not pro- pose or desire to interfere with slavery in the States, and that in the -eye of God and man, in view of the intelligent opinions of a past age, and the advancing civilization of the present generation, it de- mands nothing unreasonable in desiring the continuance of free- dom in Territories (which, if it be not continued, would have been a thousand times better off under the stolid barbarism of Mexico), we say, that in demanding freedom for them, and free- dom in the capital of the republic, there being nothing unreason- able, and that dissolution will not prevent freedom in either, we come to the conclusion that the plan of disunion will not work ; and this conclusion, it will be seen, rests upon considerations which appeal with as much force to Southern as to Northern men, and is entirely aside from any considerations connected with the inherent and insurmountable difficulties of carrying out a plan of secession, even if there were good reasons for its being attempted. We have a right, then, to conclude that the judg- ment of the South will, in the last resort, pronounce against the plan of disunion as a remedy for the grievances of which they complain. But if these considerations, placing the matter, as we think they do, upon a perfectly just and stable foundation, taken with the fact that the North is not amenable to the charge of any desire to vex or exasperate the South, or to do her any injustice, and that, to no undistorted vision does the South appear wounded, either in dignity or honor, in submitting to the operation of clearly constitutional laws ; if these considerations are not suffi- cient to restrain the fiery impetuosity of her people from plung- ing into the fatal gulf of disunion — there still remain those of a more stringent character to deter them from such a step. Among the numerous practical difficulties which beset the whole plan of separation, we shall only allude to one, which, in any supposable division between the free and slave States, presents an obstacle which seems to defy removal. This is the fact that the Mississippi River, the great highway and outlet of the "West and North-west, is bordered by numerous slave States, and finally 4 NO PEACEABLE DISSOLUTION POSSIBLE. [Jan. disembogues its waters in a Southern slave State. The question arises at once, Shall Louisiana secede, and hold the mouth of this river ? What would Ohio, and Indiana, and Illinois, and the great States springing up in the vast and fruitful Valley of the Upper Mississippi and its tributaries, say to this ? They can give but one answer. They will say, The Mississippi is ours, and its mouth is the outer door of the passage-way which leads from our granaries, and that outlet we intend to hold against the world, and shall guard it and control it against the world. Louisiana and the South might surrender its free navigation. They must do more. They would be compelled to yield juris- diction below to the dwellers above. The people of the North- west would submit to no restricted occupation of this great inland channel of commerce, which Nature has provided for their use. The Lower Mississippi would thence become the point of contact and conflict between the South and the North. The most perfect agreement in regard to dissolution, in all other respects, would here be torn to atoms. Here would arise an invincible element of discord, which would confound and render vain and ineffectual all efforts to establish harmony and pacific intercourse between two great rival powers. No ; the Mississippi River cannot belong to any two nations. It can be made no Siamese band ; on the contrary, it is the spine of this confederacy, and it cannot be dislocated by having the boundary of rival states cross its waters, without a palsying quiver being sent through every part, termi- nating: in the destruction of the vitalitv of both extremities. There are other reasons why there can be no peaceable dissolu- tion of this Union. The Government of the United States, headed by a President who has sworn to support the Constitution and is determined to uphold the Union, will lay its heavy hand upon whomsoever attempts to disorganize and break it up. The Union is not looked upon by the Government of the United States or the people of the United States as a loose aggregation of States — a confederacy from which any member may withdraw at will, but as the result of a contract which binds every mem- ber, and which must be enforced, if necessary, against which- ever of its members may turn recusant and desire to escape from its obligations, or reclaim the concessions it has voluntarily made to the government of the whole. No attempt at secession, there- 1850] POWER OF THE UNION. 5 fore, can for a moment be countenanced by the national govern- ment. The first step to sever that comprehending bond which encircles these States will call down its whole power to crush the effort. That power is great and terrible, for it rests upon the Constitution and the laws, and is sustained by the affections and upheld by the mighty will of millions of free people. But will the crisis come to test the determination of the South ? We believe it will not. At least, we see no probability that it will. As we have said, there are but two points of col- lision in the present position of the slavery question. One is the question, now imminent and pressing, of slavery in the Territories — the other, of its abolition in the District. As regards Cali- fornia, we may regard the question as settled. The idea of set- ting aside her recent action in establishing a State government and throwing her backward into a state of territorial tutelage and apprenticeship is entirely out of the question. And it is not to be presumed that the sensible men of the South can ex- pect to be successful in any such effort. If they attempt any such scheme, they will only excite the hostility and prejudices of the people of California, which they must know they had far better not arouse. She will be a border State, and as such it is wiser for the South to conciliate her good-will, than to inflame her resentment by a childish and passionate opposition to her ad- mission into the Union. We do not believe, therefore, that any thing serious is intended in the threatened opposition to the ad- mission of California under her present constitution. In the remaining Territories, the question of the Wilmot Proviso will be evaded, by allowing them to follow the example of California, and go ungoverned, or govern themselves in the best way they can, until they are ready to come into the Union as States. There is no probability that any bill establishing a territorial government in New Mexico, Deseret, or Jacinto, either with or without the Wilmot Proviso, can be carried through Congress. We believe there will be a concurrence be- tween WTiigs and Democrats to this end. The question of slavery in the Territories will thus be left to settle itself, or, more properly speaking, to be settled by the people of the several Ter- ritories. Touching the subject of abolition in the District, it is well 6 ORATORY OF HENRY CLAY. [Jan. known that Congress is not yet ripe for any such act. That the pressure of public opinion will continue to augment until such a measure is forced through the national legislature, can, however, hardly admit of a doubt. But it is not likely to be accomplished by this Congress or the next. A few more seasons of agitation and discussion will, however, bring it about, and, meantime,, its limits will be reduced till nothing remains but the city of Wash- ington, and by this time the South will gradually come round to acquiescence in the opinion that, as a measure of practical emancipation, it is really a small affair and the least of all possi- ble reasons that can be given for a threat to dissolve the Union. I have thus briefly presented what appears to me to be the true view of the great question now agitating Congress and the country, and which will continue to be the theme and staple of public discussion during the entire session. We shall undoubt- edly have the Union dissolved forty times before its close, if political storm and tempest, the thunder and lightning of the Senate, the volcanic eruptions of the House, the flashing clouds of the State legislatures, and the artificial earthquakes and phos- phorescent fire of letter- writers, can accomplish it. But it is to be hoped and presumed that all the roar and fury of the political elements will not frighten the sober citizens of the country from their propriety, and that they will not go into a frenzy of alarm at every explosion which may come of the constantly generating gases at Washington. J. S. P. MR. CLAY'S ORATORY. [From the Portland Advertiser.] Washington, January 30, 1850. There was an unusual amount of collision and striking fire in the Senate yesterday. Mr. Clay introduced his resolutions to compose the existing public disorders. The Southern ultra- slavery men received it most ungraciously. Mr. Clay's efforts seemed a little like undertaking to " shingle a whirlwind." He introduced his resolutions with a bland and conciliatory speech, such as he alone of all our public men has the faculty of making. 1850] JEFFERSON DAVIS. 7 Nobody can look like Mr. Clay when he wishes to be persua- sive ; nobody has that sort of eyelid lift of his countenance that he has ; no man can talk through and with his hands like Mr. Clay ; nobody else has that speaking toss of the head from side to side, that brailing up and letting run of the mouth, that familiar jocularity of expression in looks as in language ; no one can command that sudden shift from ease to severity of feature, that quick transition from familiar tone to lordly manner ; in a word, no other man possesses that tout ensemble of the agreeable and commanding phases of oratory in his own personal presence. Mr. Jefferson Davis chafed Mr. Clay by reading a resolution of his (Mr. Clay's) introduced into the Senate some twelve years ago, and by his comments thereon. This brought Mr. Clay up a second time, and he exhibited much fire and animation in his reply. In allusion to the declaration of Mr. Davis that he would never consent to any compromise that did not establish slavery below 36° 30', Mr. Clay became excited and declared that for himself he would never do any thing to introduce slavery anywhere, neither North nor South of the line of 36° 30'. This declaration brought down the applause of the galleries, which was however quickly checked by the Vice-President's hammer. Mr. Clay declared his readiness to debate the whole question at a proper time — any time, indeed, when it would suit the senator from Mississippi — whereat Mr. Davis exclaimed, "Now, now." Mr. Clay replied, " Not so fast ; you must wait till I ain done." He closed by pouring a little oil upon the waves, and proposing to make his resolutions the order of the day for Tues- day next, when it is to be presumed he will make his grand effort in their support, with what success remains to be seen. The public mind, in this quarter at least, does not seem to be in a condition to be swayed to or fro on the great question at issue by any speech, however brilliant or persuasive, or by any man, how- ever distinguished. The currents set so strong that they will be controlled only by time and the inevitable course of events. I hazard little in saying that no other plan of disposing of the ter- ritorial question will be found effectual save that recommended by the President. If the South are really bent upon dissolution, and are only using the present condition of things as a pretext for secession, then it is in vain to attempt small expedients for 8 PREDICTIONS OF DISSOL UTION. [Jan. the purpose of stopping them. If they are not determined upon it, but are only adopting measures which they think most likely to insure their success in their great object of getting more area for slavery, then it is wholly unnecessary to do any thing more than to wait, and let the question of slavery settle itself in New Mexico and Deseret. It has grown to be plain enough that, if left to themselves, these Territories will come into the Union as Free States. Amid all the projects and all the debates on this most fruitful theme of Free Soil, there is much serious apprehension and many quakings of fear. There are acute and extensive manifestations of alarm at the dangers which menace the Union of the States. Already has the value of stocks and property been drawn into the account, and calculations of profit and loss are thrown into the scale against the Wilmot Proviso and free territory. The South- erners profess to have great faith in these pocket- touching con- siderations in influencing the course of the money-loving Yankees. It is confidently stated, with what truth I know not, that two of our most eminent statesmen have recently declared that the Union cannot exist for two years longer. But old age be- comes timid and easily alarmed. We all remember that we were told during the Oregon controversy that war with England was " inevitable." And the apprehensive character of the gen- tleman's mind who used so often to say so, made him to believe his own declaration ; so, also, before the last presidential canvass, we know who declared that the nomination of the Baltimore Convention was equivalent to an election ; and on the other side, who among our most distinguished "Whigs had no faith what- ever in the success of Zachary Taylor. These things lead us to hesitate about pinning our faith and our judgment upon the opinions of any gentleman, however exalted in talents or repu- tation. For our own part, we do not partake of these fears. There are disunionists at the South. There are men in Congress who would bring about a separation if they could. But we con- fide in the sober sense and patriotism of the country, North and South. We do not believe the people of the South can be brought up to the sticking-point of attempting to dissolve the Union because the North steadily refuses to vote for the estab- lishment of slavery in our new Territories. And we do not mean 1850] LETTER FROM EDITOR BOSTON ATLAS. 9 to believe it till the thing is done. And if Northern people at Washington would plant themselves firmly on this ground, and think less and talk less about compromises and backing out, they would soon reduce the dimensions of this bubble of disunion. It is a fortunate circumstance that we have a man of pluck at the head of affairs in the present juncture. Whoever else may be- come alarmed, General Taylor will not. The country may re- pose in this conviction. P. [From General Schouler.] Boston Atlas Office, Saturday. My Dear Pike : It is now eight o'clock a.m. I am vexed to death ever since I arose (two hours ago) at the stupidity of our foreman in leaving out your letters, and especially your letter upon Clay's speech. If you see the Atlas, you will find a paragraph calling attention to the letter, but no letter. I agree with my namesake, William, that — " When sorrows come, they come not single spies, But in battalions." I think you have showed up Clay just about right. By the way, have you counted noses on the Omnibus bill ? Do you think it will pass the Senate ? I know this, that Uncle Dan has written a letter to a friend in Boston — it was received yesterday — in which he says he shall go for the " Compromise" right through and no mistake ; so you put him down as a passenger there. We are all agog about the election in the Fourth District, which comes off on Monday. I have good reports from the district, and I am san- guine that Thompson will be elected. The Freesoilers are pretty active, but they find their work uphill business. Old Zach is popular among the u yeomanary," as Shep. Cary used to say in Congress, and I think we shall carry Thompson through on the strength of it. The Locofoco leaders in the district are working in favor of Palfrey, as there is an understanding among them and the Freesoilers that if Palfrey is elected to Congress now he will not be a candidate again, and they will unite with the Looofocos to elect their man. When you come along, stay awhile in Boston, and we will arrange to have a social sit down with Greely and a select few at the Tremont. I wish you would bring Ed. Stanley. I subscribe myself your ever thankful and faithful Wm. Schouler. 10 RIGHTS OF THE TERRITORIES. [Feb. THE NATIONAL QUAKREL. [From the Bofton Courier.] Washington, February 6, 1850. We are in the midst of a great national quarrel. It has been brewing these sixty years. The seeds of it existed when our pres- ent government was framed. It threatened to burst out into an open rupture thirty years ago. Now it threatens again, more alarmingly than ever. We are thirty States ; half of them hold slaves, and half do not. By our joint efforts we have taken a large additional Terri- tory from Mexico. It is to be cut up into States — and by whom peopled ? By men whose rights are the same as ours. Those men may establish independent sovereignties — ay, as independent as South Carolina herself ever was. What then ? They may seek admission and be received as coequal members of our Fed- eral Union. They will then be as independent of every other State, as each State of the existing confederacy is now indepen- dent of every other. But is this power and this equality, thus obtained, a granted right, a gift, a bestowment by us, the owners of the land, where these States are established ? Not at all. It is a natural right, which inheres in the people of the Territories themselves. Such is the theory of our political institutions. But the South, intently bent on the one purpose of spreading her antiquated and offensive practice of slavery, seems to forget these plain truths. She appears to be watching her own motions only, and to forget great principles and the great movements of the times. She planned the annexation of Texas, to enlarge her field for slavery. It was carried on — consummated ; but it brought the Mexican war. This has passed away and left be- hind it another large addition to our territorial area. The South looks upon this — as she looked upon the acquisition of Texas — as a new domain for slavery. But it so happens that the " pe- culiar institution " has no foothold there. The outer limits of Texas are the extreme boundaries of slavery. And now, what do we hear ? A fierce clamor set up that slavery shall be ex- tended into these Territories. And on what ground ? Why, that they are the fruits of a conquest — the spoils of a war with our weaker neighbor ; that this joint republic is the owner of 1850] THREATS OF THE SOUTH 11 them and their people, and may do what she will with her own ; or, rather, that each member of the Union has a separate partner- ship right of jurisdiction. It is conquered territory, and we are the conquerors, to dispose of these rich trophies of our prowess in arms as we think best. The South looks upon them as ours, in the same manner that Great Britain looked upon the thirteen colonies as hers — as Russia looks upon Poland — as Austria now looks upon Hungary — yea, as the butcher looks upon the bul- lock — a something to be cut up, divided, and apportioned out to hungry consumers ; and she demands her share. The claim is wholly anti-republican ; it is as repugnant to those ideas of civil liberty upon which our government rests, and which are every- where agitating the old world with convulsive throes and vol- canic fires, as the object of it is offensive to the moral sense of the civilized world. What further ? Why, we are told that unless this claim is yielded to, unless the ground is abandoned, that the people of the Territories shall be allowed to form such governments as they like, and forever exclude slavery, if they like ; and unless a division is made by which the South shall get her share of the plunder (for such she views it) then this Union shall be broken, this government dissolved, and force of arms shall secure what is denied by legislation. The threatened alter- native is the old alternative of tyranny — gunpowder and the bayonet. We state the case none too strongly. The President pro- poses that California shall come in as a State under her existing constitution, and that New Mexico shall be allowed to follow her example. Southern men say, " No ! this shall not be. We are determined to have a national recognition of the right to carry slaves into any part of the country south of 36° 30', or we will dissolve the Union, and take our part (and perhaps the whole) of the Territories along with us." They declare they will not consent to the policy of the North, which is to exclude slavery from the whole of these Territories, either by especial pro- hibition or by giving the reins to the inhabitants thereof, who are known to be opposed to the institution. To do this, they say, will be to be guilty of abject submission to the North — to relinquish their rights in the Territories — to acknowledge vas- 12 BLINDNESS OF THE SLA VEHOLDERS. [Feb. salage, and succumb to the Free States. They violently assert that they will not submit to the degradation. This is the actual state of the issue as it now stands, divested ■of all ambiguities. The North may here see, whosoever will may here see, the naked facts of the case. We submit that in taking this ground the South is mole-eyed and mad. She is blind to the existing state of human opinion. She sees that her own immediate interests would be furthered by taking slavery into California and New Mexico, and she thence insists that whatever obstacles intervene shall be removed. This she does in defiance of all other considerations. She is will- ing to exert arbitrary power to effect her object. She is willing to deny the rights of the people of the Territories. The rights of the inhabitants are nothing in her eyes. She has not awakened to the fact that at this day the common-sense of the world re- volts at such pretensions. She is blind to the fact that the womb •of time is quick with the coming birth of universal freedom. She believes in physical force — in arbitrary, despotic power. She thinks the bursting energies of mankind, although so strik- ingly displayed within a short period in the old world, can be hooped like a barrel. She sees not the explosive forces in hu- manity which will ultimately break every band of tyranny asunder, and scatter in ten thousand fragments the power which seeks to bind and enslave. She believes in the whip and the chain, the forge and the fetter. She recognizes not the univer- sal law of compensations. She thinks not that "God is just." Even at this fructifying period, this marked epoch in the world's history, the whole earth so lately alive and vocal with the song of freedom — here, in republican, democratic America, she asserts the right of conquest over a distant people, and believes she can carry by force, and establish over them, where it is not wanted, the institution of human slavery. The admission of California is opposed on the ground that slavery is not to be permitted there ; and the scheme of the South goes the length of forcing it into that new State. So, too, with New Mexico, which cannot be left to decide for herself in regard to the character of her domestic institutions, but must receive such as the South chooses to send and impose upon her. 1850] WAR THE DOOM OF SLAVERY. 13 It is not assuming too much to say that the North cannot go, in the way of settling this quarrel, an inch beyond what is pro- posed by the President of the United States in his late message on California affairs. California must be admitted as a State — New Mexico must be admitted when she presents her constitu- tion. But if this is to be so, then, say the South, " We part company. ' ' Let us cast one glance for a moment into the fu- ture, in view of this " parting company." We have on a previous occasion spoken of one great practical difficulty in the way of separation, arising from the fact that the Mississippi River finds its way to the sea through Slave States. The very circumstances under which a rupture of the existing Union is now threatened point to even a greater obstacle than this. Taking the most favorable view of the subject, supposing that the South will propose to depart in peace, to make a treaty defining limits and boundaries, establishing commercial relations, adjusting old scores of debt, naval and military possessions, etc. , etc., what is to become of the territorial question ? We cannot agree in regard to it while existing as an undivided people, hav- ing every conceivable national motive under heaven to settle it peaceably. What shadow of hope is there, then, that when the inability to dispose of this subject satisfactorily is to be made the very cause of disunion, when that event shall be consummated, and the motives that now urge its pacific settlement shall be in consequence withdrawn, that we can then make it a matter of simple treaty arrangement ? None whatever. It is but too evi- dent that if the South goes on to disunion on the alleged ground of disaffection, she goes on to civil war. Who doubts the result of such a contest ? The contempla- tion of it is fearful, terrible in the extreme. The doom of sla- very is sealed the day that contest commences. Mr. Clay has finished his two days' speech. In the course of it he gave his views very fully on the whole subject of slavery, and on various collateral topics. But he was neither profound, brilliant, nor impressive. He was on the wrong side. Talking two days on slavery, and never once alluding to the " rights of man," or giving one flap to the wings of the spirit of liberty, is not the thing. He did not in a single instance make the dust fly from the back of the old black leviathan known as the ' ' peculiar 14 FOOTE AND DISUNION. [Feb. institution." A much, very much smaller man than Mr. Clay could have produced a far deeper impression than he has, by speaking on the abolition side of the question. J. S. P. FOOTE S FOLLY. [From the Boston Courier.] Washington, February 27, 1850. Mr. Foote made a great parade of saying, on Monday, that unless the Senate took measures to stop the progress of events within five days, that it would be ' ' too late ' ' to do any thing to save the nation ; that if matters were allowed to go on as they had been and were going, dissolution would become inevitable within that period. And he assured senators in the most solemn manner, upon his conscience and his honor, that he knew of what he spoke, and that they must disregard this announcement at their peril. The wags say, therefore, that disunion will positive- ly take place on Saturday next at one o'clock, p.m., and that there will be no postponement on account of the weather. Mr. Corwin is reported as saying that the " crisis" has already arrived at Hampton Roads. The Free States hold the peaceable settlement of the whole territorial question in the hollow of their hands. They have only to act steadily and moderately about the admission of Cali- fornia, and let alone every other feature of it, to accomplish all that they want to accomplish. The Southern agitators and dis- unionists are in a bad way. Unless the North can be coaxed, or wheedled, or flattered, or cajoled, or driven into doing something for their relief, they must soon be checkmated. They have but a move or two more. In this strait the most beseeching faces have of late been turned towards Mr. Webster. Leading senators and leading newspapers, the very antipodes of the distinguished senator in all things, have suddenly begun to coo round him like doves, begging him to produce some plan or bring forth some compromise which shall avert the threatened doom. We shall see what Mr. Webster will do in this emergency. The appearance of things in New York is that Mr. Clay's friends will try hard to make his plan of establishing territorial 1850] WEBSTER'S FATAL SPEECH. 15 governments, without the Proviso, go down with the New Yorkers. We have reason to believe that so far as the New York members of Congress are concerned, they will not succeed. With very few, and perhaps no exceptions, the New York members will be found sustaining the President's policy. And notwithstanding the powerful personal and political motives brought to bear in the most influential quarters to secure a different result, we have faith to believe that the whole Whig force from the Free States will stand firm against Mr. Clay's plan, which, if any thing can, will give New Mexico to slavery. J. S. P. MR. WEBSTER S SPEECH. [From the Boston Courier.'] Washington, March 8, 1850. Mr. Webster made his great speech yesterday to a crowded and delighted audience. The Senate was much more densely packed than when Mr. City spoke. The mass was wedged close on every inch of ground, the ladies even filling senators' chairs and all the space between them. The orator spoke about three hours. His speech speaks for itself. To say that it comes fully up to the tone of Northern members of Congress, or that it meets their expectations, would be to state that which is not fact. In- deed, we are unable to find that any Northern Whig member of Congress concurs with Mr. Webster in the propriety of establish- ing territorial governments for New Mexico, etc., without the "Wilmot." And it is freely said that his argument, that it is not worth while to "re-enact what God has ordained," would have been as good an argument against the original passage of the ordinance of 1787, as it is against the application of the " Wilmot" to a territorial government for New Mexico. J. S. P. SPEECHES OF WEBSTER AND CALHOUN. [From the Portland Advertiser.'] Washington, March 9, 1850. We have had the past week the two great speeches of the session on the slavery question. Mr. Calhoun tottered to the Senate on Monday, carrying his manuscript with him. Too fee- 16 CALHOUN'S FINAL EFFORT. [March ble to read it himself, Mr. Mason, of Virginia, performed the office for him. The speech was listened to with profound at- tention. It bears the peculiar characteristics of its distinguished author ; displaying great force, great earnestness, great direct- ness, and being marked throughout with the analytic power, unity of idea, and simplicity and clearness of expression which stamps all his productions. Mr. Calhoun is imbued with the notion that slavery ought to be, and must be perpetual. He believes it to be the only con- servative element in this government, and as such the only pre- servative ingredient of our free institutions. "When slavery falls we are to tumble into anarchy and chaos as a people. No won- der he sets such store by so glorious an institution, and that he seeks so earnestly and solicitously for the means to render it en- during. His present scheme is to give it new guards and pro- tection by an amendment of the Constitution which shall confer a qualified veto upon the Slave States. If we read his speech aright the South cannot, in his opinion, remain in the Union with safety and honor without the insertion of such a provision in the Constitution, sooner or later. As the Slave States decline relatively in power, their ability to protect themselves will be 4 entirely lost without this new means of defence and preservation. Hence its necessity. Precedent, however, to this is another essential condition of the South remaining in the Union. She must be permitted to carry her slaves to our newly acquired Territories without let or hindrance. She must have access to California and to New Mexico. If she cannot have this privilege, but is to be excluded therefrom, then does she reckon herself to be reduced to the ne- cessity of secession, or of submitting to deep humiliation and degradation. Though Mr. Calhoun pressed these points with great strength, we yet believe from his own course of remarks that the South is not ready for a forcible attempt to dissolve the Union. Whatever the inclinations of her people, and especially of some of her ambitious sons, we believe she will be deterred from any such step, notwithstanding the policy of the adminis- tration may be pursued to its full fruition in the admission of both California and New Mexico as Free States. 1850] WEBSTER 8 mCOiySISTEWJY. 17 Mr. Webster's speech, delivered on Thursday, made a wide and deep sensation. It was listened to by the most densely packed audiense ever assembled within the walls of the Senate chamber. It was a very able speech of course. Mr. Webster cannot speak without making an able speech. But in its main point, that of the application of the Wilmot Proviso to a terri- torial government for New Mexico, Mr. Webster disappointed the North by his declaration that he should vote against it. The sentiment is uniform among Northern members, New England members especially, that on this question he must stand alone. Not a Whig from New England will go with him. We have no disposition to animadvert upon the speech, though we consider it open to censure, both for what it says and for what it does not say. It is as remarkable for its omissions and deficiencies as it is for its declarations. We shall say no more of it than that we consider it unsound, impolitic, and mat a apropos. Yet we can- not forbear to allude to the striking contrast exhibited by Mr. Webster's vote and action in August, 1848, in favor of apply- ing the Wilmot Proviso to the Oregon territorial bill, and his present declaration that he will not vote for the Proviso in a ter- ritorial bill for New Mexico, because it would be to " re-enact the will of God." Pray tell us, was it the will of God that slavery should exist in Oregon, and did Mr. Webster make his great efforts on that memorable occasion to thwart that will ? If not, what did he do then but " re-enact the will of God ?" And we should be pleased further to be informed whether there was more danger of slavery going into Oregon, all of which is north of the celebrated line of 36° 30', than there is of its going into New Mexico, all of which is south of that line ? Alas ! alas ! Mr. Webster. J. S. P. GOVERNOR SEWARD S SPEECH. [From the Boston Courier."] "Washington, March 12, 1850. The North had another spokesman yesterday. Governor Sew- ard, of New York, made along, able, comprehensive, and well-rea- soned speech on the whole subject of slavery, California, territorial 18 ME. SEWAED'S SPEECH. [March governments, Proviso, Texas, etc. , etc. He made a deep dive into the dark ages and brought up a treaty for the surrender of fugi- tive slaves made in the tenth century. He declared that he could find nothing else like it in all history, excepting in our Constitution. But besides this specimen of ancient lore, he brought before us numerous quotations from Machiavelli, Mon- tesquieu, Lord Mansfield, and we do not remember how many others. I liked his speech yesterday much. If it had come at any other time it might have been reckoned to have had too strong an infusion of abolition sentiment ; but following Mr. Webster's, which had such a plentiful lack of that ingredient, it seemed to restore the " equilibrium" in Northern circles that was so sadly disturbed by Mr. Webster's effort. When one has been compelled to take a bad dose, something pungent is neces- sary to take the taste out of the mouth. Hence it is we have rolled Mr. Seward's rankest sentiments as a sweet morsel under our tongue. We certainly ' ' breathe freer and deeper' ' than we have before since Thursday. Yet our apprehensions are great that Mr. Webster's speech may operate so that the game of the Missouri compromise, in a modified form, is to be played over again. Should this prove to be so it needs no prophet to fore- tell that a storm will sweep over the North that will destroy every political man, great and small, who contributes by his acts in Congress to that result. But unfortunately it cannot come till freedom may have received a deadly wound. As the present seems to be a time when a little consolation will not come amiss to those Northern men, those Massachusetts men, we may say, in whom the love of freedom is ingrained, we beg to call attention to the late speech of Horace Mann, issued a few days since. Here is a speech worthy of the successor of the venerable John Quincy Adams. For truth of doctrine and genuine independence and manliness of tone it is not surpassed ; while for copiousness of language, splendor of diction, and afflu- ence of thought, it is unmatched by any that it has been our for- tune to hear or read during the present session. J. S. P. 1850] MR. DAYTON'S SPEECH. 19 MR. DAYTON'S SPEECH. [From the Boston Courier.] Washington, March 23, 1850. The great comet of dissolution tliat has been blazing upon us so long, coming nearer and nearer, until alarm and consternation began to spread through all ranks and circles at its fiery and threatening appearance, has passed its perihelion, and is already going rapidly out of sight in its retreat towards the infinite realms of space. The storms which blew so furiously, and the waves that dashed so frightfully upon our ship of state have become gentle gales and harmless billows, over which we are now riding without hearing scarcely the creak of a spar or witnessing the strain of a rope. In truth, we are listlessly rolling upon the still heaving but yet placid bosom of affairs. We have passed the Cape, and the broad Pacific stretches away before us. A great scene of excitement having thus been undergone, re- action comes, lassitude ensues, and the public yawns. The de- bates drag. The war of words has ceased to seem big with de- struction. The terrific explosions of nouns and pronouns, of ad- jectives and adverbs, seem far off in the sky, where they can harm nobody. We dawdle and loiter and wait for a fresh breeze to spring up in some new quarter of the heavens. It would even be a relief to hear a dying roar of the old storm. Above, around, in doors and out, all is as "Dull as the fat weed that rots on Lethe's wharf." Yesterday a very excellent speech was made in the Senate by Judge Dayton, of New Jersey. Mr. Dayton is well known as one of the ablest and most accomplished debaters of the body to which he belongs, and of which he is indeed every way a shining ornament. J. S. P. DEATH OF CALHOUN. [From the Boston Courier.'] "Washington, April 1, 1850. John C. Calhoun is dead. His colleague, Judge Butler, read this morning a fitting notice of his life and death, which occupied some twenty or thirty minutes in the delivery. 20 DEATH OF CALHOUN. [April Mr. Clay followed, and j:>ronounced a feeling eulogium. It was a just tribute of an aged and honorable public man, himself among the highest in distinction, to a contemporary of forty years' standing, of equal fame, and doing equal credit to the author and the illustrious dead. Mr. "Webster followed Mr. Clay, and drew a graphic picture of Mr. Calhoun's mental and moral character, and accorded to him the highest and noblest qualities of head and heart. His. remarks were calm, measured, and eulogistic. lie chronicled in a brief manner the distinguished characteristics of his great an- tagonist, and fully indorsed him as a man every way worthy of honor and admiration. The Senate was full, and the whole scene was profoundly in- teresting for upward of an hour. After Mr. "Webster had spoken, Mr. Rusk, of Texas, made a few observations. Mr. Clemens, of Alabama, followed by a sophomorical display that was enough to set one's teeth on edge. After bedaubing Mr. Calhoun, Mr. "Webster and Mr. Clay, in a way to shock the living and agitate the dead, he sat down. Mr. Clay called Mr. Clemens " eloquent " a few weeks ago. It is to- be hoped the compliment has not spoiled him. J . S. P. WAR IN THE WHIG PARTY. [From the Boston Courier.] Washington, April 7, 1850. Two years ago the Whig party undertook the bold experi- ment of throwing off its old leaders. After a furious struggle they succeeded in doing it by the nomination of General Taylor at the Philadelphia Convention. The defeated portion of the party were excessively chagrined and very considerably enraged. Mr. Clay wrote a sneering letter upon the proceedings of that convention, and his friend and champion of the JVew York Tri- bune called it the " slaughter-house" of "Whig principles. Mr. "Webster was not less severe, and pronounced the nomination ' ' not fit to be made. ' ' After the election of General Taylor, the members of the political circles, of which these distinguished gentlemen were the 1850] WAR IN THE WHIG PARTY. 21 several centres, crowded around General Taylor and his friends to see what was to be done. Of course they would like to make up the administration and give it its tone. To this end promi- nent friends were pressed for the Cabinet. But General Taylor's advisers were selected through other influences, and mainly on the ground that an exfoliating process had been commenced on the party at General Taylor's nomination, and that the idea which lay at the bottom of the Philadelphia movement could only be carried out by an independent selection of the members of the new administration. It was predicted at the start, in leading "Whig circles, that the administration was so ill-assorted and weak that it would inevita- bly break down. The friends of the two great Whig champions washed their hands of the whole concern, and with folded arms took the position of outsiders, to see how the new men would work. When it came to the distribution of offices, the administration were pressed hard to avow their policy on this subject. The out- siders and the party generally were clamorous for a general sweep. After some backing and filling, the President and Cab- inet, seeing the strong set of the current, fell in with the general desire, and the duties of their place in this particular branch were discharged with commendable alacrity, and to very general satisfaction. An equable disposition of the offices allayed to a great extent the irritation, and removed the coldness of that por- tion of the party which thought they were to be ostracized in con- sequence of General Taylor's election, and the independent con- struction of the Cabinet. Mr. Clay's friends and Mr. Webster's friends were well served, and so far as the gift of office went, no personal distinctions were recognized, but the whole Whig party was regarded as a unit, and the distribution of place was made accordingly. Thus, on the meeting of Congress, the Whig party was reck- oned to be as compact as it well could be under the circum- stances — that is to say, in its personnel. There was nothing wanting, therefore, but an understanding and an agreement upon its general policy, and an active concurrence among the members of the party in Congress, in order to have the administration go along smoothly. On the tariff question, which is the only 22 GENERAL TAYLORS PRUDENCE. [April domestic question strictly dividing the Whig and Democratic parties proper, that rests on any well-delined principle, Mr. Mer- edith's exposition was able and satisfactory. lie made a distinct issue with the opposition on this subject, upon which the Whigs could everywhere stand. The territorial question, involving the great and difficult sub- ject of slavery generally, forcing itself upon Congress and the administration, had to be met. It was taken up by General Taylor in a just spirit, considered in a conciliatory temper, and treated with consummate prudence. The administration pro- posed an easy settlement of this vexed question — a settlement satisfactory to the North, and coming from a Southern Presi- dent and a Southern Cabinet, inevitably satisfactory to the South. The policy was, as it need not be said, to admit the several Territories as States as fast as they presented themselves for admission, and propriety would warrant ; and in the mean- time to allow them to go on as they have long gone on, under their existing civil and military regulations. Nothing could be simpler than this, nothing easier and more natural, nothing less irritating. It is a policy absolutely avoiding all the diffi- culties of the slavery question, fair and just to all sections, and to which no man, North or South, can fairly take exception. Now, notwithstanding the considerate and unexceptional course of the administration here briefly delineated, yet taking into consideration some of the facts we have recounted, it can- not be considered altogether surprising to see the ancient Whig leaders declining to concur in its policy on the great and absorb- ing question of the day, and bringing forward new plans and new schemes to supplant that policy. The legitimacy of the existing dynasty has never been ac- knowledged, and no heartiness of support has ever been ac- corded to it by certain leading and powerful interests in the Whig party. From the time of the nomination of General Tay- lor down to the filling of the Cabinet, and from that time to this, it is no secret that there has been coldness, a want of sym- pathy, and a suppressed hostility to the powers that be, in influ- ential quarters. And thus it is we have at this moment individual Whig schemes for settling the great question of the day, supported by 1850] MR. CLAY'S COMPROMISE. 23 one and another from all parties, instead of an administration policy universally sustained by the Whig press, the Whig mem- bers of Congress, and the Whig party. We see a house divided against itself. Instead of the administration of its policy being warmly and heartily sustained by the leading members of the party in Congress ; instead of witnessing an unbroken esprit de co7'j?s throughout the ranks, which regards its first duty to be to preserve the morale, the integrity, the reputation and standing of the whole corps, we see an inglorious rivalry among subordi- nates in station, to usurp the prerogatives of its chief. There is rebellion in the camp. The standard of revolt is reared, and rival leaders unfurl their banners for followers. Mr. Clay, in- stead of quietly working in harness, and coming in to the aid and support of the administration, avows his contempt for its policy and announces a grand " compromise," with a flourish of trumpets, which is to supersede all other plans for the settlement of the territorial and slavery questions. Mr. Webster fails to recognize any virtue in the administration plan of settlement, and likewise marks out a course for himself. Thus we go. What can come of it all but weakness, disper- sion, and dissolution, so far as the Whig party is concerned ? Can a party stand with its leading men pulling openly in differ- ent directions on a great question of public and party policy ? It will not take a thimbleful of brains to answer the question. The Northern Wing party, we fear, is already temporarily ship- wrecked, so far as success in the election goes, in consequence of these divisions. And unless there shall be a speedy change in the tactics of some of the leading men of the party, we foresee nothing but disaster upon disaster to the Whigs throughout the North. Can anybody fail to see (and seeing it, shall we not ac- knowledge it) that Mr. Webster's speech is a bomb fired into the ranks of the Whigs of the Free States that threatens a most disastrous explosion ? We consider it to be highly fit and proper for us to allude to this subject, and to state the conviction which we know to be widespread, that Mr. Webster owed, and still owes it to the Whig party to avoid making distracting issues for them, whether he is or is not to be rewarded by them with the highest honors in their gift. But we fear (and some will very likely set it down 2-i DANGERS OF PARTY DIVISIONS. [April to his credit) that Mr. "Webster has chosen to disregard all ties of obligation to party and to the administration (we will not add, to the greater cause of freedom) in the course he has chosen. And thus, too, with Mr. Clay, whose nature, and we might almost say, whose prerogative it is, by virtue of his transcendent powers, not to see any great virtue or merit in any policy or any admin- istration of which he is not the head and leader. But from whatever causes or motives they may have acted, we think it is but too plain that from the failure of these two distinguished "Whig leaders to second and support the policy of the administration on the territorial and slavery questions, is to be apprehended great peril to the ascendency of the Whigs. The Whig party is not large enough yet to be cut up into a Clay party, a Webster party, and an administration party. In any political contest marked by such divisions, a certain other party, called the Democratic party, would be very sure, in almost any State, and almost any locality in any State, to bear away the standard of victory. And it is the prospect of such a division that we deplore, and which leads to the conviction we have ex- pressed, of coming disaster to the Whigs, unless something is done to avert it. We do not believe that Massachusetts herself is safe with the prospect of divisions already shaping themselves in the distance. In that State, however, it may be that the party to whom success is to enure is not yet born or christened, but is to be compounded of existing materials, and increased by aggre- gations of pure Whig blood, and whose name and title shall be, when it shall spring, at a single bound, into eager and glowing existence — the Coalition! If it be supposed that any strength can be brought to the sup- port of either of the great names we have mentioned, in any coming canvass, outside of the Whig party, the history of the Democracy, par excellence, has been read to little purpose. We may be sure that not a man of the Democratic party can here- after be brought to the support of Mr. Webster or Mr. Clay, in any conjuncture or on any emergency. And if any such expectation is entertained in any quarter, great and bitter will the disap- pointment be when the time of trial shall come. A sardonic grin will be vouchsafed, but not one vote. Yet is there a possibility that there is virtue enough in the 1850] NECESSITY OF SUPPORTING THE PRESIDENT. 25 administration policy on the slavery question to save the Whigs in spite of themselves ? It may be that it will force itself upon Congress and the country by virtue of its own innate strength and wisdom. There is a chance yet that no other can prevail ; and that in spite of indifference, in spite of affected contempt, in spite of secret and open hostility, it will yet, through the very necessities of the case, become the ruling and controlling influ- ence, the enforced mould, to which politicians and statesmen must submit and shape themselves, however reluctantly. Should this prove to be so, it will exhibit a signal evidence of the sagacity and wisdom of the old hero at the head of affairs. Let us still hope that " the stone which the builders rejected shall become the head of the corner. ' ' But this depends upon a zealous, hearty, and energetic sup- port of the administration and its policy. The Whigs have elected General Taylor President, and unless they stand by him ■and his policy they are doomed, and the administration is doomed. If rival forces are allowed to drag it from its position, it will be to drag it to destruction ; and its power will be wrenched by an unlineal hand, no Whig succeeding. There is nothing but utter wreck ahead for the Whigs in the Free States if the " platform'' of General Taylor on the slavery question is aban- doned. And the Whig press and the Whig men everywhere should come boldly out and say so. Let them strengthen and encourage the action of the Whig force in Congress, who, while being nearly unanimous in opinion in regard to the wisdom of the President's policy, are yet vexed and chagrined at the per- sonal influences and individual interests that, to some extent, are dividing the voice, and thus distracting the vigor, of the party. The administration of General Taylor should be recognized and supported as a legitimate power, over and above all individual names and personal reputation. The success of the administra- tion and the safety and interests of the Whig party itself depend upon the general recognition and effective acknowledgment that it is so. J. S. P. 26 LETTER FROM EDITOR BOSTON COURIER. [April [From the Editor of the Boston Courier.] Boston, April 15, 1850. My dear Sir : I am quite as fully persuaded as yourself that political matters are in a most critical state. It's more the pity that honest men like you and me have not the power to make everybody obey us in marching straight ahead out of these troubles. /, for one, cannot have my own way in the matter, as you will see by what follows. You know the Courier has taken the side of Webster in the California and Proviso question. I have not space to tell the whole story, but the thing is done and we must stand upon it. You have spoken very freely upon all political subjects through our columns, and I wish to God things were so that nothing would lie in the way of your exertions in the same career. But what can we do ? The matter has got beyond the limit of speculative opinions and assumed a practical shape. We have now a real job to do in sustaining Dan, and it is impossible to get ahead if we pull down with one hand what we build up with the other. People are quoting your letters against us, and making capital out of them for t'other side. Just look at the newspapers. Small causes we don't mind, but this is cutting our own throat. I feel this embarrassment the more sensibly when I reflect on the obligation we are under to you for your long-continued and valuable labor in the service of the Courier. Nothing would give me greater pleasure than the ability to make you some recompense for the same, but Heaven knows I am as void of the pecuniary as of the political appliances and means to do such things. In short, there are such influences gathered round me that I must crave a very liberal forbearance from you in explaining how much I cannot do just now. I heartily wish all party politics at the devil. In plain English, the political train of the Courier must run for the present on a single track. Don't think hard of me for saying I cannot publish your letters against old Dan. The truth is, a negotiation is now on foot for the transfer of the proprietorship of the Courier, which will place it under new management, and in this conjuncture I am restricted by business obligations from printing political matters of a certain char- acter. This is confidential between ourselves ; no one knows it but the parties concerned. When I am free to fight on my own hook, I hope you and I may go shoulder to shoulder. Till then I must trust to your candor and good sense to put the right construction on my behavior, and, with a thousand thanks for your past services, I remain, Yours truly, S. Kettell. J. S. Pike, Esq. 1850] BENTON'S FIERCE OPPOSITION. 27 [Prom the Editor of the Portland Advertiser.] Portland, April 17, 1850. Friend Pike : I have been rather old Hunkerish in my feelings in times past, but I am not at all proud of the present position of Clay and Webster ! If the Senate tack that long tail to California, I hope the House will cut it off or defeat the whole —if they have to call the yeas and nays for it. I should go in for a row before I would submit to it. Very truly, your friend, H. Carter. PISTOLS DRAWN IN THE SENATE — FOOTE AND BENTON. [From the Boston Courier.] Washington, April 18, 1850. The proceedings in the Senate yesterday are deserving of reci- tal. So far as the debate went, it was for the most part a war of the giants. As to the pistolling it was no war at all. When we went in, a little after one o'clock, Mr. Benton had the floor, and was speaking in a mingled strain of humor, irony, broad caricature, and energy, against the idea of mixing up Cali- fornia with the other subjects to be referred to Mr. Foote's com- mittee. He was sneering, sarcastic, and biting. The immediate occasion of the debate was a plan that Mr. Clay had devised to cut the throat of all Benton's amendments at one stroke of the razor. Mr. Benton had offered fourteen of them to the resolu- tion appointing the committee, on which he said he had deter- mined to demand the yeas and nays, and also to debate them, so far as might be necessary. He likewise intimated, at the time of offering them, some days ago, that he might have to propose more ; but of this he said, " deponent saith not, for deponent knoweth not." Yesterday Mr. Clay introduced a general pro- position to negative all the amendments at once, and all that might hereafter be offered, by a general declaration that the Senate would not instruct the committee at all ; Mr. Benton's amendments being for the purpose of prescribing what the com- mittee should and should not do. Mr. Clay having previously led the debate on the formation of the committee, and having now presented this summary mode of killing off the protracted opposition threatened by Mr. Benton to its formation, was of 28 MR. CLAY'S STRIKING APPEARANCE. [April course a principal mark in Mr. Benton's sallies. And while the contumacious, intrepid, and able senator from Missouri was very courteous in tone towards his equally intrepid and unflinching antagonist, his remarks to the general subject were very bitter and scorching. And while, as a matter of taste, a good deal that he said might be excepted to, yet no one who heard him would deny the exhibition, on his part, of great strength, great pun- gency, and great skill. Mr. Clay listened uneasily. He appeared savage and deter- mined. His usual bland and facile countenance, so often looking as pleasant and changeable as the dimpled face of a lake spark- ling under a summer's sun, was now like the surface of the same sheet of water with black clouds lying closely down upon it, and with its foamy ripples torn up by fierce gusts. He took the floor the moment Mr. Benton concluded. His personal appearance was a spectacle. His face and head were flushed with a sort of grayish blood ; his wide mouth compressed with that iron grip which never fails to indicate fierce and determined purposes. His iron-gray hair hung loose like a roused lion's mane well shaken, and altogether concealed his ears from sight. His small, aristocratic-looking hands quivered with agitation. His face spoke a thousand emotions. His black dress-coat hung loose about his person like a wrapper. His double-breasted vest buttoned to his chin, with his gold watch-guard dangling over his bosom, to the handling of which his active fingers often resorted, completed the tout ensemble of his presence. He went on with great animation in reply. He wore the mien of a champion who felt his power, and who was intensely determined to exert it and to triumph. He tossed his head, flashed fire from his eyes, scowled fiercely, stamped convulsively upon the floor, shook thunders from his tongue, and terrors from his countenance. The Henry Clay of yesterday was the great leader, bespeaking himself suited for any emergency of peace or war. During the day he was on his feet several times, and on each occasion showed the same earnest and impassioned demeanor. Once he was called forth by Mr. Hale, who made a more happy effort than he usually does. Mr. Hale declared his belief that in the existing controversy the South would triumph. His points were good, his manner less frothy than common, and his rhetoric more 1850] FOOTE'S ASSAULT ON BENTON. 29 pointed and effective. In his closing remarks he almost rose to genuine eloquence. Mr. Clay precipitated himself upon Hale with great temper and vehemence. But Hale's positions were too impregnable to be carried, and the old veteran gained no success by his mettlesome onslaught. It was a singular sight throughout. Mr. Clay led the dis- unionists and the Democracy in general, while Benton headed the main Whig force. The sympathies of the Whig spectators were all with Benton, while Clay was the god of the Democrats. The Whigs admired and cheered the great expunger. The Democrats idolized and glorified the great embodiment. Thus the world wags. As a parliamentary match, it was just about equal. Benton's knowledge, experience, doggednesss, resources, and indomitable perseverance can find no match in the Senate but Clay. Clay's great and versatile powers in the tactics of legislation as well as in debate, his remarkable assurance and dictatorial manner, is an overmatch for anybody but Benton. They are alike intolerant, alike intrepid, alike imperious, alike unbending and indomitable. In the present controversy Benton labors under the disadvan- tage of leading the minority, and in the end must be worsted. But his gallantry and chivalric obstinacy, while to most it seems useless, and therefore out of place, we admire. We love a gen- uine exhibition of pluck and mettle when displayed in a right- eous cause like that which Benton advocates — the independent admission of California. We loathe all scampering cowards who run because danger threatens, or defeat seems inevitable. There is no Lacedemonian bravery in this. After the principal performance came the after-piece. Mr. Foote, who had held in all day, got nervous on his empty stomach at about five o'clock, and rose to reply in his hectoring manner to some remarks that Benton had just finished, bearing upon slavery and the Southern address. He had gone on but a few minutes, made but about half a dozen fierce gesticulations, and stamped his feet but two or three times, and indulged in but one or two of his vocal roars, preparatory or introductory to some grand demonstration, when he alluded in significant language to the senator from Missouri in person. Benton immediately arose, hastily pushed back his chair, 30 FOOTE DRAWS HIS PISTOL. [April knocking a tumbler from his desk as he moved, and rushed out into the passage in the rear of the desks of the senators, and was proceeding rapidly towards Foote, when he was surrounded by friends, who saw what was taking, and about to take, place, and who partially arrested his progress. Foote, who had his eye upon Benton, seeing him coming, stopped suddenly short in his speech, and fled down the aisle before him, towards the area in front of the Vice-President's chair, tugging away at a breast- pocket of his coat, out of which there reluctantly came at last a long rifle-barrelled pistol, which he forthwith began to cock, holding its muzzle in the direction of the senator from Missouri. Benton had now taken his back tracks, and was forcing his way down a parallel aisle, to get at Foote, when he got a sight of the pistol, which Foote's friends had by this time seized upon and taken away from him. Thereupon Old Bullion began to stamp and roar like a mad bull. He threw back his coat with both hands and declared that he was unarmed and desired his friends to get out of his way and ' ' let the d d assassin shoot. ' ' He declared that Foote had manifested a purpose to assassinate him. He was to be a victim of assassination, etc., etc. He was strug- gling with half a dozen friends who were trying to hold him, and in such a frenzy of rage that his language was broken and inco- herent. Mr. Foote, in the midst of a circle of his friends, de- clared that he only meant to defend himself, and began to huddle back to his seat. Mr. Benton had now got hustled nearly back to his. The galleries had sprung to their feet, and so had every senator and spectator, and then came loud cries of " Order !" "Take your seats!" "Proceed to business!" etc., etc. Mr. Benton foamed and sat down, and foamed and rose again, his friends still pulling him back and trying to pacify him. Foote explained and re-explained. But Benton continued to vent noth- ing but fitful gusts of passion. Foote became very calm, and wanted to go on and finish his speech, but the Senate said No, and adjourned, after appointing a committee of investigation. This morning the Senate was filled early. The galleries especially were crowded. Something in the shape of a grand Jmale was expected. At one o'clock the " orders of the day," which meant the continuance of the proceedings of yesterday, were moved by Mr. King, of Alabama. Mr. Foote, who was so 1800] THE MORNING AFTER TEE FRAY. 31 unceremoniously cut short in his speech by Mr. Benton's bellig- erent demonstration yesterday, rose. The Senate was silent. The galleries leaned forward. Mr. Benton sat in his seat twirl- ing a piece of paper. Would the little Mississippi senator go on ? Would he allude again to the burly and truculent senator from Missouri ? Would there be another rush, another melee, another scamper, and another pistol drawn ? These were the queries of the galleries and various and sundry spectators. They were in an agony of suspense to know. All hung tremblingly upon Mr. Foote's opening words. He relieved it by mildly say- ing that in view of the perilous condition of the country, the pressing necessity of action at so critical a juncture, he would forego his personal wishes to make a speech, and consent to pro- ceed at once to the much more important duty of voting. He then sat down. Mr. Benton made a deep inspiration, which ex- panded his physical proportions sensibly. Everybody else drew a long breath also. Mr. Mangum followed, and expressed the hope that Mr. Clay would not press his wholesale method of destroying Mr. Benton's amendments, against which that senator protested so vehemently yesterday, as it would be likely to pro- long the unprofitable debate indulged in quite too long already. Thereupon Mr. Clay rose and withdrew his proposition, and ex- pressed his hope that the Senate would now proceed and vote upon the Missouri senator's amendments seriatim, and without debate, on the side of the opposition to those amendments at least. Several other senators rose amid profound quiet and ex- pressed the same hope. When all were through, Old Bullion straightened up to his full dimensions. He remarked in a measured and quiet way, with much sarcasm of tone, that he was delighted with the harmony of the Senate this morning ; and he discovered also that we were not only to have a harmo- nious Senate, but a dumb Senate. He then related a humorous story, and said he had already uttered about all the arguments he had to offer, and should not probably therefore make any more talk on the subject. A vote was then quietly taken on his various amendments. Thus the distinguished senator accomplished both of the objects he under- took yesterday. He silenced Mr. Foote, and he brought the Senate to a vote on each one of his several propositions, all of 32 GENERAL TAYLOR'S TRIALS. [Aran, which were voted down. This he could not help. He tri- umphed, however, wherever triumph was possible. Though beaten, he is still victor. J. S. P. [From the Editor of the Boston Courier.] Boston, April 22, 1850. My Dear Sir : I return your letter, agreeably to your request. It went sadly against my grain to withhold it from the press, for no one can like it better than I do. If I were not hampered by business obliga- tions in this particular matter, there should be no impediment to the swing of your broad ax in the Courier; nothing is better relished here. I hope the matters in question will be all arranged before many days, when you shall hear from me again. At present you may have the satisfaction of knowing that what you have done will tend to great good. I should be most happy to see satisfaction of another sort added to this. Yours trulv, S. Kettell. J. S. Pike, Esq. ,) GENERAL TAYLOR S TRIALS. [From the Boston Courier.] Washington, April 20, 1850. " "We cannot all be masters, nor all masters Cannot be truly followed." Insubordination is catching. Like master like man. Horace Greeley was never nearer right than when he described the Whig party to be a "loose aggregation of independent thinkers." It is infinitely amusing to witness the illustration of this observa- tion just now, in relation to the Cabinet of General Taylor. There was a great disaffection at its first selection. Of course there was. There would have been such under any circumstances of choice. If certain gentlemen could not have seats in the Cabinet, they and their friends were bound to be grievously disappointed and greatly provoked under any and all circumstances. Kick up a row they would, if they could. What more natural than such an explosion of virtuous indignation ? So also with every editor, every newspaper correspondent, every man — in high station and in low — who wanted an office for himself or his friend, who de- 1850] CRUSADE AGAINST THE CABINET. 33 sired a removal here and an appointment there, who wanted this claim allowed and that case favorably considered — all, of all sorts, who asked for spoils, plunder, favors, thrift, or advance- ment under the new regime, and did not get what they wanted, would still, under the most pure, the most able, the most wise, the most perfect administration that can be conceived of, have raised just the same clamor that they now do. He who believes that this clamor, in the main (we do not mean to say altogether), arises from any other than these petty personal interests and dis- appointments, " Incurs derision for his easy faith." A single example illustrates the whole matter. It was pub- licly notorious last spring that the editor of the New York Ex- press was disappointed and chagrined at some appointments in New York City, and that he vented columns of indignation upon the administration at the time. Having nursed his wrath and kept it warm, he is now joining the hue and cry of the New York Herald and kindred spirits in their present crusade upon General Taylor's Cabinet. This is a transparent kind of oppo- sition, to which attention need only be drawn to be derided and disregarded. Yet it is a fair sample, we believe, of the character of a great part of the opposition waged against the Cabinet in general, and truly displays the leading desire for a change. There lurks beneath the outward show some petty spite or hope of petty favor. There is not, among all the steaming vapors fill- ing the air, one pure mountain blast of fresh and genuine public sentiment. What do the people care whether this man or that man is in or out of the Cabinet, so that affairs go on smoothly and properly ? They did not elect the Cabinet — they elected General Taylor ; and he, and he alone is responsible, and will be held responsible for the character and conduct of the administra- tion. While their confidence in him remains unimpaired, they will believe him to be able to decide as to who he should have for his Cabinet officers. And when the character of General Taylor is impeached, we shall know that honesty is dead among men. We look upon the wholesale onslaught on the Cabinet, at this particular juncture, open and covert, as not only selfish but frivolous. The Galphin claim would seem to be made the occasion for 34 INSUBORDINATION IN THE RANKS. [April it, but the causes are, for the most part, those to which we have briefly alluded. A single one of a fine herd having been suddenly suspected of having had his head in the forbidden meal-tub, before any time is given for investigation of the fact even, the cry is, " Knock them all in the head at once ; set on the dogs ; cut, slash, and hamstring. ' ' The whole affair is like a hustle in a crowd at a country muster on the intimation of a fight. The multitude is in a blaze, and every one who has an extra quantity of bile in his stomach, or of combativeness or something worse in his head, rushes to the melee, glad of any kind of reason or opportunity to unplug his surplus spite or vent his belligerent temper. We reckon that this condition of things, if it does not abso- lutely grow out of, is yet greatly aggravated and influenced by the state of the party. Insubordination reigns in the ranks, and naturally enough. We see the old leaders branching off on their own hook. And why should not the young ones think it a good operation to do so too ? This circumstance, as we have on a for- mer occasion observed, leads to distraction and disintegration, and is, in a party point of view, a precedent and an example fraught with nothing but mischief. Can we wonder, on a full view of the circumstances of the party, to hear, as we sometimes do, the declaration that not thirty of the hundred and thirty Whigs in Congress are in favor of the retention of the present Cabinet by President Taylor ? Why, not to refer to gentlemen in the condition of Mr. Brooks, who does not see the great num- ber of Whigs in that body who might properly think that they each, severally, stood a fair chance of getting into the new Cabi- net, in case of a general break up and dissolution of the old ? And is this consideration nothing ? But we disbelieve the allega- tion, and intimate no such selfish motives for the conduct of hon- orable men and good Whigs. Yet we may venture to say that any special indorsement of General Taylor's advisers by promi- nent Whigs in or out of Congress, at this particular juncture, may be likened to a supplementary indorsement of a discounted note on which the money had already been obtained by the prin- cipals, and of which such supplementary indorsers would get no share. This may be a very homely view of the case, but we be- lieve there is truth in it nevertheless. 1850] RECONSTRUCTION OF THE CABINET. 35 If our views are not unfounded, the dismissal of the existing Cabinet would be an act of extraordinary weakness, and the idea of it cannot be entertained for a moment. New administrations are apt to be pestered with foolish notions of reconstruction, but these are usually but the folly of fools. In the present emer- gency we reckon that the recomposition of the Cabinet would work great injury of the party. It would unsettle that necessary confidence now just being established. If it be true that the friability of the party, to use no stronger term, is at the present time very marked, what is to be gained by a change which shall be but a substitution of one batch of crumbling materials for another ? If the party will not follow the administration as now constituted, will a reconstruction of the Cabinet help that ? If the present Cabinet is to go out, who is to go in ? Is it to be Mr. Clay and his friends, or Mr. Webster and his friends, or who is it to be ? These are questions more easily asked than answered. It is easy to tear down, but not so easy to build up. " No matter who, so we have a change," is no answer to the real diffi- culties of the case, viewing it in this aspect, namely, that the Whig party, whose whole life has been opposition, and nothing but opposition, and which has never been disciplined to forbearance, or trained to the support of a national administration, and being, in truth, a "loose aggregation of independent thinkers," will follow one Cabinet lead as well as another. So that we can see nothing to be gained by a change. Especially must we come to this conclusion in view of the present double, if not triple-headed look of the party. Indeed we might well conclude in this view that the result of a new contest between existing interests in the party, in the event of a dissolution of the present Cabinet, would be much like that of the quarrel of the cats of Kilkenny. We might thus well rest in a state of masterly inactivity, if there were really valid grounds for a change, regarding the greater evils that would be likely to follow. But when we reflect on what the desire of change mainly rests, we may well dismiss the idea of it with utter disregard as the emanation of spleen and folly. And now, having said this much, we wish to say a little more. The Cabinet of General Taylor has sins to answer for. There are good grounds of complaint against it. But those sins we 36 MR. CLAY AS AN ACTOR. [April regard to be venial and not mortal. Purgatory will suffice to wash them away. Perhaps that through which it is now passing will be sufficient. At least we hope so. But the deficiencies of the Cabinet are of a political and not of a national character. As public officers, they have undoubtedly discharged their duties with singular ability and fidelity. As party men (with perhaps a single exception) they have not. And this is the only true and valid groimd of complaint against them individually or col- lectively ; and it is a ground of complaint which has sunk deep in the hearts of many good and unselfish Whigs. But it has not been made the ground of any desire for change, but for reform. The members of the Cabinet have not fully ac- cepted their positions. They cannot be said to have abdicated their political functions and relations, for they never discharged or assumed them. There has been a want of a just recognition of their obligations in this respect. And it is a grievance that has been sensibly felt throughout the Whig party. The pulsations of the extremities have been made feeble and weak by a languid and sluggish flow at the heart. For this the members of the Cabinet are in a great degree responsible. It is a difficulty, however, not past medicine, requiring not even surgery in its- present state. But it is one that has led already to great mis- chief in the political system, and the demand for a remedy is urgent. It can be, and ought to be, speedily applied. Farther than this it is not meet for us here and now to go. We approve the maxim of Napoleon, " People should wash their dirty linen at home." J. S. P. MR. CLAY AS AN ACTOR. [From the Boston Courier.] Washington, April 22, 1850. Mr. Clay is a great actor. If he had gone upon the stage, he would have driven the Keans and Kembles out of the field. After the final vote to appoint Foote's committee of thirteen was taken, he rose with great pomp and solemnity and said : " Mr. President, I congratulate you upon the arrival of this auspicious hour. I congratulate the Senate, I congratulate the country, I congratulate mankind upon the hopeful prospect of a happy issue 1850] MR. CLAY A GREAT LEADER. 37 out of the perils which encompass us, that is afforded by the ap- pointment of this committee. " This is certainly a grand flourish. But reduced to sober prose what does it amount to ? Why, that a Senate committee has been appointed to report in favor of al- lowing the South to carry slaves into New Mexico and Deseret. This is the whole story — the beginning and end, the Alpha and Omega, the head, stomach, and bowels of the entire subject. There is nothing else in the case. And now we should like to ask if this is a matter for which the Senate, the country, and mankind should be thus pompously congratulated ? Ah ! when will the world cease to be hum- bugged ? The solemn farce through which we are now going is profoundly humiliating. Mr. Clay is the genius that guides it. He is the Napoleon of the movement. His swelling declamation reminds us of the Napoleonic bulletins of old. He is playing another grand act in the drama of life. He is starring it on a magnificent scale. He goes for points and hits which shall bring down the greatest applause from pit and gallery. Well, this is his nature. He but fulfils his destiny. He was born to play a part, and he performs it. We cannot quarrel with him for this. But we must be allowed to express our chagrin that in the part he is now playing for the benefit of slavery (of course, during his engagement he must take a benefit for himself) he procures can die -snuffers and sceneshifters from among the agents of free- dom, who were sent down here from the North to hiss the whole performance off the stage. So be it. Pluck is a rare quality ; and a man like Mr. Clay can coax, drive, scare, or humbug almost any man out of his opinions that he really sets upon in earnest. If the Omnibus bill is carried, Mr. Clay is the man who carries it. It is a dead cer- tainty that it goes through the Senate. It is likely to pass the House. There is no great leader there who can stand up suc- cessfully against Mr. Clay, backed as he is by so much Northern defection. Mr. Clay takes this man by the arm, and pats the other on the back, and by means of his magnetic power, his im- periousness of temper, his dictatorial bearing, his superciliousness of tone, his knowledge of and sympathy with men, his persuasive manners, his oily and delightful fluency, the inexpressible charm of his colloquial powers, his overbearing assumptions, his fierce y 38 APPEAL TO THE WHIGS. [April and implacable temper, his lofty and generous impulses, his no- ble sentiments, his impassioned eloquence — all curiously com- pounded and blended until they form one of the most remarka- ble and influential characters that ever lived — being such a man, we say, he will almost certainly break down the House and force his compromise through. And to him (if to any Whig) will redound all the glory and enure all the political advantage of this most notable transaction. Mr. Webster is out of the case. His independent votes on Wednesday last lost him the mushroom Southern friends he gained by his speech, and Clay is now the sole God of their idol- atry. He is warmed up to fever heat at the prospect before him, and having sprang upon the box and grasped the reins, he is now dashing ahead, Jehu-like, six in hand, boldly flinging his old motto to the wind, " The devil take the hindmost." Those who do not want to be run over must get out of the way. But if there are to be victims in the race, as there will be if this tri- umphant charioteering be not arrested, we say to Mr. Clay and his coadjutors in the language of the seer : ' ' Woe, woe, to the riders that trample them down. ' ' And now having suggested the probabilities of the case, we have a word to say about its possibilities, and the duties of the friends of the administration in the present emergency. The administration have a policy for the settlement of the question which is conciliatory, wise, prudent, and satisfactory. Let it be upheld with unflinching firmness. Let the organs of the admin- istration at Washington discard their fears of, or their attachment to, great names, and come boldly out and plant themselves upon this policy. It is no time for shilly-shallying. Let us have no more looking one way and rowing another. Let us have an ad- ministration party supporting an administration policy. And let the prominent Whigs of the House rise up and obey the instincts of their nature and the promptings of their understandings, and manfully lead in this crisis. There never was a grander opportunity for a man, or for men, in the House of Representatives, to win distinction and achieve an honorable name. The hour is come ; who will asso- ciate his name with it, and acquire an imperishable renown ? 1850] AN INTREPID SPIRIT DEMANDED. 39 The administration will fall into contempt, and the Whig party into dissolution, unless a combined, powerful, hearty stand is made on the President's policy in the House. And we repeat that the organs of the administration at Washington, by being so hesitant and dainty in supporting that policy, and so mealy- mouthed towards those who are endeavoring to thwart its action, and break down its character and influence, are inflicting a vital injury, scarcely less than to abandon its support altogether. We are pained at the torpor of these journals on this subject. We will not term it pusillanimity. But we hope to see them arouse from their slumbers and fully discharge their duties. Let us at least have a manful defence of the policy of the administration they profess to support. It is not becoming the lieutenants of the hero of Buena Vista to tamely make terms with the enemy, or to ingloriously surrender at discretion. It would be far more in keeping with the character of that lion-hearted man for them to nail their colors to the mast, and go down, if they must go down, with their flag flying. For the safety of the Whig party, for the honor of the Presi- dent, for the credit of the administration, for the glory of the cause of freedom, we hope to see, within the two weeks that are to elapse before we get the report of the Omnibus committee, something like an intrepid and determined demonstration on the part of General Taylor's friends, in the press and in Congress. The administration force will soon get the reputation of belong- ing to the class invertehrata, unless it soon exhibit signs of pos- sessing some backbone. We do not think it at all becoming that the conduct of its professed supporters should be such as to give color to the imputation that the policy of General Taylor, in relation to the great question agitating the country, is as flexible as a Mexican hat, and can be jammed out of shape with as little detriment. We freely accord to Mr. Clay a desire to compose existing agitations. But we cannot help seeing that in the present move- ment he is also stimulated by other considerations. He is evi- dently rejuvenated and invigorated by his hopes. We do him / no injustice in saying that he has his eye upon the Presidential canvass of 1852. If he has not, we will thank any doubter to give us a reason why he came back to the Senate after his for- 4:0 MR. WEBSTER INDIFFERENT. [April mal leave-taking ? Yet this is not the only reason. We may as well come out with the truth, and say, that we believe Mr. Clay has no love for General Taylor or the administration, and that to successfully thwart their policy on the territorial question would afford him no little gratification. And yet nothing of this is inconsistent with the belief that Mr. Clay really considers his own plan for the settlement of this question to be better than any other. A scrutiny of a man's motives for his judgments, however, sometimes has a tendency to shake our faith in those judgments. Mr. Webster has at no time expressed any confidence in the action of the Omnibus committee, and only reluctantly consented to its appointment. His last votes in the Senate were given against the union, by that committee, of the admission of Cali- fornia with any other subject. He does not concur with Mr. Clay in the alleged importance of that committee, and has more than once expressed his distrust of its being able to accomplish the professed object of its creation. For what it will do, there- fore, he will seek no credit, and for its errors and failures incur no responsibility. We see nothing, indeed, in Mr. Webster's course, thus far, to forbid the supposition that he may yet give his support to the administration policy. He has not, at least, like Mr. Clay, fully committed himself against it. J. S. P. [From the Editor of the Boston Courier. ~\ Boston, April 25, 1850. My Dear Sir : Nothing objectionable in your last. T'other one has made quite a fortune for itself as far as publicity goes. You will see by the accompanying Albany paper how it is relished in certain quarters. The sweetness of the praise bestowed upon you by one critic is tempered by a drop of acid from the galipot of another. On the whole, you may congratulate yourself highly on the success of that scratch ; none but a sharp one could have caused so much rubbing. I could send you many other copies of the letter and the comment thereon, but suppose vou have already seen abundance of them. You and I have but one opinion of the charlatanry and egoism of Clay. It is a portentous humbug that has ridden the Whig party like a 1850] LETTER FROM HORACE GREELEY. 41 nightmare. I would as soon buy real estate in the tail of a comet as I would invest political capital in his principles. My hope and trust is that you may never be hampered in the free expression of your thoughts through the columns of the Courier. The reputation which you have gained for it is great. I wish the indepen- dence of a public journal were a means of making it profitable, but I am ashamed for our enlightened public to say that the dullest, stupidest, most unideaed and slavish of all printed sheets are the very ones most certain of success in money matters. People are very eager to read what they will not pay for. I know that by abundant experience. I am now awaiting with the utmost impatience the result of the negotiations which I mentioned to you, and which will decide whether I am to stay in or go out of the concern. Whatever happens, I shall always feel the great obligations we have been under to you, and always be ready to do what I can to requite them. Yours truly, S. Kbttell. J. S. Pike, Esq. [From Horace Greeley.] New York, April 24, 1850. Dear Sir : Will you write me some letters ? You are writing such abominably bad ones for the Boston Courier that I fancy you are putting all your unreason into these, and can give me some of the pure juice. Try ! What I want is a daily letter (when there is any thing to say) on the doings of Congress, commenting on any thing spicy or interesting, and letting the readers make the right comments, rather than see that you are making them. Then I should like a dispatch in the evening, if any thing comes out, especially if any appointments shall have been acted on in executive. You know how to get them. Well, are you ready to do me $10, $15, or $20 worth of work (you to value it) for a while, until it shall please you to come away or I can send some one on to Washington ? If yes, please set about it and send me word. If not, condescend to say so. What I am after is news. Yours, Horace Greeley. James S. Pike, Esq. 42 LETTER FROM GEN. SCHOULER, BOSTON ATLAS. [April [From Gen. Schouler, Editor of the Boston Atlas.] House of Representatives, ) Boston, April 25, 1850. J My Dear Pike : You don't know how glad I was to receive your letter of the 20th inst. The spirit of the letter was in unison with my own feelings and with the feelings of all good Whigs in this quarter. The ways of Congress to some are " past finding out," but they are now being discovered. I know that I do not overstate the fact when I tell you that our good old President is daily increasing in popular favor and regard, and Clay and Webster are decreasing in a like ratio. We are determined here to stand by the administration, and no longer pay court to Hunkerdom anyhow. I have taken an unequivocal position, and I shall sink or swim with it. I find, however, that very little nerve is required to sustain this ground, for the people here are all of one accord. Even those who signed the letter to Mr. Webster, and were recalled by a certain speech to a " true sense of their constitutional duties," do not find fault with me, with one or two exceptions, and they are the ' ' born thralls of Cedric, ' ' the Wambas and Gurths, for whom I care nothing, and who have little or no influence upon the popular mind because they are known, known even without the brass collar. The Whig party in our State stand firm as a rock, and I have no doubt that we shall draw in a large part of the Freesoil party to the support of the administration. I don't know what we shall do in the Fourth District. The election takes place on the 29th of May. I think, however, that whoever the Whig Convention nominates will be elected. The Whig candidate, you know, has declined. He may be renominated again. His letter of declension was first-rate, and has added to his popularity, and may cause him to be put on the track again. It is possi- ble that Hon. Samuel Hoar will receive the nomination ; if so, he will certainly be elected, as the Freesoil men and Whigs can both elect him. I have known him for twenty years, and there is no better Whig living. He was opposed to General Taylor, but he has been satisfied with the old man, and he told me this forenoon that every thing which the administration had done since it came into power met with his hearty concurrence. He has had a seat alongside of me in the House for nearly four months, and I know of no better Whig anywhere. Still it is doubtful whether he will be nominated, or, if nominated, that he would accept to run against Palfrey. JVoits verrons. Your letters to the Courier are just the fodder, and I read them with great delight ; they will do good. 1850] WAR ON GENERAL TAYLOR'S ADMINISTRATION. 43 I really hope that you will write me often. I like your letters hugely. Give my respects to the " honorable Truman," and all other good and true Taylor men. Yours truly, Wm, Schouler. WAB ON THE ADMINISTRATION. [Prom the New York Tribune.} Washington, Friday, April 26. This administration is destined to be subjected to one of the most bitter, malevolent, unscrupulous Oppositions that ever ar- rayed itself against a party in power. This Opposition has smothered itself as well as it could during the pendency of the slavery question before Congress. For the settlement of this question, agreeably to the Locofoco programme to be announced by the Omnibus committee of Mr. Foote, is essential to secure the success of the tactics of the Opposition leaders. The object of the settlement is to appease the South, restore the harmony of the Opposition party, and reinstate it in power. This settle- ment is to be made to turn on Northern Locofoco votes, and thus its merits and its profits are to be claimed for their party. The Administration, having a plan of its own not so satisfactory to the South as the Omnibus bill, is to be assailed, so soon as the question is settled, as having been opposed to the South through- out the controversy, and appeals are to be made in all directions in that quarter to league against it. But to accomplish this notable scheme the hostility to the Administration has been kept under as much as possible, in order that there might be no trifling among the few Whigs, who, by favoring the Omnibus bill, will contribute to the successful execution of the plan. But just now elated with the hopeful prospect of its success, the members of the Opposition are getting rampant in their manifes- tation of hostility to the Administration. They have been long feeding their fancy with the visions of the glorious havoc they anticipated over its dead body. The military heroes of the House, so long out of service, thirst for blood, and will not wait. Thus it is, the Secretary of the Interior has suddenly become the subject of an investigation of a committee headed by one of -44 THE OMNIBUS BILL A TRAP. [April these gentlemen. And here let us say, by way of parenthesis, that this investigation will turn out to be one of the best things that ever happened to the Secretary. The inquiry set on foot by Colonel. Richardson will only show the scrupulous exactness of Mr. Ewing in respect to the matter of claims. But these gen- tlemen long to begin irpon the Administration. They believe it can be put down though pure as the angels. And they pine to engage in the work. So sure is the Southern Opposition of the triumph of the Omnibus bill that it is even boldly announced that the Northern men who are nominated to place under the Ad- ministration, who are so sectional and fanatical as to still adhere to the now obsolete doctrine of the Ordinance of 1787, and who non-concur in the Omnibus plan of settlement, are to be cut up root and branch in the Senate. No man, nominated to any na- tional position is to be confirmed unless he be imbued with the sentiment of compromise. In other words, if a man shall be in favor of the "Wilmot," or even stand by the Administration policy on the slavery question, he is to be reckoned infected, put under the ban, and decapitated. These doctrines are not preached in a corner. They are openly bruited and announced from liigh official authorities. Here is a delightful spectacle to gaze upon ; it is certainly well calculated to make Whigs everywhere stop and see what is the full meaning and consequence of the passage of this bill of abominations. The truth is, the whole scheme of the Omnibus bill is a broad trap to catch the Whig party and the Adminis- tration, and it is one of the wonders of the times that the old champion and leaders of the Whigs should be dashing brilliantly ahead and carrying all they can with them into it. They avow their independence of party, however, and perhaps think that in what they are doing to give an overwhelming triumph to the Southern wing of the Opposition party, and to produce dis- comfiture in the Administration ranks, they may subserve a laud- able purpose. If this be so, it is a fire from a masked battery that it is high time to expose. But let us look a little closer, and see in what the passage of this Omnibus bill is to result. In the first place, it is to strengthen the Locofoco party in the South (as we have said) by the representations that will be made that the Omnibus plan 1850] EFFECTS OF ITS PASSAGE. 45 was the antagonist plan to the President's, and that it was carried bj Northern Opposition votes in defiance of the Whigs. In the next place, it will result in the weakening of the Whigs in the North, who will everywhere feel that its passage is a surrender of all they have been contending for on the question of slavery in the Territories, and a betrayal of their principles by those in whom they have placed the strongest confidence. In the third place, it will be the finishing blow to the unity of the Whig party in Congress, already in a state of ' ' loose aggregation. ' ' And again, it will be the signal for the renewal of the war in the North on the Wilmot Proviso. If territorial governments for New Mexico and Utah be established, and slavery is not inter- dicted therein, the next great effort will be to elect a Congress that will pass a supplementary bill, and supply the omission. These are the plain and manifest consequences to flow from the passage of this bill. Most of the considerations apply with great force in a party point of view, and call upon the Whigs to stand together and resist its passage with indomitable resolution. Let them plant themselves determinedly upon the President's policy. If Southern Whigs have broken away from the Admin- istration plan, it is because there has been defection in high places, and they thought to do better by following a distinguished lead. I believe there are those who already see the error of this movement, and who will yet return and stand with the main body of the Whigs upon the Administration platform. I believe they will make a fatal mistake if they do not. But for Northern Whigs to fail to rally around the President's plan, will be, in my humble apprehension, little short of fatuity. But one would think there must be reasons for the passage of the Omnibus bill of the most stringent and convincing character, or we should not see such combinations to effect its passage as we do see. What are they ? And why especially should it be taken upon the shoulders of Northern men ? Where is the necessity of the case in any aspect ? The Omnibus bill is the child of consternation and alarm. It was begotten of fear amid childish apprehensions of a dissolution of the Union. But the dissolution bubble has burst, and all the spray even has evapo- rated. What, then, is to be feared ? Is it the thunders of the Nashville Convention ? Alas, this projected assembly is already an 46 it WILL NOT STOP AGITATION. [April abortion. The ideas of equilibriums and secessions are repudi- ated in quarters where repudiation is not unfashionable. They sleep the sleep of death in the grave of Mr. Calhoun. From that sleep no ghost shall come to make us quake. Of all the fierce array of bloody portents, nothing remains to shake the nerves of even the most timid but the threat to call the yeas and nays and thereby to obstruct legislation. And for this — to avoid so terrible an alternative as vexatious calls of the yeas and nays — the recommendations of the Administration on a great question of national and party policy are to be treated with con- tempt, the Whig party of the North is to be undermined and perhaps crumbled to powder, its Southern wing is to be left to founder on a cross sea raised by the settlement itself, and the party in Congress to be rendered more segregated than ever ; while the public mind is to receive a shock which will operate like a fresh blast of the bugle to a bivouacking army, arousing the North to stand ready for a new conflict on the Proviso. The leading reason, however, in favor of the passage, is, that it is to be a settlement of the slavery question. It is not worth while to be impatient of political agitation. The ocean never ceases to roll. The tempestuous sea of Oj>inion in a free coun- tree will never cease to surge. Passing the Omnibus bill with V the idea that it settles any thing touching the agitation of slavery in the Territories is a vain supposition. Quite the contrary. We see that it will be the signal for a renewal of the war on the Proviso, now ahnost closed, and which the President's plan, if allowed to operate, would wholly end. And thus it will pro- duce no settlement or abatement of the slavery agitation. Let the Omnibus bill be resisted, then, to the utmost and to the last ; arrest it in the House, and the President's policy must supervene and triumph. This will give quiet to the country. And it is the only policy that can. For it is the only policy that defers the settlement of the question to the power whose authority cannot be questioned, or whose decisions cannot be reversed, the only tribunal from which there can be no appeal — the people of the Territories themselves. One word more and I have done. The Omnibus bill is the great scheme to give triumph not only to the Locofoco party, but to that aristocratic, perverse, slavery -loving, intolerant, bitter, 1850] COMMENTS BY MR. GREELEY. 47 uncompromising portion of it that finds its head in the South and its tail only in the North — the party of which Foote is captain and Dickinson is lieutenant. The dynasty which is to float into power on the rising tide of the Omnibus bill is to be built up of the rotten timbers and worm-eaten planks of the condemned hulk of slavery Democracy. And the officers of the craft are to be taken from among the noisiest, most profligate, and pirati- cal of the old crew on board at the time of the condemnation. If we must have Locofocoism to rule over us, give us the geuine and not the spurious ; let us have it in its best form, not its worst. I protest earnestly that no Whig should so stultify himself as to lend a hand to this scheme, fatal alike to his party and to the Administration of his choice, and full of perils to the cause of Liberty and Humanity. J. S. P. THE COMPROMISE QUESTION. [Comments by Mr. Greeley in the Tribune.] The letter of a new and able Washington correspondent (J. S. P.) on the state and aspects of the California and Territorial questions before Congress will naturally attract attention. We have concluded not to say more on this subject until we can see further, yet this letter suggests : 1. We have no evidence as yet that the Senate's Committee of Thirteen will report several important propositions respecting California, New Mexico, catching runaway slaves, the slave- trade in the District, etc. , in one and the same ' ' Omnibus bill. ' ' Sach a report appears to us to suggest legislation of very ques- tionable propriety, and we will not assume that the committee contemplate that course. It will be time enough to believe it when we see it. There seems to be a lack of motive for so doing, since motions to dissolve the bill into its component parts (by motions to strike out this and then that section) will of course be made, and cannot be dodged. We yet indulge the hope, there- fore, that the committee, even though agreeing that this shall be done in consideration of that, will report on the various subjects submitted to them in distinct bills. 48 LETTER FROM HORACE GREELEY. [April 2. J. S. P. seems mainly intent on proving that Northern Whigs ought not to sustain the proposed compromise. As barely one of them (Mr. Webster) has indicated a purpose of so doing — and he by no means a iixed and steady purpose — our corre- spondent seems to be calling rather the righteous than sinners to repentance. 3. As to the terms of the proposed compromise, nothing is yet absolutely known, and it seems idle to speculate when the de- velopment must be near. It will not be easy to strike out a basis of settlement which Mr. Clay and Mr. Butler, of South Carolina, will both vote for, even assuming that the Northern compro- misers will vote for any thing. It is easy to agree that a compro- mise shall be attempted — not so easy to agree what its condition shall be. 4. As to party loss or gain, it ought not to be of much ac- count in such a case. As a general rule, the party which thinks least of it will come out the best. Our resistance to the compro- mise is based on totally different considerations from those made most prominent by J. S. P. But let all views be expressed and considered. [From Horace Greeley.] New York, April 27, 1850. Friend Pike : Thank you for yours of yesterday, especially for your decision to draw on us for expenses. I prefer to have it that way. 4 ' Business is business, ' ' and I want to hire you — that is, just as much of your time as you choose to sell me. The Tribune is able to pay, and I would rather pay you than owe you. I don't care to use your letters for telegraphic despatches, d la Express ; but you can often hear an inkling of the forthcoming Galphin report, the Compromise bill, the Committee on Old Bullion, etc., etc., which I will thank you to send by telegraph rather than the slower way. Bear in mind that expense is no object in the matter of early advices. I don't expect you to run round prying after such things, but they will fall in your way. Our Collector's confirmation or rejection is a matter of much interest here. Please indorse your letters conspicuously " Edi- tors' Mail." Yours, Horace Greeley. J. S. Pike, Esq. 1850] LETTERS FROM MR. GREELEY. -±9 [From Horace Greeley.] New York, April 28, 1850. Friend Pike : I have your first letter, and shall put it through, leads and all, though I am crowded for to-morrow. I only insist on one modification, that of not calling the Locofocos Democrats. First, hecause they are not ; next, because they live on that name, and make / more votes out of it than out of all the wisdom, talent, and patriotism they ever displayed ; and lastly, because it deceives and misleads many of the ignorant and simple with regard to our character and the real questions which divide us. I pray you call me a sheep- thief if you have occasion, but don't call Foote, Dickinson & Co. " the Democratic party." If you do, they may have a roast baby for breakfast every morning, with missionary steaks for dinner, and yet rule the country for- ever. I shall suggest some demurrage to your points, but never mind. Send along more of each. But let us know sometimes what Congress, the Cabinet, etc., are about to do, as well as what they ought to do. Yours, Horace Greeley. J. S. Pike, Esq. [From Horace Greeley.] New York, May 1, 1850. Dear Sir : There are serious objections to murder ; some people are so fastidious as to object to burglary and arson, and my impression is that rape and highway robbery, however pleasant in the concrete, are not in the abstract strictly justifiable. I would not be positive on these points, knowing how widely opinions differ on almost every phase of human conduct ; but when you come to writing on both sides of a half sheet of paper, intended as copy in a daily newspaper office, there can be no mistake as to the atrocity of a crime whereat outraged human nature stands aghast with horror. I pray you think of this evermore, and write only on one side. Also, indorse your letters " Editor's Mail," for fear they should somehow lie over at Washington or Balti- more till the morning mail, and so miss us by arriving here at midnight and remaining undistributed. These are small matters, but their conse- quence to us is not small. Can't you guess out for us somebody who can fish out executive session and committee secrets like Harriman, Harvey, and Kingman ? If you can, set him to telegraphing. Everybody, from Mother Eve's time down, has been especially anxious to know what ought not to be known, 50 DUTY OF THE WHIG PARTY. [May and we must get some of it into the Tribune or be voted dull, indolent, and behind the times. We have had it, but just now our channels of transmission are choked up. Yours, Horace Greeley. J. S. Pike, Esq. [From Horace Greeley.] New t York, May 2, 1850. Friend Pike : I beg you not to be diffident. I know how common the fault is among Washington writers, and how hard to be overcome, but I beseech you, as Mrs. Chick would say, " to make an effort." You don't know what may come of it. Mr. Snow of ours will hand you this letter. He goes on to discover, with your help, that genius of an " inventive turn of mind," who knows just what mansion great men retire to when they don't retire at all. Good boy, that — we must hire his imagination. I like your letters, and if you won't call Foote and Butler " Demo- crats" in such sense as to imply that I am something else, I don't think I shall ever take liberties with your letters, except it may be the liberty of dissenting from some of their positions. Yours, Horace Greeley. J. S. Pike, Esq. DUTY OF THE WHIG PARTY. [From the New York Tribune.] "Washington, Thursday, May 2. There are very excellent reasons, in our judgment, why the party considerations against the passage of the Omnibus bill should be presented at this particular juncture. The general ground of opposition — namely, the obligation resting upon every man opposed to slavery to do all in his power to prevent the pos- sibility of its extension over territory now free — has been so thor- oughly ploughed and harrowed that it seems superfluous to go over it again and again. The fact is that this ground of oppo- sition has been the only one discussed during the last five months of agitation. In the general considerations supporting what may be termed the humane aspect of the case we cordially concur, and the sentiments we have recently advanced of a party charac- 1S50] NECESSITY OF A PARTY POLICY. 51 ter, are but auxiliary to those wider and deeper sentiments of a more general nature, that prompt us to oppose the passage of the Omnibus bill. It is thus we support General Taylor's plan of settlement of the territorial and slavery questions, for a double reason. In the first place, because it is the surest plan to prevent slavery from going into the new Territories, and secondly, be- cause it is the best plan to preserve the unity and integrity of the Whig party. We have an Administration, we have a party, and we ought to have a party policy on the leading questions of the day, and that policy ought to be adhered to. Undoubtedly it would be a most delightful condition of affairs if there were no such vulgar things as parties, party views, party influences, and party proprieties. It would be delightful if we could see in practical operation the fine theories that we often hear set forth in eloquent terms in Congress. Such, for ex- ample, as that every individual representative is a distinct and independent power in this government, acting upon his sole personal responsibility, amenable only to his conscience, and bound by no other obligations than his oath to support the Con- stitution ; that upon every subject presented for his considera- tion, he should act and does act with the most lofty independence and immaculate purposes, regardless of every supposable possible influence of a personal and party nature ; that the President is a power only known through the Constitution, and his official acts under it ; that the idea of conference or suggestion between the executive and legislative branches of the government, except that of the most formal and precise and constitutional character, is not to be entertained for an instant. All this, and more of the same sort, that we not unfrequently hear, uttered with great solemnity on the floor of Congress, is very fine, no doubt. But the homely fact is, that we are living in no such Utopian state. Parties do exist, and men are governed by party considerations. Subordinated they may be, and often are, to more elevated and wider views of things ; but, nevertheless, they are always strin- gent, and often controlling in matters upon which the representa- tive is called to act. We see no impropriety, therefore, in pre- senting the party aspect of the territorial question clearly and decisively in the present juncture. We go for a full and frank exposition of all the relations of the subject. It may have its / J 52 DEFECTION OF OLD WHIG LEADERS. [May disadvantages — that cannot be helped. In these days of free conference and free discussion, however, private and public, we do not believe that any thing is to be accomplished on the pre- sumption of ignorance of party objects and party motives. Neither is any thing to be gained by the holy pretension that men should act wholly independently of them. This is a common- sense world and a common-sense age. And for old experienced statesmen and politicians to try to enforce this pretension upon apprentices in legislation, or tyros in politics, is no better than the effort of preachers who " Show others the steep and thorny way to heaven, While they the primrose path of dalliance tread." Why, there are the most emphatic reasons for calling upon the Whig party to rally around its chosen leader on the great subject agitating the country. The party should preserve its unity. Its members should stand and go together. It should act as a power in the controversy. It should plant itself somewhere in a distinct and prominent position. This is essential to the preservation of its own individuality, its own dignity and safety, and the dignity and safety of the Ad- ministration. Neither is this any new thing for the Whig party. It is celebrated for taking positions and creating issues. It is celebrated for the distinctness with which they have in times j>ast been presented, and the energy and ability with which they have been urged. Of their character, or the character of many of them, especially those of the last nine or ten years, we are not called to speak. To refer to them would only be to refresh the memory of unpleasant divisions and signal defeats, and, many of us would say, signal errors. How long is it since the great Northern champion of the Whig party, himself now bolting from its ranks, and leaving its main division to worry along as it best may, without his presence and without his counsels, uttered this remarkable declaration : " For myself, in the dark and troubled night that is upon us, I see no star above the horizon promising light to guide us, but the star of the great united Whig party ?" We see how brief a period has elapsed since this eminent citizen, for whose great powers we entertain the highest admiration, and upon whose present position we look with no other feelings but 1850] THE NORTH SHOULD SUPPORT GEN. TAYLOR. 53 those of profound regret, was clear in his apprehensions that certain great national duties and obligations devolved upon the Whig party as a distinctive body. And yet now, instead of using his great abilities to hold that party together, and to give unity and force to its action, he wields the two-edged sword of his logic and his eloquence to sever the withes that unite and bind it together. But we need not go on longer in this strain. We would have our remarks point directly to this end : 1st. That the North should support General Taylor's policy, because it is the best policy to prevent the spread of slavery into the new Territories, but mainly, 2d. That the Whig party should support it, because it is the wisest, fairest, most unobjectionable and forbearing, and least irritating of any that can be presented ; and because it is the policy of a Whig administration, presented for the adoption of the Whig party. Pardon us a suggestion. Suppose Mr. Clay were in the presiden- tial chair, and he, acting in the plenitude of his influence and author- ity as a great party leader, as well as the official head of a Whig ad- ministration, should have come down to Congress with the iden- tical proposition that General Taylor offers, to compose the coun- try, what whisper of opposition to it would have been heard in any quarter ? Or, if perchance a dissenting voice were feebly uttered amid the universal acclamation of concurrence, we should then have witnessed what fate would be that man's who should persist in contumacious resistance to the policy of the Adminis- tration ? The answer promptly rises to every man's lips. No one conjectures in any spirit of uncertainty. He would be con- demned for mutiny and triced to the yard-arm so soon as the crew could be piped to quarters to witness the ceremony. But enough of this. J. S. P. TEXAS READY TO TRADE. [Prom the New York Tribune.] Washington, Sunday, May 5. It is no argument at all in favor of the passage of the Omni- bus bill that New Mexico is in danger of being swallowed up by Texas, and must be released. Texas is ready, willing, and anxious 54 THE OMNIBUS BILL MUST BE DEFEATED. [May to sell out lier claim any day. Give her money and she will re- lax her grasp at once. Ten millions poured over the chains that bind New Mexico will dissolve them " Like a waxen image 'gainst the Are." It needs no Omnibus bill to make this bargain. Indeed, it is quite evident that a better trade with Texas can be made by driv- ing it independently of every other subject and consideration, than by mixing it up with any thing else. Now, Texas can say, you must give us fifteen millions, or twelve millions, or any other number of millions for our claim, or we will vote against the whole Omnibus bill and defeat that. Their votes for the Omnibus bill are the lever they use to extort a larger sum of money than they can any other way possibly obtain. Let it be remembered that Texas desires to sell out, and the fallacy of the notion that the failure of the Omnibus bill consigns New Mexico to the slavery dominion of Texas is rendered perfectly apparent and transparent. J. S. P. THE OMNIBUS BILL AND THE WHIG PARTY. [From the Tribune.'] Washington, Saturday, May 4. The party necessities of sustaining the Administration policy on the slavery and territorial questions we have before urged here and elsewhere. They involve the necessity of defeating the Omnibus bill. And we beg to call the attention of Southern Whigs to the position the party will be placed in unless the Om- nibus bill is defeated. Pass it, and the whole Northern Whig force is compelled to plant itself upon the ground of enforcing the Proviso upon the territorial governments that may be estab- lished by it. The idea of its passage quieting, settling, the slavery controversy, is the merest chimera. It will open a new contest upon the Proviso at once. And every Northern man, and especially every Northern Whig, who expects to be elected to Congress will be required to declare himself in favor of pass- ing a supplementary section asserting the Proviso over the Ter- ritories. The "Wihnot," instead of being killed, will be re- juvenated ; new vigor and new life will be infused into it by the passage of this Omnibus bill. The mischief of this we say is 1850] THE DUTY OF SOUTHERN WHIGS. 55 manifest. The Whigs of the North will be forced upon a position that Southern Whigs will be compelled to repudiate ; that they do now repudiate. The Whig party will thus be clove asunder on a vital question. And no other consequence can come of it but defeat throughout the entire South. Does not everybody see this ? It is what becomes inevitable after the passage of the Omnibus bill. Southern Whigs owe it to the party, to them- selves, to the Administration, to prevent any thing of the sort. It is in their power to prevent it. They have only to occupy the truly national position of the President to steer clear of this ruinous result. Defeat the passage of the Omnibus bill, and stand by the President's policy, and the Whig party becomes a national party, standing on a sound platform on the territorial question before the country, and one which can be defended North and South. It may require some boldness in Southern Whigs, at the out- set, to assume this position. But surely not much. We are not disposed, and it is unnecessary, to run out this argument in its ramifications ; but any intelligent Whig who will reflect upon the subject must see the truth of what we allege, as well as what the position of things must be in the South in the Locofoco ranks on the defeat of the Omnibus bill, and the embarrassments to their Northern Locofoco allies that will grow therefrom. It is enough that we draw attention to the subject. We repeat, that the passage of the Omnibus bill will narrow the platform of the Whig party to such a degree on the slavery and territorial questions that both Northern and Southern Whigs cannot stand upon it. The result will be the same kind of divisions and embarrassments that now hinder the harmonious working of the party in Congress, that lost us the Speaker, and has become fruitful of other mischiefs palpable and notorious. With one end of the party actively urging the Wilmot Proviso, and the other actively opposing it, what can be expected but col- lision and defeat ? There can be no fusion of the party, no con- cordant and harmonious action, so long as it is beset from within and without by the ' ' Wilmot. ' ' And there is only one way to be rid of it. And this is by defeating the Omnibus bill, and col- lecting the party together upon the President's policy. J. S. P. 56 COMMENTS BY MR. ORE E LET. [May [Comments by Mr. Greeley.] " Oh," says our correspondent J. S. P., " this is no argu- ment for the passage of the grand compromise now brewing. ' ' Certainly not, if the independence and safety of New Mexico can be secured in some better way — perhaps not at all — we only cite it as an argument for doing something ; but we see that it will inevitably have weight with many in favor of doing any thing that will res- cue New Mexico from her peril if the alternative presented is doing nothing. But " Texas is ready, willing, and anxious to sell out her claim any day," for money enough. Very likely ; but it is not a possibility nor even a feasibility of some other mode of settlement that is required, but the settlement itself. It does not suffice that " a better trade can be made" — the thing is to have it made. Texas is no more placable now than she was before she sent her commissioner into New Mexico to reduce it to her sway. If she wants to drive a bargain on her atrocious claim, she will be only the more eager to back it by some show of possession on her own part and submission on that of the New Mexicans. Fully appreciating the difference in facility between keeping slavery out of a thinly peopled region and rooting it out, we insist that effectual means shall now be employed to place the independence of New Mexico beyond contingency. There is no question now pending more urgent than this. As to all that our correspondent urges with respect to the par- tisan aspects and expediency of the case, we do not know that we take sufficient interest in it to understand it very well, and shall offer no comment. Enough that party interests and party tri- umphs have little weight in the scale where freedom or slavery for an embryo empire are trembling. THE COMPROMISE EXPLODED. [From the Neio York Tribune.} Washington, Thursday Evening, May 8. The Omnibus report and project are blown sky high ! Mr. Clay to-day made his report from the grand Committee of Thir- teen, of which you will receive the substance from another corre- spondent. Immediately Messrs. Mason, Downs, Clemens, Yulee, 1850] THE COMPROMISE EXPLODED. 57 Turney, and Borland (Southern Locos) and Mr. Berrien (Southern Whig) came out dead against the proposed compromise ! It is understood that there are four or five other Southern Senators who will go with them. This would seem to settle the fate of the measure, which was expected to pass the Senate with a rush. Mr. Clay made an energetic and impassioned speech, in reply to what he termed the unkind and premature assaults on the report and recommendations of the committee, and declared his determination to stand by them to the last extremity. The debate was continued to a late hour. Generals Cass and Houston, with Messrs. Mangum, Foote, and Dickinson sustained the report and its recommendations. The denouement creates a profound sensation. It points to very important results. J. S. P. THE UNADJOURNED QUESTIONS. [Comment9 by the New York Tribune.] If the compromise project has broken down, as now appears probable, by reason of the intrinsic difficulties of the case, we trust there will be no further effective resistance to the admission of California. She ought to be fully in the Union before the close of next week. Why shall she not ? Where are her friends ? And then for New Mexico ! Messrs. J. S. P., and other friends of the President's plan, you have assured us that New Mexico could just as well be rescued from the grasp of Texas without the compromise as by it. Now let us see it done ! We don't want to hear how it might be done, but that it is done. " Masterly inactivity" will not answer now, since Texas is driv- ing her stakes in New Mexico, with the Federal authorities and troops looking on as neutrals. Ho, friends of freedom in Con- gress ! do not, while contending for abstractions, permit slavery to clutch New Mexico ! Give her peace, liberty, and security decisively and forever ! 58 MR. CLAY AND MR. BENTON. [May MR. CLAY DISCOMFITED. [From the New York Tribune.'] Washington, Thursday, May 9. Little has been talked of or thought of since yesterday but the untimely and unexpected defeat of the Omnibus bill. It was pierced with a thousand shafts on its entrance into the Sen- ate. The surcharged Southern clouds burst upon its devoted head and struck it dead with their lightning while it was in its swaddling-clothes. Never was such a ruthless and fatal attack made upon any little monster before. In undertaking to run the gauntlet of its destiny it did not make the first step. The cruel spears transfixed it at the start. It has perished in its infancy ; it has been strangled before it was fairly out of the nurse's arms. It has been mutilated, cut up, totally destroyed. I felt for Mr. Clay. He appeared like a man upon some high and lone eminence resisting the storms of Fate that beat fiercely about his head. Amid the assaults that came pouring thick and resistless from all quarters upon his bantling, his pres- ence and his voice rose towering and fearful. He hurled back the shafts of his adversaries. Fearless and intrepid, he dared them to an equal combat. He frowned defiance, and his tones rolled in thunders over all their heads. Rolla-like, he seemed to seize his offspring with his good right arm, and, holding it high above his head, to say, " Who seeks this child's life, dies upon the spot." In the midst of the grand melee, which had been confined to those who had voted for the creation of the Compromise Com- mittee, for the purpose, as was alleged at the time, of " harmo- nizing" the jarring elements in this contest ; Mr. Benton, who sat in his seat seeming to enjoy the uproar, turned his head to a friend in the neighborhood and profanely exclaimed, " This is a h — of a harmony !" It is also stated that he said the eclaircisse- ment had saved him two days' speaking. Considering how much was claimed for this committee, how confidently it has been as- serted that its labors would accomplish the miracle of pleasing everybody, how its recommendations would prove to be a law to Congress, how its measures would go through the Senate, two to one ; how all who resisted these measures and recommendations 1850] TEXAS WILLING TO SELL OUT. 59 would be overwhelmed by public opinion and scouted from pub- lic life as fanatics and traitors — in view of all this, and of the prompt and fatal discomfiture that has met its pretensions and its labors at the outset, we can only liken the whole proceedings to a game of brag, in which the player has impudently, loudly, and desperately staked every thing upon a broken hand, and instead of driving his adversary from the field, has exposed, stripped, and ruined himself. The whole Omnibus scheme being thus in threads and tat- ters, past hope of mending or repair, there is nothing left but to set the sail of the President's policy, and under that to weather the gale. J. S. P. FERMENTATION ON THE TEXAS QUESTION. [From the New York Tribune.] "Washington, Saturday, May 11. "We will be patient, Mr. Greeley. Things are in a ferment. No wise man is precipitate in a bargain. But very small skill in diplomacy is necessary to arrange this matter of the boundary of New Mexico with Texas. Pierced as the friends of the Omni- bus bill are at this present moment with many sorrows, we ex- pect them to be coy and perhaps sullen on this topic just now ; Texas herself, through her representatives, may flout the idea of any immediate settlement. This is the worst view of the case. We doubt if even this phase, however, will turn up. But we know what will be their "sober second thought." We know what the people of Texas even now desire, and will continue to desire more and more fervently until the consummation of their hopes and expectations. The almighty dollar is an object with everybody. It is especially an object with Texas. Texas has a great deal of land and very little money. She would like to finger ten or a dozen million of Uncle Sam's six per cents, in the way of barter, for some of her acres, especially for those desmenes to which she has really no equitable title whatever. I do not speak at random when I say that Texas is ready, willing, and anxious to sell out her claim to New Mexico ; and, moreover, that her members here cannot sustain themselves at home unless they go for the trade. CO NO DANGER FROM THE BOUNDARY QUESTION. [May T3ut now, now, immediately, say you ? "Why so precipitate ? There are no hordes of Texans with a retinue of slaves overruning or threatening to invade New Mexico. New Mexico is a wide wilderness of country, naturally unadapted to slave labor ; and there is very little emigration thither, more particularly of slaves. With this fact staring us in the face, we see no pressing necessity urging to sudden and hasty action, while we feel a confident as- surance that Texas only waits our motion to close a bargain for the unconditional transfer of all her right, title, and interest to the whole country north of 32° and west of 100°. "We make no question of Congress passing a relief bill for New Mexico whenever the preliminaries with Texas are settled. The friends of the compromise scheme profess to be in favor of it, and the Northern Wilmot Proviso men will surely lend their aid to succor such a bill in its extremity. We know there will be opposition to it, and whence it will come. The extreme Southern men will oppose the relinquish- ment by Texas of any part of New Mexico. There will be no other, and this, resting as it does upon the most ultra notions in respect to slavery, and extreme, if not revolutionary sentiments, will be unavailing. We know that it was among the day dreams of Mr. Calhoun, in view of his dim scheme of secession, that the conflict was to arise out of this Texan boundary question ; and the headless remains of his party no doubt desire to keep the question open for possible ulterior revolutionary purposes. But as this party are doomed to the most signal discomfiture in all their plans, so will they be in this. The number of members of Congress who will be in favor of keeping the Texas boundary question open, whether for purposes of mischief or other objects, must inevitably be, in the end, very small. This we deem to be a pertinent and reasonable view of the whole matter. Time will determine its correctness. J. S. P. California's demand — me. clay. [Correspondence of the New York Tribune.] Washington, Tuesday, May 14. Looking at things here in a practical point of view, there would really seem to be nothing left for Congress to do but to take 1850] ADMIT CALIFORNIA AND PAY TEXAS. 61 up the California bill and pass it. That State ought to be ad- mitted. She is suffering great injury and great injustice that she is not. The attempt to unite the question of her admission with other and foreign subjects having signally failed, it now ought to be promptly abandoned. Mr. Clay owes this sacrifice on his part to his own professions of a desire for concord, harmony, and union. As it is plain that the great questions embodied in the compromise scheme cannot be put through Congress in the lump, let each now be considered separately. This is the true way at all times. We ought not to undertake to make legislative chow- ders. Common sense forbids it. Parliamentary law forbids it. Conscience and fair dealing forbid it. " One thing at a time," is an old, familiar, and good maxim. Let Congress act upon it. Let California, then, be admitted in the first place, and without delay. This done, let the boundaries of Texas and New Mexico be established. If money must be paid to Texas, let it be appro- priated. There is no serious difficulty in the way of a bargain. Texas is not short-sighted, and we do not believe, from what we know of her representatives in both branches, that she will be obstinate. Few States are represented by abler or cooler men. Let us see who will resist these two measures. Every con- sideration which can be supposed to influence fair and honorable legislators calls for their adoption. Every reasonable man in the country, of whatever shade of opinion, must see that it is the duty of Congress to admit California, and it is its duty to pre- vent a conflict between New Mexico and Texas in relation to their boundaries. These subjects press. They are the only ones that do. With them disposed of the way is clear. Other sub- jects may afterward come up and be considered as occasion de- mands. But there is no inherent distracting causes in the two subjects that now call for the action of Congress. They do not involve the Wilmot Proviso nor the subject of slavery at all. There need not and ought not to be any sectional question raised in regard to them. We may treat them, and yet steer clear en- tirely of Provisos, of fugitive-slave bills, of subdivisions of Slave States, and whatever else there is of an irritating, agitating, and inflaming nature in the Omnibus-load of combustibles trundled into the Senate by the Committee of Thirteen. Let Mr. Clay fling away his elaborate compound with which he 62 LETTER FROM HORACE GREELEY. [May proposes to cure the country's disorders, and trust to Nature and a simple treatment. He seems to us like a great physician who has mistaken the disorder of his patient. He believes that active, urgent medicines are required, when really nothing is needed but quiet and rest. He mistakes in the common way of all doc- tors ; instead of seeing with how little the patient can do, he is for trying how much he will bear. And thus at this moment he appears to us to stand in melancholy mood over a disturbed and irritated country, which needs more to be let alone than any thing else, with an immense plaster of cantharides in his hands, that he insists upon applying by way of composing the patient to rest. Let Mr. Clay forbear to press a scheme which it is plain cannot prevail. He cannot carry his measures together ; let them be tried separately. One of his clear, clarion cries in favor of the immediate, separate admission of California, and the work would be done. Shall we not hear it ? J. S. P. [From Horace Greeley.] New York, May 1G, 1850. Dear P. : I presume I confiscated your dollar — Swartwouted with it — absorbed it. I will repent and refund at the desk. As to the editorship of the Republic, I beg to be excused. I shouldn't like to be called up to the big house after some cabinet flus- teration and told, " York, you're not wanted. " No, sir, I thank ye ! That wouldn't suit my amiable and modest disposition. It might tempt me to blaspheme, which I now studiously avoid. What the deuce is the meaning of this row the lot of you are kicking up about the President's plan and Clay's Omnibus I can't conceive. I read all your letters most earnestly, but can't make our what you mean. The two schemes are six of one and half a dozen t'other ; but if either is six and a half, I think it is Clay's ; for that takes care of New-Mexico, which t'other don't. I mistrust you are very factious and selfish, some of you. Yours, Horace Greeley. J. S. Pike, Esq. 1850] MB. GREELEY AND THE OMNIBUS BILL. 63 THE OMNIBUS VS. THE PRESIDENT'S PLAN. [From the New York Tribune.] Washington, Friday, May 17. This is amazing. Who shall say there is no difference be- tween the Omnibus and the President's plan ? or if there be any, that the advantage is with the Omnibus, because it takes care of New Mexico and the other plan don't. The boundary question we have disposed of. It can be set- tled on its own bottom. But a territorial government without the Proviso ! What comes of it ? First and foremost a great Northern row. Every man sent to Congress from the Free States will come down here under instructions to put on the Wilmot. Call you this settling the question ? The Wilmot will be put on, or it won't. If it is, the South will foam more than ever, and the political storm roar more loudly than ever. If it is not, the agitations of the North will be deeper, and their demands more exacting and intense than heretofore. Either way, besides an increase of agitation, this result follows : The Whig party is rent asunder. The South will go in one direction, v and the North in another. " You do not precisely understand or appreciate the party embarrassments or party damage of the case." This is odd. No man should see them more clearly. They are entirely apparent to far duller apprehensions, and they are vivid and substantive to the keen-sighted. But another thing, and a greater thing. Give New Mexico an undisturbed territorial government, without the Proviso, of ten years, or fif- teen years, and if slavery can possibly live in New Mexico, it will be smuggled in. Should we not avoid the possibilities of this long apprenticeship ? Let New Mexico establish her institu- \s tions now, while she is anti-slavery — not after ten years' tutelage of a territorial government, when she may be pro-slavery. ' ' Factious and selfish, ' ' indeed ! Are not these reasons ? strong, valid, substantial, pressing, conclusive ? We do not want to sever and thus destroy the nationality of the Whig party S if it can be avoided. We do not wish to increase political agita- tion on the slavery question to no purpose whatever but to raise a storm to drown ourselves. We do not wish to increase the chances of New Mexico's becoming a Slave State, by doing G4 MR. CALHOUN'S DESIRE. [May what Mr. Calhoun so earnestly desired, giving " time to get in." This is what he wanted: "Time to get in." Does not the apprenticeship under a territorial government give it ? This is what we do not want. But is what we do want " factious and selfish?" What is it w T e go for? First, the immediate admis- sion of California. Second, the establishment of the boundary between New Mexico and Texas. If we choose to do more, there are three things that can be done. First, extend the Post- Office laws over New Mexico. Second, establish a district court Third, put in force your Indian Agency. With these simple regulations New Mexico will have all she needs. And the Presi- dent's plan is here perfected. It is simple, just, wise, benefi- cent, unexceptionable, tranquillizing, harmonizing to all sections. It will save the integrity and. nationality of the party. No rea- sonable man can deny it. Nothing in the world is wanting to its complete and triumphant success, and the consequent success of the party, now and hereafter, but the will of the Whigs in Con- gress to have it successful. Fear not. This we shall have in due time. The policy is bound to triumph as soon as the remains of the Omnibus can be shovelled off the track. The Administra- tion has hitherto been acting upon the notion that it is not worth while to shovel a path while the snow is falling. The clouds having broken, it is now likely something will be done. J. S. P. TERRITORIAL QUESTIONS AND DIVERS PLANS OF ADJUSTMENT. [Comments by the Tribune.] We have preferred to let the discussion in Congress of the questions connected with slavery and the Territories go on with- out much comment on our part, but that seems impossible. Our able Washington correspondent, J. S. P., insists not only on canvassing them with pointed reference to our own views, but his letter herewith given refers especially, if we understand its allusions, to a private letter we recently wrote him avowing that we could not perceive any such radical difference between the propositions severally known as the President's and Mr. Clay's- as would justify all the agitation and excitement which were manufactured or evinced in Washington with regard to them. 1850] MR. GREELEY'S COMMENTS. 05 We invite careful attention to what he has to offer on this sub- ject, and then to the following comments : In order to determine the relative merits of two rival propo- sitions we must first determine what is absolutely and entirely right ; and we understand J. S. P. to agree with us that the right course with regard to the pending questions would be to 1. Admit California into the Union with her anti-slavery Constitution and her boundaries as she has defined them. 2. Organize the remaining country acquired from Mexico into one or more Territories, securing them from any possible intrusion of slavery by the shield of the Wilmot Proviso. 3. Declare and establish the boundaries of New Mexico in such manner as to shield her from the pretensions and encroach- ments of Texas without paying the latter any compensation for her preposterous claim. [If we give up to Texas and slavery all the country between the Nueces valley and the lower Rio Grande, to which she had neither title nor possession until the arms of the nation wrested it from Mexico, we give her all that she should have the face to claim, and more than she is justly entitled to.] Here, then, we have fully in view what ought to be done, ac- cording to our judgment, and we presume that of J. S. P. If we had the power to do as we liked, there need be no question as to the expediency of doing this or that other thing. Unhap- pily, however, it is abundantly notorious that we have no such power. General Cass, Mr. Dickinson, and even Mr. Webster, stand pledged not to vote for the Wilmot Proviso ; and with three such States as Massachusetts, New York, and Michigan divided and neutralized on this question, in a Senate composed in equal numbers of the representatives of Free and Slave States, we are sure to be beaten there. Southern senators who do not want slavery extended, and frankly say so, cannot be expected to vote for the Proviso of Freedom when Northern senators stigmatize it as irritating, unnecessary, and even unconstitutional. That would not prevent our voting for it whenever we had a chance, but it is too clear that it cannot be carried through the present Senate. The Senate will not do as we wish it would ; the House (we trust) will not do as our adversaries would have it. The two 66 MR. GREELEY ON MR. CLAY'S PLAN. [May brandies confront and counterbalance eacli other, and thus the whole business is brought to a stand. In this dilemma the Pres- ident — a Southern man and slaveholder, but a fair and we be- lieve impartial Executive — comes forward and proposes a medium course, which is not all we wish, but is far more distasteful to our antagonists. " Let us," says he in substance, " admit Cali- fornia exactly as she is, and leave the Territories as they are to await the progress of events. As soon as they are ripe for it, we will admit them as States, with such constitutions as they shall see fit to form." We consider this, in the actual state of things, when it was submitted, a fair and just proposition. It ought to satisfy those who pretend to doubt it that the President is truly national in his views and purposes, and that he does not and never did per- vert the great power of his station to any sectional purpose, cer- tainly not to favor the extension of slavery. The earnest hos- tility of the notorious Propagandists to his plan is a high eulo- gium on it and on him. We honor and thank him for proposing it, and for his general bearing throughout the excitements and alarms of the session. Mr. Clay has brought forward another, more comprehensive, elaborate, less simple, but not radically hostile proposition. It agrees with General Taylor on the great question of the instant and unqualified admission of California into the Union with her chosen boundaries and her anti-slavery Constitution. It agrees with the President's also in the virtual negation of any express prohibition of slavery in the Territories. It differs from the President's in proposing to substitute a civil for the existing military rule in Mexico and the region stretching west of it to the boundary of California. It differs from the President's in proposing to shield New Mexico evermore from the pretensions and the efforts of Texas to subjugate her people and absorb the better portion of her Territory, while it proposes to pay Texas millions of dollars in consideration of the surrender of her pretensions to that Territory. And it further proposes to abolish and prohibit the slave-trade in the District of Columbia in con- sideration of an act giving to the South more effectual provi- sions for the recovery of slaves who have escaped or may escape into the Free States, as stipulated in the Federal Constitution. 1850] DIFFERENCE BETWEEN MR. CLAY AND TEE PRES'T. 67 Mr. Clay's plan is therefore in substantial accordance with the President's on some of the most important points ; on some others the contrary. We decidedly prefer to see California sail into the Union " solitary and alone," asking no favors and defy- ing all enemies, rather than that she should be used to tow in or be towed in by any thing else. This would induce us to vote steadily to separate her admission from every other question, had we a vote to give on the subject. But the question of her admission in this way or another is one of form rather than sub- stance, save as the propositions connected with her admission may be essentially objectionable. But voting against her admission because we could not shape the bill as we wished it, would be •quite another thing. So we should vote to clap on the Proviso to any bill organizing the Territories ; but if defeated on that, it does not follow that we should thenceforth oppose any organiza- tion of the Territories. That must depend upon the probability of doing more good than evil, securing advantage or incurring hazard for the cause of freedom by such organization. Questions ■of practicability and of detail cannot always be settled off-hand in a chimney-corner five hundred miles from the Capitol, and they who denounce their representatives in Congress for doing what good they can, after vainly trying to do more, will be very apt to do them injustice. We cannot doubt that the long-threatened but at last realized irruption of the Texan officials into New Mexico and the immi- nent peril thus created of subjugation or civil war, has materially changed the aspects of the general question, and rendered a prompt and thorough settlement of the question of boundary es- sential. We are not satisfied with nods, nor winks, nor whis- pered assurances that the matter shall be made right, because we have had these assurances for some time, yet we see clearly that it isn't right. That fatal order from the War Department to Colonel Munroenot to interfere in any collision between the New Mexicans and the Texan pretenders who may appear among them is all wrong, and we haven't yet seen its official reversal. We know well that Colonel Munroe had no different orders up to our last advices when Major Neighbors was in New Mexico as the Commissioner of Texas, coaxing, flattering, and bullying the people to submit to her jurisdiction, and Colonel Munroe 68 MR. GREELEY CONTINUES. [Mat was not only looking quietly on, but he was j:>roclaiming that, even in case of an appeal to arms, he was under instructions not. to interfere. A pretty sort of government that, and especially of military government ! And now we are informed that the line of New Mexico must strike east from the Rio Grande at a point nearly twenty miles above El Paso, because there is a slave- holding settlement almost as high up ! Thus while we are light- ing about this or that mode of keeping them out, and receiving the most positive assurances that they shall be kept out, Texas and slavery are already working into New Mexico under that very system of non-action, do you mind ? that is commended to us as so much more preferable to Mr. Clay's plan. We don't see it. " O," says J. S. P., "we can buy off the claim of Texas after the Omnibus bill shall have been defeated, and we will." Such assurances are easily given, but we would rather have some old ones redeemed before we put much faith in new ones. At all events, this buying off, of which the necessity is thus admitted, is an interpolation on the President's plan ; and if J. S. P. may interpolate, why not Mr. Clay ? ' ' But the passage of the Omnibus will not settle the sla- very agitation." You never said a truer thing than that ! Neither Mr. Clay's, the President's, nor any other plan can stop the slavery agitation so long as slavery shall not merely exist but insist on extending its dominion. With Cuban invasions, Hay- tien conquests, and New-Mexican subjugations imminent, he must be green indeed who expects any abatement even of the sla- very excitement. On the contrary, it is morally certain to swell and spread till it overrides and overrules every thing else. If the South were as wise now as were its great statesmen in 1787, when they joined heartily in excluding slavery forever from the territory north-west of the Ohio, there might be a lull in the tempest ; but the Ruler of Nations would seem to have other designs, and they will be accomplished. This slave-catching bill now pressed upon Congress will make a hundred Abolitionists of tener than it catches one slave. But is there any use in throw- ing up rockets to warn the wilfully blind ? " But the Omnibus can't pass," avers J. S. P. We suspect he is right in this. If Messrs. Clemens, Yulee, Mason, Sebas- tian, etc., see fit to vote against it, it is dead of course. Is it 1850] MR. GREELEY CONCLUDES. 69 best, then, that we, who want to see California admitted as promptly and decisively as possible, should make an onslaught upon it in such manner as will tend to sour its friends against us, against our time of need ? Shall we needlessly quarrel with our own friends from Kentucky, Delaware, North Carolina, etc., whose votes we shall need and shall have for California anyhow, but whose cordial, zealous co-operation in the final struggle is well worth at least civility ? It does seem to us that much of the present rancor against the Omnibus project evinced by those who are enraptured with the President's, is not wise for the cause of freedom. It may be well meant, but we think it as often affected by personal aspirations. Let the politicians profit by the example of the people and keep cool. There may yet be a demand for agitation and excitement, but when there is it will be impelled by something broader than the difference be- tween the President's plan and Mr. Clay's. Any assumption that a change of the government of the Ter- ritories from military to civil would protract the period of their territorial pupilage a number of years, is entirely gratuitous. On the contrary, we believe New Mexico would be sooner pre- pared for admission into the Union if a territorial government were now accorded her. And any insinuation that a regular civil government will afford to slavery additional facilities for making a lodgment in the Territory is nothing less than a direct impeachment of the integrity of the President, by whom its executive and judicial functionaries without exception are to be nominated. As to the partisan aspects of this question, or any such question, we have strong conviction that, ' ' He that would save his life shall lose it. ' ' The party which tries hardest to make capital out of these sectional struggles will lose most by them, while that party which thinks most of doing right and least of making capital or preserv- ing its unity will come out best. We speak from general prin- ciples, and without having attempted to cast the horoscope of this particular question. 70 LETTER FROM GENERAL SCHOULER. [May [From the Editor of the Boston Atlas.'] Boston, May 17, 1850. My Dear Pike : I owe you two or three apologies for not having answered your last letter, but I have been so busy and had so many calls to receive and calls to make that my time has slipped by without count- ing it. I read all your letters in the Tribune, and they are number one, prime. They talk just as everybody talks here, and just as we want to have everybody talk in Washington. Old Zach is at this moment the popular man in the country, and heaps of Freesoilers are going for him. They are (I mean the honest old Whig portion) delighted with him. If we act with wisdom we shall be like that man who takes ' ' the tide in his affairs Which leads to fortune." If we were to follow the lead of the old Hunkerdom of Clay we should be led, as Byron says of the tide in the affairs of women, " God knows where." Why cannot you resume your correspondence with the Atlas? Dr. Brewer has left Washington, and we now have no one there. The Atlas will welcome you and give you verge and scope to your heart's content, and never once try to clip your plumage. You may call Loco- focos Democrats, or vice versa. So, my dear fellow, spread yourself, and if there be any thing in my power to aid or assist you in accomplish- ing, draw upon me. Greely says so too ; so do write — won't you ? I shall not insist upon a too frequent correspondence ; daily I should like, but tri, semi, or weekly will be gratifying. As the old fellow at the prayer-meeting, upon being asked if he would not make a short prayer, said, " He had no objection to making the prayer, but he'd be d if he would be limited as to time." Every thing political is quiet just now. We hope to send you by the first week in June the Hon. Benjamin Thompson to take his seat in Congress from the Fourth District. Things look mighty nice there just now. I feel confident that Thompson will be chosen ; and if he is chosen, you may rest assured that the popularity of old Zach will have done much towards it. Thompson is a very respectable man — " a human man ;" not a great man, but a man of sense, and goes old Zach to the death. I shall write you again next week. In the meantime I remain, yours very truly, Wm. Schouler. 1850] MR. CLAY'S TEMPESTUOUS DEMONSTRATION. 71 ME. CLAY'S SPEECH. [From the New York Tribune] Washington, "Wednesday, May 20. We could not well avoid the attempt to repel groundless im- putations or to wipe the dust from a blurred case. Having no doubt the opinions and suspicions expressed were most honestly entertained, we could not presume they were entertained by one only. Our brief reply was therefore general. We have gone rapidly over the whole ground, from time to time, and we pro- pose no repetition. The President's plan is simple and easily un- derstood. We believe the people understand it, approve it, and will support it. We need not say that we believe it to be the most wise, conciliatory, healing, and in every way the best that has been or can be offered. We believe, moreover, it will be forced upon the country by the necessities of the case, though all the leading statesmen of the country conspire against it, as they seem to be doing. As for the reasons of our advocacy of the President's plan, and our opposition to the Omnibus, we refer to the record where they are expressed. If anybody chooses to impute mean motives, this is not our fault. We will not take the trouble to contradict them, but tranquilly pity their ignorance, while we suspect their own virtues. We have no need to say that we know well enough the editor of the Tribune intends no such thing:. Mr. Clay was on his high horse again yesterday. He made a rattling, thundering, smashing speech. He came down upon Mr. Soule and upon the Administration like a wolf on the fold. His declamation was brilliant, impudent, and provoking. We known of no man who can excite simultaneously the feelings of admiration ana resentment so effectually as Mr. Clay. His oratory teaches us to see how it is that an Irishman can enjoy a shillalah fight with his best friend. In his speech of yesterday Mr. Clay would say something in one breath for which one de- sired to embrace him, and in another, something that would prompt a man of any combativeness to wish to knock him down. He portrayed the blessings of fraternal union, the delights of concord, harmony, and peace ; he expressed his. desire to heal divisions and allay animosities and irritations ; and then he chal- 72 HIS EXTRAORDINARY ORATORY. [Mat lenged the Administration to bring out a champion of its policy on the floor of the Senate, and meet him face to face, and lie promised to grind him to powder. Mr. Clay became deeply ex- cited. He displayed the spirit and the fire of youth. Deep, pervading passion spoke in his impetuous gestures and his purple countenance. He became unusually voluble and impassioned. His voice was never more flexible or more trumpet-toned. He thundered and lightened and stormed amain. He shook his hoary locks, gray with three and seventy winters. His features gleamed with demoniac energy. Withering blasts came from his mouth. He rained down censures and imprecations. He seemed to wing his way through and over the Senate cham- ber like a hawk over the frightened flock of a barn -yard ; self- poised, he pounced upon this argument and that, and tore it in pieces as with the beak and talons of a vulture. Old as he is, his eye was not dim nor his natural force abated. He alluded to the policy of the Administration on the territorial and slavery ques- tions in terms of mingled scorn, contempt, derision, hate, and inflexible opposition. He denounced the plan in whole and in detail. He dared any senator to rise in his place and defend it. One word of his arguments. Pardon us, but they were of small account. He indulged in figures, but he made no points. We amend by saying he did make one. After likening the con- dition of the country to a patient with five dangerous, bleeding wounds, all of which he proposed to heal by his Omnibus, but only one of which the President proposed to touch, he came to the only point of his speech. This was in relation to the govern- ment for New Mexico. He said she ought to have a govern- ment ; that her necessities demanded it, and our treaty stipula- tions required it. The answer is, the President's policy will insure her one by allowing her to follow the example of California, and come into the Union as a State. Mr. Clay knew what the answer would be, and he forestalled it, by declaring that New Mexico is unfit to be admitted as a State, and that he would vote against admitting her as one. This is taking the bull by the horns. Without taking this extreme position, Mr. Clay sees that he has really nothing substantial to oppose to the President's plan. This is reason enough for taking it. It is designed to checkmate that policy. But if New Mexico is not fit now, when, we 1850] MR. CLAY'S EXAGGERATIONS. 73 desire to know, will she be ? Must we wait for the full civiliza- tion, enlightenment, Christianizing, protestantizing, we may say, of her mixed population ? Will that be in this generation ? or even in the next ? It is too late to talk of this disability and embarrassment. It was urged during the war, during the pen- dency of the negotiations for peace, and in the discussions on the treaty. But w r e have got New Mexico with her population, such as it is, and we must make the best of her. We cannot say she shall not come among us because her style of civilization is not quite up to the genuine Anglo-Saxon. But of the three remaining bleeding wounds which Mr. Clay complains the Administration neglects, and which he says threaten the depletion of the country till it can no longer survive, what shall be seriously said ? Instead of being dangerous wounds, as is represented, they are scarcely pin scratches. A government for Utah. This is one of the three. Where is its pressing- necessity ? There is nothing but a Mormon settlement there ; and for the present, and we do not know for how long to come, it can very well take care of itself. It desires more to be let alone than any thing else, unless it can come in as a State. And now we will ask if anybody really believes that the peace and harmony of this country will be in any manner or degree jeoparded by a failure at this session, or of this Congress, to pass . a new Fugitive Slave bill, or a bill for abolishing the Slave-Trade in the District ? These are the remaining two wounds that Mr. Clay says the Administration so criminally neglects. Yet they Jiave both existed just as they are for sixty years, and it is only now that it has been suddenly discovered how imminently threat- ening and dangerous they are. J . S. P. J. S. P. [Comments by the A lbany Register of Monday, May 20.] The Boston Courier of Friday contains another letter from its notorious correspondent J. S. P. He lately poured forth a bitter flood of spite and venom against Daniel Webster, and now he comes down with increased malevolence upon Henry Clay. Wnat kind of a Whig must he be who takes such demoniac pleas- 74 PERSONAL ATTACK OF THE ALBANY REGISTER . [Mat ure in maligning the purest, the greatest, and best men in the party ? "We supposed in 1844 that the Democrats were up to abusing the Kentucky statesman about as thoroughly as it could be done, but they must yield the palm to J. S. P. We shall look in vain among the files of their papers for abuse that equals his. And now we shall wait patiently to see what good from such attacks will accrue to the Whig party. We have reliable information as to the source from whence these missiles emanate, and are at no loss to conceive the motives of those who hurl them — they doubtless contemplate a reorganization of the Whig - ; party upon an exclusive basis — but the project is conceived in weakness, and will be brought forth in shame and sorrow, a mis- erable abortion ; and we repeat we shall wait anxiously to see what good will result from a persistence in such a suicidal course. It is easier to tear down than to build up ; the Whig party might perhaps be disorganized and destroyed in a month, or even a week, but it would take ten years to form another in its stead. We should like to see it get on prosperously after one half, and that the best part of it, is cast off and thrown overboard ; in spite of all accessions from Abolitionists, Freesoilers, and Ben- ton Democrats, it would be found, in such an event, remarkable for nothing but its weakness. United we stand — divided we must fall. We are for the union of the Whig party ; for its consolida- tion on a national platform, and utterly opposed to the schemes of selfish politicians professing to be AYhigs, whose mischievous designs find utterance through the wicked and unprincipled communications of the Mr. J. S. P. 's. CLAY 8 GREAT SPEECH. [From the Boston Courier.'] Washikgton, May 22, 1850. Mr. Clay's speech, delivered yesterday, was one of those match- less specimens of brilliant impudence for which this eminent statesman has so long been distinguished. In it Mr. Clay set himself up as the guide and teacher of the President of the United States. He undertook the modest task of calling him up and administering chastisement to him, as a pedagogue 1850] MR. CLAY'S ASSAULT ON THE PRESIDENT. 75 might be expected to administer it to a refractory schoolboy. We undertake to say that the history of American politics can- not show a parallel to the impudent assumptions and astounding impertinences of the illustrious orator, towards the head of the government, exhibited yesterday. Let us enumerate the facts of this case, and see if we are not fully borne out in these declarations. On the last day of the year 1849, the House of Eepresentatives passed a resolution ask- ing the President for information in regard to the territories ac- quired from Mexico. On the 21st of January following, Presi- dent Taylor communicated the desired information in a bundle of documents large enough to load a wheelbarrow. He accompa- nied them with a message saying, in brief, that California had formed a State constitution, and he therefore recommended her admission into the Union. He further stated that there was a settlement of our countrymen at the Salt Lake (meaning the Mormons), but he did not recommend any measure of govern- ment in relation to them, partaking undoubtedly of the general sentiment that at present it was unnecessary. In respect to New Mexico the President said he had given the same advice to her that he had to California, namely, recommended the people of the Territory to form a plan of a State constitution, and sub- mit it to Congress, with a prayer for admission as a State. This brief narrative embraces all the material facts of the case, so far as the President has acted in regard to the whole sub- ject of slavery and the Territories. What the President has done he has done in the immediate discharge of his official duty ; and in direct obedience to the commands of the House of Representa- tives he has laid an account thereof before that body. Now, we here beg to make the humble inquiry, what is there in these proceedings for which the President of the United States should be assailed and called to account in the Senate of the United States by one of the sixty members of that body ? What is there in these regular and proper proceedings that is of such a nature as to excuse the extraordinary demand of Mr. Clay that a defender and champion of General Taylor should appear on the floor of the Senate to make immediate and satis- factory answer to this imperious senator on his arraignment ? We might well ask what there could be in any proceedings of 76 MR. CLAY CRITICISED. [Mat the President that would afford a warrant for a senator to de- mand a champion to appear in behalf of the President, and answer to him, the aforesaid senator, for any and all charges, whether of sins of omission or of commission, that he might prefer against that high officer of state ? Who has commissioned Mr. Clay to sit in judgment upon the President of the United States, and empowered him to pass sentence upon the conduct of the Executive in the regular discharge of his official duty ; condemning him on his own individual responsibility both for what he has done and what he has not done ? For be it known that what the President has not done is as much and as loudly censured by this new self -chosen, self-acting, illegitimate individ- iial authority in the State, as for the acts of commission per- formed by that high functionary. We might well smile at and deride this ridiculous position and pretension of Mr. Clay, did we not see manifested on every side an apparent acquiescence in his extraordinary and impudent assumptions. But setting aside for the moment all the gross improprieties of the case, let us see what Mr. Clay assails the President for doing. It is not for recommending the admission of California, for here the senator from Kentucky vouchsafes his concurrence with the Executive. But it is for recommending New Mexico to present a State constitution and to pray for admission into the Union. This is a thing the President has done. Mr. Clay, in the plenitude of his assumed authority, with a sublimity of impudence that surpasses all ordinary conception of this quality, says, in effect, " This is altogether wrong. New Mexico ought not to have a State government. She should be a erected into a Territory. She is unfit for a State government. Standing here in my place, with all the responsibilities of my position upon me, I declare that I will not vote for her admission as a State. General Taylor, you should have known better than to make such a ridiculous recommendation. Sir, you should have consulted me on this question. " It is thus Mr. Clay undertakes to read the President a lecture upon what he has done, in the discharge of his official duty, and to unceremoniously condemn and repudiate it as unfit action for the President of the United States, he, Mr. Clay, assuming to be sole judge, and an arbiter in the premises. We ask again, whence comes Mr. Clay's pre- 1850] HIS ARGUMENTS ANSWERED. 77 tentions claim to supervise the official action of the President, and refer it for approval or condemnation to his individual judg- ment ? What means this unparalleled presumption of a demand upon the President to defend himself to Henry Clay ? " Upon what meat has this our Caesar fed?" Who constituted Mr. Clay the lieutenant-general of the Presi- dent ? But more offensive and preposterous still is Mr. Clay's pre- sumption in calling the President to account for his sins of omis- sion — for not doing what Mr. Clay, in the infinite comprehension of his administrative powers, thinks he ought to have done. Really, if one were not utterly confounded in reflecting upon the extravagance of this censure, he might give himself up to a vacant admiration of the inconceivable self-sufficiency that would prompt the application of such a rule of judging the President as this implies. Arraigning the President for what he has not done ? And such an arraignment ! Not for omitting to dis- charge a palpable constitutional duty ! Oh no ! But for omit- ting to do three particular tilings — or, to adopt Mr. Clay's own figurative speech, for omitting to bind up three wounds of the body politic, each of which threatens its life. Well, what are they ? What are these flagrant omissions of urgent and para- mount duty on the part of the Executive ? Let the country listen — let the earth and the heavens listen — to the fatal charges of omission brought by the great Kentuckian against General Zachary Taylor, President of the United States. Charge first : He has perfidiously neglected to recommend the abolition of the slave-trade in the District of Columbia. A trade, oe it remembered, that has existed during the entire life of this government, under every administration from George Washington to James K. Polk inclusive ; which no President has ever yet recommended to abolish, and no steps to abolish which have ever been before taken by Mr. Clay himself, though he has been a member of one or the other branch of Congress for forty years. And yet because Zachary Taylor, in the first year of his administration, and the first year of his civil life, has omitted to do what every one of his predecessors have omitted to do ; and what Mr. Clay himself, though for forty years and upwards in public 78 THE MORMONS. [May life, has never before attempted" or suggested ; lie is to be brought up to the bull-ring and publicly bastinadoed by the aforesaid celebrated senator. We have no desire to exaggerate ; but we wish to ask how this plain recital makes charge number one look ? Charge second : The President has been guilty, in precisely the same manner and degree, of neglecting to recommend a change in the fugitive slave law — a law which has remained untouched on the statute-book for forty-seven years, through all changes and mutations of parties and administrations, slumbering in profound and undisturbed quiet during the whole period, and never before dragged from its dusty repose to the light of day by even that vigilant guardian of the public welfare Mr. Clay himself. In- deed, almost the same thing, word for word, can be said of the fugitive slave law that we have said of the abolition of the slave- trade in the District. And the same condign punishment is to be meted out to the President for this omission as for the one tirst noticed. This is charge number two, and we ask again how does this look ? Charge third : The President has neglected to recommend a territorial government for Utah — a country so new, so un- known, that even a name had to be provided for it at the present session — a country which had not been born into civilization long enough to have been christened, before the Committee of Thirteen met ; without any white population whatever, save a peripatetic band of the deluded followers of one of the greatest impostors of this century, held together only by ties of a gross superstition, calling themselves saints, and desiring to live apart from their fellowmen ; a community liable to explode into its original ele- ments, to dwindle into insignificance, or sink in oblivion when- ever the gross and ignorant superstition upon which it rests shall fade. To suddenly and precipitately provide a government for such an anomalous people, who seem, at least, whatever their peculiarities of religious faith, to be able to provide for their own internal security through the bonds and influences of that faith, would seem to reflect upon the intelligence of the Presi- dent recommending such a provision, rather than that the omis- sion to do so could be magnified into a plain dereliction of duty. Yet, to make up his list of grievances to a respectable number, 1850] MR. CLAY'S "BLEEDING WOUNDS." 79 this is appended to the other two. This is the third and last of the "bleeding wounds" that President Taylor, in the medical language of Mr. Clay, has neglected to bind up, and for whose omissions to do so he deserves the public reprehension ; nay, more — s&oee omissions herein recapitulated are declared by Mr. Clay to be indefensible, and who challenges opposition to his opinion on the floor of the Senate, with the air and front and bearing of a gladiator who feels himself to be master of a public ring. Here we have the whole bill of particulars. Here is the triumphant, overwhelming array of charges brought by Mr. Clay against the President in his lofty-toned speech of yesterday, to combat which he exultingly demanded a champion to appear on the floor of the Senate. Here is the crushing load of official de- linquency piled upon the President's back by Mr. Clay to break him down. And what does it all amount to ? First. The President recommends the admission of Cali- fornia. Good. Second. He recommends New Mexico to erect herself into a State and present herself for admission into the Union. What has the President neglected here ? And in what has he offended, save only that he differs from Mr. Clay ? Third. He has omitted to recommend a government for the American Utopia — Utah. On which we have said enough. Fourth and fifth. He has said nothing to Congress about runaway negroes or the abolition of the slave-trade in this Dis- trict. An abolition that is the merest burlesque and mockery that ever occupied the grave attention of sensible men. An abolition which is nothing more nor less than drawing away a putrid carcass from before a gentleman's mansion to leave it to fester and pollute the atmosphere of some less aristocratic neigh- borhood. It needs to be buried, not removed. Pass the law proposed, and not a manacle falls from the limbs of a single human victim, and not a slave less will be sold in the American market. What is it then but a mockery ? Bleeding wounds indeed ! And is there need to say a word of the President's duty to take special notice of the subject of fugitive slaves ? All know there is none. Let it sleep the sleep of death in the musty records of a past century. 80 APPEAL FOR A CHAMPION. [May We might go on. There seems no need to do so. It is as clear as the sunlight that the President has done his duty in re- gard to the subjects in question with impartiality, faithfulness, wisdom, and prudence. What he has done is well done, what he has omitted to do speaks as loudly for his justice and sagacity. We have thus presented to view the extraordinary attitude of Mr. Clay before the country, assumed in his late speech, and have also laid before the reader the various charges that he has preferred against the President, in his new capacity of self-made political Pope. We have exhibited in as clear a light as we have been able the unfounded pretensions of Mr. Clay to exercise jurisdiction over the proper domain of the President, and have considered the one charge of commission, and the three charges of omission, brought by Mr. Clay against that functionary, with a view to show the strength and propriety of General Tay- lor's, and the weakness and impropriety of Mr. Clay's positions. We trust the " champion" will appear in the Senate who will do it more fully and ably. And here let us say that we take no pleasure in these expo- sitions of the conduct and positions of distinguished Whigs. We are animated only by the desire that the truth should be told. We think it ought to be told. We wish there were more who felt themselves free to speak as they think. There is a natural unwillingness on the part of Whigs to see, and still more to report the delinquencies of the old champions of the party. But we believe that neither the cause of truth nor the cause of the party is best subserved by silence in the present juncture. We have not hesitated, therefore, to utter our opinions promptly and fully on former occa- sions. We do not hesitate now ; yet we do it and have done it at the cost of personal relations more agreeable and gratifying than any others we can ever form, and for which no compensa- tion can be made. We are frank and open at the expense of political friendships both in high stations and in low. But we have no alternative but to be false to our convictions of truth, and regardless of the judgments of our understanding. Let these considerations be an answer to the editor of the Albany State Register, whose harsh remarks might be fairly considered 1850] PATRIOTIC IRON MEN. 81 deserving of a reply in a far different tone. But he speaks at. random and in ignorance ; we shall not simulate a feeling towards him we do not entertain. J. S. P. MR. CLAY AND HIS COMPROMISE. [From the New York Tribune.] Washington, Saturday, May 25. If Mr. Clay were in Ashland, or under ground, there would not be one chance in a hundred of carrying the Compromise. As he is here, and not in either of the retreats referred to, the chances are probably raised to about one in ten. As a man of action he is an amazing man. In carrying a measure his oratory remarkable as it is, is only an auxiliary force. He hardly finishes a prayer to Jupiter before he jumps into the mud up to his knees and puts his shoulder to the wheel with the strength of a Samson. It is at once curious and amusing to observe just now with what feelings of apprehension Mr. Clay is regarded by many of those who are deeply solicitous to defeat the Omnibus. They know he has a poor chance, but they stand in great dread of his skill and resources. They don't know who he may alarm, who seduce, who cajole, who terrify, who persuade, who wheedle, who convert, who obfuscate, who overreach, who subdue, who magnetize, who cheat out of his senses, who entice by soft words, and who by promises of advantage. They know he is indefati- gable and indomitable. He is constantly talking, dining, receiv- ing, and puts himself plump into every man's weak side. He takes the iron fellows of Pennsylvania aside and demands to know if they can hope any thing will be done for their perishing interests until this agitating, distracting, convulsing subject of slavery is disposed of ? If they won't come in and help settle it they must stay out in the cold. Forthwith numerous mem- bers of the Pennsylvania delegation become vastly patriotic. They desire " conciliation, concession, compromise." In other words, a higher duty on iron. In fact, Pennsylvania is the weak spot in this sell. The people of this State are undoubtedly ex- tremely honest, extremely patriotic, excessively conciliatory, and 82 COTTON PATRIOTS. [May just now greatly given to harmony and concord. But still they want a higher duty on iron. They say to the compromisers, " We are very much disposed to go for your bill ; but then you won't forget the iron." " We think, gentlemen, this agitating subject should be settled ; things are in a deplorable condition and we are willing to yield something to preserve fraternal peace and concord ; but you will of course remember the iron." But not only so with the iron men. Numerous gentlemen are and have been here from Massachusetts, groaning over their struggling and declining establishments. What does Mr. Clay say to these ? " Well, gentlemen, I am glad to see you ; what do you think of the compromise ? Ah ! my friends, what can be expected so long as Massachusetts arrays herself against this measure of peace, justice, ' concession, conciliation, and com- promise.' If we could only compose and settle this agitating, disturbing subject, and restore tranquillity to the country, much might be expected from our Southern friends in the way of a little increase of duties — on the revenue principle — on the rev- enue principle of course. ' ' And we would not swear that there are not Massachusetts men in the city who are not green enough to swallow the bait. He pitches into the manufacturers and manu- facturers' agents with a bold, devil-may-care front, and tells them they may all go to grass if they don't come up to the sup- port of his Omnibus. If they will do this, they may rely upon him for a lift. And they know well enough he is a man worth enlisting, and as a parcel of the Southern Democracy are training in his company just now, they are verdant enough to imagine these men will obey Mr. Clay's orders to right-about-face on the tariff question. This is the state of things here, and it is affirmed, with what truth we know not, that such Whigs of Pennsylvania as Mr. Casey, Chester Butler, etc. , are in an inquiring state of mind in regard to their duty at the present juncture. We have heard of a man who always used a microscope to discover his interest, but who clapped on a pair of leather spectacles to ascertain his duty. We trust neither of these gentlemen are in this predicament. We hope no Whig will be caught in the scrape of selling his vote where he is sure to get cheated out of his pay. He will thus not only earn the title of knave, but fool. But Mr. Clay 18501 LETTER FROM CHARLES A. DANA. 83 will pull every string with energy and desperation ; for he knows if he falls here he falls like Lucifer, never to rise again. J. S. P. [From Charles A. Dana.] New York, May 29, 1850. Greatest and Best of Pikes : I have long desired and designed to write you a letter, and no doubt you have long expected it ; but with me the idea is easy, the execution difficult. In fact, I intend to petition the extra session of our legislature, now about to be held, for an elongation of the days and a second pair of hands in order to come a little nearer what I want to do. First and foremost, a thousand thanks for your articles, especially that which I headed ' ' Wanted a Candidate, ' ' and that on ' ' Prospects of Disunion." They were great and good, and stirred up the animals, which you as Avell as I recognize as one of the great ends of life. The fact is that between you and mo we have bothered the Silver Greys most infernally, and probably shall do so again. I suppose you are swearing at the non-appearance of your response on the banking business ; but I have had it in type ever since it got here, with some most sound, conservative, and elegant remarks from the able pen of one of the first writers in the country attached, and that every night on leaving the office I have regularly ordered that that article shall go in on the editorial page, but that hitherto it has been constantly and per- sistently and pertinaciously crowded out by other things. However, I live in hope of printing it to-morrow. The article on Webster was postponed in consequence of the Buffalo speech, but it will hit 'em hard in a day or two. That on the Halifax Railroad I shortened in order to get it in right off, and besides, it is rather late in the day for such a radical sheet as the Trib. to say by way of programme that it is going to keep in the golden mean betwixt red and white. The thing is good to do perhaps, but I don't exactly like to say it along with the Roches- ter knocking, and the No-Petticoat Movement. And so you'll forgive the liberty I took with your mss. . • . . There's no other man I know of whom I should like so well to come in as an associate in the toils, glories, and profits of this newspaper, which I reckon to be at the begin- ning of its career. I hope we can fetch it about. You will understand that I don't say this by way of compliment. What I am after is the interest of the paper. Yours ever truly, C. A. Dana. 84 LETTER FROM MRS. JOHN DA VIS. [June [From Mrs Governor Davis.] Washington, June 19, 1850. . . . Thanks for your hint about the Boston letter ; but Childs need not expect to catch old birds with chaff ; just tell him so, and tell him not to be so indefinite. The Chicopee folks send it with a con- struction of their own. They say it means, " Vote for Taylor's plan ! !" Will Childs indorse that ? or will he expound it to mean, Give to the South all they ask ? There is no medium, and it is melancholy to see that by votes from Free States they are getting all they want. The Omnibus will go through the Senate. Bridges are being built to enable men to cross the gulf, and the report to-day is that there can be no doubt. Mr. Davis almost wishes Jefferson Davis's amendment may be adopted, that the Northern men may be effectually cornered. The tariff still slumbers, but probably that will be brought to bear in the House. Mr. Badger says there can be no Southern vote for a tariff if this bill is defeated. I hope we are not quite ready to sell soul and body too for cotton. We often wish for your good company. Mrs. Grinnell desires her regard, and the gentlemen would too if they were hear ; but I write without delay, after reading your letter, fearing I may fall into my old habit of waiting a more convenient season, till finally I am ashamed to do it at all. With great regard, Your friend, E. Davis. I have opened my letter to say to you that Mr. Dayton has just come in from the Senate quite in spirits. He says he told Clay he wished to go home a day or two, and asked him what would be done to-mor- row. " My God," says Clay, " don't ask me. Who can tell for to- morrow. I wish I could be well out of this matter. Woe to the day I ever touched it." Berrien offered an amendment which has offended him, and he said so. "I am not a school-boy to be lectured," says Berrien. "I am too old for that, sir." "Aha!" says Dayton, "I have thought so too, but you must take your turn." The bridges are caving in, and the hope is our folks still keep a majority, notwithstand- ing absenteeism. Borland and Bradbury have decamped, but it is said the rest will not be coaxed even by Clay. So much for to-day. Wednesday, 4 o'clock. 1850] LETTERS FROM I. WASHBURN, JR., AND GREELEY. 85 [From Hon. Israel Washburn, Jr.] Washington, June 24, 1850. Dear Pike : I could not obtain for you any good account of the reciprocity treaty in its details, and therefore sent you nothing in refer- ence to it. I see that the Maine Hunkers have nominated Albion K. Parris for Governor. They passed no resolutions in the convention approving- Nebraska or the Administration. This shows the feeling of Maine upon the repeal of the Missouri Compromise. Suppose you inquire in the Tribune, 'an you've a mind to, whether Governor Parris is for or against the repeal, for or against acquiescence, and whether, when in Washington, a few weeks ago, he spoke of the measure approvingly, and took credit to himself for discouraging a meet- ing of the citizens of Portland to protest against it. Don't you think that the North ought to acquiesce in the Mississippi Compromise repeal ? Why should she keep up a perpetual row on this slave question ? Why should not Northern Whigs go for acquiescence, a free-trade tariff, and Millard Fillmore ? The address lately issued troubles our weak-backs greatly. They don't like to stand it, and don't dare disavow it. The address came not a moment too soon. Some of our Whigs were hoping to be allowed to slide quietly and silently into acquiescence. Let them wriggle. In haste, yours ever truly, J. S. Pike, Esq. I. Washburn, Jr. [From Horace Greeley.] New York, August 22, 1850. Dear Pike : I hope you'll go to Congress, and in due season to heaven, but the look is not so good as I could wish. However, go ahead, and you will be certain to land somewhere. . . . If you can manage to handle your adversary as venomously as you did the Compromise, you will at least make him sorry he ever encoun- tered you. Luck to you, and don't forget to telegraph me the first news of your election. Yours, Horace Greeley. J. S. Pike, Esq. 86 LETTER FROM HON. TRUMAN SMITH. [Aug. 1850 [From Hon. Truman Smith.] Washington City, August 26, 1850. Dear Sir : Pursuant to order, I this morning went at the Hon. Corwin, Pike in hand, and I have to say there will not, in my opinion, be the slightest difficulty in regard to the matter to which you refer. I will write you again in two or three days. Push ahead ! Smite down the Philistines. I am, Hon. Pike, ever yours, Truman Smith. P.S. — I will send you a few copies of my recent speech on that novel topic the negro question ! Perhaps they may do good. Makch 1851] LETTER FROM CHARLES A. DANA. 87 1851. [From Charles A. Dana. New York, March 26, 1851. Friend Pike : To take things by the butt, let me begin by saying to you from H. G. that you must run for Governor in your State next election, when he is confident you will get a lot of Freesoil votes. But my own purpose in writing is to say that Greeley leaves for Europe in about three weeks, and will be gone till the first of September, as I suppose. During this time I shall have the paper on my shoul- ders, and shall be glad of your help. What do you say to writing an article, political or other, once a week ? You can do it, you know, wherever you are. As for compensation, that shall be for you to decide about. And now for the final and main proposition : what do you say to going into the Tribune regularly and permanently ? We want to get around it such a mass and variety of ability as to render it independent of individuals. You are the man we want, and I am confident you would find the position to your gusto. Of course we should prefer to have you one of the proprietors, and I know of no way in which you could invest money better. I am now moving to buy some stock, not now having enough, and should like to have you join in the operation. Let me hear from you as soon as convenient. Yours faithfully, Charles A. Dana. [From Charles A. Dana.1 Tribune Office, April 8, 1851. My Dear Pike : About that stock business. The Tribune is held in one hundred shares, of which Greeley owns twenty-five ; McElrath, twenty-five ; Snow, ten ; Strebeigh (advertising man), ten ; Taylor, five ; 88 LETTER FROM CHARLES A. DANA. [Apkil Dana, five ; Rooker (foreman), five ; Sinclair (book-keeper), three ; Hall (pressman), two ; Ripley, one, etc. In 1849 the concern divided $25,000 ; 1850, $30,000 ; 1851 it is sure to divide from $40,000 to $60,000 ; the first quarter has salted down $20,000, but the remainder of the year won't do as well. As you see, it is not bad property. Besides, it is growing prodigiously. The price at which the youngsters were admitted into the concern on January 1, 1849, was $1000 per share. The price has risen since. Last winter Mac, who had originally five-eighths of the establishment, sold several shares at $1500. I am sure now that he will not sell at that price. But if he will sell me ten shares for $20,000 I shall buy them, paying cash or the same thing ; or if he will sell five for $10,000 ; or if he refuses to sell a part, but will sell the whole twenty -five for $45,000 or $50,000, I shall make a push at it. Or if he will sell the ten for $22,000, or even up to $25,000, I have made up my mind to try it. You see I am sharpened for a trade any way. I regard the property as unequalled, as good as real estate, or better, because it is capable of indefinite extension and improvement. Greeley is of the same opinion. Snow and the others have lower ideas about it, and regard it as liable to most serious depreciation by the accident of Greeley's death, if that should happen some fine morning. That would certainly be a great mis- fortune ; but such is, in my opinion, the momentum of the concern that it would still go ahead conquering and to conquer. Especially should I feel secure on that point if we could get aboard a man of your calibre. Or, as you see, in any event, nothing is needed but energetic direction and the judicious expenditure of money to put the thing through forever. There is talent enough to be had in the world if you will only pay for it. Now let me know whether you are inclined to join me in this opera- tion with McElrath, supposing one comes to a head. It will take the tin either now or within ninety days. I should like to have you go in either for five or ten shares, or any number you would like. He has twenty -five ; but if we buy all, two or three must be reserved for young- sters in the office who have the promise of a share apiece when they are ready to pay for them. Or, in order to get you into the concern, I reckon Greeley would sell you a few shares, say five, if, after trial, we should hitch horses all round, as I have no doubt we should. This operation with me will not require any trial or if the trial should incline you to cut us, will not involve any obligation to cease to be a proprietor and pocket the profits. Bayard is talking of a trip to Central Africa next winter, and I suppose will go. He is bent on it, and already imagines himself dis- 1851] LETTER FROM MR. DANA. 89 covering the fountains of the Nile. Perhaps you don't know that he lately lost his wife — a girl to whom he had been attached from boyhood, and whom he married on her deathbed. It is this partly which inclines him to travel. Besides that's his forte. He is not so good a journalist as a voyager ; in the latter capacity he may achieve a lasting fame, but not in the former. I didn't go to Washington. I thought it wouldn't pay in such a session. Besides, Greeley wanted to be gone a great deal here and there. Perhaps I'll go next winter. I hope you'll send me a rocket occasionally during the summer to flash up in our sky and save the country, not to speak of saving me from making a stupid paper. You see it must be better than when the old man is home, or they'll say Dana's a failure ! which God forbid ! Yours truly, C. A. Dana. [From Charles A. Dana.] New York, April 25, 1851. Dear Pike : You are great and good, and when you are nominaxea for President count on my vote. Your Suffolk Bank article is first-rate, but, as luck will have it, right in the face of other articles which Greeley wrote and printed not long before he left. However, your " piece" goes in with a few words of introduction and a brief refutation at the end, which shows up your sophistries d la Greeley, only more politely. I'll tell you what you ought to write ; it is an article, or more, sharp, slashing, and spicy, on the Locofoco candidates for the Presidency. ... So pitch into 'em hip and thigh. I find McElrath not willing to sell out, but willing to sell me five shares at a smart price. I have bought, and am to fork up to-day. For the five I pay $10,000, he retaining the July dividend, which will be $250 per share. I think you will be able to get of Greeley three or five at the same price, if you want. I have written to him about it. We want an editor permanently at Washington who will do the chores there, as we can't get them done by a hired correspondent. You are the man for that. You might alternate between there and New York, coming on here, for instance, a couple of months at a time, when Greeley or I might have to go away. About compensation ; we regular stagers don't get very large salaries in proportion to our remark- able merits. Greeley has $50 a week ; Snow, $30 ; I, $25 ; Taylor, 90 CLAIMS OF MR. WEBSTER'S FRIBNDS. [June $20 : Cleveland, $18 ; Ripley, $15. All these fellows are proprietors. I reckon, however, that we could arrange that matter to your satis- faction. I have quite set my heart on getting you into the boat ; so has Snow ; Greeley likes the idea. So let's go it. Yours ever, C. A. Dana. TRUTH VINDICATED. [From the New York Tribune of June 2, 1851.] We have lately taken occasion, with all practicable brevity and moderation of language, to examine the position of Mr. Webster before the country as expounded and illuminated by himself. We have shown the exposition to be unsound and the illumination delusive. But if this be true of the master, what shall be said of his newest disciples and admirers ? We have no objections to the friends of Mr. Webster glorify- ing him to the full extent their inclination prompts. But we do not feel like sitting quiet when these eulogies imply censure upon other distinguished public men, whose course on the Slavery question we consider more consistent, more honorable, and more just. And we are still less inclined to be passive when those commendations involve a falsification of contemporary history. Distant papers in the West and South, with here and there a dependent organ in the North, are now, and have of late been, speaking and dwelling upon the voluntary sacrifice that Mr. Webster made, in making his 7th of March speech ; therein abandoning the " Proviso, " giving his support to the Fugitive Slave law, and otherwise signifying his willingness to subscribe to the heated demands of the slave power generally. For doing this, Mr. Webster is now extolled as being pre-eminently "national," as rising above sectional prejudices, and doing an act, or acts, of eminent propriety and patriotism. This commendation is a covert censure upon all other North- ern statesmen who did not go with him. The idea conveyed, and intended to be conveyed, is that Mr. Webster alone, of all the prominent Northern public men in Congress, was statesman- like in his views, national in tone, and comprehensive in his 1851] NATURE OF MR. WEBSTER'S SACRIFICE. 91 judgments. That those who differed from him, of whom the category embraces such men as John Davis, "William H. Seward, "William L. Dayton, Robert C. Winthrop, and so forth, were not national, patriotic, statesmanlike, or comprehensive in their views and conduct, but, on the contrary, were sectional, preju- diced, narrow, and partisan. This is the obvious import of all the eulogies upon Mr. Webster in which his new-found friends indulge. "We repel the imputation they convey ; and we deny the allegation upon which they rest, namely, that Mr. Webster made a voluntary sacrifice in breaking away from the great body of Northern men and going directly in the face of his then well- known and oft-repeated sentiments. The statement is a falsifica- tion of notorious facts. Mr. Webster never intended to make any sacrifice, and he never thought he was making any sacrifice in taking the ground he did in the 7th of March speech. He never intended anything of the sort at the time, before or after- ward. If there is anything particularly ' ' national ' ' or patriotic in a man's backing out of his previous opinions and positions, in order to gain Southern support, so be it. We are willing Mr. Webster should have all the credit of so much as this. But we deny him the merit of any intended ' ' sacrifice. ' ' Mr. Webster was undoubtedly over-persuaded into making that speech, and into giving in his adhesion to Southern views on the slavery question, by Southern men, who ate and drank with him, and beset him, morning, noon, and night ; who fairly beleaguered and took possession of his person for days and weeks before that memorable occasion. The public may recollect something of the assiduously deferential tone of the Union newspaper toward Mr. Webster at the time. This is merely an index to what was going on in private circles. The Southern men got Mr. Web- ster to make a Southern speech. Outside they call it ' ' Na- tional. " But, in doing it, Mr. Webster never once thought he was sacrificing Northern support ; he only thought he was gain- ing Southern. He made that speech to get friends at the South — never doubting he could hold his own in the North, and not dreaming of the possible defection of Massachusetts. Mr. Web- ster never had the credit of boldness in making it, for none of his friends thought he was running the risk of losing anything, 92 OTHER NORTHERN PATRIOTS. [June politically, by so doing. On the contrary, it was imagined that it was a great stroke, and would make Mr. Webster eminently popular throughout the South and South-west, and would achieve the culmination of his political fortunes by electing him to the long-coveted post of the Presidency. This was undoubt- edly Mr. Webster's own view ; and far enough is it from the idea of a " sacrifice." There were a few at Washington who saw, at the time, how great was that delusion, and how deep was the pit Mr. Webster had dug for himself. But when such intimated that Mr. Web- ster would not be likely to sustain himself in the North, and that he might even lose Massachusetts, the idea was derided, and the suggestion that he could by any possibility fail to carry his own State was laughed to scorn. Yet now, in the encomiums upon Mr. Webster which we see drifting about the public prints, we find those like the following from a St. Louis paper : " On an occasion when he had it in his power to secure the support of a party who, unfortunately, seem to control the affairs of Massachusetts, and thus to strengthen the influence which he has long deservedly exercised in that State, he adopted the very course which was to weaken his power among his old constituents, and by which he was to sacrifice all prospect of future benefit from Massachusetts. He lost his State to preserve the Union. He abandoned his own interests to further the general welfare. He severed his party attachments to secure the public good. ' ' We are perfectly willing to give Mr. Webster all the credit to which he is fairly entitled. His situation is not enviable, and his course on the great questions of the time does not add to his present happiness, neither will it add anything to his future renown. Let his friends praise him. We do not object. But let them not covertly censure others of our most distinguished men in doing it ; neither let them be guilty of the falsification of history in the bestowment of their encomiums. Mr. Web- ster's intellect is great. But of his unselfish devotion to princi- ple, of his moral intrepidity, it is not worth while for his friends to be profuse of commendation. On that head the less said the better. If anybody has made ' ' sacrifices, ' ' it is the men who were steadfast to principle against all the shocks and all the stealthy assaults upon their virtue in that time of trial. Then, and sub- 1851] A NEW PARTY. 93 sequently on the installation of Mr. Fillmore's administration, ratting was easy, and could very readily be made profitable. The men of the North, who were true to their past professions and to their convictions of duty, were those who incurred obloquy and made the ' ' sacrifices. ' ' It was they who were put under the ban, denounced as sectional, as fanatical, and tempo- rarily denationalized, so to speak, by the savage attacks made upon them. But they were not swayed from the narrow path of rectitude and honor, by any consideration of present or pros- pective advantage. They are the men, if any, who are specially deserving of being held up to the country and the world as pre-eminent in the discharge of the duties demanded by principle and by patriotism. And when impartial history shall review and record the events of the time in which they were actors, it will be their glory, and not Mr. Webster's, that will gild the page on which that record shall be made. A NEW PARTY. [From the New York Tribune of June 26.] It is right the world should be instructed by clear-headed, consistent, and conscientious men. We have, therefore, not a word to say when the ex-minister to the Celestial Empire, and present Mayor of the city of Newburyport, in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, formerly Whig Member of Congress and author of several able speeches against the Sub-Treasury and Locofocoism in general, and in favor of Whig policy and Whig men, and, more latterly, a general in the Mexican war ; under- takes to lay down the law and the gospel to the Union Locos of Massachusetts, and to teach them their duty at the present crisis. That snug little party, numbering in the State just about enough to fill what offices would fall to the share of Massachusetts under a Locofoco National Administration, could not have a better leader. If the party is not already "conveniently small" he will be sure to make it so. Bo gentleman belonging to the State possesses larger capacities in this line. We will not even except a very distinguished personage of that Commonwealth who has 94 CALEB CUSH1NG THE HEAD. [June handsomely floored the Whig party there, and whose friends are just now engaged in publishing posthumous memoirs of his pop- ularity, by subscription. General Cushing is Chairman of the grand State Central Committee, and managing head of the powerful party he now essays to lead. The stronghold of this party is among Robert Rantoul's constituency, where it numbers 700 good men and true out of 15,000 voters who lately went to the polls in that dis- trict. In his late manifesto (termed a i ' Report of the Executive Committee," made under instruction of the State Central Com- mittee), which we find in the Boston papers, the general very adroitly ignores all past and present politics, and plants his com- pendious forces on a single position. This is a stroke of military policy introduced into civil affairs. A handful of men cannot defend a long line. They must take to a fortress. The point of his discourse is that he goes against making " these now great and happy United States a Golgotha. ' ' That is to say he heads an anti-Golgotha party in the Bay State. Well, if other people may get up anti-slavery, anti-Masonic, and all other sorts of anti parties, we do not know why the general should not be permitted to get up an anti-Golgotha party. As usual, when a new enter- prise is started, the first business of the projectors is to magnify its importance. Thus the general magnifies the subject of his discourse in the very best terms of rhetoric he can command. And in the height of his wordy unhappiness demands to know if it be the command of God to make these States " a Golgotha." We certainly have no hesitation in promptly expressing our de- cided opinion that no such command has ever been issued. We claim some familiarity with the ' ' higher law, ' ' but we have never seen anything of this sort in our book of revelation. And we have no idea that we could have overlooked a command of this significance. We quote from the general : "To make of these now great and happy United States a Golgotha, a thing to shudder at and despise, like that awful beacon in the pathway of nations, the wretched negro empire of the Island of St. Domingo ! These the commands of God ? Away with the insane self-conceit and the pre- sumptuous impiety which cloaks its ignorance, folly, and passion under blasphemous pretence of being the miraculous recipient of the immediate command of the Most Hiffh !" 1851] THE OOLGOTHIANS. 95 But the general would evidently be indisposed to take our No for an answer. For he constantly assumes that those who are not out-and-out supporters of the Fugitive Slave law are Golgothians. This is the point of his discourse ; and upon this assumption he purposes to found his anti-Golgotha party. The movement is ingenious and adroit, and the general should have credit for it. It would be very awkward for him to meet his old party associates in any coming Presidential or other political con- test on old issues. But on the Golgotha question he can toe the mark and deal his blows, man fashion, and have nobody to twit him of having once been on the other side. It is not a little exciting to the sense of the ridiculous to wit- ness the zeal and inconsistency with which the general labors to enforce the general idea that the last and great band that holds our Union and Government together is the Fugitive Law of 1850. These Union and compromise gentlemen are really get- ting to be " one idea" men of the very worst sort. They cling to the adjustment so convulsively, and hold it to their noses so closely, that they don't see nor acknowledge the existence of any- thing beyond. They make the fugitive law their meat and their drink. It is their cloud by night and their pillar of fire by day. It is their sole organ of political locomotion. It is the fin by which they scull about in dirty water, and the wings on which they ascend to the sublimest heights of blarney. No hen with one chicken, no woman with her first baby, was ever more con- spicuous in silly devotion, or fussy self-consequence. According to Mr. Cushing, it is the very last chain and anchor that holds the ship of State to her moorings, amid frightful surges that now dash their spray from stem to stern, and make every timber quiver, and every soul on board quake. But upon all such trash as this we have hitherto, on previous occasions, indulged in suffi- cient comment. If there are those who yet believe that the sal- vation of this Union and Government depends upon Northern dexterity in tripping up the heels of escaping negroes, they are past cure. We need not waste words upon them. One remark of the ex-minister, however, dropped in the heat of his dissertation, is so malapropos, considering the view he takes of the Fugitive Law, that we cannot help alluding to it. He makes an observation common to all good " Union men," 96 LETTER FROM CHARLES A. DANA. [Aug. that it is the duty of every good man and good citizen to leave the subject of slavery where Washington, and Madison, and Jay, and Hamilton, and the framers of the Constitution left it. Now the first step toward doing this would be to repeal the Fugitive Law of 1850, wouldn't it ? For this is a heel-tap upon the foot of Slavery that modern cobblers have put on. To be consistent with himself, therefore, the general ought certainly to be advo- cating the repeal of the law instead of striving to head a party founded upon the principle of a rigid adherence to it. It is thus, after discharging the guns of his battery all about him, the general applies the match to his own magazine, and blows him- self sky-high. Let those look after his remains who feel a desire to erect a monument to his logical and political consistency. The Union Committee of Safety could not be better employed. They would, in so doing, follow at least one Scripture injunc- tion, " Let the dead bury their dead." New York, August 9, 1851. My Dear Pike : You will have to work hard to come up to the sublimity of fury I have just poured on the heads of our disgraceful compositors and proof-readers. They are fools and villains ! Your article was too long, and I cut it down. It was rather too hard upon little Vic, and I made it more polite. They have taken it and bedevilled it and tortured it and transmogrified it ! making non- sense of what was wit, and folly of what was wisdom. I always read the proof of all the editorial articles myself. Last night I went home at eleven, tired to death, leaving yours to he read by the proof-readers. And they murdered it ! Let us have that screed about the Presidents infuturo. Douglass has the best look just now on that side. Cass, Buchanan, R. I. Walker, Woodbury, Butler, and Houston are nowhere. Douglass is their strongest man. Do you know that Fillmore's chance is coming up ? Perhaps we'll have to take him. By the way, Greeley will be home in a month, when, if you go for buying in, the arrangement must be closed. I judged from our conver- sation the other day that you are rather disinclined upon the whole. Let's know. Yours faithfully, C. A. Dana. 1851] LETTER FROM HON. TRUMAN SMITH. 97 [From Hon. Truman Smith.] Litchfield, Ct., August 11, 1851. Hon. Pike : Returned from Lake Superior on Saturday, after an absence of near two months, and had hardly entered my peaceful abode before you run at me with your pike, under date of July 3d, for daring to be (as I am) for the Godlike as the next Whig candidate for the Presidency. Why should I not be ? Is he not a truly great man ! an orator, statesman, patriot, and author of the immortal letter to Hulse- man, using up and effectually demolishing the great Austrian despotism ? Is he not a native of New England, and by far the greatest man New England has ever produced ? But you seem to suppose it is question- able whether he can be elected, and disposed to throw yourself on some miserable expedient of availability ; to partake of some " hasty plate of soup," etc. But, my dear sir, I am determined hereafter to go for nothing but sterling merit, especially so long as I have not the slightest hope of electing any Whig. Besides, we shall derive one special advantage from presenting the name of the Godlike : we shall ascertain whether it " is a nomination fit to be made ;" if it succeeds, yea ; if not, nay ! Besides, I think it is a pity that so much yearn- ing after the salvation of our glorious Union — such a vast profusion of oratory poured out on all occasions in cars and steamboats, and in all sections of our vast country — north, south, east, and west — should be expended for nothing. In short, my excellent friend, I think we have a most excellent running Cabinet — all running for the Presidency ; old black D. a leetle ahead ; and I am decidedly in favor of his running into it, if he can ! ! Yours faithfully, " Uncle." [From Charles A. Dana.] New York, October 6, 1851. My Dear Pike : I blush with remorse at the distant date of your letter, to which I ought to have replied long since. My delay is, how- ever, not so culpable as it must appear. When your letter came I was off for a fortnight in Canada ; as soon as I got home Greeley was off for another fortnight, and I had no chance to speak with him about it, so that for at least a month of this intervening time I am as innocent as a child, and for the rest I have been driven with business. However, to the point. Greeley is not inclined to sell stock to one who will still be so much 98 LETTER FROM CHARLES A. DANA. Oct. 1851 an outsider as yourself. In fact, he is not anxious to sell at any rate, as you can conceive ; though if you were disposed to come regularly into the harness along with the rest, he would be glad of it, and would sell. So much for that. Now, we want you mightily to write for us from Washington during the session. The quantity of writing is to be left to your discretion and instincts. But you understand the nature of the work, and any details can be arranged hereafter. Also, whenever you have a word to say to the world in our editorial columns, send it on. I should urge you to write regularly, and propose a definite consideration, but for the terrific crowd of advertisements which makes it hard work to print half what we want to. But you have now and then a shot to fire whose effect the world can't afford to lose, and when the spirit is on you, don't refuse the impulse, but send me the document. I trust that my remissness has not caused you any inconvenience, or been laid to any cause but absence ; had I been at home the affair would have been decided on the next day. Yours most faithfully, Charles A. Dana. We are sure to be badly beaten in Pennsylvania, but the chance in this State is excellent. Scott stock is not so good now as it was. I hear talk of Bates of Missouri and John M e Lean. How well the Greer and Donaldson business has used up Houston ! It was a great go ; when I see you I'll tell you a bit of secret history. Jan. 1852] BANQUET TO KOSSUTH. 99 1852. THE CONGRESSIONAL BANQUET KOSSUTH'S SPEECH — SPEECH OF MR. WEBSTER. [From the New York Tribune.] Washington, Thursday, January 8, 1852. The dinner is over and it was a great time. All the great men were there. Members of the Cabinet, Judges of the Supreme Court, Senators and Representatives without number. No other place but "Washington can furnish any such audi- ence. There was a room full of the picked men of twenty mil- lions. Two tables ran the entire length of the ladies' dining-hall at the National. The continuous line of one was broken at the cen- tre, and a platform there raised, whereon was a shorter table, at which sat four persons. At the right and left of this table sat Mr. Webster and Mr. Boyd, the Speaker of the House. Be- tween them sat Mr. King, President of the Senate, and the guest of the evening. The Magyar first. He was tastily dressed in velvet and looked well. The dinner over, toasts to the President, the Army and the Navy were given. Mr. Webster returned thanks to the first. Mr. Shields, after many ineffectual calls for Gener- al Scott, who, being in Richmond, could not well hear them, spoke in reply to the second. The Celt was ardent, and a little objected to in some quarters. Hungary was toasted, and the Magyar began. The room was still, and he spoke in distinct tones. But people accustomed to the sharp-edged and costive talk of American speakers 100 WEBSTER AND DOUGLAS SPEAK. [Jan. would find it at first difficult , at any distance from the speaker, to understand the interfused utterance so common to foreigners from the continent, to which Kossuth's elocution is no excep- tion. A little familiarity with this peculiarity and a close atten- tion soon relieves the difficulty, however, while the slight for- eign accent became a source of attraction. A word of the orator's personal appearance. He is a little under size, perhaps five feet eight ; erect, of fine form and fig- ure, quick and elastic in movement, and of admirable and com- manding gesture. During the delivery of the speech all was close attention. "Webster rolled up his big eyes toward the speaker, with a face as emotionless as the Sphinx. That massive countenance, unsur- passed in dignity, in strength, remained unchanged. It soon transpired after Kossuth's conclusion that Webster was to fol- low. He did follow. His speech neither created a great sensation nor a great disappointment. It was dignified, pertinent, and characteristic. It was worthy of Mr. Webster. He deserves credit for saying so much as he did, and on the whole we must admit that, so far as we know, he has not shown himself regard- less of his position or his duties toward the guest of the nation. It is evident that there are eccentricities or cross-purposes in the Cabinet. Things do not go smooth somewhere. But, as mat- ters now stand, we are inclined to exonerate Mr. "Webster from the responsibility of the shabby position of the Executive Gov- ernment in regard to Kossuth. Perhaps we shall know some time what the difficulty is. After Mr. Webster came Douglas. He labored under great disadvantages. He was not, apparently, well prepared. He is a candidate for the Presidency. On the Kossuth question the West is one way and the South another. What view could he take ? It was enough to make a man cross-eyed to look at the subject under such circumstances. He did the best he could. But, while we have a good opinion of the Judge's ability on or- dinary occasions — knowing that he never ventures, in the Senate, upon the discussion of questions which he does not understand — we are yet constrained to say that on this occasion he was com- monplace and shallow. 1852] THE SCRAMBLE OF THE CANDIDATES. 101 General Cass followed Douglas. The General is a man not fully understood. We think he is a modest man. He seems to have a constant sense of the humbleness of his origin and to be thankful to the good Providence that has given him his elevation. Considering it as an almost universal habit for every old political stager to be constantly repining at the thought that he has not got more, instead of being thankful for what he has, this is a feather in General Cass's cap. The General spoke from an over- flowing heart and generous impulses. He gave the reins to his feelings. He avowed his willingness to take strong ground in the Senate on non-intervention, and was willing to abide the con- sequences. On this subject he ploughed the ground all out from under Douglas, and let him down out of sight. On interven- tion to prevent intervention he is ahead, out and out. So far as the great North-west is concerned on the Presidential question, it was a yacht America beat. Douglas must wet his sails, trim down his sheets, pray for a fresh gale, and try him again. During the delivery of both these speeches everbody was tumultuously hilarious. It had waxed late in the evening, the wine had flowed freely, and everybody was in the best of spirits. All through the delivery of both there was loud applause, laugh- ter, cheers, shouts, and burlesque approbation. When people who are candidates for the Presidency make speeches on such an occasion, they are necessarily the butt of all manner of joke and comment. Every thing was good-natured, however, and the two demonstrations added vastly to the piquancy of the even- ing's entertainment. Mr. Seward was at length loudly called for, and appeared on the stand, but a few fellows in one part of the hall, who hail from the clime of the sun, were so clamorous, and the most of the audience being on their feet, and by no means inclined to quiet at that hour, his remarks were nearly inaudible. He, however, went through with his brief speech. After he con- cluded, the President, Mr. King, and Kossuth retired, and left the audience that had become considerably thinned, to them- selves. As a finale, Cartter, of Ohio, took the floor. He had had a good time all the evening and now rollicked like a whale in deep water. Cartter is one of the most democratic of men. He be- 102 CARTTER'S ROLLICKING SPEECH. [Jan. lieves in universal freedom and no hindrance to human develop- ment any way. He has that love of the largest liberty which will have no patience with oppression anywhere, and thinks as much of universal suffrage as of the trial by jury. The noise *w.as so great that nobody could hear him, but in obedience to the incessant cries of " Go on ! go on !" he kept talking for a con- siderable time. The burden of his speech, which 1 presume is not reported, was great admiration of the illustrious exile. He declared that while we had representatives and diplomatists from other nations and other lands, distinguished and undistinguished, we had none whose mission would compare for a moment in importance or dignity with that of the great Hungarian. For he was a minister, not of any petty State — not of any fraction of this world's inhabitants — not the representative of any im- perial despot on the earth ; but he was, over all and above all, the representative and plenipotentiary of the heart of humanity. He is the diplomatist and vicegerent of Almighty God, duly accredited to all nations, displaying credentials that bear the seal and sign manual of the Ruler of the Universe. This was the post Kossuth occupied, and we could not therefore honor him too much. On the whole, looking to the immediate effects of Kossuth's speech on the assembly, we think it fortunate that the influence of oratory is evanescent. Could a vote have been taken at its close, upon the question of our interfering against Russia to give Hungary " fair play " against Austria, the ayes would have had it by an overwhelming majority. J. S. P. WEBSTER VS. FILLMORE. [From the New York Tribune.] Washington, January 23, 18o2. As nobody feels interest enough in the " Compromise" measures to call them up in the Senate, Governor Davis's speech upon them is still held in abeyance. When they do come up, he will give them a broadside that will tell. There never was a more useless, mischievous, and, we may add, ridicu- lous move, than this reintroduction of this subject into the National 1852] RENEWAL OF AGITATION. 103 Legislature, excepting of course the original introduction and passage of the measures ; and this fact Governor Davis is bound to prove to a demonstration. He will make clear what has been often urged, that there is now no one of those measures that can be considered an open question, except the Fugitive Slave Law ; and that a reindorsement and reapproval of them now is nothing more and nothing less than an attempt to re-enact that law with all its odious features, all its repugnant and justice-defying pro- visions, and to declare that it shall for ever remain on the statute book in all its original and hateful deformity. It is an attempt to renewedly cram down the throats of the people of the Free States a law revolting to their natures, in direct conflict with their cherished principles and the requirements of conscientious duty — a law which they detest, have resisted, and which all the powers of heaven, of earth, or of hell can never make them ap- prove ; but which they nevertheless have made no effort to re- peal or modify, seeing the uselessness of the attempt, and in which they have been, and are disposed therefore to acquiesce. The whole proceeding is no better than firing upon an enemy after his colors are down. It has no other or better tendency than to stimulate to new and more embittered contests ; to ex- cite bitter and stinging resentments, to provoke fresh indignation, and arouse a more fierce and determined opposition. But this is slavery tactics. The drivers must use the lash, the brand, and the revolver in quick succession or they are not content. . It is quite in character that Foote should be engaged in this bus- iness, but that Mr. Clay or any other sensible man should have a hand in it, or in any way countenance it, is very strange. We see by the Alabama resolutions, lately introduced into the Sen- ate, what the notion of the slavery men is in regard to action and reaction upon this subject. They expect Congress to reaffirm that the slavery question in this government is closed, finally settled, and that the Free States shall cease to debate, to agitate, or to allude to it in Congress. They demand it to be considered that the Compromise has boxed it up and hooped it down and stowed it away, there to forever he among forgotten rubbish. "Well, all this is reasonable for them. Just as sensible as it would be to declare by joint resolution that the mercury should never go above the freezing-point again ; that 104 WEBSTER AND FILLMORE RIVALRY. [Jan. as we have at last got it down to zero in "Washington, we are de- termined to keep it there. There is a great commotion between Mr. Webster and his friends and Mr. Fillmore and his friends, in relation to the recent determination of the President not to withdraw from the can- vass. You will see in the papers all manner of contradictory accounts on this point, and from sources that are usually well informed. But when every thing uncertain is brushed away, the naked fact will remain and be plainly visible, that Mr. Fill- more is in the field, and of course against Mr. Webster ; for the strength of both, so far as they have strength, consists in their position on the Compromise question. They stand on the same platform and are covered by the same canopy. They occupy the same tent, drink out of the same cup, and toast their feet by the same fire. When they move, they go in the same dugout, fashioned by their joint labors, and in which they have an equal interest and partnership. They drift on the same stream, ap- proach the same rapids, and, we fear, will go over the same dam. That they may not come to such an untoward end, however, it is our bounden duty to pray. But if the probabilities are strong of such a calamity, as we think they are, it would not seem to be worth a quarrel for the privilege of making such a voyage, either alone or in company. We hope, at least, there will be none, for it may result in an upset that might drown innocent parties. The great error that has been made in the vaticinations of interested parties upon the subject of the candidacy, so far as Mr. Webster and Mr. Fillmore are concerned, has arisen from a mistaken estimate of Mr. Fillmore's position and character. New York politicians, though the most respectable class of gen- tlemen in the world, have some peculiar characteristics. They very often seemingly assent to propositions that they never had the faintest intention of taking even into consideration, and if other gentlemen see fit to draw gratuitous and unfounded infer- ences from their quiet and deferential manner, and their perfect urbanity and politeness, who is to blame ? And if one of them should express a desire, or an intention even, to do a thing, it by no means follows that he will do it. The very generosity of his nature and his yielding temper prompt him to defer the ex- 1852] GIVE EACH CANDIDATE A CHANCE. 105 edition of his own wishes, if by so doing it will gratify his friends. Another thing is equally true. New York politicians love the tranquillity and the infinite possibilities of a position of negation ; and they do not like to do any thing unless it is clearly for their interest to do it. Surely no one will blame them for this. And the failure to recognize this latter peculiarity of this very discreet class of gentlemen has occasioned erroneous judg- ments in very intelligent quarters (to say nothing of losses of imbibing compounds) as to Mr. Fillmore's withdrawal. "Why should Mr. Fillmore withdraw ? This is a question which has not been sufficiently considered. Mr. Webster's wishes have been suggested, but does such a consideration pay ? Let there be no hasty complaints, then, by Mr. Webster or his friends, because Mr. Fillmore is a candidate. This is a free country, why should not all men be candidates for the Presidency who desire to be ? The great men must not think to absorb all the honors. Let each have a chance. We shall deeply lament to see any ill blood displayed on account of the denouement of which we are speaking ; and most of all do we deprecate all alle- gations that the President has backed and filled, or contradicted himself on the question. If gentlemen have prophesied falsely, or lost champagne, or done any other foolish thing touching this momentous topic, let them possess their souls in patience, and not launch vain anathemas upon the head of the Administration. We certainly, in all sincerity, think he has consulted the true in- terest of the Whig party in not withdrawing, and we are quite rejoiced, therefore, that he has not suffered himself to lose his chances by being crowded off the course. J. S. P. JOHN DAVIS S SPEECH. [From the New York Tribune.] Washington, January 28, 1852. The present position of Mr. Webster and Mr. Fillmore as can- didates for the Presidency grows daily more and more anomalous to the public apprehension. It would seem to necessitate the re- construction of the Cabinet. The Secretary has all along expected to have the Administration field to himself, and to find now that 106 SPEECH OF SENATOR DAVIS. [Jan. he is allowed but a very email " patch" of it, is excessively pro- voking. And it is impossible that so much poignant chagrin as is felt should be altogether suppressed. And it is not. So that it cannot be long, if there is no change in the position of the candidates, before it will burst out in open crimination. Men of strong passions, with cross purposes, and keen personal aims cannot meet in daily intercourse and be always amiable and polite and confiding. This is more difficult than "To smile and smile and be a villain." The lines of the President and Secretary, who are both bobbing for the same big trout, will inevitably tangle. So long as they run side by side on the same course they will jostle, interlock their wheels, crowd, and perhaps jockey. We see numerous signs of this already. Such a state of things cannot last and good nature continue to prevail. Collisions will be followed by contusions. Governor Davis made his speech to-day on the Compromise resolutions. He gave the truth, and the whole truth, in relation to this subject in a masterly manner. His words were few but massive. His logic is always impregnable, and his statements are demonstrations. There is no man in the Senate who is reck- oned to be so pre-eminently sensible as John Davis. His large, roundabout, hard sense, his clear, strong, and masculine under- standing always bring him to wise conclusions. If his speech of to-day, so far as it related to the Compromise, could have been delivered by Mr. Webster, it would be set down as one of those ponderous and self-evident statements of absolute truth that admitted of no further question or debate. Governor Davis entered briefly upon the consideration of the mischiefs which have resulted from the agitation of the compromisers, and were now resulting from their continued agitation, by showing that they tended directly to the neglect of the great material interests of the country. In this connection and in allusion to California he took occasion to quote from the standard authorities — namely. Blackwood' 's Magazine and the New York Tribune. J. S. P. 1852] LETTER FROM PHILIP GREELT, COLLECTOR. 107 Custom House, Boston, ) Collector's Office, January 30, 1852. ) Honorable Pike : . . . We have nothing new here. The indica- tions are that the Freesoilers and Democrats will make a permanent coali- tion ; but if we nominate General Scott we can break them up, and get one half of the Freesoil party, which would give the Whigs twenty thousand majority in the Commonwealth. Uncle Dan's friends are very quiet. The position of " Philip Moore" troubles them, and they do not seem to know just what to do. I am glad things are as they are, for it is better for us than though it was otherwise. The nomination in Maine is a good card for us, but not to be talked about or boasted of just yet. I think things are working kindly and well, but you must keep at work on the South, and declare that no " protestations" or letters are to be made or written. Write often. Ever yours, P. G. , Jr. THE COMPROMISE AND THE PRESIDENCY. [From the New York Tribune. 1 Washington, February 2, 1852. The Fugitive Slave Law is in the way of electing a Whig President. People talk about the " Compromise measures," and so con- fuse men's minds about a thing which in itself is very simple and plain. Five acts were brought under this head and passed — to wit : 1st, An act for the admission of California. 2d. An act establishing territorial governments for our acquisitions from Mexico. 3d. An act for the settlement of the Texas boundary. 4th. An act abolishing the slave-trade in the District of Colum- bia. 5th. An act for returning fugitive slaves. Two of these acts are not open to legislative action. We can- not turn California out of the Union, and we cannot legislate ten millions of money out of the breeches pocket of Texas into our own. In the first place she couldn't pay it if she would, and in the second, she wouldn't if she could. A third act is one for establishing territorial governments for New Mexico and Utah. This was passed without the " Proviso, ' ' 108 THE FUGITIVE SLA VE LA W. [Feb. and was really the only act upon which any great controversy was waged. In this the South had its own way. It is a most suggestive and provoking subject for comment, but we withstand the temptation and remain silent. The question in regard to it has been dropped for two reasons : first, because the Fugitive Slave Law so excited the resentment of the North that it quite forgot the " Proviso" for the period immediately following the passage of the measures ; and, second, because the conviction has grown general that slavery will not go into New Mexico and Utah. Thus acquiescence in this act prevails even in those quarters where the stoutest determination to uphold and adhere to the " Proviso" existed. A fourth act is the one abolishing the slave-trade in the Dis- trict, for which nobody now cares, and nobody ever did care. It is a small act upon a small subject, answering a very small purpose. And thus it is that the Fugitive Slave Law, the fifth and last of the series, and that alone, really survives, and has an active existence of all the much bruited "Compromise measures." Governor Davis, in his late speech in the Senate, demonstrated this fact at length in a most conclusive manner. Hence it is we make the declaration that this law is the only thing in the way of electing a Whig President. Why it is so is plain enough, as we will show. The South- ern Whigs, ever since the passage of the Compromise measures, have been fighting their battles on that platform. Their news- papers, members of the State legislatures, members of Congress,, stump speakers in general, have all planted themselves upon these measures. They have given them their out and out sup- port through thick and thin. They have sustained them as the leading measures of a Whig Administration, and by them they have elected to stand or fall. Here arises the difficulty. The Compromise measures, as we have seen, being resolved into the Fugitive Slave Law, and the Whig party of the Southern States having planted itself thereon (and not having yet recovered from the heats of the recent con- tests on the slavery question), it deems itself under the neces- sity of fighting the Presidential battle on the same issue ; and imagines that no candidate will serve the purpose of uniting and 1852] NORTHERN AND SOUTHERN WHIGS. 109 carrying the party, unless he makes protestation in advance that he is a " Compromise" man, which means, in other words, that he is a firm supporter of the existing Fugitive Slave Law. Now so long as the Southern Whigs hold on to this convic- tion, just so long there can be no union of Northern and South- ern Whigs on a Presidential candidate ; and of course, considering the political complexion of the House, there can be no election of a Whig President. And thus it comes that the Fugitive Slave Law stands in the way of that result. It is well known that the Northern Whigs, as well as all par- ties at the North, entertain a great repugnance to the provisions of the Fugitive Slave law. Any law for returning runaway negroes would be distasteful enough, but the existing law is especially and justly odious. For this reason, no Whig Presi- dential candidate could hope to carry a single Northern State, if he were to run as a special advocate and supporter of that law ; in a word, and softly speaking, if he were to run as a " Compro- mise" candidate. But there is no reasonable doubt of the ability of General Scott to carry every Northern State that went for General Tay- lor, with the addition of Ohio into the bargain, if he were run without reference to this issue. Such is the conviction of the best informed men from all those States. All that is wanted to insure a moral certainty of his election, therefore, is the support of the Southern Whig States. And so it becomes a question solely for Southern Whigs to de- cide whether or not we shall have a Whig President at the next election. If they insist upon incorporating such a new and ridicu- lous test into the code of the Whig party as (not adherence to the Constitution, not assent to a proper Fugitive Slave Law even), the support of a certain specific, existing, defective, re- pulsive law, then it is inevitable that the Whig party is sundered and defeated. And what is worse than that, it is equally inevit- able that a great sectional party will rise upon its ruins. And so, on the contrary, if the Whig party North and South will consent to discard all such temporary issues as the one alluded to, and will rally to the support of General Scott as they did to the support of General Taylor, standing upon their ancient and well-known doctrines and the well-established character of their 110 PRUDENCE AND MODERATION DEMANDED. [Feb. candidate, then will they preserve the unity and the nationality of the party ; and if they cannot, by reason of the composition of Congress, shape the policy of the country on domestic ques- tions, they will at least hold the reins as to the foreign policy of the Government, and act as a certain check to all vicious legislation and preserve a pure administration of our national affairs. This state of the case is no less novel than it is true. Here is the fate of a great party, and by consequence, perhaps the fate of a nation, hanging upon the provisions of a law, run through Congress as one might leap a horse over a ditch, at a single bound, without thought and without examination. The Fugitive Slave Law was never discussed and never made a matter of any special account in all the discussions of the time. It was not a principal or a conspicuous flower even in that admired bouquet prepared by Messrs. Foote, Clay & Co. for presentation to the country, whose soporific odors were to compose all the nervous ails of the nation. It was simply a green sprig tucked in be- hind to give variety and relief to its general appearance. It was merely a little thread thrown into the shopkeeper's bundle to make up the stuffs therein contained. And as quack doctors and patent-medicine venders, in forming their villainous compounds, put in a little of this and a little of that herb, sweet flag, yellow dock, dandelion, thistle flower, and other harmless ingredients, to give an imposing air of potency to the all-healing sassafras, or other staple of their medicine, so in this case was the Fugitive Slave Law sprinkled into the Compromise mess ; of which the whole body and soul was the law establishing the territorial gov- ernments without the Wilmot Proviso. The Fugitive Law received absolutely no consideration and no examination, and was not debated or hardly alluded to in the final passage of the series of measures at last borne on a rushing torrent through Congress. Pascal somewhere remarks that if Cleopatra's nose had been shorter, the fate of the world might have been changed. Should it so turn out that this law, in consequence of a few overlooked, wicked provisions, maliciously, and almost stealthily inserted, should be the cause of the untoward results we have already hinted at, it would only be another added to the catalogue of the 1852] LETTER FROM EDITOR OF KENNEBEC JOURNAL. Ill instances in which small and unsuspected causes have produced great results in the world's history, from the fall of Troy down- ward. But we have faith to believe that the Whigs of the South will, in good time, see and acknowledge the impossibility that the "Whig party can run a Presidential candidate, on the narrow issue of adherence to the letter of the Fugitive Slave Law, and cease to intimate that such a course is essential to success in the South. We shall be slow to believe that any Gordian knot attaches the Whig party to any such chariot as this. But if it be so, we are ready for the sword of any political Alexander which shall cut it. J. S. P. [From the Editor of the Kennebec Journal.] Augusta, February 2, 1852. Friend Pike : Yours of 22d was duly received. In regard to cor- respondence, if you cannot furnish us I hardly know of any other person who would satisfy me. Still, if you can engage some one who will write a good letter once a week, or once even in two weeks, for reasonable pay, I should like to hear from him. We should not be willing to pay the highest rates. If you engage any one, please say to him to write so as to have his letter arrive here on Monday evening, and tell him to let us know his terms with his first letter. We don't want any second or third rate letters. There is another matter which I should like to have you attend to for us ; that is, the advertising. We ought to have the laws to publish this session, our circulation being about double that of the Bangor Whig, which had them last session. Perhaps Mr. Webster, however, would not give them to us, although you might try. But the Post-Office advertisement for proposals to carry the mails (and that of the mail routes) will be published in the spring, I suppose, and if you will take a little pains for us, now or soon, to obtain an order for its publication, we will cheerfully make it worth your while. There is also advertising in the Navy and War Departments, and some others, as well as in the Post-Office, which we ought to have. Maine Whigs get but very little patronage, when their party is in power, not half so much as the Locos get from their friends. Yours in haste, Wm. H. Wheeler. 112 LETTERS FROM CHARLES A. DANA. [Feb. [From Charles A. Dana.] New York, February 9. Keenest of Pikes : What a desert void of news you keep at Washington ! For goodness' sake kick up a row of some sort. Fight a duel, defraud the treasury, set fire to the fulling-mill, get Black Dan drunk, or commit some other excess that will make a stir. Your Irish friend Ewing despaired and sent for his unprinted and unpublished disquisition. I sent it back. See here, old fellow, what's the use of telling the truth about the Southern Whigs ? If you have a fault, it seems to me it is a disposition to tell the truth. Correct it for the sake of your own prospects in life. Yours ever, Dana. Custom-House, Boston, } Collector's Office, February 16, 1852. ) Honorable Pike : Yours of the 11th was noticed on Saturday. I told you then what I had done with Draper, etc. To-day I have a letter from him, which I inclose herein, that you may read and understand it, and then return it to me. He inclines to back out from what we supposed he had agreed to do, on the ground that old Busco does not want the services of our boys in New York, and is in the hands of Prof. Davies and others who are their enemies. This matter ought to be looked after and arranged immediately, and you must confer with Warren about it. We can hardly afford to lose the " aid and comfoit" of Draper & Com- pany in the next campaign. Let me hear from you. In haste, yours truly, P. G., Jr. [From Charles A. Dana.] New York, February 19, 1852. My Dear Pike : I have just received yours of Tuesday, and reply on the moment. We would not on any account wish to lose your con- tributions, for, as you know, we esteem them highly. Nor would we wish you to write without pay. It is true you have your pleasure in it, and that you advance the views and ideas you want to have advanced, but that fact only gives life to your letters and renders them more load- able and valuable. Besides, the Tribune is a big and a money-making concern which can well afford to pay, and in any view ought to pay for 1852] MORE COMPROMISE BESOLUTIONS. 113 the services of those who add value to its columns. On the other hand, you don't need to work for your living, and don't want to feel that if any little failure to report a piece of news occurs an employer will be down on your negligence. Why not, then, have things fixed exactly to your mind ? Suppose that from and after this week we hold you only to the dis- patching of such intelligence as may come in your way and as mere good-fellowship would at any rate make you send us. You shall write when you please, and what you please ; and we will either pay for it at the end, on a sort of general average and amiable agreement, or you shall have a regular salary sufficiently small for you not to feel it. Now as to the other point. We want a man at Washington to get the news. Not to write prosy vacuities like some, or to make himself notorious and absurd like others. But a shrewd, sharp, inventive, omni- present fellow. You know just what we need. Can you hunt him up for us ? It will be a great thing if you do, and will save Snow or me the bother of a trip to Washington, where we should after all not be so likely to succeed as you. Yours ever truly, C. A. Dana. THE COMPROMISE MEASURES. MR. FOOTE, BUCHANAN, AND DOUGLAS. [From the New York Tribune.] Washington, Tuesday, February 17, 1852. The delay occasioned by the protracted voting upon the Mile- age yesterday prevented the introduction of a resolution by a member from Kentucky, who designed to offer one similar to the one now before the Senate, indorsing the compromise. If such a resolution could be brought to a direct vote, it would undoubt- edly be laid on the table by a large majority. But it is not un- likely that it would be used as the Senate resolution is used, merely as a peg upon which to hang innumerable speeches. Why any member should desire to follow the footsteps of the restless Mississippi Senator in the introduction of such a resolu- tion, except it be for purposes of mischief, or for his own per- sonal advantage, we are unable to conjecture. It cannot be for want of a subject upon which to make harangues for buncombe, for in the House such occasions are easily found. It is not be- cause there is in any cpuarter the smallest modicum of a belief 114 FOOTE DISTURBS THE WATERS. [Feb. that any earthly public good can come of such a resolution. The cause of such a movement cannot be sought, we fear, in the pri- vate interests and purposes of the individual. Such was the fact in Foote's case, who desired to fortify his political position at home by an act of Congress, propping the platform upon which he has been fighting his battles with the States' Rights party of his own State. In his critical position it was almost a matter of life and death with him to bring his party to a vote on the ques- tion. And his failure to do it has probably sealed his fate in Mississippi. It is not unlikely, however, that he has gone, anyway, but without the help of this life-boat it is quite certain he is to be en- gulfed. There seems to be little or no chance that the Compro- mise party of Mississippi will ever win another victory under their present volatile and impolitic leader. The next battle will be an Austerlitz victory to the States' Rights party. Such at least is the confident expectation of those who are most interested and best informed upon the subject. The consequence will be that Mr. Foote will be left at home. Now, who would wish to disturb so fair a prospect as this ? "Who should desire to let down any ladder upon which Foote could again climb back to the Senate ? Foote reached the summit level of his career on the compromise measures. Mr. Clay tended the locks, and let on the water. He was carried up to the highest point, but has been let down again. Like a child at its first dance, he now wishes to " do it again." And all this ado in the Senate about the re-enactment of the compromise measures had its origin in no more noble or elevated purpose than to canal Foote over a difficult place into the Senate again. Before his return hence to Mississippi he begged Senators to come to a vote on his darling- project. He considered it the ark of his political salvation. He considers it so now. But the floods have come until he is sur- rounded by the rising waters, and but the faintest hope of escape remains. This is, to be sure, a most undignified consideration to prompt the reopening, discussion, and agitation of a subject upon which the country desires repose. But as it is here represented so it is in fact. This explanation affords a clue to the indifference felt in the Senate to the fate of the resolution in question. Mr. Bad- 1852] CANDIDATES OF THE DEMOCRATS. 115 ger has the floor upon it, and he allows the subject to be post- poned at anybody's request for any sort of an object. He says he don't care whether he speaks upon the subject at this session or the next ! Yet he is counted one of its friends, and will vote for it if the question should ever come to a vote. It is to be hoped that before another resolution day comes round the idea of introducing this mischievous topic into the House will be aban- doned, at least on the part of the Whigs. The stately and smooth-faced bachelor of Pennsylvania, Hon. James Buchanan, is here. His neck was never stiffer, nor his neck- cloth whiter, nor his smile more bland than now. But the number of "Democratic" candidates is so great that no one absorbs the universal party admiration. In this respect General Scott is more fortunate. Nobody ever had half so many friends as he has now. His life is a perpetual bow. Never was his courtly manners and gracious demeanor more thoroughly taxed ; but he bears his martyrdom like a saint. The little Judge (Douglas) has got to be a very nimble com- petitor among the locofoco aspirants. What with his Irish organs, his Democratic reviews, and an armful of other strings, each industriously pulled, he makes a formidable show. But we predict he is overdoing the matter. Vaulting ambition o'erleaps itself and falls on t'other side. But perhaps the little Judge never read Shakespeare, and don't think of this. Yet to-day there are signs of wavering in his ranks. The late leading article in the Democratic Review on the Presidency of 1852 hav- ing given mortal offence in various quarters unfriendly to the Judge's pretensions, and thus done him essential damage, it is now asserted by his friends that the article was a ruse of the enemy, for the especial purpose of hurting the prospects of the small giant. This is a far-fetched explanation of that elaborate paper, but it is doubtful if it will go down. It is alleged that the proof-sheets have been found in the possession of a gentle- man in this city of known hostility to the Judge. This at least is made clear, that the motions of the under- currents among the various locofoco candidates are very brisk and conflicting. J. S. P. 116 MR. SEWARD AS AN ORATOR. [March seward's speech. [From the New York Tribune.] Washington, Wednesday, March 10, 1852. Mr. Seward made his speecli on Intervention yesterday. It occupied two hours in the delivery, and is the great speech of the session thus far. It was throughout a piece of bold, power- ful, and unanswerable argumentation, spiced with many hard hits, and closing in a tone of lofty eloquence that delighted and inspired every hearer. Though earnest, thorough, and direct in purpose and manner, and eminently compact, forcible, and ele- gant in his language, Mr. Seward is nevertheless not an orator who attracts crowds to hear him. The power and effect of his speeches exist in the matter they contain, rather than in the tran- sient merits and influence of a striking elocution ; and, whatever else may be said, he enjoys this great distinction. Though com- ing into the Senate at a time when Mr. Clay and Mr. Webster were both members of that body, he has yet made the greatest speeches of any man in the Senate chamber since he became a member. There were numerous and powerful efforts made upon the celebrated Omnibus Bill, and upon that measure Mr. Clay and Mr. Webster both roused themselves and did their best. But impartial criticism must declare that the speech of Mr. Seward on that subject was marked by more breadth of view, more vigor of thought, and a more profound and masterly treat- ment of his subject, than was displayed by either of those gentle- men. His speech on the French spoliation claims was another effort of signal ability, never equalled by any other on the same subject. In expressing this judgment we shall not of course be under- stood as intimating any belief of Mr. Seward's mental superiority to these two great men. By no means. We intend to institute no comparison between the men, but simply speak of their sev- eral efforts upon a common topic. These are far more easily judged and measured than is the precise relative position of the individuals on the general scale of eminence, a question upon which we have no design to enter. Eelative greatness of men is one of those topics upon which there is a vast deal of superficial judgment. No subject is more intricate, or requires more nice discrimination to arrive at any accuracy of determination. There 1853] LETTER FROM P. GREELT, JR. 11? is no more difficult task than accurately to weigh public men, and all comparisons between them are usually filled with igno- rance and absurdity. But of any specific mental efforts of a man, one may be allowed to judge and to speak with comparative confidence. We feel no hesitation in doing it in regard to the several speeches of Mr. Clay, Mr. Webster, and Mr. Seward on the "Omnibus" or Compromise measures. And we think it admits of no question, that of these three leading speeches, Mr. Seward's was decidedly the ablest. Custom-House, Boston, ) Collector's Office, March 1, 1852. ) Dear Pike : I received your letter some days ago, telling me of your interview with Cerro Gordo, Esq., and that you had shown him Simeon's letter, with all of which I find no fault. I also sent your letter to Simeon for his perusal, who writes to me that he is not sorry his letter performed the service it did, so that we seem to he satisfied all round. Simeon writes to me that if General Scott expects to get the Whig strength he must not deal with men so utterly selfish as some who fawn beneath his shadow. I have nothing of special interest to communicate from this quarter, excepting that the Webster folks seem to be quite encouraged by the New York movements. They are also quite savage towards those here who are not Webster men, and have made a dirty attack upon Mr. Hudson and myself and the Boston Custom-House in last Saturday's Bee. I suppose you can see the paper, if you wish to, at some of the hotels. They take it at the National, and also at Willard's, I believe. It is high time for you to begin to arrange and concentrate for the convention. It should be called soon, and every other needful thing should be done. Truly yours, P. G., Jr. DOUGLAS AND CASS. [From the New York Tribune.] Washington, March 13, 1852. The Congress mill goes day by day. Every man's grist is ground out in turn. All sorts of grain is turned into the hop- per, and of course all sorts of meal comes through the spout. 118 THE DAILY CONGRESSIONAL GRIST. [March The Globe is tlie bag in which it is daily brought away. Whoso would know just how much is ground and what it is like, let him read The Daily Globe. It is impossible for a single inspection here to brand half the samples. We can only characterize the general run as ' ' middlings, ' ' and as no trouble is taken by the owners to " bolt " the grist, there is small provocation to exam- ine the parcels. Let them go. The fodder is considered good enough for the constituencies at home, and one need hardly play the connoisseur over it here. The most important business of the locofoco side of the House latterly has been to consider the solemn subject of the Presidency. Several gentlemen have been deeply exercised on that topic, and of the candidates on the anxious seat, it is thought, Douglas has lately obtained a hope. After Marshall's speech on Thursday the Judge seemed to be in a great tickle. What most surprises one is that these Congressmen, with beards and without ; that verdant, flippant, smart detachment of Young America that has got into the House, propose to make a candi- date for the Baltimore Convention without consulting their masters, the people. With a few lively fellows in Congress, and the aid of The Democratic Review, they fancy themselves equal to the achievement of a small job like this. Well, gentlemen, go ahead. The world always succumbs to impudence and intrepid- ity. To be sure, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, New Hamp- shire, Louisiana, Indiana, Kentucky, and we do not know how many other States, have pronounced in favor of some other can- didate than yours, while we believe none have come out for him but Illinois ; still this is nothing. All that is wanting is to bring the recusants over, kill off the fogies, and then set sail be- fore the wind. Who can doubt that the little giant and his crew are tlie chaps that can do this ? Men who are willing to come and pay five dollars a day for mule hire, and treat the voters at the rate of fifty cents a " drink," are coadjutors to be esteemed, and adversaries to be feared. If the little Judge gets the whole of these on his side, it is all day with the fogies. Query ? Is General Cass a fogy ? Are the supporters of Gen- eral Cass fogies ? This is a vital question. On it hinges the issue of the Baltimore nomination, the fate of Young America, and the destinies of a whole boat-load of politicians. 1852] LETTER FROM P. OREELT, JR. 119 It is said that Douglas dodged the vote on the resolution to pay Kossuth's expenses, but we can hardly believe it, simply be- cause it did not seem necessary. On any question that has two sides to it, particulary a Northern and Southern side, it would be allowable for him to dodge a vote. Indeed we are clearly of opinion that candidates for the Presidency ought to be exempted from voting altogether. A Presidential candidate ought to be allowed to please everybody, and how can he do that if he votes against anybody ? J. S. P. Custom-House, Boston, ) Collector's Office, March 19, 1852. ) My Dear Pike : Yours of the 13th inst. was duly received, and contents noticed with interest. I quite agree with you that we need not trouble ourselves further as to the "favorite son" of the old Bay State. To all appearances we must nominate either Mr. Fillmore or General Scott, and the great inquiry should be, Which of them will get the votes needed to keep the Whig party in power ? With the best feelings towards Mr. Fillmore, those of us who do the work here (many of whom would really prefer Mr. F. to anybody else, if he could be sure of getting votes) are of the opinion that the contest may as well be abandoned before it is commenced unless we nominate General Scott. We believe also that pains should be taken to produce this impres- sion everywhere, or rather that the people of the South as well as of the North should be made acquainted with the actual facts in the case ; and you ought to organize immediately and thoroughly to this end. . . . I send you a slip giving the action of our Whig Legislative Conven- tion last night. You will notice that we re-elected the old State Com- mittee — which is almost entirely for Scott — and that we did not say any thing about Uncle Dan, while, on the contrary, we voted unani- mously to support the nominees of the National Convention. This is good news from a section of country where other things were feared. In haste, truly yours, P. Greely, Jr. 120 GENERAL SCOTT'S POSITION. [March GENERAL SCOTT AND THE COMPROMISE. [From ne Neto York Tribune.] "Washington, March 20, 1852. The report from Washington, published in one or more of the New York papers of Wednesday last, stating that General Scott was upon the point of writing a letter approving the compromise, and which some of his frrends were verdant enough to suppose had some truth in it, is without the shadow of foundation. It is of a piece with the strange, startling, extraordinary announce- ments we often see made for the use and consumption of open- mouthed gullibility. And the report is not only untrue now, but it will be untrue to the end, howsoever often it may be revived. If General Scott cannot be elected without letters, without pledges, " without protestations," then he will not be elected at all. The friends of General Scott, and the enemies of General Scott, may as well set their hearts at rest on this point. If a pub- lic life of forty years has not been sufficient to establish him in the confidence of his countrymen, he cannot now secure that con- fidence by covering a half sheet or a whole sheet of foolscap with " protestations," to be published on the eve of an election, for the purpose of aiding his own personal advancement. And no man is more thoroughly imbued with this sentiment than Gen- eral Scott himself. He will, therefore, attempt no folly of the sort. If he cannot stand on his services, his character, his long public life, he cannot stand at all. If these are not sufficient to command the suprjort of his fellow-citizens, a sheet of foolscap won't save him. He stands out on the record of his country's history as one of the most prominent and distinguished men of his day. By that record he must abide. By his past history must he be judged. By that it must be determined whether or not his is a nomination "fit to be made." J. S. P. MR. FILLMORE S CHANCE FOR THE PRESIDENCY. [From the New York Tribune.] Washington, March 27, 1852. The recent elaborate editorial expositions of The Tribune and Times upon Presidental matters in general, and the position of 1852] CLAY ON FILLMORE. 121 Mr. Fillmore in particular, have been read here with attention, and generally received with satisfaction. As yet, nobody is inclined to dispute that Mr. Fillmore is an excellent candidate for the Pres- idency. We have Mr. Clay's word for it, and are therefore dis- posed to take it for granted, albeit we are a little suspicious of the grounds of Mr. Clay's preference. He says that Mr. Fill- more has been tried, and having been found a good man, there- fore we had better. take him again. If we were any way inclined to be difficult, or to question the wisdom of Mr. Clay's recom- mendation, we might venture timidly to inquire through how many Presidential terms this recommendation is to apply. Mr. Fillmore is about fifty, and possessing as he does a hale and vigor- ous constitution, he Avill be as good at seventy as at fifty. We must ask, therefore, before yielding our unqualified assent to Mr. Clay's doctrine of superior fitness, on the ground that he has been tried, what is to be its limit ? Mr. Clay has long held to the one-term doctrine. He has here abandoned it. What is his position now ? Is he in favor of two terms, three terms, four terms, or how many ? Mr. Fillmore has been tried, and is found fit, therefore we will take him again. Won't the argument be as good four years hence as now ? Eight years, twelve years ? Why not ? Again : Mr. Clay says Mr. Webster and General Scott will not do, because they have not been tried. The same argument appears here in another shape. Is this sound doctrine ? How is it with Mr. Clay himself ? Wouldn't he have made a good President ? But was he ever tried ? What would he have thought of this argument if it had ever been applied to him ? How would that fierce iron-gray countenance have flashed indig- nation at the suggestion ! We go for Mr. Clay. We always did go for Mr. Clay, with exceptions. But we are afraid he has stum- bled here. He has erected a platform for Mr. Fillmore that will break down of its own weight. It won't bear up anybody, let alone Mr. Fillmore, who is a heavy man to sustain at all times. He gravitates excessively. But from no fault of his. Nature made him so. He can't stand, like Adrien's Mademoi- selle, on nothing. He can't stand on a rotten platform. He must have a solid bottom and good props to sustain him and it. J. S. P. 122 LETTER FROM THOMAS CORWIN. [March [From Thomas Corwin.] God forgive you. I fear I cannot, except on one condition — that is, that you crucify your piety by actually committing the crime of dining with me at two o'clock to-day. I will say in truth, however, that I thought it a doubtful question, and so did not care which way it should be decided. I knew you were too worldly-minded not to act on the maxim — " If you would have soft nights and solid dinners, Be sure to board with saints and bed with sinners. ' ' Therefore I thought it probable you would take pot-luck with me to-day. We shall see. Your friend, Thos. Corwin. There is not, never was, the slightest color for the story concerning Hall and myself. Nothing of the kind has happened between any of the cabinet. I am right — your newspapers should be abolished. They circulate more falsehood than truth. T. C. Mr. Pike. EXPLANATIONS. MR. CORWIN. [From the New York Tribune.] Washington, March 29, 1852. The Hoston Courier should not call us a " devout hater of Mr. Webster and Mr. Fillmore." It is a misrepresentation. We do not profess to be particularly devotional any way. Least of all are we devotional in our hatreds. But we have none of the feeling of hate towards either of those distinguished gentle- men. Quite the contrary. We have a sort of devilish admira- tion of Mr. Webster. " It would be a great thing to have him President," said one of his friends recently. " So great a man f What luster would his elevation confer upon the country !" But is integrity nothing ? was asked in reply. " Yes, to be sure, but national affairs would be in such safe hands. The worst he would do would be to bankrupt the Treasury !" The President differs from the Secretary. He, too, lacks pluck. But nobody doubts his integrity. He wants back-bone. He means well, but he is timid, irresolute, uncertain, and loves 1852] CHARACTERS OF THE CANDIDATES. 123 to lean. There will be no Thermopylae in his life, as there has been none in the life of his chief Secretary. Nature bestowed no intrepidity in making up either's composition. It was the omitted ingredient. Would the name of either be mentioned as the leader of a forlorn hope ? Alas ! we need not answer. Would there have been "no North," think you, if Old Hal (with all his sins) had been born in Massachusetts ? No, we do not hate ! we lament — we grieve that Northern spirit, and Northern sentiment, and Northern convictions, are not honestly represented by Northern men. We do not wish to see sectionalism, but we do wish to see a manly independence and an unflinching adherence, a steady devotion to truth and duty. We confess we do not find those high qualities of char- acter either in the President or Secretary that command respect or inspire confidence. They will not stand fire. They melt be- fore the fervent heat of opposition. Of high-toned, flinty man- hood they have none. The President has good intentions, but, according to the great moralist, hell is paved with these. This may be plain talk, but it is the essence of the best judg- ments in relation to these two gentlemen on the points in ques- tion. Such are the sober convictions of our understanding, and not opinions resulting from any ' ' hate. ' ' But at this particular period of time we are not so much in search of a man peculiarly fitted for a great emergency (for we are in the midst of no " crisis," and apprehend none for the next four years) as we are of a good Whig who will make an available candidate for the Presidency. Therefore, we could not seriously object to Mr. Fillmore as a candidate, provided he were the strongest man to run. If he could get the most votes, we would be content to put up with the lesser evil of personal weakness for the greater good of party success. But the vital, fundamental ob- jection, both to him and Mr. Webster, which decides the ques- tion at the start, and thus precludes all necessity of weighing the matter further, comes of the conviction that both gentlemen are utterly unavailable as Presidential candidates. And herein we profess to be coldly judicial, and not partisan nor personal. Let this suffice. There has been much positive assertion, and perhaps as much contradiction, in regard to a difficulty in the Cabinet. I am able 124 LETTER FROM P. GREELY, JR. [April to say, on the highest authority, that there is no foundation for the story. It was made entirely out of whole cloth. Not even the negotiation of the tripartite treaty has occasioned a ripple on the surface of the Cabinet. Why Mr. Corwin should be impli- cated in any Cabinet difficulty it is hard to conjecture. He is the most peaceable and popular of all men in his personal rela- tions, and a nobler nature than his God never incarnated upon the earth. But he never was made for the dead level drudgery, the harassing duties, the calculating precisions of official life. To employ him thus is to make use of California gold for a ploughshare. J. S. P. [From Philip Greely, Jr.] New York, April 6, 1852. Dear Pike : They are all right here, and in good pluck and spirits. The two delegates at large, Draper and Talcott, are to he chosen to-morrow or next day. Things are working well as to the districts. Possibly five or six of them may be against us, but some of our friends are sanguine enough to believe that Philip Moore will not get over two of the district delegates. Our boys say that we can and must succeed without any aid from the South. You will see some of them this week, perhaps. Draper says you will go ahead on your ' ' Life of Scott, ' ' and send over your man as soon as you please. Drive up Johnson, and get it all done up this week, without fail. Show this to Warren, and anybody else you please who are of the faithful. Ever yours, P. Greely, Jr. THE WHIGS AND THE PRESIDENCY. [From the New York Tribune.'] Washington, April 1; 1852. The Whig party is composed of two wings, a Northern and a Southern wing. The Northern division is opposed to slavery, and always has been. The Southern, of course, upholds that in- stitution. The previous jars and the present divisions of the party have arisen out of the conflicts of the two sections on this subject. Between them there has been, and is, an inevitable 1852] POSITION' OF THE ADMINISTRATION. 125 antagonism. These divisions and the consequent embarrassments have been for two or three years, and are now, greater than com- mon, from the circumstance that the party has been, and is, in power in the Executive Department of the Government, and the necessity has thus devolved upon it of presenting a line of action for the whole party upon this question. The administration of General Taylor adopted the let alone policy. It proposed to have nothing to do with the subject of slavery. It said, " Leave the Fugitive Law alone, leave Cali- fornia and New Mexico to come in as States when they get ready, and leave them to settle for themselves all questions of slavery arising within their own boundaries." This was the policy of the Whig administration of General Taylor on the sla- very question. Under Mr. Fillmore the policy was changed. The present administration insists that the line of action of the Whig party on this subject shall be what it never was before — viz. , a perfect agreement and concurrence of opinion and action upon it, by both divisions or sections of the party. While it is a fact that the two wings never did agree before on the question of slavery, it is proposed that now they shall agree. A course of policy for the whole party is thus laid down on the slavery question. Cer- tain measures have been passed by Congress. Chief among them is the Fugitive Slave Law, and the law establishing Terri- torial Governments without restriction as to slavery. The doc- trine is that the Northern Whigs, as well as the Southern Whigs, shall sustain those laws just as they are. And not this only ; they shall also agree and declare that the slavery question is finally adjusted ; that there is to be no more talk, no more ac- tion, on the subject. Slavery is to be henceforth a tabooed ques- tion in the party. It is the " Pot Rock" in our political navi- gation, to which our Whig Administration profess to have been the Mons. Maillefert, blowing off all its dangerous prominence. It is to be hereafter considered sunk. This is the present position of the Whig Administration on this subject — a subject that has long divided it, and long been regarded a question on which the two divisions of the party were to be allowed to differ ; upon which, in the very nature of things, they could in fact do no otherwise than differ. 126 WHIGS MUST AGREE TO DISAGREE. [April It is, in a word, a very plain attempt to make Northern Whigs take Southern ground on the subject of slavery. It is an at- tempt to destroy the old divisions by making one side surrender to the other. It does not say to the North, " Hold your own opinions on slavery, whether it comes in the shape of the right of petition, as in Mr. Adams's time, in that of the Proviso under General Taylor's administration, or in that of the Fugitive Law under Mr. Fillmore's." But, on the contrary, it declares that the Northern Whigs shall take ground against all petitions on slavery, against mooting the question of the Proviso, against ex- pressing dislike to the Fugitive Law, against all agitation of every kind whatever on the question of slavery. We certainly do not overstate the case. The idea of " adjustment " and " finality" goes the whole length of this. Now we wish to ask our Southern Whig friends, in a spirit of candor, and in a spirit of philosophy also, if there is any good reason to suppose the Whig party can be fused and made one, upon this subject, on such a basis as this ? We admit the sim- plicity of the plan, and it is very easy for Mr. " Kit" Williams and Mr. Humphrey Marshall and Mr. E. Carrington Cabell, et id genus omne, to insist that the Whig party cannot continue to endure upon any other basis. Nothing in the world is more easy. But, looking at the nature of the demand, and of the plan, under the light of the experience of the last fifteen years on this question of slavery, and regarding the ordinary laws of human action, we ask if it be probable that such a settlement or adjustment is likely to be ratified and sustained by the Northern division of the Whig party ? The action of a given community, sustaining given relations and furnishing a given experience of many years' duration, is a problem to be solved irrespective of all political and party considerations, and in this case it does not seem to present any great difficulties of solution. It can be solved as easy, in our estimation, as any sum can be done in the rule of three. It seems to us just as plain as the stars in the sky, or the nose on a man's face. If we are not greatly at fault, the solution is equally plain and palpable to every man of sense, no matter where he hails from, whether it be North or South. It seems to us that the convictions of every sensible man's under- standing, no matter what his works or his hopes, must be that 1852] COMPROMISES NOT SUITABLE. 127 the expectation is utterly fallacious. This conclusion is to be drawn from the very nature of the human mind, our knowledge of the laws of its operation, and our experience on this subject in particular. Herein is to be found the basis of Mr. Calhoun's judgments on this question. The idea that a " compromise" or a vote of Congress on this question altered the real relation or judgment, or would influence the action of the Northern mind in regard to it, was a transparent folly that his eagle glance always pierced in an instant. Oh ! green and verdant gentlemen of the House of Representatives ! ye who vainly fancy that car- rying the compromise measures through your illustrious body is a great political stroke, even a triumph over an ever active* principle in the heart of man ; it is time you were resolving that the sun shall stand still on another Gibeon. It is time you were erecting a stage under the ends of the rainbow in order to spike it on to the sky. It is time you had resolved that the ocean shall cease to surge, the streams to flow, or the season to return. Vote winter to be eternal, that darkness shall reign forever, but do no such folly as vote that the human heart shall not throb in sym- pathy with the ojvpressed and give voice to its sympathies. Vote not that the mental volition of a free people shall be fettered and chained down ; vote not that the spirit of liberty shall be quenched ! Do not attempt to betray freedom, do not offend humanity, do not provoke heaven, do not expose Congress to ridicule, do not do yourselves injustice by any such monstrous folly as this. You may " compromise" a tariff question, or a land or a money question, for such are material in their nature, evanescent in character, and limited in scope. But you cannot " compromise" a question of human freedom, for its relations and influences go beyond the stars, and its bearings and connec- tions are eternal. And now let us ask, in all moderation of spirit, of what bind- ing efficacy would be a unanimous declaration of the Whigs in Congress if such a thing were possible that the policy of this Administration on the slavery question shall hereafter be the policy of the Whig party of the North ? Do the people of the North or of the South take their opinions from Congress ? Do the millions in the free States think for themselves, and deter- mine for themselves ? or do they take their judgments and their 128 AGREEMENT IMPOSSIBLE. [April convictions from "Washington ? Can anybody imagine or pre- tend that a resolution of Congress on the subject of slavery alters any man's opinion in the North or South in regard to it ? Do our Southern Whig friends imagine that if Congress should unanimously resolve to-morrow that slavery was a great curse, that ought to be removed by immediate emancipation, that it would change the real state of sentiment in the South on that question ? The truth is, that the declarations and speeches of party leaders and so-called " great men," and the resolutions of legislative bodies, are to go for just nothing at all when they are in direct conflict with the public opinion of which they profess to be the exponent, or of which they claim to be the guide. Of what avail are such agencies — of what avail is any party ma- chinery, or legislative machinery, to suppress the workings of the human mind and heart ? In what, then, is this attempt of a handful of men who are to-day in power, and to-morrow will be in private life, and the next day in their graves, to issue ? In what but utter futility ? The supposition that it will come to any thing else is a weak de- lusion. These contrivances of political men to constrain the free and natural action of the Northern Whig mind (and not alone Whig minds, but those of every shade of political opinion) are feeble and foolish beyond expression. No, Mr. "Kit" Williams and Mr. Humphrey Marshall and Mr. E. Carrington Cabell and Mr. All-the-rest, who dream (fit- fully and fearingly, perhaps) that this present Whig Administra- tion plan of consolidating the Whig party and bringing it to an agreement upon the subject of slavery will work usefully, you are mistaken. There are two parts to the Whig party. There is a Northern and a Southern division, a slavery and an anti- slavery wing. There always was, and always must be, while it exists as a National party. On the subject of slavery there can be no agreement. The two sections of the party must do now and hereafter as they always have done — agree to disagree, or the party must go to pieces. There would be just as much sense in the Northern Whigs insisting that the Southern Whigs should set about exerting themselves for the overthrow of slavery, as for Southern Whigs to insist that Northern Whigs shall abdicate the position they have always held in opposition to slavery and 1852] NORTHERN WHIGS IMMOVABLE. 129 turn its advocates and supporters. There is no sense in either expectation. There is a natural antagonism in their several po- sitions and relations as to slavery that forbid co-operation upon that subject. And to attempt to force an unnatural union like the one we have been contemplating, is just the most senseless thing that any man or set of men can possibly undertake. Do the Northern Whigs, then, design or contemplate any party action adverse to slavery in the (Southern States ? Let their past history answer. As a party, while they have been more true, by far, to their convictions on the question of freedom whenever it has arisen, in Congress and out, than the miscalled " Democ- racy," they have nevertheless never manifested any intention or wish to touch the question of slavery in the slave States. They do not wish to discuss or agitate that question, for they have nothing to do with it. They do not wish to nominate, they never have wished to nominate, a candidate for the Presidency with any reference to his views on slavery. Their past history is the proof of this. They have not manifested any design or inten- tion even of disturbing the measures of compromise passed two years ago, much as the great body of them disliked and opposed, and now dislike, a portion of those measures. They have been contented to be quiet and to acquiesce in those measures, though, so far as the action of Congress was concerned, they were be- trayed and beaten. This is their present position. God knows it is tame enough and liberal enough towards those, their allies, who triumphed in the Congressional contest arising out of our Territorial acquisi- tions. So much they are willing to yield for the sake of har- mony and good neighborhood, while they strive for success under the old flag and on the old platform of agreeing to disa- gree. More than this they will not grant. Beyond this they will not go. They are willing to hold to the old landmarks. They do not desire to move stake or stone. But they will not allow themselves to be forced on to new grounds, or to take up new positions. They stand where they have always stood, and they will stand nowhere else. The traces of the present Admin- istration may be hitched upon them, but the load is too great to be started. It were as well to attempt to draw a mountain with a cord. The little bugle blasts of the Cabells, the Williamses, 130 GENERAL SCOTT A GOOD WHIG. [April or the Marshalls, in their influence upon them, are but tin trum- pets against a wall. The Northern Whigs can neither be alarmed nor inspired by such music, and, these gentlemen to the contrary notwithstanding, the summing of the whole matter is this, so far as the Presidency is concerned. If the Whigs are to elect the President of 1852 at all, they are to elect him as they elected the President of 1848, without reference to the slavery question, or to any measures, whether they be " Compromise" or any other that grow out of it. The Northern Whigs are willing to go for General Scott because he is a good Whig, and because they be- lieve he can be elected. They won't stop to catechise him as to his opinions on any past measures of legislation, nor in regard to his opinions on slavery. All they ask of him is that he shall not come out and pledge himself to slavery men or measures, and thus make himself a sectional instead of a National candi- date, and this they will assuredly insist upon, let the conse- quences be what they may. Let us not be understood as attributing too much consequence to the position of a few impracticable Southern Whigs, and as inferring thence especial danger to the party. The develop- ments of the last two or three days forbid such apprehensions, even if we could not safely rely upon the sterling sense of such men as Mangum, Bell, Gentry, Jones, and other old and w r ell- tried Southern Whigs. The speech of Mr. Gray in the House to-day, and the letter of Edward Stanly in The Republic of this morning, plainly point out the course things will take in the South — so far as General Scott is concerned, at least. Mr. Stanly is sometimes harsh in his expressions, but his sober second- thought is almost sure to be right. To a man of such inherent nobleness of nature, and such genuine intrepidity of character, combined with so much clearness and soundness of judgment, we can pardon much in the way of difference on minor points, and we can never hold any other language towards him than that of com- mendation, but with the most profound regret. J. S. P. 1852] LETTERS FROM P. OREELY, JR. 131 Custom-House, Boston, \ Collector's Office, April 10, 1852. ) Honorable Pike : Things here are well. I am at work about dele- gates, and expect to get a good list, most of whom will vote right on the first ballot, but we must work cautiously. Governor Everett declines acting as a delegate, and the vacancy will be filled by the other delegates when they are chosen. The "Webster folks have not yet found out that they are nobodies, and must swing and swagger a little more before reaching their proper place. They are calculating that our New York friend will decline in favor of the X-pounder, and are not yet up to the full point of abuse of that gentleman. I see that your caucus accomplished nothing, and adjourned for a week. Let me know why, and keep me posted up every few days as to what is going on, and how things look. I am in good spirits, and believe we can elect Cherubusco anyhow. Stanly's letter is not bad. Thine, Custom-House, Boston, ) Collector's Office, April 15, 1852. f Honorable Pike : I have yours of the 13th inst., and am glad to see you are at work on the ' ' Life. ' ' I will guarantee it will be spunky, and if it passes the ordeal which Johnson's was submitted to, it will be right. Push it through as soon as possible. Your letter, and many others that I have seen and received, show a good state of things in W. If you can manage it so as to drive Mar- shall, Cabell & Co. out of the party, it will be a good job well done. They can do mischief if they remain in the party, but if they sizzle at the caucus they should be immediately denounced and driven off. The old Jackson doctrine of shooting traitors is a good one, and we must practice it. I am glad to hear that Clingman is coming right again, inasmuch as he represents a very strong Whig district. Russell writes to me in first-rate spirits, and seems to see the old General already seated in the White House. I am in great hopes as to our delegates. The Webster men are mad, especially with me, and are circulating papers to have me removed, but it will only hurt their own teeth to bite at files. Love to Fitz and the faithful. Ever vours, P. G., Jr. 132 LETTERS FROM P. GREELY, JR. [May Custom-House, Boston, ) Collector's Office, May 3, 1852. f Dear Pike : Yours of the 22d ult. came duly to hand. I am glad to hear that your are in New York now about the picture-book. Get it out as soon as you can, and circulate it rapidly and freely. There is no time to be lost. I am quite sure that Scott will be nomi- nated, and be elected too if we do not yield to the South in convention. See my calculation enclosed. But if we yield to the South we are gone irrecoverably ! There is no doubt at all upon this point. Our Freesoilers say to me that if we do not yield we can elect Scott by the votes of the free States, and that is my opinion. If the General chooses to write a good letter, after he is nominated, I have no objection ; but he must not say one word until then, nor must the convention make any new platform. The Atlas of to-day has a good article, and all our newspapers must take the same ground. The Courier of to-day has an article on the- other side. I see the Buffalo Commercial Advertiser is down upon you. I sup- pose you know how to reply. Yours ever, P. G., Jr. Custom-House, Boston, ) Collector's Office, May 15, 1852. ) Dear Pike : I was sorry you went off from here so soon, as I hoped to see more of you, but I trust you are using up your time to good purpose. So soon as the " Life" is out send me some of the first impressions, and (jet it out as soon as you can. Things are looking better for us everywhere every day. We shall nominate Scott, and I hope Ave shall pass no resolutions, nor write any letter, that will do any harm, but I shall not despair of success if we are forced into passing resolutions by a small majority, and writing a letter too. Mr. Hudson is at work upon a letter, and will send it to you soon. Botts' letter is first-rate, and even the Herald is taking good ground just now. Stanly has written to Schouler a coaxing letter, hoping that some- thing will be done to relieve the good Whigs of the South, but we shall not meddle with the matter here. When you get back to W. you must settle the thing with our Southern friends in such a way as to 1852] GREAT MEN. 133 help them if you can, and not injure us. Perhaps we may run for somebody else than Scott, in part, on the first ballot, and thus bring in the South more readily for him afterwards. We are at work on our delegates.. Dr. Bell is on our side, so that we stand now four Webster men and one Whig. Eight more to be chosen, whom we hope to elect as Whigs. But I think our whole dele- gation, after voting for Webster once, will go in for Scott. Ever vours, GREAT MEN AND USEFUL MEN. [From the New York Tribune.] Washington, Monday, May 24, 1852. Man is a problem. Given his head, chest, and abdomen, and we know the rest. How few are properly made up ! Par- don our heresy, but great men do a deal of harm. They have bedeviled the world from the beginning. We used to regret that the term of human life is so short. We have grown wiser, and rejoice that people die so soon. If we can, without being irreverent, intimate such a thing, we should say that the original design of the Creator in allowing men to live five hundred and a thousand years was found to be a great mistake, which a very early occasion was taken to rectify. What upon earth could we do now with a parcel of political Methuselahs '? How would they complicate affairs till they became tangled in inextricable con- fusion ! Nay, if we were to propose any change in the term of human life, it would be to shorten the threescore and ten, so as to make it even score. Let us bear in mind that it was the virtue rather than the greatness of Washington that saved us in the Kevolution. Since that era, all the salvation the country has had from its great men has been in such precious devices as the Missouri Compromise, the South Carolina Compromise, and the recent Union Saving Compromise. If such are to be the fruits of salvation, who would not choose to be damned ? There is a State in the East called Massachusetts. Let that great and nourishing commonwealth illustrate, in fact, our mean- ing and position. We need make no catalogue of her thrifty 134 TALKING NOT ACTING. [Mat cities, her busy and happy villages, her factories, foundries, shops, ships, and railroads ; of her schools, colleges, benevolent institutions, her asylums, and her prisons. In all she is the acknowledged model commonwealth of the world. And in no respect is she more elevated than in this — that she has followed the convictions of an inexorable sense of duty and repudiated the apostacy of her greatest man and favorite son. And now, let us ask, who has created this Massachusetts ? Is she the offspring of any one, two, or three great minds ? Has any one man ele- vated her to her present proud position ? If Mr. Webster had been born and always lived in the Fejee Islands, would the Massa- chusetts of to-day be any the less the Massachusetts she is ? No, she is not the creation of any great man or great men. On the contrary, she is a living illustration of what the people themselves can do when their faculties are allowed free scope, and their powers permitted to expand and strengthen under free institu- tions. She is a standing monument of what all the world may become under self-government, when the nations shall be par of their self -constituted rulers, get out of their leading strings, and have learned self-reliance. In this country, especially, we should and must depend upon such men as have made Massachusetts what she is — the great middle class of men. It is they who are the all in all. Give us men of sense, sound judgment, and hon- esty to till public stations, but the Lord deliver us from famous men, and especially from those who have made their fame by their much speaking. As Gorgey says of Kossuth, the orators always display a pro- digious contrast between what they say and what they do. It is a notorious fact that the most attractive speaker that the North ever sent to Congress was worth nothing as a legislator, and would have been as useless as an administrative officer. Affairs of government are emphatically affairs of business, and are best done by purely business men. And whenever this idea shall get fairly beat into the heads of people, the days of the orators will be over, except as ornamental appendages to the legislative depart- ment of the government. J. S. P. 1852] ATTACKS OF THE NEWSPAPERS. 135 NORTHERN APOSTATES. [From the New York Tribune.} Washington, May 24, 1852. Your "Washington correspondent has, I think, received an un- due share of vituperation within the last three or four weeks from presses in the interest of the Administration. The assaults, so far as we have observed them, are so clumsy and misplaced that they are only calculated to excite one's risibles. Thus we have it laid to our door, as a serious charge, that we are a very rank and prejudiced Free Soiler, and that we run for Congress two years ago as an anti-Compromise candidate, under Mr. Seward's patronage. Now, however pointless these charges, it yet so happens that we never had any personal acquaintance whatever with Senator Seward until within the last four or five months, and, for aught we know to the contrary, he never was cognizant of the fact we ever had any boyish ambition to get into Congress. And as to our fierce Abolitionism, we think it hard that a man cannot escape this charge who was an original out- and-out Taylor man, who was not reckoned sound enough in 1848 to represent the Northern feeling (of which Mr. Webster was the illustrious embodiment in the Convention of 1848), and who has never shifted his position on the general question of slavery and the Proviso from that day to this. Others have been extra Northern and extra Southern at different times, boxing the political compass just as the gales of political favor blew, while we have steadily held our course without starting tack or sheet, holding fast always to what we esteemed to be sound doctrine, and striving for the most practicable method of efficiently assert- ing it. But upon such personal matters we have no inclination to waste time or room. If we are disposed to be any way severe upon the Northern men who have apostatized on the slavery question, and we sup- pose it mast be the manifestation of this disposition that has drawn down so many objurgatory epithets upon our humble com- ments, it is because of the strength and depth of our convictions of the mischief that such apostacy cannot fail to work upon the public mind, unless it be fully exposed and unceasingly con- demned. We are constrained to regard the course of Mr. Web- 136 P ULP1T SLA VER T AD VOCA TES. [May ster, and those who have followed him in his lamentable desertion of principle, as pernicious in the extreme, and deserving, there- fore, of unqualified rebuke and condemnation. When led by distinguished men, such political tergiversation as we have wit- nessed debauches the tone of public morals in all the walks of life. Literature is vitiated, the press is corrupted, the pulpit is infected. What have we not seen within the last few years ? Newspapers subsidized and turned to the right about face as quickly as ever an army changed front at the word of command ; books of education, those mighty agents in forming the opinions of the rising generation, emasculated of the manly sentiments of freedom ; hoary clergymen preaching doctrines that hardened sinners mentally damn on the spot for their scoundrelism, and who, if heaven had no more charity than earth, would be blasted by the lightnings of the Almighty for their impious desecration of their office. Old Hunkerism in the pulpit is enough to make the world infidel. The preacher who fails to assert, or, by im- plication, denies, the supremacy of the "higher law," deserves to be roasted in sulphur. Yet has the political apostacy of the last two years unveiled to our vision such white-neckerchiefed renegades. Witnessing these things we have no honied words or apolo- getic or deferential terms to apply to those whose example we believe has been the primary cause of this demoralization. And herein, we beg to be allowed to say, is to be found the main- spring of any severity of remark we may have indulged, or may hereafter indulge, towards certain gentlemen now in official sta- tion. The passionate commentators upon our course, who in the use of extravagant terms of denunciation have but exhibited their ill blood to no purpose, will see by this how far their arrows have fallen short of the mark, and that they might well, there- fore, have spared themselves the pains of discharging them. J. S. P. [From Horace Greeley.] New York, May 26, 1852. Pike : You are damaging Scott by the savageness of your attacks on Fillmore. The Express, you see, is down on you like a thousand of 1852] PRESIDENTIAL CONVENTION. 13? brick, and you must now bring your witness into court or back square out of your charge. Make your man toe the mark ! I enclose a letter I have just received from Hon. E. J. Penniman, of Michigan, whom Freesoil elected, but who thinks you are rendering any Whig victory impracticable. Be careful. Suppose you talk with Penniman. Yours, H. Greeley. James S. Pike, Esq., Washington City. THE COMING STRUGGLE. [From the New York Tribune.] Washington, Thursday, May 27, 1852. The city is very full of strangers, attracted hither by the ap- proaching Convention. We would affectionately remind our brethren of the press, who have lately manifested such a tumult of indignation because we have, in a quiet manner, innocently given a few items of in- telligence respecting the President's desires and conduct in rela- tion to a renomination, that they are unduly sensitive. We have uttered nothing but the unvarnished truth in relation to the sub- ject, and this we consider to be not only our indisputable privi- lege, but our bounden duty, so long as we undertake to write at all upon public affairs. Surely, surely, the stating of a few facts in a mild way ought not to raise such a tempest of objur- gation. If we were really disposed to bear down upon the Presi- dent, we might say things that would be reckoned severe. But we have no aims of this sort, and try to clothe the disagreeable truths which we feel bound to communicate in as inoffensive phraseology as possible. If we are not so successful in doing this as another might be, it is our misfortune rather than our fault. The speeches upon that well-known and highly recommended political anodyne, termed the Compromise, are daily laid before the House and the country as regularly as a cataplasm is changed upon an inflamed patient. Sometimes the ingredients are mus- tard, and sometimes bread and milk, and thus, of course, they at times start a blister, and again they temporarily reduce the in- flammation. Our Congressional orators may be fairly likened to a room full of people round the bedside of a suffering mortal, who only needs to cease taking their endless nostrums to recover. 138 CARTTER'S SPEECH. [Ma* If the country could have had no compromise, or could even now be let alone, it would soon get quite comfortable and com- posed. But the determined effort to agitate it into quiet makes small headway in accomplishing the object. Among the speeches of the week, of great excellence, has been one from Mr. Cartter, of Ohio, who made, off-hand, an ad- mirable extemporaneous effort ; and a speech from Mr. Wash- burn, of Maine. On the one side, and on the other, however, these speeches, though very good and perfectly just and true in all respects, are reckoned, like some of the letters in the Tribune, to be ill-timed. The state of parties is esteemed to be something like that of a febrile and nervous invalid. They are not considered to be in a condition to bear excitement, or to be roughly told the naked truth. They are therefore watched with a great deal of solicitude by the political nurses, who try to hush up all noise and confusion, to as great a degree as is possible. The slamming of a door, or the thrashing of a loose blind, any- where about the political mansion, throws them into an agony of trepidation. In one of the systems of prison discipline the pris- oners are all hooded when they come in each other's presence, so as to disguise their faces, and thus prevent present and subse- quent recognition. Something akin to this is practised, or en- deavored to be practised, between the North and South. There is a constant effort to apply the hooding system in politics. The Southern Locofocos, for example, think it dangerous in the ex- treme when such brother Locofocos as Cleveland and Cartter and Rantoul and Preston King take off their hoods and exhibit their ugly Northern faces to the South. And so, to some extent, on the other side. But we have no time to do more than suggest the figure. J. S. P. CUSTOM-HOUSE, BOSTON, ) Collector's Office, May 27, 1852. \ Dear Pike : Yours of the 23d received. Hudson has sent you that letter to-day. I think it is good, and ought to satisfy the South, but it may have to be made a little more Southern in its aspect to please some people. Stave off all resolutions in convention, if possible. Schouler is going on next week, but will stop in Baltimore a few 1852] LETTER FROM HORACE GREELEY. 139 days to see what the Locofocos do. Some other good folks will go on shortly. I am in doubt what we ought to do on the first ballot. Perhaps on an informal ballot everybody will be satisfied to vote for their favorite, so that we can nominate Scott on the first regular ballot. Our delegates are generally good Whigs, and go for success, but they will wish to vote for Mr. Webster if they can. One half of them will really be Scott men at heart ! Draper says the book will not be out until after the nomination. You must find that missing letter of mine. I do not remember what it was, but it ought not to fall into the hands of the enemy. Write to me if you have found it. Ever yours, P. G., Jr. [From Horace Greeley.] jSTew York, May 29, 1852. Friend P. : I have taken time to write considerately the ' ' rough draft" you speak of, which I herewith enclose, having had it copied by my little boy, who alone knows here that you have written me, and whose ignorance of such matters has led him to make some blunders in the copying. But here you have it, and when you send me word to burn the original, all trace of it will be confined to the copy before you. I wish General S. had not consented to write about the Compro- mise at all ; but since he is to write, I think he cannot say less than I have indicated. There must be no reserve, no equivocation, no con- cealment on any point, but all as clear as sunlight. Frankness will dis- arm hostile criticism, and win confidence and support. I presume you and others will not be willing to go as far as this. I therefore insist that, since you have made me write, you shall show this to General S., and tell him I say we can stand it at the North. He will judge whether it ought not to satisfy the South, and absolve him from all necessity of writing further. Yours, Horace Greeley. J. S. P. In the Presidential canvass of 1852 there was a struggle be- tween the two wings of the Whig party for the nomination, and likewise in regard to the platform. General Scott was supported 140 THE SCOTT LETTER. [June by the Wilmot Proviso men, and they expected to succeed in nominating him, which they did. But they foresaw they might be saddled with an obnoxious platform. They wished to neu- tralize the effects of this by a personal declaration from General Scott, and they obtained his promise to write a satisfactory letter of acceptance. The question as to what the letter should be was a difficult and anxious one. Several were written by different individuals ; among them one by Mr. Seward and one by Mr. Greeley, and another, which, after long deliberation, was decided upon. But General Scott, after consenting to sign it, upset the whole arrangement by telegraphing his acceptance of the nomina- tion " with the resolutions annexed. " This maladroit perform- ance prevented the issue of the letter, and precluded all the an- ticipated advantages from it. None of the letters have ever seen the light. But the following is Mr. Greeley's contribution : HORACE GREELEY'S PROPOSED LETTER TO BE ISSUED BY GENERAL SCOTT. Washington, June 20, 1852. Gentlemen : Yours of the 15th, officially apprising me of my nomi- nation for the Presidency by the Whig National Convention, is before me. Attached by earnest conviction, founded on a patient and unbiased observation of public affairs, to the distinctive principles and measures of the Whig party, I receive this evidence of its confidence and esteem with profound and grateful sensibility. My consciousness of obligation is heightened by the fact that the two names submitted to that Conven- tion in honorable and friendly competition with mine were those of champions of our common principles most widely and deeply beloved — the one an elder soldier in our cause, and both far abler and more efficient than myself — statesmen whose counsels have long been my guide, and whose orders have more recently been my law, and to whose election, had either of them been nominated, I should gladly have ren- dered whatever of support may be consistent with the proprieties of my position and the requirements of my sphere of duty. Already known as a Whig, although justly debarred from any active intervention in partisan strife, it may well seem superfluous to add that I devoutly reverence the Federal Constitution as the immediate source and safeguard of our priceless blessings as a nation, that I yield it my unquestioning and unqualified obedience as the chart of my political 1852] GREELEY'S SCOTT LETTER. 141 course. For its authoritative interpretation I look alone to the Federal Judiciary, holding myself bound to obey it as that judiciary shall expound it, and to obey all laws which that court shall pronounce accordant with its spirit and authorized by its provisions. Never ceasing to be a citizen, I have been too long a soldier not to realize the worth of loyalty ; and, however humble my abilities and insignificant my career, 1 may at least fearlessly challenge detraction to point to an instance wherein I have ever swerved from my duty as a servant and minister of legitimate authority, or been tempted to exalt power above law. I have been repeatedly asked to give publicity to my views regarding the series of measures currently known as the Compromise of 1850, and I have ever avowed a willingness to do so whenever I might, without seeming to thrust myself upon the public attention, and arrogate for my opinions an importance to which they had no rightful claim. That time, in my judgment, has now arrived ; and I proceed to fulfil my intention. A compromise in 1850 by Congress between the contending interests and parties, sectional and other, seemed to me indispensable. I could perceive no practical mode apart from this whereby the due and rightful security could be extended to persons and property in our newly-acquired Territories, and the danger, apparently most imminent, of a desolating and terrible civil war be averted. Whether the Territories ought to have been organized, either with or without the Wilmot Proviso, independently of compromise or bargain of any kind, seemed of the smallest practical moment, since it had become palpable and certain that they would not be. I, therefore, seeing no good likely to be attained by protracting the fieice sectional controversy then raging, but very much and formidable evil to result from it, gave my earnest and conscientious support to the series of measures reported to the Senate by Mr. Clay and grouped under the general name of " the Compromise." I did not ask whether all their provisions were just such as I would have preferred ; the sim- ple fact that they were presented and supported as a compromise clearly implied and confessed that they were thoroughly acceptable to no one. I took them as they were presented — as I only could take them — and, deeming it better for the country that they should pass than that they should fail, I gave them an earnest and conscientious support. By that support I hold myself committed, in honor and uprightness, to adhere ; these measures I hold myself bound, in their essence and substance, to maintain. If there be any modification of detail, not inconsistent with their general purpose, whereby they may be rendered more acceptable or less obnoxious to any number of dissidents, I shall be at all times 142 GREELEY'S SCOTT LETTER. [June most happy to concur in it ; but from any co-operation or consent to overthrow or essentially change it, I hold myself precluded by the dic- tates of integrity and the obligations of good faith. Such is my position ; such are my convictions ; I trust they can at least be understood. But I must be allowed to add, in order not to be misapprehended on any side, that my judgment has condemned and my feelings have revolted at the attempts I have witnessed to make of these compromise measures a party Shibboleth, and to extort from dis- sidents a reluctant assent to their wisdom and justice, under penalty of exclusion from public life. To my mind these attempts, however intended, whether aimed at dissatisfaction in the North or in the South, are eminently calculated to foster and inflame the discontent which they seem intended to quell, and to render once more threatening those wounds and inflammations which time alone can thoroughly heal. I regard all attempts to affix a stigma to those who have not yet concurred in the propriety of the Compromise, to exclude them from public trust, or to render impracticable or humiliating their co-operation with their political brethren in the support of principles and measures whereon they are agreed, as most suicidal in their character, and certain to protract and aggravate the resistance which they profess to be intended to overcome. Impelled by these convictions, I decline to give any pledge, such as has been required of me, to exercise the veto power lodged with the President to defeat any possible modification of either of the Compro- mise measures. That power is one which should be very sparingly and cautiously used ; I could not accept it under a mortgage ; if there be a majority of my countrymen who desire to see it shaken in the face of a minority to exasperate and madden them with the taunt of impo- tence and helplessness, they must commit it to other hands than mine. For my own part, gentlemen, grateful for the favors which I have already received from my countrymen, I have no desire to serve them in a more exalted station, unless I may be called to that station by the free choice of a majority of the American people and sustained therein by the united and cordial support of that great party whose convictions I share, whose candidate, by the choice of your Convention, I am. Believe me, gentlemen, your honored and grateful friend and servant, 1852] UNFAIR USES OF PATRONAGE. 143 A WORD ON THE WHIG NOMINATION. [From the New York Tribune.] Washington, Wednesday, June 2, 1852. Obloquy is the necessary ingredient of all true glory. So says the great Irishman. We accept the aphorism. It is our present consolation. We are maligned without stint, and must draw consolation from some quarter. We welcome the aid of philosophy. It is of no use to turn upon our assailants. Per- sonalities have no interest to the general reader, and ill-mannered fellows who have got old enough to be writing in the newspapers can hardly be improved by flagellation. We shall not, there- fore, stop to waste words upon the Albany, Michigan, and New York editors who are so liberal in their assaults. We must de- vote our attentions to persons of more consequence, and to mat- ters of really public concern. It is impossible for a man who perceives the true state of things to restrain the expression of his indignation over the efforts of tlie President and his friends to control the Whig nomi- nation. One may perhaps well abate the energy of his repre- hension in view of the fact that these efforts, however zealously conducted and blindly pushed, will, at the last, fail. But the desire to rebuke such censurable proceedings nevertheless exists, and refuses to be denied expression. It is nothing that one es- capes the contents of a loaded pistol because it missed fire. It is quite difficult to regard the attempt to discharge it with com- placency because it happened to prove unsuccessful. But we are especially urged to the expression of our sentiments, because we hear it daily said that the President and his friends really ex- pect success in their efforts. Now, what we have to say, that we think ought to be said, is this : We believe it to be a fact that the patronage of the Gov- ernment was never more directly and determinedly used to fur- ther the personal aims of the President than now. We do not think it will be denied by any unprejudiced, well-informed man that Mr. Fillmore would not get a single vote in Convention from the free States (out of abounding liberality we might ex- cept the Buffalo district), but for the exercise of the influence and patronage of the Government to procure delegates. And 1W PRESIDENTIAL ASPIRATIONS. [June we believe it to be equally true that, but for the same influences, neither Georgia, nor South Carolina, nor Alabama, and probably neither Arkansas nor Texas, would send delegates to the Con- vention. What, for example, can be more palpably the work of Custom-House officers and agents and wire-pullers of the Admin- istration than the recent skeleton caucuses at Charleston and Mobile ? And what more plainly the offspring of the same agencies, and at the same time more preposterous, than the pro- posed representation from Georgia ? A most distinguished for- mer Whig politician of that State has lately declared that the delegation from Georgia in the Whig National Convention will not represent a constituency of 200 voters in the State, all told — by this statement meaning to convey the idea that there is no Whig party proper at this moment in the State, acting indepen- dently of the " Union" organization, which party organization declared it would send no delegates to the Baltimore Convention. It is principally in view of this state of the case that we say it is difficult to regard with patience the daily declarations of the President's friends that they expect to furnish the Whig party with a candidate for the Presidency. To our apprehension noth- ing in political conduct can be more culpable and insulting than the active efforts of the President's friends to nominate him by such means. The idea of having a candidate imposed upon the party by the agency and influences of Executive patronage is so abhorrent to all our notions of propriety, and would be such an outrage upon fair dealing, that we are astonished to find men of sense and respectability engaging in such a scheme. W x e would like to ask, supposing such an one could be successful, with what sort of sentiments would a barely beaten minority regard such a result, and what sort of support would they give to such a candi- date ? Can any thing in the world be more palpable than that he would be repudiated with indignation and derision ? We do not speak with reference to any fears we entertain of the result of the coming Whig Convention at Baltimore. We have none — none whatever. The nomination of General Scott, we believe, will be made by an overwhelming vote. But we can easily imagine a closely balanced Convention, where suc^i reprehensible measures as we speak of might determine the question between rival candidates. And we solicit the unbiased judgment of .1852] LETTER FROM P. OREELT, JR. 145 every man upon such a supposable case, and ask what would be the natural effects of a nomination so obtained ? Let the an- swer which spontaneously arises to every man's inquiries of him- self upon this subject suggest a fitting rebuke to the friends of the President, who have been for months, and are now, making use of the machinery of the Government, and directing its patronage to secure Mr. Fillmore's nomination. And let it in- dicate to the President himself the odium that such transactions must inevitably attach to him, even if it could not be positively shown that he was personally advising and urging such courses. The unavoidable implications in the case would affix a stigma which no explanation and no disclaimer could ever efface. It is not for us to deny that there are very upright and con- scientious supporters of Mr. Fillmore's nomination. To all such we make no allusion. But because there are such, we do not feel precluded from commenting upon the conduct of those of his supporters who, by their position, may well be suspected, and by their acts afford conclusive evidence that they do not be- long within this category. They ought not to escape rebuke. The cause of truth, and the fearlessness of discussion, that should characterize every independent journal, alike demand an exposi- tion of the real facts in the case. J. S. P. Custom- House, Boston, ) Collector's Office, June 4, 1852. ) Dear Pike : After nearly a week's absence at sea, I have your letters of the 27th and 29th ult. I accept the charge of getting up a hurrah in Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Vermont, as soon as Scott is nominated ; or, rather, I promise to do all I can do in that line. I have already done something about it with the Vermont folks, and in Massachusetts we are arranging things. In New Hampshire I shall do what I can. Our greatest noise must be in Boston, and we will endeavor to have that go right, but you must not expect so much from us as though we were a Scott community. Acquiescence will be considered a virtue on the part of our Webster men, and therefore it may not be well to make so much fuss as to disturb their nerves ; but we will do all that is thought best under the circumstances. 146 LETTER FROM JOIIN OTIS. [June When the " Life" is out, pray send me some copies. According to your letter, it was to be printed on the 2d inst. I have written to Fitz Henry to-day, and as you will see the letter, I need not repeat what I said to him. Schouler goes to Washington to day. Be sure that you get every thing arranged just right for the Convention. Your friend Evans is chosen a delegate, but he has come out for Scott, and I hope will make you no trouble. I am, truly yours, P. G., Jr. [From Hon. John Otis.] Hallowei/l, June 5, 1852. . . . The Webster and Fillmore men, and all the Compromise men, use your name very fully, and think it was very strange you should have been elected a delegate. It is to your honor that you are per- secuted in such a cause. But if the old hero is poisoned in his mind by such men as these, with Evans against you and his original men, I shall feel little heart in the work. You must see him, and let us not be deceived. With all due respect for the premier of General Taylor's cabinet, I do not want another such for General Scott. He was little better than old Daniel himself. I want no more Galphin and Gardner cabinets, and if we cannot do any better, we had better let Locofocoism have full swing for the next four years. Let me hear from you in this matter, for upon it my working very hard, even in the cause of General Scott, will in a measure depend. I ask nothing for myself, but I want to know who is to be rewarded — those who are faithful from the begin- ning, or those who come in only for the favors they can obtain after squeezing what they could from the present Administration. Yours truly, John Otis. J. S. Pike, Esq., Washington. [From Horace Greeley.] New York, June 13, 1852. Friend Pike : If we must have a platform, do help put a Freesoil plank in it. It would almost act as chloride to a compromise infection. I pray you look to this. It will give us five thousand votes in this State alone, and we may need them. It will be worth much in all the West. Don't forget. If they put a compromise resolve upon you, vote No 1852] LETTERS FROM GREELEY AND DANA. 147 on a call of the yeas and nays, and it will be neutralized. Give them the same privilege on Freesoil. I don't believe there will be a Fillmore delegate from New England, but a strong show for Webster. His friends really think of nominating him, and some who have got to vote for him fear they will do it. But they can't. Yours, Horace Greeley. J. S. P. Telegraph us every hour or two from Baltimore on Tuesday after- noon and afterwards. [From Charles A. Dana.] Wednesday. Dear Pike : I send you a little touch out of the Detroit Advertiser. You are getting to be the most famous man in the country, and if you keep on, will certainly come to something. Alvord begins to work the pamphlet this afternoon — not in season for me to send you an impression. He says he will have the whole done by the latter days of next week — in ample season for the purpose. Where do you want it delivered ? Here, or in Washington ? I find they have made a mistake in putting the electrotypes into the stereotypes, and have got Herbert's Battle of Lundy's Lane in for the charge at Chippewa, and vice versa. This seems well enough, however, and I have not had them taken out, which would have caused some delay. The poster will be done, I think, to-morrow. The work will be done in season. I shall find it necessary to cut down very much the matter for the poster, I suppose. This will be decided in a few minutes from now, when I get the final slips and know just how much you have laid out. I saw a Massachusetts Loco Freesoiler yesterday who says he shall take the stump for Scott in case he is not overloaded by resolutions or letters. The same is the case with the same men in New Hampshire, as we have the best assurances. For God's sake keep on the present strong ground. It would be a great deal better to break up the Convention in a row right after the nomination and before any other action could be had than to let the fanatics kick over the kettle. I have seen Blunt, who says Commodore Perry wants just such a man as Bayard Taylor as historiographer of the expedition, and that he will put him through. Yours ever, Dana. US LETTERS FROM CHARLES A. DANA. [June [From Charles A. Dana.] Dear Pike : Here's the poster ; I think it's good ; if you don't, I can't see how you can do any thing to help it. I have had the one hundred copies of poster and one hundred pamphlets sent to Sackett by this afternoon's mail. The lot for you in Washington will be sent by Adams's Express to morrow, and the lot for you in Baltimore will go by the same conveyance to-morrow, God willing and nothing happening to press or binders. Have no fear about getting them in season. You could not use them sooner if you had 'em, and as for gratifying any- body's impatient, boyish curiosity, that's of little consequence. If now we can steer clear of any nonsense in the form of resolutions, we shall put this election through with an awful majority at the North — New York, all New England except New Hampshire and Connecticut, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Ohio, Indiana, Wisconsin, Iowa, Illinois even, Michigan, Kentucky, California, Maryland, Delaware, may certainly be relied on for one hundred and sixty electoral votes or thereabouts for Scott without resolutions or letter. Can any thing like that be done with a pro-slavery platform ? No, sir ! Yours ever, Dana. [From Charles A. Dana.] New York, Tuesday. Pike : It was impossible to postpone the stereotyping. Not only would it have delayed the whole work, but it would have required a great lot of sorts, which Valentine has not. For instance, the leads are peculiar, and he has not enough of them for the whole book. Those of the first pages are needed to make up the last pages with. Accordingly, I have had them go ahead. If, after all the care, there are blunders, the Lord forgive us. The handbill can't be made up till the stereotyping is done. I can't tell till to-morrow just how much it will make. The final pages are not made up. The paragraph about the battle of Chippewa I found could not get in without great trouble and deranging some pages. It was not worth while, I thought, to make the delay. Time is getting short. Dana. 1852] LETTERS FROM DANA. 140 [From Charles A. Dana.] New York, Wednesday. Old Fellow : Here are your proofs, down to the last, which it is expected you will read to-morrow morning and send them back in the afternoon. You told them nothing about a frontispiece, and they had made up some eight or ten pages accordingly, which had to be deranged again in consequence — at your expense. So, also, you didn't mark in the place where the speech on the log was to come, and that makes eight pages more to be overhauled. You must also decide about the Battle of Lundy's Lane. I don't believe Herbert will do it, and therefore we must either have another picture made, or say that there shall be none, because the pages must be made up — nay, are made up already. I have had two more designs from Jocelyn — " Tearing Down the Flag," and " Visiting the Hospital." The latter I rejected in favor of Barnes's picture on the same subject. I have not been to see Alvord, as I can't discover that he has any thing to do till the plates are done. Yours, Dana. [From Charles A. Dana.] New York, Monday afternoon, June 21. Dear Pike : Hurrah for the nomination and . . . the platform ! I am going to Chicago to-night, and shall be gone a week. If you want any business done in my absence, send to Snow or Ripley, or write directly to Alvord. Of course the printing must now be put through, and the second set of stereotype plates made. The electrotypes are all ready, and Alvord will be glad to see the stereotyping smashed through faster than Valentine would otherwise do them. Valentine wants his bill. That you can send to Ripley or Snow, or give Valentine himself an order on Draper for the amount. God bless you, my dear fellow, and we'll put through the election. Good-by, Dana. [From Charles A. Dana.] New York, June 21, 1852, 7 p.m. Mr Dear Pike : I got left by the cars, and accordingly bless you with another letter. 150 LETTERS FROM DANA. [June In the first place, the pamphlet and handbill must immediately be translated into German and printed with the same cuts. The translation can be done here, I should think, and the stereotyp- ing to as good adavntage as anywhere. Jacobi, the publisher of the Allgemeine Zeitung, could find you good men to do the former, though if I were at home it would be better for me to attend to it. Ludwig, or Angell & Engell, might do the printing. The latter, I should think, would be the men. They will do the composition from the MSS., and make it ready for the stereotyper, for forty-five cents a thousand, with new types and all right. Their office is right by the Tribune — in fact, up the same eternal flight of stairs. Now, in the second place, you must make the Tribune office the headquarters for the distribution of all the Scott documents, lives, handbills, etc. Of course we must have them at a discount from the price at which they are sold to clubs and other patriots. But no matter about terms ; only let the thing be done. It will be for our advantage and for the universal good. So put it through. Commodore Perry won't take Bayard, or won't agree to. He says, however, that if B should be at Hong Kong when he is there, he should be very happy to see him. Once more, three cheers for Scott ! Answer this letter to Greeley. I shall get off to-morrow for a week's freedom. Yours ever, C. A. D. [From Charles A. Dana.] Friday. Dear Pike : The matter you wrote for the Life proper is thirty-two pages, without the testimonials, or letters, or any thing. Accordingly, I have told them to take out the leads from the last dozen pages in order to make room. If you don't like this, swear your bellyful, but you can't help it. The thing is put through, and what you may choose to say is a matter of perfect indifference. Please to find out right off and let me know just when Commodore Perry will be at Macao with his thundering old fleet. Also how long they will stay there. Also about the order for Bayard Taylor, in what capacity, and on what terms, he can get aboard. I want to have the whole thing fixed up so as to send to Bayard by next Wednesday's steamer. I have discovered that I am necessary to you. Without me who would take the devil out of your letters and add a genteel air of modera- 1852] WHIG CONVENTION. 151 tion to their contents ? Nobody. You would be a done-up man, ruined by your own exuberant greatness. Now I foresee your destiny. It is to be President which I shall make you. Be grateful, then, be- forehand. Dana. THE WAY THE WHIG CONVENTION PASSED THE COMPROMISE RESOLUTIONS. [From the New York Tribune.'] Washington, Tuesday, June 22, 1852. It is important that the true history of the introduction, con- sideration, and passage of the Whig platform in 1852 should go on to the record. !SI o report of the proceedings that 1 have seen gives it. The record states the introduction and reading of the resolutions by Mr. Ashmun, and the proceedings thereon up to near the time of their passage. It then proceeds as follows : ' ' After points of order and some stirring scenes, which time will not permit us to narrate, the vote was taken on the platform resolutions, which were adopted by a vote of yeas 227 to nays 66, as follows : Maine, 4 yeas, 4 nays," etc. The resolutions were read once to the Convention and then taken possession of by the Secretary. Thereupon the Conven- tion listened with comparative quiet to Mr. Choate. Mr. Ander- son, of Ohio, and Mr. Botts. Mr. Choate's speech was a disap- pointment. Mr. Anderson spoke because he is a good speaker, and had no objection the Convention should know it. But he made no mark, and only showed a little very shallow philosophy. Mr. Botts surpassed himself. When Mr. Botts concluded his remarks he moved the previous question. Several of the Maine delegation had the benefit of perusing the copy of the Compro- mise resolution, and none of them, as I have reason to believe, except the Chairman of the Delegation (Mr. Evans) desired its passage. When Mr. Botts moved the previous question, he was asked to withdraw it. Mr. Botts declined on the ground that if he gave way in one case he should be compelled to in others, and thus delay in passing the platform would follow, but declaring that the call for the previous question did not interfere with a demand for a division. 152 HOW THE RESOLUTIONS WERE ADOPTED. [June When the call for the vote of the States on the adoption of the platform was begun, as it was immediately, amid great uproar and excitement, and the general cry of everybody that it was best to let the platform go through, rather than hazard Scott's nomination by any resistance, except by a silent vote, a division of the question was demanded. Not only the majority of the Convention, but the President and Secretary, were in a state of great heat and excitement, and pre-determined to force the plat- form down the throat of the Convention, nolens volens, without giving any chance for resistance, and without reference to the rights of the minority. While the demand for a division of the resolutions was pressed there were hisses and cheers and all sorts of noises, and call to order by the President, and over all the leathern throat of the Secretary bawling at the top of a stento- rian voice for the vote of the States, in total disregard of pro- priety and of the authority of the presiding officer. At length* however, the ear of the President was gained, who finally very reluctantly listened to the demand for a division. There was a palpable determination on the part of the Convention and its officers to dragoon the minority on the Compromise resolution. Everybody understood this in advance, and no one, therefore, felt inclined to subject himself to indignity needlessly ; and this disinclination was heightened by the reflection that any de- termined effort of resistance would damage Scott's chances, already weakened by outrageous exclusions of delegates friendly to him, by the corrupting influences of Wall Street and State Street capitalists, by the shameless prostitution of government patronage, and by the implacable opposition of Southern fll- libusterism. It was under these circumstances that the vote on the plat- form was demanded and the roll of States called. In the height of the disturbance the vote of Maine was announced by the chairman of the delegation (Mr. Evans) as standing 4 yeas and 4 nays. Amid the tumult the roll-call went on. Subse- quently I discovered that the vote of Maine had not been cor- rectly reported, but that it stood 5 against the resolutions and but 3 for them ; and as, in my judgment, Maine is deserving of high honor for resisting the tide of political demoralization that swept over the New England delegates on this question in Con- 1852] LETTER FROM SAMUEL HAIOHT 153 vention, I beg to record here the names of that majority of her delegates who went against the Compromise resolutions. They are as follows : William Pitt Fessenden, Nathan D. Appleton, D. C. Magoun, John Trask, Jr., and James S. Pike. J. S. P. [From Samuel Haight] Newburg, N. Y., October 21, 1852. Jas. S. Pike, Esq., Dear Sir: Our mutual friend Horace Greeley has been talking to me about you in reference to purchasing an interest in the Pittsburg Gazette, of which I am half owner. I am desirous of going abroad, and have offered my half interest for sale. If, however, I could get the proper man to come in, I would retain my present in- terest and purchase, or rather get him to purchase, the other half in- terest, which can be had, as my partner is not in good health and is anxious to retire to the country. The character and standing of the paper is no doubt familiar to you ; and to a person fully capable to make a paper to suit the present age, it offers an opportunity not often to be met with. Mr. Greeley knows well its character, and thinks it one of the best openings in the country. I contemplate leaving this city for Pittsburg next week ; and in case of your desiring a personal conference, could meet you at New York or Philadelphia. I am, very respectfully, yours, etc., Sam'l Haight. [From Charles A. Dana.] Wednesday, October, 1852. Dear Pike : Here's a letter for you which I hope will be consoling, for somehow I fancy you must stand in need of comfort. For my part, I have got myself into a state of true philosophy, but you, with those horrid Calvinistic notions oppressing your soul, and the dread of wrath to come blazing before your eyes, can hardly hope for such tranquillity of mind. I don't know how it is, but my presentiments all favor our being licked, and no ciphering and no argufying can make them any better. So I am ready for that, and have set about sharpening my knives, and getting out my war-paint, and practicing the battle-yell for the sharp work and joyous which is to come after. And so God bless you. Ever yours, C. A. Dana. 154 LETTER FROM WM. H. SEWARD. [Dec. [From Wm. H. Seward.] Washington, December 7, 1852. My Dear Pike : Accept my thanks for the magnificent gift you have sent me. I have tried the fruit, and I find them first-rate. This result confirms me in my opinion that on exotics General Scott's latest opinions are the soundest. I hear that you go into the Tribune. I rejoice in this, for your sake and for the sake of the paper. I hope you will ring the bugle loud on this Kentucky election case. It is really the first thing touching all the Whigs of the winter that we have had in a twelvemonth. Faithfully, always, your friend, William H. Seward. J. S. Pike, Esq., Washington, D. C. SPOILS CUBA. [From the New York Tribune.] Washington, December 10, 1852. The last session was spent principally in preparing for the Presidential contest, and this will be mainly occupied in dispos- ing of its fruits. This fact may denote but a narrow and vulgar range of thought in our public men, but we reckon it to be a fact nevertheless. Douglas and Weller, of the Senate, have both set forth in their own chosen way their statesmanlike and far- reaching views of the character of the late contest, the summary of which is, " We have beaten the Whigs, and now let's have the offices." Funeral honors will be paid by Congress to Mr. Webster. The obsequies of the Whig party will not be celebrated till after the 4th of March. The Cuba bubble has utterly burst. We do not see but our Whig editors who have been prompted to nurse this bantling of promise, lest they should be hereafter accused of inhospitality toward it, will now have to abandon the little wretch as quite unworthy of the pains they professed to bestow upon it. The ideas lately set forth in a number of editorial articles of the Charleston Mercury, are those which must, sooner or later, pre- vail throughout the entire South. The editor of that paper is a little mealy-mouthed on the subject, but the gist of the article is that we cannot get the island peaceably, and if it were to come as the result of any revolutionary or fillibustering movement, the 1852] THE ANNEXATION OF CUBA. 155 blacks would be inevitably emancipated in the process, and that we should thus find ourselves with another St. Domingo on our hands. Such is, beyond all question, the true view of the case, and such is the view which has been entertained by sagacious men from the beginning of the heroic exploits of our fillibusters to wrest the island from Spain. For our part we have never looked upon the scheme of getting Cuba under the auspices of the ragged tatterdemalions who have it in charge, though headed by the " Little Giant " himself, as other than a scheme of utter folly and imbecility. Nobody who longs for the emancipation of the slaves in that island, or who aims at abolition in general, could have any other desire than to see it prosper, or would fail to en- courage it. We have thus looked with complacency upon the spasmodic efforts to promote the designs of the fillibusters, by whomsoever made, and have been glad to see such gentlemen as Judge Douglas stirring the embers of a grand black conflagra- tion, foreseeing nothing, certainly, but that the mischief-makers would be pretty apt to be blown where they belonged, and which place shall be nameless ; and being by no means sure whether good or evil would ultimately result therefrom ; being willing, however, perhaps even anxious to see any project prosper that promised a step in advance toward the universal emancipation of the African race. But we never had the least faith or ajmrehen- sion that any such scheme as the annexation of Cuba to our Con- federacy of States would be accomplished in this our day and generation. Unless Spain would consent to a cession, which was never probable, and which consent has been plumply refused, and now seems further off than ever, we reckon the chances of the annexation of Cuba to be just as good as the chances for the annexation of Hayti, and no better. And probably both will come together in the fulness of time — twin black sisters — lovely gems of the Antilles. We would that " Scripture Dick" should be alive to pronounce the welcome to these curly -headed blos- soms of the Caribbean Sea, and to sing the epithalamium upon the occasion of the marriage ceremony with our Anglo-Saxon re- public. But alas ! this cannot be, for he will be dead and worms will have eaten him before that day shall have arrived. J. S. P. 156 STORY OF THE DIPLOMATISTS. [Dec. WAGES OF DIPLOMACY. [Prom the New York Tribune of December 22.] We published yesterday the principal portions of a corre- spondence emanating from our foreign ministers in response to inquiries addressed to them by the Secretary of State in regard to the expense of living at the various courts to which they are ac- credited. It will have been perused by our readers, we doubt not, and have afforded them both instruction and amusement. The cor- respondence is amusing in that it gives us a glimpse of the pecu- liar characteristics of a large number of our diplomats in respect of a phase of their characters seldom exposed to public view. By the letters we see, for example, that Mr. Lawrence is a liberal off-hand man in his personal expenses, and goes for good living and a high style with a devil-may-care-for-the-expense air which is quite taking. He says he spends over twenty thousand dollars a year. "We presume he spent double that sum, for he made a good show of rivalling the British nobility in his entertain- ments. He could afford it on a private fortune of one or two millions. Mr. Eives is snug and lugubrious. He declares that the cost of living in Paris in proper style is dreadfully expensive. We don't know how he discovered this, for we have never under- stood that he was over-liberal in his living, or ever spent a red cent that the most thrifty frugality could save. However, here is his summing up, the aggregate of which is not presented in his letter : House rent $4,000 Carriage hire 1,400 Fuel 1,200 Eatables 3.000 Servants 1,500 Candles, washing and groceries. .$3,000 Personal expenses 3,000 Total expenses. ..$17,100 Now we don't like to intimate any thing to the prejudice of our Minister at the Court of Versailles, but really he tells some tough stories. Some Virginia hogs, we are sure, could be ex- ported to France at a profit if Mr. Kives's quotations are authen- tic. Neil S. Brown says he lives singly for $6000 per annum. He has a family, however, to support at home. As he declares his 1852] THEIR EXTRAORDINARY EXPERIENCES. 157 judgment to be that every foreign minister " ought to have a family," he don't hesitate to go for $12,000 as a fair compensa- tion. He recommended this on the ground that St. Petersburg is ' ' artificially built and artificially sustained. ' ' But what city of Europe is not " artificially" built ? We have no natural productions of this kind on this side the water, and had no idea that Europe was any better off. But Mr. Brown's remark imports that we must be laboring under a mistake. Mr. Brown affectingly observes that no one knows but those who have tried it, the restraint which the present rates of pay imposes. He says he has spent but $6000 a year. Mr. Folsom is very particular in his bill of particulars, as will have been seen. He gives the items, and is solemn in the assev- eration that they are true. An extra oath was not necessary to make his declarations believed. He says the Hague is the dear- est capital on the Continent. Mr. Rives more than intimates the same thing of Paris, and Mr. Barringer says ditto of Madrid. Indeed, the minister to Spain, in enumerating the " necessaries" of life, all of which he declares are very dear at the Spanish capi- tal, enumerates " water" among the items. Wood he quotes at a cent a pound. We presume that this article would be soaked before the sale, but that the high price of water forbids. But a more ludicrous charge than all is one he enumerates of getting his carriage from Cadiz to Madrid. This job cost $300. We can scarcely estimate from this what the land carriage would be of any object that did not go on wheels. But we need not go into further detail. The correspondence is before our readers, who will make their own comments. One aspect it wears, how- ever, to which we must call attention. This is the touching spectacle it affords of the self-denying patriotism of our foreign ministers in consenting to fill places under the government which compel such heavy drafts upon their private fortunes. CUBA ANNEXATION. [From the New York Tribune of December 28.] Every brainless chatterbox in the country considers himself fully qualified to determine the question of Cuban annexation. 158 THE CUBA BUBBLE. [Dec The press and the magazines sing of Cuba — Cuba — Cuba — per- petually. And the strain is everywhere the same. Cuba is to be annexed to the United States. The wiseacres do not pretend to say just what day or what month it will happen, but that it will be annexed is reckoned to be a dead certainty. It is every- where taken for granted that Cuba is coming. Mr. Allen, of Ohio, when he was in the Senate, used to roar periodically on foreign affairs, and on those occasions he always predicted two things. One was, that we were on the eve of a tremendous fight with England, just to see which would whip, and the other, that we were going to annex Cuba nolens volens. His argument for annexation was novel, but conclusive. It was that the Gulf of Mexico was the mouth of the United States ; that the island of Cuba was a tongue lying in that mouth ; and that every mouth had a right to its own tongue. Mr. Mason, of Virginia, in his late speech in the Senate on this subject, though the drift and object of it was a blow at fillibusterism, sings the same tune of ultimate annexation. " To be sure/' says the senator, "we cannot have Cuba now.'' Oh no, for it belongs to Spain, and Spain don't want to part with it just yet, but whenever she does it will inevitably become ours — of course it will. So, gentlemen fillibusters, just make your- selves easy, and don't hurry what is so inevitable. Don't shake the tree while the fruit is green. It is thus that even Southern men, who foresee all the embarrassments and mischievous conse- quences of Cuban annexation, who now resist it even, and who cannot for the life of them give any possible view of the final effects of Cuban annexation, that would not affright the slavery interest of the country to the utmost degree, feel impelled by what seems to be the popular sentiment of the country in its favor, to echo, after a fashion, the parrot cry of which we speak. The Charleston Mercury is about the only bold spoken organ of Southern interests and intelligent Southern opinion that we know of, which don't hesitate to deprecate the annexation of Cuba, not only now but hereafter, and on grounds that must, in our judgment, inevitably constrain the action of the South on this subject. Putnam's New Monthly Magazine for January, 1853, just published, has an article on Cuba, written by a gentleman who 1852] ANNEXATION INSISTED ON. 159 lias published a work on that country, and who is, of course, familiar with his subject, offers the same stereotyped view of the question that is in everybody's mouth. He says : " Still, what of the future ? Cuba will become a part of the United States. The how or the when, it is useless to predict. Political events have tran- spired so rapidly within the last few years, that " ' That of an hour's age doth hiss the speaker.' We are borne onward by a force which seems hastening some great con- summation. If all do not agree as to the result which these changes are to bring, no one can shut his eyes to the changes themselves. They have mul- tiplied within the year ; they are multiplying ; they will'continue to multi- ply. The conservative and the radical — the ultra Whig and the ultra Demo- crat — are all overwhelmed by the resistless course of things, if they stop even but a momen; to contemplate it. What is to be done? Shall we attempt to stay this sweeping current, and be carried away by it ? or shall we rather do what we may to control and direct it ?" Here is the same kind of talk that is found everywhere. If we ask the reason why Cuba is to be annexed to this coun- try, we are met by some such reply as that of Mr. Boanerges Allen, which we have quoted. We are told that Cuba must be ours because she is close at our doors, because "she is on the high road to our auriferous regions," because we are bound to annex every thing in our neighborhood, whether islands or con- tinents, till we touch the Pole on the north, and Terra del Fuego on the south ; and the Lord knows the limit that the universal annexationists prescribe to us on the west. If we do not mis- take, even Senator Seward, in a speech last winter, threw out a suggestion which looked toward China. But before we pluck the flowery empire to add to our proposed nosegay of nations, we have no small job to gather up the innumerable islands of the Pacific, those verdant oases in the great wilderness of waters that separates the Asiatic continent from ours. For it certainly will be expected that, in our glorious process of expansion and accre- tion, we shall not fail to embrace every thing in our way, as we sweep westward on our Manifest Destiny career. Now, although it may expose us to the imputation of being very unprogressive and short-sighted, we must beg to insist upon our doubts about there being any good prospect at all of the an- nexation of Cuba to our confederacy of States. 160 CUBA AS A FREE STATE. [Dec. The truth is, the whole subject of Cuban annexation is treated by those who advocate it, without reference to the great element in the case which will inevitably control the destiny of that island. We allude to the black population. If Cuba is to come into the Union, how is she to come ? Is it to be as a slave or as a free State. We understand what the long-headed contrivers of the plot mean well enough, but the accomplishment of their designs is quite another thing. Now we are of opinion that Cuba can never come to us as a slave State. In the first place, the Wilmot Proviso men would insist upon the Ordinance of 1787 as a condition precedent of her ad- mission as a State. But secondly, and mainly, our reliance is chiefly upon Spain herself, who, we are quite sure, will never let Cuba slip from her grasp except in the last extremity, and then not till she has decreed emancipation to its slave population. She holds the island securely to-day by virtue of this very threat. If we take Cuba at all, therefore, we must take her as a free State, contain- ing half a million of very black and very ignorant persons, who would by the process become our fellow-citizens, entitled to choose in regard to their government, laws, rulers, etc. , etc. It is quite likely they would choose a black governor, black judges, black representatives to Congress, black every thing. Now our impression is very decided that a large majority of the people of this country consider that a great avalanche of black voters upon us is not a thing to be coveted. We believe this is the public sentiment both of the North and the South. And thus it is that we, instead of looking upon the annexation of Cuba as a thing certain, see little or no probability of its accom- plishment. Cuba free we would not take. The South would be against it, and the North would but slightly favor it. Cuba as a slave country we cannot be permitted to have. This we believe to be a fixed decree of the proud Castilians who control it. It is at least a fixed and immovable purpose of all Wilmot Pro- viso men. Our Manifest Destiny men, the Cuba Inevitables, don't come to a close hug with the question. They view it in the dim dis- tant haze. They say we are to have Cuba somehow and some- time (though they don't know just how or just when), simply be- 1852] HA TTI AND JAMAICA. 161 cause we are destined to have every thing contiguous to our ex- isting territory. Now if this be true of Cuba it is true also of the other West India Islands, and especially of Hayti and Jamaica. If we must have Cuba because of contiguity, then Hayti and Jamaica, because both are nearer to Cuba than Cuba is to the United States. The fact is, the chief foundation of all this modern sentiment that Cuba is to become part of the United States is to be found in the early views of our statesmen upon the question ; views. which gained foothold before the more modern developments in relation to African slavery. These developments have essentially modified, and indeed changed, the whole aspect of the question. If Mr. J. Q. Adams were now alive, and at the head of the State Department, we are very sure we should find him steering in quite a different direction from that taken by our own shallow Manifest Destiny men, who are now quoting him. We believe that the finger of destiny points to an issue en- tirely different from that so confidently anticipated by our uni- versal annexationists. 102 EDWARD EVERETT'S ABLE DISPATCH. [Jan. 1853. mr. Everett's dispatch on cttba. [From the New York Tribune of January 10, 1853.] Mr. Everett will have surprised the country by the ability of his letter on the proposed tripartite convention in reference to Cuba, which we published yesterday. Mr. Everett has long en- joyed a high reputation for scholarly attainments, but never for the wide and comprehensive views of an enlarged statesmanship. Age and reflection seem to have worked kindly upon him in the classic retreats of Harvard, and he comes forth now in the ripeness of matured manhood, casting off the strait-jacket of frigid conservatism and provincialism that wraps that ancient seat of learning, and takes his position before the country and the world as a man fully appreciating the position and destiny of his nation ; and lending renewed emphasis, by the vigor of his thought, the soundness of his judgment, the extent and accuracy of his knowledge, to the genuine American spirit of the hour. There is in his communication to the Count de Sartiges a full and hearty recognition of the true character, temper, and destiny of the American Republic ; not reluctantly extorted, but genially acknowledged and presented to the eye of the world under an en- lightened and liberal view of international affairs that must secure the acknowledgment of every one, of its intrinsic justice and truth, whether or not assent, on the part of other nations, be yielded to the conclusions to which his matter so significantly points. In this glowing and remarkable dispatch, Mr. Everett has cer- tainly shown himself to be the man of the day and the hour for 1853] DISSENT FROM THE SECRETARY. 163 the place he occupies. We certainly shall not object to Mr. Everett's being sent to the Senate, in view of such a display of the harmonious union of conservative and progressive ideas as is exhibited in this communication. Indeed, if a change in the ex- isting senatorial representation of Massachusetts is to be made, we give our suffrage unequivocally to Mr. Everett. Yet we do not assent to all the Secretary's conclusions. We ■do not believe in the existence of an inevitable necessity which is to make Cuba one of the States of the American Union. And we look upon the reasoning which professedly points to this re- sult, drawn from our territorial progress thus far, and the capa- bilities of indefinite expansion which belong to our federal sys- tem, as superficial and unsound. Cuba is in no more fit condi- tion to become a State and be admitted into our confederacy than is Hayti or Jamaica. The predominant black population in all of them constitutes an insuperable bar to their incorporation into our system. Populous territory filled with black, mixed, de- graded and ignorant, or inferior races, we do not want. The sturdy and encroaching growth of the robust and enterprising population which may most be appropriately termed American, will make head in any district of country which is but sparsely peopled, and finally supplant the existing population. There are many points on this continent where this will be done. The vastness of comparatively unoccupied tracts of country within the •existing limits of Mexico, the feeble States on and about the Isthmus, invite the spread of our people and will allure the shel- ter of our flag. Nature waits to be subdued in virgin latitudes on various quarters of this continent, almost impressed by human footsteps. Here we shall go forth and colonize and acquire, and elevate to the position of independence and nationality. But it does not follow that because our destiny points to progress like this that we are to spread a drag-net around every island and foot of terrestrial space about us. Blacks, and mulattoes, and quad- roons, and mestizoes we have enough of — and more than enough. We want no more ebony additions to the Eepublic. We want no more mahogany adornings of this character. The African race has got a foothold on this continent, and here it is likely to endure. Its fecundity in tropical latitudes seems to forbid the expectation that it is ever to be rooted out. It has gone on rap- 164 SENATOR BADGER. [Jan. idly increasing its numbers through hundreds of years. "What has been in the past we may fairly assume will be in the future. But it is otherwise with the native aud mixed breeds, and es- pecially with the bastard races of Spanish and French extraction. These hold their place evidently only awaiting the advent among them of the great American race. Before its all- conquering en- terprise and energy those races will fade and disappear. But to the negro, it is evident that some territory on this hemisphere must be allotted. "We would cheerfully compromise the demand of this race for room, by yielding the whole of the West India Islands for their occupation, if thereby we could relieve the con- tinent of the burden and hindrance to its advance and develop- ment which our present black population presents. But we fear that not only must we allot the islands of the Caribbean Sea to them, but a portion also of our own territory lying upon the Gulf of Mexico. But these are considerations and problems which we are not now called upon to determine and which time alone will solve. They are germane, however, to our present purpose, which is to enforce the sentiment that we cannot as a nation or a confederacy of States have every thing on this hemisphere, and ought not to desire it, and that among the things that we ought not to want, and wanting, are not likely to get, is the Island of Cuba. BADGER. [From the New York Tribune of January 12, 1853.] This iron-heeled Old Fogy is nominated for the Supreme Bench to till the vacancy therein existing, and we rather hope his nomination will be confirmed. He is a lawyer of surpassing abilities, and in the main, we believe, an upright man. Judge McLean being once asked asked whom he considered the ablest lawyer practising before the Supreme Court, answered, " George E. Badger." Yet is Mr. Badger by no means a great man. But it is by no means necessary to be a great man in order to be a great lawyer. Mr. Badger's qualifications for the place to which he is nominated are a tough, hard, wiry, mental organi- zation, great clearness and distinctness of perception, method, 1853] BADGER'S CURIOUS CHARACTERISTICS. 165 exactness, and strong grasp of mind, with a good knowledge of the law. He is eminently clear and logical in statement and argument, and, admitting his premises, you are very likely to find yourself forced to go with him to Ins conclusions. He is a trained polemic, and plunges into a controversy with as good a will as a Newfoundland dog springs into the water. He is an amateur theologian, a lay preacher of Episcopacy, and on one occasion fairly walloped the clerical robes off the Bishop of his diocese. Indeed, nothing suits his tastes better than to wield the club of argumentation for the mere satisfaction and delight of knocking the brains out of an antagonist. As a statesman he is of no account, and as a politician detest- able. He lacks breadth and comprehensiveness of view, and a catholic, round-about sense essential to a man of affairs. His mind ran in the rut of the law so long before he came into pub- lic life that he always gets out of gearing whenever he is wanted for a pull out of the beaten track. His nature is gnarled and stubbed, and refuses to bend to new forms. It lacks flexibility and plasticity to a degree that unfits him for genial association either in public or private life. In all statesman-like qualities he is the antipodes of Mr. Mangum, his colleague, who is generally as right and as wise as Mr Badger is wrong and jDerverse. It is indeed a wonder how he ever found his way into political life at all. He ought never to have been translated into the sphere of politics. He has not a single agreeable or winning qualification as a public man. Wrong-headed, crabbed, intolerant, dogmati- cal, inveterate in his prejudices, dictatorial and unmannerly in his deportment, we have often wondered how he ever got into his present position. Some degree of accommodation of mind or manner to popular ideas or tastes, is usually necessary to ena- ble a man to reach political position in this country. But Badger has neither. He is reserved, aristocratic and exclusive, exhibit- ing an offensive prominence of the idea of caste, which is often ludicrously visible in the decayed, shabby gentility of old Vir- ginia gentlemen. He was born for a slave-driver and could never be more agreeably occupied than in wielding the lash over a lazy negro on a cotton plantation, or hazing a fugitive. On the whole, we don't know and cannot imagine a more genuine and spotless example of the breed Hunker. 166 THE MANIFEST-DESTINY MEN. [Jan. Yet, notwithstanding all this, we don't think Mr. Badger would make a bad judge. MANIFEST DESTINY. [From the New York Tribune of January 21, 1853.] We should think the Manifest Destiny statesmen would get tired of hearing themselves talk. This playing of the magpie is tiresome. If they would vary the tune, or enliven their dis- course by something new, it would be more endurable. If they would favor us with the eighth part of a new idea, or refresh us with a speculation that has not been worn utterly threadbare, we would rejoice and take courage. But this eternal iteration and reiteration of the same old song sets one's teeth on edge. We had as lief listen to the filing of a mill-saw. When are we to have relief ? Will not the Manifest Destiny statesmen die to oblige us ? In the ordinary course of nature it will be long be- fore we shall get rid of the existing crop. Unless we can have the aid of the cholera or some other agent of translation, our case is forlorn and well nigh desperate. They stand round about us with grave and sage looks — the solemn procession con- fronts us at every turn ; as we prolong our gaze, they look more lugubrious and dismal than the chaps that froze Tarn O'Shanter's soul in that memorable visit of his to Alloway's Kirk, some years ago. They grow to be grim spectres, with skinny, witch- like fingers, bare arms, ragged vestments — carrying lurid torches — and whips of scorpions, with a flaunting motto "havoc, and spoil, and ruin are my gain." Their turgid nostrils breathe, and their bursting eyeballs glare upon us. We look again, and find they have come like shadows, and so depart. They have all dissolved into thin air. The Manifest Destiny men have be- come mere wreaths of smoke to the imagination. And so they are in fact. One of these gentlemen spoke in the Senate on Tuesday. It was General Lewis Cass. He canted, descanted and incanted, and his incantations brought up the same old figures. We had the same spectre of ' ' inevitable war ' ' that the old gentleman used to frighten the women with during the Oregon controversy. But then the General was younger and the " inevitable " of that 1853] GENERAL LEWIS CASS. 167 day had a more distinct outline and wore a fiercer aspect than now. The General shook in his shoes, and was then plainly in earnest as he declaimed upon " Inevitable War with England " as the sure result of the Oregon boundary question. Now he is less in earnest. He is simply clinging to the skirts of an idea that once possessed him thoroughly. He is making feeble and awkward efforts to replace a mutilated bugaboo that he originally put up, but which fell from its pole long ago. The old gentle- man may waste himself in the effort to get it into a conspicuous position again, but he is doomed to fail. We do not wish to intimate anything to Mr. Cass's discredit. He is an old man. His career is about run. But a short time will elapse before he must sing his nunc dimittis. We cannot impute to him unworthy motives. He professes to be a Chris- tian. We think he is, with qualifications. But he made a silly filibustering speech on Tuesday. It was without merit or force in idea or expression. It was a poor rehash of old meats without pepper or salt. He made it, we have no doubt, at Mr. Soule's instigation. The Frenchman wanted a sort of snow-plough to clear his way, and so he put forward the old gentleman. Mr. Cass was always dull and heavy. He is now logy and flatulent. So have we seen old horses pushed on to the course and driven past their powers. Whip and spur made them save their dis- tance, but with what heavings and noises would they go over the track ! We cannot think of soberly criticising in detail this effort of the venerable General. It is part of himself. It is one chip out of the log. The General is old — so is the speech. The General is spongy, so is the speech. The General is tremulous and fussy — so is the speech. He is full of doubts and fears — so is the speech. He is possessed by vague apprehension of wars and rumors of wars — so is the speech. He is all " mops and brooms ' ' on England, and France, and Manifest Destiny, and " inevitable war." So is the speech. Clouds and darkness gather round his mental vision as the night of his life approaches, and his thoughts become muddy. So is his speech. The General is feeble and tottering. So ' is his speech. Why, what statesman not in his dotage would think of inferring the intentions of the French Government from a fugitive publication in a newspaper, contain- 168 LETTER FROM THOMAS CORWIN. [Feb. ing the extravagant vagaries of a moon-struck speculator like Monsieur Dupasquier du Dommartin ? Or to infer the policy of the English Government from a dashing magazine article of some hare-brained aspirant for notoriety ? Yet upon no better or more solid ground than this, does General Cass gravely affirm the policy of both these governments in respect of their future action upon this continent, and call upon Congress for a vote of defiance ! It is said that old men are good counsellors. But not quaking men. Mr. Cass is a quaking man. He always was. He could always see what was not to be seen. He does now. He said in 1848 and 1849 that " war is inevitable." But it did not come. He sees now that England and France are conspiring to arrest the growth and progress of this mighty and rapidly growing Republic ; and that unless we forthwith order them off the con- tinent, nobody can tell what mischief may happen. Mr. Cass was frightened before at nothing. He is alarmed now at less than nothing. Mr. Cass has had his day. Let him retire. We shall be rid of at least one of the Manifest Destiny statesmen, a leading characteristic of all of whom is that they love to dwell upon the vague and uncertain things of the future, rather than devote themselves to the discharge of the vital practical duties of to-day. [From Thomas Corvvin, Secretary of the Treasury.] Washington City, February 12, 1853. Dear Sir : As I never read newspapers except such as are marked and sent me, I only know what my friends write or think of me by accident. My attention was yesterday casually directed to an article in the Union commenting on a letter in the Tribune from your Washing- ton correspondent. I refer to the Union of Friday (yesterday). I have now only to ask who the writer of the Tribune letter is, and whether his method of treating the subject of the letter is considered by the editors of the Tribune just and proper towards those whose public conduct is thus arraigned. As this is probably the very last instance in which I shall ever make this sort of inquiry, of either political friend or foe, I hope I may not be considered presumptuous if I indulge the hope of a prompt and full reply. Very respectfully, Thos. Corwin. James S. Pike, New York Citv. 1853] COLLAPSE OF A POLITICAL BALLOON. 169 FILIBUSTERISM ON THE EBB. [From the New York Tribune of February 17.] Young America has spoken in the Senate. And what does Young America in the Senate say ? Well, as near to nothing as can be. The big balloon of Manifest Destiny collapses, and flaps about like a sloop's mainsail in a calm. The gale is over, the kite-string has broken, and Young America drifts helter- skelter in the sky, or, changing the figure, scuds back, like hens running for a shed in a shower. Filibusterism is no- where. Soule and Ned Marshall and Douglas and George Law and Sanders and a number of others, big and little, that started just after the presidential election, to raise the wind on this no- tion of Manifest Destiny in general, and Cuba Annexation in particular, have made as great a miscarriage in their efforts as Lopez himself did. Undertaking to set more sail, they have had all their canvas blown away. They went aloft on the rat- lines, with great show and pretensions, to hoist their wind-bags, and have not only lost them overboard, but have barely saved their own bacon by coming down by the run on the standing rig- ging of the ship. This figurative mode of expression must be excused. These brilliant Filibusters come before us so in flashes and streaks that we can only deal with them in tropes and figures of a flashy description. It were as sensible to attempt to apply geometri- cal measurement to a fog bank as to deal specifically with the vapors these gassy fellows generate. They are as ridiculous as the Millerites, who put on their ascension robes, and gathered crowds, while they climbed into high trees to take their flight, and who leaped only to break their necks, or to stick fast in the mud. Mr. Ned Marshall started first to " blaze" out the road for Young America to take which would lead to Cuba, and after going all around Eobin Hood's barn, ended in the lame and im- potent conclusion that it was no go, but that a path could be cut to Hayti, and recommended his boon companions to take that as better than nothing. Mr. Soule followed amid a great clatter of tin pans and sounding of rams' horns on his expedition fili- buster-wise. He travelled on for some time, and at the end his followers, hearers, and readers concluded that his road led no- 170 FILIBVSTERISM ON THE EBB. [Feb. where. He got no farther ahead, so far as any thing practical was to be attained, than a horse in a bark mill. And lastly comes the Douglas, the favorite and champion and candidate of Young America, to hold his flambeaux to the path they should follow. The moment he stops talking all is darkness again. The Filibusters have crowded to the shores at the sound of the bugles of their leaders and impatiently await embarkation or direction. But the atmosphere is misty, the ways are muddy, the ships are not forthcoming, the leaders are in a state of obfus- cation, and nothing promises to be done. The .play don't com- mence — the entertainment don't begin, and the audience are getting impatient. We suggest that Filibusterism is on the ebb, and that unless somebody does something pretty soon, Young America will be- gin to disband and disperse. We don't want them to take it hard of us to say so, but really we think that their prospects are growing poor under their present leaders. Suppose they should try a change. There is Sken Smith, and Rynders, and Mike Walsh, and others to be had. The old ones are getting quite too old fogyish. Turn 'em out and try some new ones. We don't want to see this party go to pieces ; it has a mission to fulfil in which we have an interest. We have among us some chaps who have a great penchant for a storm in the Caribbean Sea, and who would be improved by it, especially if it resulted in their getting overboard. There is a lack in Mr. Douglas's speech which strikes us with great force, considering the prominence given to the sub- ject by his lieutenant in the House. We allude to his omis- sion to say a word of Hayti. Mr. Marshall, seeing the need of doing something for the Filibusters, after finding the Cuban scheme exploded, gave a delicious picture of Hispaniola, and turned their eyes thither. But his suggestions have fallen still-born. The senator is silent as the grave thereon. No echo has been awakened in that quarter to inspire the hopes of the little band of patriots who sail under the flag of Young America. There is no longer a Cuba, or even a substitute for Cuba, held out to them. Hayti would do better than nothing, but even that it would seem is not hereafter to be considered legitimate plunder. The hopes 1853] SENATOR WESTCOTT ON TURTLES. 171 of the Filibusters have turned to dust and ashes. We do not wonder that their organ is advertised for sale — stock and fluke. But who will buy the Democratic Review after all this collaps- ing of ths Young American leaders, and especially after its awful faux pas of publishing the likeness of the ablest Demo- cratic editor, the sight of which, according to Prentice, has oc- casioned innumerable deaths from convulsions. Nobody. It is a gone case — leaders, party, organ, and all. Who'll write an epitaph on Young America and the Filibusters ? TUETLEDOM AND WESTCOTT. [From the New York Tribune of March 9.] The poet speaks of a charming place "Where the purple mullet and the goldfish rove." The prosaic name of that particular spot is the coast of Flor- ida, otherwise Turtledom. Florida, everybody knows, is an im- mense State. It contains any quantity of bullfrogs, rattlesnakes, alligators, water-rats, and land-rats to the acre. No part of Tur- tledom, we believe, is visible to the naked eye. What isn't under water is under the sand. The inhabitants are mostly am- phibious or of the Caspar Hauser sort. A considerable portion of the latter have never been caught. They inhabit the ever- glades and are called Seminoles. Uncle Sam tried to catch them several years ago, and spent some thirty millions and nearly ruined the reputation of several military men of distinction in the attempt — the latter being a loss of no small account, military men being the material out of which we have of late got into the habit of making Presidents and Cabinet Ministers in very large proportions. The free white inhabitants of Florida are to be found, after diligent search on its surface, at the rate of about one to a square mile — hardly more than some of our Northern States can boast of school-houses or churches. But among these free white inhabitants, as among their bullfrogs, are some of the noisiest sort. And the noisiest among the noisy is ex-Senator ex-Governor Westcott. This gentleman has run an eventful career, and we hardly know of any thing he is not, or has not been, or of any thing that he has not done, or 172 TURTLES IN THE TARIFF. [March had a hand in, especially in the way of mischief -making. If there is anything particularly pert or pungent going through the newspapers in the way of political diablerie, it may be pretty safely assumed that Mr. Westcott is at the bottom of it. And for many such things we imagine few would dispute his right to take out a patent as original inventor. He is a sort of political Guy Fawkes, with this distinction, that his powder canisters often get touched off. Of Florida he may say, in the main, from the establishment of her Constitution down to the present time," All of which I saw, and most of which I was." Westcott is in fact the turtle's head of Florida, and a snapping turtle at that. The arms of Florida should be a turtle couchant, and a Westcott ram- pant. Florida without Wescott would be no Florida. So far as we have seen any sign of brains in that quarter Westcott has fur- nished them. When Westcott was governor he wrote his own messages, and when Duvall was governor, Westcott wrote Du- vall's messages, and when he became senator everybody knows that the filibustering propensities of his ever-boiling noddle were the constant source of senatorial convulsions and splurges, until no man in the body was so conspicuous as this eccentric and pug- nacious senator with the queue; and no State of half so much prominence as the State of Florida. "No man was so zealous about slavery, none so vigilant in watching or so keen in scenting dangers to the peculiar institution. But above all, he was es- pecially conspicuous in looking after the interests of Florida. One little fact shows this in a ludicrous light. When the tariff of 1846 was under discussion, Westcott Mowed up about it, and refused to support it unless a certain article was protected ; and, reader, what think you it was ? Why, nothing less than turtles. And, accordingly, turtles went into the tariff, and they are the subjects of protection to this day. Our late fishing difficulties have developed fishery literature in abundance. We have had Mr. Sabine most elaborately on the subject, and, as we thought, most effectually. We could not see that he had left a fin or a scale of it untouched, or a spawn of it to be hatched into life by anybody else. More lately, Mr. Consul Andrews, of the Fishing District, has expounded in that manual of political and statistical ubiquity of his, just issued, all the in- shore and deep-sea branches of this prolific tapic, and wound in 1853] WE8TC0TTS FERTILE GENIUS. 173 and out of it in so many weir-like ways, that we did not imagine that even the pollywog interest would have reason to complain that its history and claims had not been fully recognized and pre- sented to an admiring country. But " Ex. Document, No. 45," ' ' Senate, ' ' has convinced us that we have labored under deep delusion. So far as we have observed, neither Sabine nor An- drews, nor any other of the learned commentators have said a word upon the momentous branch of the subject brought to light by " Senate Document, No. 45," the most of which is the product of the prolific brain of the aforesaid Senator Westcott, alias Governor Westcott, alias Captain Westcott, of the Florida Volunteers, and Seminole extirpator, and negro slavery defender, and cotton-interest elucidator in general. The field here ex- plored and brought before us with Daguerrean accuracy and crayon-drawing distinctness is a part of the sphere which we denominate " Turtledom." Mr. Westcott has hitherto appeared in all sorts of characters upon the political stage, and always with eclat, but his versatile genius has here found expression in something entirely novel. He now appears in "Turtle." Not to bewilder the reader, we will briefly say that turtles are caught on the Florida coast, and that a turtle is considered in Florida a fish. And with that detonating, powder-like sensibility with which our Southern brethren in general, and Senator Westcott in particular, manifest to every thing that touches any of their interests, the moment the " fishery question" was broached in Congress all Turtledom was in a blaze. And on the 14th of Februar} r last the Senate passed a resolution calling on the Pres- ident for an authentic expose of the ways and the woes of Tur- tledom. And this resolution brought forth " Senate Document, No. 45," to which we have referred. This document con- sists, first, of a correspondence between Mr. Livingston, Secre- tary of State, and Mr. Bankhead, the British minister at Washing- ton, disclosing the important fact that the Bahama Island people desired to vary their pursuits of salt-making and wrecking by being allowed now and then to spear a turtle on the neighboring coast of Florida. But the body of the document, which con- sists of twenty pages, is mainly occupied by a long letter signed by Governor Duvall, but bearing unmistakable internal marks of being the production of ex-Senator Westcott, and by three letters 174 SLAVERY AND TURTLES. [March written and signed by the aforesaid James D. Westcott, Jr., when a senator in Congress. These letters all drive at the one point, of showing the vast importance of turtles, and of the necessity of preventing everybody but Floridians from catching them ; and the letters would be entirely complete if they had only contained a receipt for the most approved method of cook- ing the article on which they so eloquently dwell. In any sec- ond edition of the work known as " Senate Document, No. 45," we would suggest the addition of a few first-rate receipts for cooking turtles. The subject would then be exhausted and nothing would be left to be added by future explorers in Turtle- dom. We now have Isaak Walton's "Complete Angler." We should then have Westcott's " Complete Turtler." But what has chiefly drawn our attention to " Senate Docu- ment, No. 45," is the trenchant temper the ex-Senator displays upon the subject which lies nearest his heart, namely, the patri- archal institution. It takes an ingenious man to imagine what connection there can possibly be between slavery and turtles. But Mr. Westcott makes it out as clear as mud, and we cannot possibly do less than refer those who desire to investigate that touching relationship, to the document in question. It makes plain enough to our apprehension that the Union has been in as great danger from the turtle question as it has ever been from any one of the frightful topics that have blanched the cheek of the nation any time during the last five years. Our impression is, that if turtles had not been protected by the tariff of 1846, and if Senator Westcott's filibustering letters in " Senate Docu- ment, No. 45," on turtles and slavery, had been disregarded by Mr. Polk's administration, we should have had the people of Florida in open rebellion, and the troops of Turtledom, headed by the belligerent senator himself, thundering at the gates of the Capitol demanding justice for turtles and slavery. Where then would have been the Union ? We tremble while we pro- pound the question ! [From lion. Truman Smith.] " If the Whig party and name were once fairly dead and buried, we believe every distinctive principle whereon it acts would be affirmed, every end it contemplates secured, within a very few years. The fierce hostility we encoun- 1853] LETTER FROM TRUMAN SMITH. 1?5 ter is impelled, not by what we really aim to do, but by what we are mistakenly -supposed to be. The National Railroad to the Pacific (and, in fact, internal improvement generally), the protection of our infant and precariously strug- gling branches of manufacturing industry, our canal enlargement, etc., etc., can only be effectively opposed by drawing as against them old party lines and arous- ing inveterate predjudices. May the time soon come when even this device will be resorted to in vain !" Washington City, March 27, 1853. Dear Sir : The foregoing paragraph, from an interesting and able article in your paper of yesterday's date, hits the nail on the head. It accords exactly with the conclusions at which I have arrived. I am confident we can do nothing with the Whig organization in the way of assisting and maintaining the cherished measures and principles of the party — measures and principles which would be unhesitatingly embraced by two thirds, and probably by three fourths, of the American people, were it not for the prejudices of party names and the passions of party organi- zations. We may, as heretofore, occasionally carry the presidential elec- tion, to be followed by a remorseless scramble for the spoils, and ulti- mately by defection and treachery such as we witnessed during the late presidential canvass. In addition to this, the painful fact stands revealed that we have many in our midst who have no more honesty than they should have. Dining the late Administration our people, or rather many of them, seem to have gone in for stealing on a large scale. I consider the party disgraced by Galphinisms and Gardnerisms and other isms which will ere long be brought to light. If there are not astounding develop- ments in the next few months I shall be agreeably disappointed. We cannot elect a man who would be worth one straw when elected, and he could not avoid bringing into power the rogues, or at least many of them. Besides all that, we should have over again the same exhibitions of nepo- tism and favoritism which were the besetting sins of the Taylor and Fill- more administrations. Such are my anticipations in respect to the future ; and yet I am too old a man to be whiffling about. I shall not, therefore, desert my party ; bat I am prepared to unite with the disin- terested and patriotic portions of them in an effort to do something for the country, provided a door is open which shall afford a reasonable chance for success. I think such a door will be opened in course of four years, if we manage discreetly and properly. The candidate, who- ever he may be, must be brought forward under Democratic auspices and be supported in the name of Democracy, otherwise it will be noth- ing but Whiggery over again. During the next two years I can do much to encourage the presentation of a candidate of the right sort, one who will be for a reasonable and proper modification of the tariff of '46, 176 SOULE, MINISTER TO SPAIN. [April and for harbor and river improvement ; who will also be against more territory and against war. Why will not this be better for you and me than to go for any old fogy of the Whig party ? For my part, I have got tired of officiating as a sort of hoop to the Democratic barrel ! keeping the heading and staves in place by an outside pressure. What say you to this, Mr. Historiographer ! Biographer ! of the celebrated Scott canvass of 1852 ? Truman Smith, Chairman of the Executive Committee. Hon. James S. Pike. MINISTER TO SPAIN. [From the New York Tribune of April 8.] We are a little surprised at the intelligence brought to us last night by telegraph that Mr. Soule has been appointed Min- ister to the court of Madrid, notwithstanding our Washington correspondents some days since predicted the appointment. It has been supposed that Louisiana would not be allowed two first- grade missions, and when Mr. Slidell was appointed to Central America, it was reckoned to settle Mr. Senile's prospects in the diplomatic line. Another reason for the supposition that Mr. Soule would not receive this mission particularly, is, that it was applied for by a distinguished legal gentleman of Louisiana, who came to Washington, at Mr. Soule's suggestion, and with a promise from him, Mr. S., that he would render the aforesaid gentleman all the needed aid to obtain any position he desired. When it transpired, some days ago, that Mr. Soule was himself a candidate for the mission, he was ajDplied to promptly by the gentleman in question to know if it were so, and if he had been brought to Washington on a wild-goose chase. To this Mr. Soule replied that he would not accept the Spanish mission, ex- cept upon one condition, and that condition he did not suppose the Administration would grant. Upon being questioned as to what it was, he replied that it was that he should have unlimited powers for the purchase of Cuba. We infer therefore that Mr. Soule is invested with unrestricted authority to bargain for that island. This is the object for which he goes. He has walked straight over the head of a friend to get the place for this purpose and no other. We may 1853] SANTA ANNA DICTATOR. 177 be sure he will exert all his skill, all his adroitness, and all his ability to accomplish this object. He is possessed of a boundless ambition, and we don't know any thing he would not do to sig- nalize his diplomatic career and give eclat to his name to the ex- tent that would be done by the annexation of Cuba through his efforts. We are prepared, therefore, for any kind of a project and any sort of a demonstration which looks towards this result. We expect to hear in the end of cajoleries, bamboozlements, threatenings, and every description of expedient played off upon Spain without stint or measure by the ardent, ambitious, and un- scrupulous Frenchman now sent to represent us at the Spanish court. The Cuban filibusters will have a zealous ally in Mr. Soule, who will second any of their motions that promise suc- cess. And we have no doubt that, if every other expedient fails to acquire Cuba, that our new Minister will not hesitate to do hi& best to get up a war between us and Spain, in the hope and ex- pectation that that will accomplish the object. Spain is, there- fore, the point in our European relations that we shall scrutinize with the closest gaze and the greatest interest during Mr. Soule's stay at Madrid. We expect nothing but that he will involve the country in some difficulty before he gets through with the job he has on hand. SANTA ANNA AND MEXICO. [From the New York Tribune of May 16.] The hero just south of us with the wooden leg has recom- menced his career. He has opened business on his own account, without partners. He coolly talks of the nation " whose desti- nies are in his hands' ' just as if he had obtained a warrantee deed of the whole concern — land, population, and all. He has as- sumed without hesitation, and proposes to exercise without re- serve, the powers of a dictator. We published yesterday in our Havana letter the names of Iris new diplomatic staff, and a few days since we gave those of his cabinet, and shall have soon, doubtless, the names of his instruments whom he dignifies with the title of Councillors. By his preliminary edict we learn that a legislative body would only be in the way in his scheme of government, and therefore it is, in mild phrase, ' ' to enter into 178 PROPOSED LEAGUE OF SPAIN AND MEXICO. [May recess." This is a modest mode of sending those troublesome gentlemen called legislators home. Doubtless Mr. Santa Anna thinks they can be better employed there than in debating his official acts. As for the interests of the people at large, Mr. Santa Anna undoubtedly considers himself qualified to take care of them without the intervention or aid of loquacious represen- tatives. He evidently looks to the idea of making his govern- ment a simple machine. Having thus concluded to take affairs wholly into his own hands, he already begins to cast about him for allies and supporters from without. Finding her most Catholic Majesty of Spain a little hard pushed on this side of the Atlantic on account of the filibustering propensities of Brother Jonathan, our sombre hero of the wooden leg, who is a good deal down in the mouth lest he shouldn't make things go as he desires, is mak- ing overtures to her to hitch teams, and so strengthen one an- other against the great marauder of the North. This is very like a couple of gobblers forming an alliance to resist a locomotive. What does Mr. Santa Anna expect to accomplish by such a scheme as this ? He has the reputation of embodying the brains of his nation, but if this is a sample of Mexican wisdom what upon earth must be its folly ? Spain, from being a nation of extended dominion, vigorous sway, and trenchant temper, has had all her outposts driven in, except those which the forebear- ance of other powers permits her to hold, has grown gray and gaunt and feeble, and totters in decay and decrepitude upon the very brink of national ruin. Strip her of her American col- onies, and her existing machinery of government would collapse under the burden of a hopeless bankruptcy. There is no power in all Mexico, and there is none in the Spanish government, be- tween which to form a league that would not provoke ridicule for its imbecility ; and such would be the readiest means to bring about the very result the league would be established to guard against. But what can Santa Anna do ? This is a difficult question to answer. It is easier to see and to say what he cannot do. We doubt if the whole fabric of Mexican nationality and character be not so hollow and rotten that nothing substantial can rest upon it. It seems to us that Mexico is in a state of hopeless decay. Her population is of the meanest conglomerate. It is mentally, 1853] EFFEMINACY OF THE MEXICANS. 179 morally, and physically diseased to an extent that appears to for- bid all reasonable hope that it can ever be raised to the level of a self -sustaining civilization. It seems to be the doom of all our mixed races to disappear. The Indian race melts away before the white man even without amalgamation. The Mexican has far less of a solid, enduring base of character, less genuine man- hood to oppose to the perpetual attrition of the great Northern American race than the pure savage. He is effeminate and fee- ble in his physical characteristics, and destitute of every en- nobling quality, of every manly virtue. Still, would Santa Anna do all that his position admits of, it might yet turn out that be- neath the apparently totally demoralized state of the nation there is a core, a germ of manhood left, upon which to found anew the superstructure of firm government. But every thing being done it would be a chance then at best. If the power of the priesthood could be subverted in Mexico, and the people emanci- pated from their spiritual bondage ; if the wealth that has been torn from the poor and wrung from the victims of the internal convulsions of that unhappy country, which has found its way into the coffers of the ecclesiastics, could be wrested from their possession and applied to the discharge of the national debt ; if a solid system of finance and an economical government could be established ; if a diversified industry were heartily encouraged, and if the country were thrown open to enterprise having assur- ance of protection, a vast improvement might take place, and Mexico rise by degrees to the dignity of a really independent, self -sustained nationality. But who can hope that these neces- sary conditions to her release from her present abasement and degradation can all be complied with ? From Santa Anna we can expect no such thing. His scheme evidently is to draw even tighter the cords of spiritual bondage, and to forge new fetters for the political enslavement of the miserable masses he essays to govern. We observe that he has appointed the Very Rev. Bishop of Michoacan the President of his new Council of Twenty-one, which he has established in lieu of the two defunct branches of Congress. And our latest intelligence — which we publish this morning — is, that he has been receiving petitions for the aboli- tion of the federal system, which is simply a convenient mode of intimating that it is his purpose to destroy this system. Choked 180 LIEUT. MAURY ON AMAZONIA. [May anew by the tyranny of botli spiritual and temporal power what is left for Mexico ? In her next throes for relief it is clear that a large party will be found within her borders advocating annex- ation to the United States. Arista plainly intimates that he is for it. But to the decaying corpse of Mexican corruption and imbecility we do not imagine this youthful republic stands ready to be bound. The national appetite for territory we know is voracious, but that it will ever lead us into the unspeakable folly of swallowing the populous districts of Mexico we shall never believe till we see the act consummated — a sight we never expect to witness. AMAZONIA. [From the New York Tribune of May 26.] Lieutenant Maury, of the National Observatory, is for a sci- entific person a most imaginative gentleman. We saw in the National Intelligencer of Saturday last a long communication from him addressed to Mr. J. B. Pryor, who had asked Ins views on " the objects of the Memphis Convention," with the purpose of laying them before that body at its meeting in June. Mr. Maury lays himself out at full length on what he calls " Ama- zonia. ' ' He seems to understand that the gentlemen who held the Commercial Convention at Baltimore last winter, and ad- journed thence to meet at Memphis next month, not only aim at diverting existing trade to Southern ports, but are aiming at the discovery of new fields wherein to plough out the ingots and pearls of fresh commercial glories. This idea inspires Mr. Maury, and he describes the prodigality with which Nature has poured treas- ures into " Amazonia" in the most glowing manner. His en- thusiasm over " Amazonia" is well-nigh boundless. He ex- presses his utter astonishment that such a country could have been so long ignored by all creation. He says : " That the men of the age, the statesmen of Europe and America, the spirit of colonial enterprise and adventure which marks the times should all have ignored such a country, such a soil, and such climates, with such capacities, capabilities, and resources as are there, is, and will hereafter be regarded as the greatest of wonders." 1853] MAURY'S ELOQUENCE. 181 Mr. Maury expatiates largely upon the travels of a " Young Sailor Richards," who it seems has been down to those diggins, and who there saw a great many astonishing sights, and among them a river that sometimes runs up stream and sometimes down (unlike the Tombigbee), and, according to Mr. Richards and Mr. Maury, has both its head and its tail in the Lake Titicaca. Besides this, young Richards saw animals on the one hand " tame," and on the other " wild." So says Mr. Maury. He looked upon the Andes and saw snow above, while he found it melting hot below ; there too he found trees of ' ' bread ' ' and " milk," and nuts that could be used either as a dessert or a gas- pipe. Mr. Richards avowed to the Lieutenant that he was quite taken aback at the prodigality of Nature in " Amazonia," and wondered the country had never been occupied. See how Mr. Maury glows over the " Young Sailor Richards :" " He had seen the sun at high noon standing in the north, and casting shadows to the south. He had been in those stormy and distant latitudes where daylight was but the longest meteor of a long night. He had seen a river that turns about at times and runs up stream. He had taken in at one view the vegetation of the three zones ; and I, therefore, wondering which of all these things appeared to him the most curious, said to him — ' Pray, Mr. Eichards, what, during this interesting trip of yours in the valley of the Amazon, struck you with the most force, as being the most curious thing or remarkable circumstance met with in all your travels ? ' " ' The most remarkable thing, sir ? "Why, that such a country as that of the Amazon should, in the middle of the nineteenth century, be a wilder- ness. ' " What a commentary ! I thank that noble young tar with all my heart for this most glorious description of a glorious country. Language of greater force and compass, or of more eloquence, is not to be found anywhere." Mr. Maury then proceeds to say that this is the country to which he invites the Convention. Now we like the suggestion. Let the Memphis people who propose a universal revolution in trade and commerce try their hand on ' ' Amazonia. ' ' Here is a first-rate chance for them to make a beginning and secure a trade that now goes begging. If half of Mr. Maury's swans should turn out to be real swans, and not geese, the Memphis men would find good picking for the rest of their lives in exploiting the streams he describes, with 182 THE REVOLUTIONISTS OF MEMPHIS. [May the soft enthusiasm of a visionary, as coming from the " Chick- asaw Bluffs," "Pittsburg," and elsewhere up and down the Mississippi and Ohio on the one hand, and from " Tabatinga," "Nauta," and other out-of-the-way places on the other. We recommend the "Chickasaw," " JNauta," and "Tabatinga" trade to the Memphis Convention. " Amazonia" is an im- mense country beyond all manner of doubt, and they grow all manner of products on the sides of the Andes, from the tropical fruits at the base to the lichen and moss of Lapland at their tops. And we don't see how the Memphis Convention could do better than to go into the lichen and moss, and pineapple and banana trade. There is certainly a vast opening for it, for the mouth of the Amazon is not less than a hundred miles wide, and, we might add, is hot in proportion. Let the revolutionists of Mem- phis off jackets and go ahead into ' ' Amazonia. ' ' And don't let them consider that this is any picayune business either. We have Mr. Maury's authority for saying that " Amazonia" is " alone capable of sustaining the entire present population of the world." The idea may well make our Memphis friends prick up their ears. Seriously, we are impatient at this gabble-and-strut manner of treating such topics. It is but the spread of the peacock's tail. Mr. Maury is an enthusiastic gentleman who has done some service by his wind and current charts. But really it seems to us that he is giving vent on paper to too much of the breezy commodity. What this country wants is not incitements to trade up and down the Amazon, but to develop and improve and perfect our own internal resources. With a virgin soil within our own limits capable of producing, and which does now produce all that " Amazonia" can offer, what need have we to seek, through the pestilential jungles and torrid heats of the Amazon the wealth we have, or can have, at home ? Mr. Maury need not wonder that that country is yet a waste, even if " Sailor Boy Kichards " does. The great river on which he dilates with such fervent fancy pours its waters into the ocean on the Equa- tor, and it runs, for almost twenty-five hundred miles of its course, without getting five degrees away from that line. A vertical sun forever blazes down upon its bosom, making its atmosphere like that of a furnace seven times heated. Miasma 1853] LETTER FROM GEORGE RIP LET. 183 is generated over the oceans of rank vegetation, or the steam- ing marshes that border it, and spreads disease and death whither- soever its exhalations are floated by the wind. The air is every- where laden with noxious vapors fatal to life. Man gasps for breath amid exhausting heats, and inhales it but to expire from its poisons. Is it any wonder that such a country should not be the first, or among the first, to which American enterprise has turned its attention ? [From George Ripley.] Tribune Office, July 3, 1853. My Dear Pike : I am really ashamed that I have not been able to get my head far enough above water to examine your maiden novel until this very day, when the impending Fourth gives business a lull. I cannot flatter you with any blood-red hopes of success as a ficti- tious writer — out of the sphere of politics and theology, where, indeed, you show invention and imagination perfectly Shakespearean. This manuscript production, which you have so shamefully endeav- ored to palm off on me as the work of a lady, will not do. I am cer- tain that none of our great publishing houses would look at it for a second time. Its chief merit is its fluency and smoothness — the narra- tive runs like oil ; but it has no strong salient points — no fire — no wick- edness — no wrath to come. I therefore advise you to withdraw your pretensions as a rival of ... . and stick to your cantankerous snarls and growls at our great and shining lights in Church and State. To spare you the mortification of this failure, I authorize you to assure your condoling friends that the New York market just now is very flat for the lighter literature, which will stand no chance until colder weather — and probably not then. I will carefully preserve your remains, as I cherish the memory of your numerous virtues, and more numerous sins, and am, as ever, Yours truly, Geo. Ripley. James S. Pike, Esq., Careless, Mayghne. ATCHISON AND SLAVERY. [From the New York Tribune of November, 1853.] A late stump speech of Senator Atchison in Missouri, which we find reported in the Glasgow Ti?nes, affords fresh evidence of 184 SENATOR ATCHISON ON NEBRASKA. [Nov. the activity of the slavery men in opposition to the organization of Nebraska, while it offers a remarkable example of vacillating judgment and swerving purposes on the part of that very shal- low gentleman. Mr. Atchison made a speech on the last day of the last session of Congress, on the subject of the organization of a territorial government for Nebraska. "We laid a portion of that speech before our readers the other day, containing an ad- mission that its author went to Washington a year ago opposed to Nebraska, for the reason that slaves were excluded from the Territory by the Missouri Compromise. It also contained an avowal that he had changed his ground during the session, and had determined to vote for the organization of the Territory, see- ing that he could not discover any way to get around the pro- visions of the Compromise, and he had no hope of their repeal. On that occasion Mr. Atchison had to try twice before he could make up his mind fully to avow his real reasons why he was against Nebraska at first, and why he had concluded to vote for the organization of the Territory at last. But he finally got the reason out, and this admission disclosed the secret of the hostility manifested in the Senate on that question. By the speech be- fore us it appears that Mr. Atchison has turned another somerset and gone back to his original position. He now distinctly opposes the territorial organization of Nebraska, and avows that he shall go against it, notwithstanding his last speech in Congress was made in its favor. The subject of slavery in all its aspects is a constant source of misery to its friends. It is a ghost that forever haunts their sleeping and their waking dreams. It is a phantom that con- stantly preoccupies their thoughts and their imagination. It is the skeleton in the house ; only that they will never be quiet upon it, but incessantly dwell upon its horrors. The slave- holder, or the supporter of slavery in this our day, is emphati- cally, over and above every other man, the creature of but one idea. Slavery is his meat and his drink. It is the atmosphere in which he breathes. It is his companion by night and by day. It is the fountain of all his own thoughts, and it is the weight and measure by which he estimates the thoughts of every other man. Nothing comes to him on its own merits and unencum- bered, either from the realms of mind or matter. Every truth 1853] THE SLAVERY OF SLAVERY. 185 of religion, every dictate of charity, every sentiment of philan- thropy, every glowing hope and every generous feeling, every fact of science and every deduction of logic, before being accepted or countenanced by him, has to be examined in its influ- ence upon slavery. And accordingly as its bearing is for or against, so is decided the question of its reception into the mind. And especially so is decided the question whether it shall be allowed to direct or influence the conduct of the individual. The support and defence of chattel slavery necessitates abject mental servitude, and creates a slavery of the soul, which, to every independent mind, is more galling than the worst fetters of physical bondage. We daily feel a melancholy sorrow at the ■straits into which we see the supporters, apologists, and defend- ers of slavery driven. The natural instincts of justice and right often prompt them to do some good act. They no sooner begin than they are arrested in it by the fell genius that dogs their footsteps and whose suggestion is their law. The beauty of truth often seduces them into a ready assent, which is scarce half pronounced ere the expression is checked, qualified, or withheld entirely. For such mental bondage, such slavery to slavery, such perversion Of the powers which elevate man in the scale of being, such stultification of the intellect, and such self-inflicted incarceration of the soul, who can help feeling pity and com- miseration ? Thus we even pity Mr. Atchison, though we confess that we do not think that either his moral or mental organization is of ■such a texture that it will sufter much from the consciousness of his dodging tergiversations. But it is pitiable to see any man who has been elevated to the position of United States Senator, thus running from one side to another of a question, beating about and dodging from hedge to hedge like a stoned squirrel, on a measure of legislation which he should approach like a man, consider like a man, and decide like a man. That he does not do it in this case, but falters and hesitates, deciding first one way and then another, fooling away what little capital of respectable mediocrity he had to begin with, is because he is one of the poor sticks under that degrading subjection to slavery of w T hich we have spoken. He is consistent in nothing but in his fealty to the peculiar institution. To this degenerate and inglo- 186 WALKER EXTEMPORIZES A NATION. [Nov. rious condition how many of the public men of our day are meanly aiming, believing it to be the only goal of political suc- cess and distinction. A NEW REPUBLIC. [From the New Turk Tribune of November, 1853.] We herald this morning, as we heralded in yesterday's even- ing edition, the striking fact that a new republic had sprang into existence on this continent, with all its paraphernalia of President, cabinet officers, military and naval bureaus, com- manders by sea and land, et cetera, et cetera. Pause, reader, for an instant to gaze upon this improvisation of a new, and (if it should live long enough) immortal nation and people. It has sprung into being in a befitting manner. The country it has chosen is a volcanic tongue on the Pacific, at some remote period interjected above the sea by a great and sudden convulsion of nature. The republic now established thereon has not less suddenly sprung into existence. Yesterday it Mas not ; to-day it is. Behold its government and its people ! Mark their meteoric and triumphant career ! Observe their first incursion, note their feats of arms, their victories, the overthrow of the old and the installation of the new dynasty ! See how promptly and easily the new power swings upon its hinges ! Our readers will understand we are speaking of the new Re- public of Lower California. We usher it before the world with a flush of patriotic pride and admiration that we essay in vain to express. What other land can exhibit the spectacle or the his- toric record of having extemporized a new nation in an hour and a half by the clock, with precisely forty-five men, all told ? It is a clear case that we are never to have any difficulties on this, continent about the " balance of power," such as are now con- vulsing all Europe. If we should ever need new powers and new nations, wherewith to adjust or maintain the political equi- librium, it is plain to be seen that we have the ability to jerk them into existence by the nape of the neck as fast as any kind of revolution or spirit of aggression could possibly require. This is manifest from the case before us. Forty -five valorous citizens with carbines in hand, and we dare say canteens of whiskey to 1853] GOVERNMENT OF THE FILIBUSTERS. 187 match, have precipitated themselves from the skies, as it were, and have created a new power in the world. That this is done is clear, from the fact that (unlike the China rebels, whose efforts may fail for want of a recognized chief) a new government, unanimously chosen from and by the people now holding that extensive country, already sways its protecting aegis over the California Peninsula. We have the authentic and authoritative announcement that its officers are appointed as follows : "William Walker, President of Republic of Lower California. Frederick Emory, Secretary of State. John M. Jarnagin, Secretary of War. How- ard A. Snow, Secretary of Navy. Military. — John Chapman, Major of Battalion. Charles H. Gilman, Captain of Battalion. John McKibber, First Lieutenant. Timothy Crocker, Second Lieutenant. Samuel Ruland, Third Lieutenant. Naval. — William T. Mann, Captain of Navy. A. Williams, First Lieu- tenant. John Grandell, Second Lieutenant. What an astounding revelation of the infinite possibilities of Yankeedom is here manifested ! A new republic has been spoken into being in just ninety minutes, and it now stands be- fore the universe with all its arrangements complete, consisting of precisely one President, three cabinet officers, five military and three naval commanders, and thirty-three citizens, " all in fine health and spirits. ' ' Further than this, we are informed that this government is " formed upon a sure and firm basis." The Code Napoleon has been adopted for the rule of decision in the courts and as the civil law of the land. A capital has been founded and a seat of government established. The record we publish shows that the infant republic has already won one prodigious victory on the land, and come off conquerors in a threatened engagement at sea. So invincible is its prowess that not a man had, at the last ac- counts, been killed or wounded throughout its whole career. The great battle of La Paz and the inchoate naval engagement off Cape St. Lucas are regarded as having crowned all these efforts with a success that will command the instant recognition of all existing powers, including the Emperor Napoleon and King Kamehameha. The account of the subsequent proceedings of this new nation 188 REPEAL OF THE MISSOURI COMPROMISE. [Dec. will be full of intense interest. We presume that in addition to the appointment of the members of the cabinet and the filling of the military and naval departments, we shall soon have lists of the diplomatic corps (doubtless to be all dressed in Soule coats), foreign consuls, judges of the courts, and so forth. If we do not, it will be undoubtedly owing to the fact that emi- grants come in slowly, and that there are not, consequently, people enough to fill those places. We shall anxiously await the progress of affairs. The first assembling of the Congress of the new republic will be observed with breathless attention. Immense solicitude will be particu- larly felt, not only in our own but in all the great money circles of the world, in regard to the financial statement of President Walker's government. The name of Walker is a most fortu- nate one for all great money operations, and we hope for the sake of republicanism in general, and the new republic in particular, that his Excellency William Walker is a blood relation of the ex- Ilon. Robert J. The report of the Secretary of the Navy will also be looked for with almost equal interest. Doubtless it will be voluminous, for Lower California is pre-eminently a maritime State, being nearly surrounded by water. It particularly be- hooves us to sedulously scrutinize every thing which looks like a successful naval rivalry in the waters of the Pacific. SLAVERY IN THE FIELD. [From the New York Tribune of December, 1853.] An overt attempt is set on foot in Mr. Douglas's Nebraska bill to override the Missouri Compromise. The eighth section of the act admitting Missouri as a State is as follows : " In all that territory ceded by France to the United States, under the name of Louisiania, which lies north of 36 degrees and 30 minutes north latitude, not included within the limits of the State contemplated by this act, slavery and involuntary servitude, otherwise than in the punishment of crime whereof the parties shall have been duly convicted, shall be, and is hereby, forever prohibited : Provided, always, that any person escaping into the same, from whom labor or service is lawfully claimed in any State or Territory of the United States, such fugitive may be lawfully reclaimed and conveyed to the person claiming his or her labor or service as aforesaid." 1853] THE STRUGGLE OF 1850. 189 This plain and unequivocal declaration that neither slavery nor involuntary servitude shall ever exist in our North-west ter- ritories is unceremoniously hustled aside by Mr. Douglas, who makes the Compromise measures of 1850 the scapegoat for his sin in doing it. He says that : " A proper sense of patriotic duty enjoins upon your Committee the propriety and necessity of a strict adherence to the principles, and even a literal adoption of the enactments of that adjustment in all their territorial bills, so far as the same are not locally inapplicable. ' ' And hence he proceeds to incorporate the following provision respecting Nebraska into his bill at the start : " When admitted as a State, the said Territory, or any portion of the same, shall be received into the Union with or without slavery, as their Constitution may prescribe at the time of their admission." It is not to be expected of men who live for the sole purpose of enjoying official station that they shall ever be manly, noble, or independent. They slavishly cower before every storm that threatens their opinions with popular condemnation, and make haste to trim their sails to catch the passing breeze of public favor. It is everywhere assumed among such that subjection to the slaveholding interest is now the only sure path to political honors and distinction. In the struggle of 1850, the great Northern anti-slavery sentiment was inundated and over- whelmed in consequence of the succumbing temper and faith- lessness of rotten leaders. With their own hands they destroyed the dikes and let the waters flow in and wash away the rich fruits of years. The XXXIst Congress inaugurated the era of submission to slavery. Since then every thing has gone on swim- mingly in this line. Not only was the slavery question compro- mised, but the character, reputation, and principles of hundreds of our public men were also compromised by the same operation. There was a general debauch and demoralization throughout all political circles, as was clearly manifested in the triumphant run of General Pierce. The demoralization continues. It is not to be expected, therefore, that we shall see, for the present, in the acts of public men who place success before principle, any thing but unmanly submission to the demands of the slave power. If General Taylor had lived, and if the Wilmot Proviso doctrine 190 ANTI-SLAVERY STILL VITAL. [Dec. had substantially triumphed, as it would have done through the instrumentality of his policy relative to our Mexican acquisitions, then we should have seen the reverse of what we now see. In- stead of finding Mr. Douglas down on his marrow bones at the feet of slavery, we should see the same man standing up firm and strong in behalf of the glorious old Ordinance of 1787. Freedom's battle was fought and lost in 1850, and the cowards and traitors have all run to the winning side. But although anti-slavery is weak in political circles, it was never stronger with the masses of the people. The great heart of the country is sound. Thousands and millions of true men all over the North wait but the occasion for a practical demon- stration of their power to show how firm is their attachment to the principles of freedom, and how deeply they scorn the shallow fools who have the impertinence to talk about " crushing out " those principles. "We expect to see slavery go on pressing and pushing the advantages it derived from the adjustment of 1850 till a reaction is created that will again convulse the country to its centre. Slavery is imperious, encroaching, truculent, bellig- erent. Its own conduct will thus ultimately generate an explo- sive force that must blow it to atoms. This movement of Doug- las to override and virtually repeal the Missouri Compromise is one step in this direction. We denounce every attempt to remove the salutary restric- tion upon the introduction of slavery into the North-west and above the line of 36° 30', below which the Missouri Compromise confines it, whether insidious and hesitant, or open and flagrant ; a breach of solemn compact between the North and the South, inevitably opening a door to a fresh and fierce agitation. Let the country take notice that this agitation is not commenced on the side of freedom. A FOOTE DOWN IN THE BOOTS. [From the New York Tribune of December, 1853.] Foote has written and published his own funeral oration. We cannot find room for it without excluding better matter. He says that his political death has overtaken him unexpectedly. 1853] FOOTE DOWN IN THE BOOTS. 191 He had no doubt lie should have got back to the Senate, and we daresay he expected to have lived to a good old age therein. This is natural. Most people are overtaken by death before they anticipate it. He intimates that if he had been inclined to bar- gain and dicker for the place, he might have bought his way back, but that he thought the office of senator too elevated and dignified for that. We conjecture that he feared his sin would find him out. And we infer from his remarks that if the posi- tion had been a humble one, he would have had no scruples on this score. Foote thanks the people of Mississippi for what they have done for him. "We thank them too. But we question the taste of Foote's doing it. This being thankful for being elected to stay at home by a man who likes to be in office as well as Foote, is to be thankful for a very small favor. But Foote is a peculiar man. He always was. He must be considered a funny man also, for no one excites more mirth. And he never provokes more laughter than when he is the most solemn. Who can forget his serious naming of the day and the hour for a disso- lution of the Union ? The man really thought at one time that he had the Union in his individual keeping, and one day de- clared he could not keep it together past a coming Saturday afternoon at four, if Congress did not come to his aid. Con- gress was busy in the committee-rooms and elsewhere and could not come, and Foote, by a herculean effort, took it over into the next week. At least he thought he did. Alas ! that he could save the Union, but could not save himself ! He is run under in Mississippi. The repudiators have repudiated him. He is no longer any more current than a Mississippi bond. We bid an affectionate adieu to the ex-senator until the next time he turns up. He will certainly be along soon with some- thing supplementary to his funeral oration. He never yet de- livered a discourse or a speech that he did not follow with one twice as long to explain it. Henry, au revoir ! 192 MORE AMAZONIAN REPORTS. [Jan. 1854. NEWS FROM THE AMAZON. [From the New York Tribune of January 5, 1854.] We have had recently some flowery accounts of the region watered by the Amazon and its tributaries as affording a new theatre for the extension of our commerce. Not long since Lieutenant Maury treated us to a glowing description of the " Tabatinga trade," and the delightful spectacle of the meeting of steamboats on those waters — the one laden with coal from Pittsburg and hams from Cincinnati puffing along under the Equa- tor with the mercury at 100°; and the other filled with "twenty- three varieties of palms, all more or less useful," the oil of turtles' eggs, sarsaparilla, cocoanuts, monkeys' hides, and other delicacies of the season — boimd for New Orleans, and so up the Mississippi to the Lake of the Woods. It was a picture that, as drawn by the imaginative and ornate Lieutenant, we could not help contemplating with ecstasy. Yet we ventured to suggest that we had better be developing our own unrivalled resources which still await the inspiring touch of industry and enterprise, than be groping our way to the unin- habited wilds, the miasmatic jungles and pestilential morasses of that equatorial region, through the heart of which one may travel for two thousand miles without finding any population but semi-cannibal Indians, without witnessing a trace of civilization, ancient or modern, or running afoul of any thing more inviting than affectionate cougars, tigers that long to embrace you, lep- rous savages, stinging insects, vampire bats, snakes, lizards, anacondas, and numberless poisonous reptiles. A region where to 1854] STYLE OF THE LEADING CITIZENS. 193 live is to endure, iu such company, the sweltering torments of torrid heats, to inspire fevers at every breath, to dwell in debili- tating languors, and where the liveliest hopes in death are dashed by the reflection that the best that can be expected for your mortal remains is that they will be sepulchred in the maw of some melancholy alligator. Our attention is recalled to the Amazon country by a book just issued under Congressional auspices, which is the result of an exploration made under the direction of the Navy Department, by Lieutenants Herndon and Gibbon, in 1851 and 1852. We have looked into this book to see what new thing could be said of Amazonia. Our attention was first arrested by some plates introducing us to the inhabitants of that country, with whom we are to open an extensive and lucrative commerce. Their style of dress struck us as being such that, whatever may be their other wants, they will make no extraordinary demands upon our cot- ton and w T oollen mills for fabrics to be used as clothing. "We have in these pictures four specimens of genuine Amazonians. The first is a gentleman of tawny complexion, of good propor- tions, bare as he came into the world, excepting that he has a vegetable belt of the size of a corn-stalk around his waist, to which are appended some palm leaves, hanging so loosely that no sculptor could object to him as a subject on the score of dress. The next is a woman with a rag about her middle, nursing a monkey baby, which we conjecture must be some orphan that she has been prompted to preserve through the activity of her philanthropic and moral sentiments ; or it may be she is taking it home to bake, as roast monkey is particularly esteemed by the epicures of that country. A third is an individual dressed in palm leaves like the first, having, in addition, a fish in his hand, intending, we presume, to afford a symbolical confutation of the notion that these people live exclusively upon the spontaneous fruits of the earth, as has been sometimes slanderously asserted. The fourth has a head-dress of palm leaves, a poll-parrot on his finger, and indulges no other luxury of covering than a very economical strip of cloth about his loins. We are not quite cer- tain that either of these gentlemen, inhabitants of Amazonia, are engaged in trade in that country. They may belong to the nobility or gentry. But from the anxiety of that people to open 104 FREE TRADE EMBARGOED BY BRAZIL. [Jan. intercourse with us, we presume that either would consent to act as consignee for any cargo of our products sent into those parts. In turning to the resume of our author to see what might be there said by way of a summing up, we find the following facts disclosed : In the first place, the valley of the Amazon is effec- tually closed against us and all the world by a contract made by Brazil with one Sefior De Souza who has the exclusive privilege of navigating the river by steam for thirty years. This right of navigation is very jealously guarded by the Brazilian authorities. So strict are they, that Lieutenant Herndon, who came down the river from Chasuta in his own boat, through the territory of Peru, was compelled to leave it at the Peruvian frontier (Taba- tinga) and come thence in a Brazilian craft. And but a short time before, some more enterprising than wise circus performers, who drifted the remains of their company to the same point on rafts, were not even allowed to pass the line on that primitive mode of conveyance, but were compelled to land and re-embark on a raft of Brazilian timber. Lieutenant Herndon argues that in this matter Brazil is standing in her own light, and volunteers the shedding of a few brilliant rays of his own to illumine the im- perial darkness. But we apprehend the contract must at least stand until some speculative Yankee shall buy Sefior De Souza out. After depicting in glowing colors what Amazonia is capa- ble of producing (as much could be said of Hayti), we are naively informed of some other interesting particulars which we notice lest they should be overlooked by superficial adventurers bent on seizing fortune by the armsful. The occupations of settlers are incidentally alluded to after this wise : "The brave old Catalan Zapaten was building himself a fire-proof house, mounting swivels at his gate, and swearing in the jargon of his province, that, protection or no protection, he would bide the brunt of the savages." Of the unhealthiness and the diseases of the country our author, while he certainly keeps the best foot forward, makes some admissions like the following : " There seeemd to be a narrow belt of country on each side of the Amazon where bilious fevers were particularly prevalent. [How wide, Mr. Herndon ?] These fevers are of malignant type. I was told that I ran little risk of taking the fever if I passed directly through. . . . The 1854] ORNAMENTAL SNAKES. 195 fever was spoken of with dread on the Trombetas, the Madeira, the Negro, and the Purus. " At Para yellow-fever and small-pox had of late years made great ravages. At Santarem, leprosy and elephantiasis are prev- alent. Cattle and horses were raised formerly in great numbers on the islands at and near the mouth of the Amazon, but a most deadly pestilence has of late years swept them nearly all off. Besides, the river often rises and inundates the islands, and the animals perish on the marshes and become food for the numerous alligators of the creeks that penetrate them, or are driven upon the dry knolls that rise above the surrounding waters, where they are destroyed by the tigers which there abound. Between the tigers, the inundations, and the pestilence, cattle-raising would seem to be any thing but a flourishing pursuit in this part of Brazil. But there are little domestic luxuries in the way of animals, of which the Amazonians enjoy, we fancy, pretty nearly a mo- nopoly. Hear our Lieutenant : " I saw a number of curious and beautiful animals at Para. Mr. Norris had some electric eels and a pair of large and beautiful anacondas. [He afterwards says these beautiful anacondas would hiss like a steam-engine.] Many gentlemen had tigers about their establishments. Mr. Pond, an American, had a pair of black tigers that were the most beautiful animals I have ever seen." We do not learn from our author that the residents of that country carry their penchant for beautiful animals so far as to make pets of the vampire bats, lizards, tarantulas, and alligators. Probably these delicious creatures are too plentiful to be es- teemed curiosities. The alligators are particularly common and by no means delightful in their familiarities. The Lieuten- ant speaks of one that was killed, in whose stomach was found a considerable piece of an undigested woman. Various other interesting items abound in our author's book. He speaks of being compelled to sleep in his boat when the river was high and the beaches covered, for fear of snakes and other uninvited company not more welcome. When he got in-doors, vampire bats clung around his ceiling and would drop on his blanket, leaving gouts of blood. He recommends that all travel- l'JC THE LARGE SPIDER FAMILY. [Jan. lers who go to Amazonia should learn to sleep in a bag. Doubt- less it should be made of leather, or other impervious material, if the occupant would escape being devoured. He found the sand-flies and mosquitoes a perpetual torment, blackening the whole skin with encrusted blood. Insects of all kinds are not less numerous, and they have this interesting peculiarity that they all either bite or sting. The spider family is one of the oldest and most flourishing in the country. Lieutenant Ilerndon speaks of one individual that constructed a web in his sight thirty feet in diameter. The Lieutenant has an amusing scheme for running a steamer from Chasuta, the head of navigation on the principal Peruvian tributary of the Amazon, to Tabatinga on the main river, at the extreme frontier of Peru, a distance of eight hundred miles. He says it will cost twenty thousand dollars to run the steamer one year. But as the gross annual value of the existing traffic is but twenty thousand dollars, our author has to display the most extraordinary agility in his calculations to prove that it would be a paying operation. He would make out his case but that several important elements are wanting. A principal one is, as he alleges, that there are not forty thousand dollars in money in the whole country. We need not go further with Lieutenant Herndon. He is a relative of Lieutenant Maury, and belongs to that class of vivacious and pushing enthusiasts who, because this age has achieved the steam-engine and the magnetic telegraph, believe nothing is to be left for future generations to accomplish ; who in their eager- ness to compass the whole world and subdue universal nature to the immediate dominion of Anglo-Saxon intelligence, quite overlook what constitutes the only worthy development and ap- propriate mission of the American people. They forget that if we want broader and more varied fields of industry for our pop- ulation, they can be most successfully sought at home. They forget that here in our own country is demanded all the enter- prise and energies of our own people. How many branches of industry languish among us for want of support ? We allow great interests to sink and go down that would annually enrich the country, not by beggarly thousands, but by millions. Our government lets the iron and lead and linen and silk interests of the 1854] A WILD GOOSE CHASE. 197 country fall, while it sends off an expedition like this of Lieu- tenant Herndon to hunt up distant twopenny markets for articles of industry whose productions it systematically discourages. Can folly and inconsistency go further ? We see England pushing her Consular system into every part of the world, and industri- ously discovering every corner into which her manufactures may be thrust, and we, not wishing to be outdone in any thing that savors of trade, think we must follow her example ; forgetting that England has first encouraged and built up her production to the highest point in every department, and that her surplus pro- ducts hang like a leaden weight upon her, unless vent is found for them abroad. The policy of England is at least consistent and harmonious. Ours is crude, inconsistent and ridiculous. England's great material necessity is new foreign markets. We have no such necessity. We are large importers of the very articles that these foreign markets require. We do not produce even for our own consumers, but leave them to be supplied by foreign workshops. If we made the most of our capacities for production, we could furnish millions upon millions of dollars annually to our own agriculturists, who now send three and four thousand miles for what they might have at their own doors with- out expense of transportation. Our growth, elevation, and culti- vation are to be best and most promoted by diversifying and em- ploying our industry at home, instead of sending it out in the vain attempt to gather grapes from the thistles of Tabatinga. SLAVERY MILITANT. [From the New York Tribune of January, 1854.] Slavery is an Ishmael. It is malevolent and malignant. It loves aggression, for when it ceases to be aggressive it stagnates and decays. It is the leper of modern civilization, but a leper whom no cry of " unclean" will keep from intrusion into unin- fected company. Hitherto slavery in this country has held its ground by sheltering itself behind the Constitution. It has played the role of persecuted virtue, and thus it has excited the sympathy of well-meaning persons who would never lend it aid or comfort but when it assumed the character of a distressed and 198 SLAVERY AN ISHMAEL. [Jan. wronged appellant. It lias in past years pretended that it was assailed by injustice and fanaticism, which were destroying its supports and overthrowing the constitutional guards and defences placed around it. It has appealed to the North for aid on the ground of essential justice and constitutional obligation. It has declared its right to existence within the sphere of the States where it was established, and that to assail it, or in any way to interfere with it, was to be guilty of flagrant injustice. Its great charge against Abolitionists has been that they interfered with a domestic institution for which they had no responsibility and with which they had nothing to do. Its advocates have sought to keep the position of the suffering and persecuted party, and have thus enlisted a sort of sense of justice in the Free States, which, more potent than discriminating, has borne slavery on its shoulders through every contest. Though it has often been urged that slavery was aggressive in its nature, the proof of the fact to the common understanding has not been entirely conclusive. To many Northern men it has always seemed to be warring on the defensive side. But present appearances indicate that this erroneous view of slavery will soon be removed throughout the North. We see already the encroaching steps it is taking in Congress, as well as on the Pacific. It dares attempt the appropriation to its uses of terri- tory already consecrated to freedom by a solemn compact be- tween the North and the South. It is manifesting a determined purpose to cross the boundary behind which its pestilent influ- ences have hitherto been confined, and thus to disregard all con- siderations of justice, and trample upon its own sacred obliga- tions. It is showing itself to be a power which refuses to ad- here to its engagements, and breaks its faith at the first tempta- tion. Not content within its own proper limits, defined after a bitter contest, in which more than its due was yielded to its im- perious exactions, it now proposes to invade and overrun the soil of freedom and to unroll the pall of its darkness over virgin ter- ritory whereon a slave has never stood. Freedom is to be elbowed out of its own home to make room for the leprous in- truder. The free laborer is to be expelled that the slave may be brought in. It is plain to be seen how such an aggressive spirit will be 1854] FOOTERS RESURRECTION. 199 met. If slavery is determined upon the conquest of free terri- tory it will inevitably be resisted and paid in kind. If the con- viction obtains that slavery intends to disown its obligations and prove faithless to its own contracts, then will it follow that those who have hitherto admitted its rights under the Constitution will admit them no longer. Let but the sentiment gain foothold that slavery intends to make war upon the territory of freedom and seize and appropriate whatever it can wrest from the hands of free labor, and the banner of reclamation will be raised. If slavery may encroach upon the domain of freemen, freemen may encroach upon the domain of slavery. If slavery thinks this is a safe game to play at, let it be pursued as it has been begun. FOOTE. [From the New York Tribune of January 20, 1854.] We recorded Foote's funeral oration pronounced by himself some weeks ago. We knew he would rise again, and said so. His resurrection is announced. He has just turned up on a table at Washington. We published yesterday an outline of his thrill- ing remarks made therefrom. Foote has begun his Washington harangue just where he left it off when he departed from the Federal city three years ago. It is the same tune without varia- tions. Foote says he is now going to California to reside. We can hardly believe this, for Foote is a patriotic man, and we are sure he won't go away and leave us when the Union is in so much danger as he declares it to be. Such an act would be worse than if the Three Bells had deserted the sinking steamer San Francisco. We pray the Governor to think of Captain Crigh- ton's example, and remain with us during the heartrending struggle to preserve the Union that is about to take place. The solemn circumstances under which he is still spared to us should inspire him with sentiments of a deeper devotion than ever toward that country whom he snatched from destruction on that ever-memorable Saturday afternoon at four o'clock. We lament the loss of our great men who saved us all in 1850, but while we have Foote left why should we despair ? Let us forget our sorrows, and think only of our mercies. 200 SLAVERY FILIBUSTERS IN CALIFORNIA. [Jan. SLAVERY EXTENSION. [From the A T ew York Tribune of January 24.] We have private intelligence from San Francisco that the Walker expedition to Lower California, which, it would appear, has come to an untimely end, was set on foot for the purpose of introducing slavery into that country, and that it was winked at by the public authorities, and especially regarded with favor by the United States District Attorney of California. The slavery propagandists are not only active on this side of the Continent, but are industriously striving to fasten the curse of African ser- vitude upon our Pacific possessions. The most vigilant surveil- lance over the filibusters will alone prevent the success of their nefarious designs. The reinforcements which were sent from San Francisco to join Walker's expedition, amounting to over two hundred men, were allowed to depart without the slightest opposi- tion from the authorities there. The master of the vessel that carried them (the Anita) was the master, a few days before, of the Arrow, which craft was known to have been engaged for the same purpose. Complaints were, however, made against the Arrow, but they were summarily dismissed, mainly through the instrumentality, as we are informed, of Inge, the District Attor- ney. The Arrow having suspicion thus excited against her, could not be further used for the expedition, but her master was transferred to another vessel, and that craft got off with the fili- busters. The whole transaction shows that the authorities of the National Government at San Francisco do not intend to take any effectual steps to prevent the embarkation of any expedition which threatens to do nothing worse than invade Mexico and establish slavery on the Pacific coast. In behalf of the patri- archal institution the government is everywhere prompt and vigilant, but it has no restraints to impose upon the lawless pro- pagandism which is dictated by its aggressive srjirit. If by chance it has happened that Walker has escaped his de- serts, and that this last filibustering crew have been able to join him, the nucleus of a force sufficient to resist the Mexican au- thorities in Lower California is already formed, and the conse- quences may prove to be of the most formidable character. A force seen to be capable of sustaining itself against the local au- 1854] TRAITOROUS PLOTTING AT WASHINGTON. 201 thorities would soon be swollen from all quarters into an army as great as conquered Texas, and we might soon witness a re-enact- ment of the Texas drama in Lower California. It is a significant and alarming fact, and shows that powerful influences are at work to conquer Lower California, with the view to convert it into a Slave State, that so large a body of men could have been gathered and embarked so suddenly as the two hundred and eight men that were carried from San Francisco in the Anita. If they fail to find their accomplices, and the expedition is this time frustrated, it will be considered but an accident, not likely to happen on a second attempt. We are not, therefore, to con- sider the failure of the Walker expedition as by any means put- ting an end to the designs upon Lower California and Sonora by the Pacific filibusters, or even as dampening their ardor. The facility with which the late reinforcement of Lieutenant Wat- kins got away from San Francisco, and the triumphant dash with which they defiantly set sail upon their piratical cruise, will em- bolden all freebooters who are similarly disposed in the future, so long as the government, through its prosecuting officers, culpably connive at such scandalous proceedings. If a sugges- tion of an expedition from this city, to give one single Mary- land or Virginia negro his freedom were to be thrown out, the Federal authorities would be all eyes and ears at the infamous project, and guards would be set at every point from whence it could be suspected of departing. But no watchfulness is seen and no rebukes are heard from these same authorities when the project is not to liberate a single human being, but to lay the foundation and spread the nets for enslaving thousands, and rob- bing our neighbors of the territory on which to plant them. THE RASCALS AT WASHINGTON. [From the New York Tribune of January 20.] If the traitorous men at Washington who are plotting the surrender to slavery of the free territory west of the Mississippi believed that a majority of the North would fail to sustain the movement, they would instantly cease their clamor and skulk back and we should hear no more about it. 202 THE MAJORITY AGAINST SLAVERY. [Jan. But they have adopted the belief that the passage of the compromise measures of 1850, and the triumphant election of Frank Pierce, have taken all the spirit out of the North, and that the mass of the voters are now ready to wink at any party iniquity, and sustain any party measure, whatever its enormity. We are not sure it is worth while to remove this impression. These deliberate violators of solemn compacts, these vagabond repudiators of obligations the most sacred, deserve to be roasted by the fires of the hottest public indignation. They ought to have the full benefit of the verdict of an aroused and indignant constituency, and be hung upon the gallows of public oppro- brium. Yet in mercy to the culprits who are thus provoking the incensed judgment of an outraged community, we will briefly state what opposition may be expected in the Free States to the infamous proposal to repeal the Missouri Compromise, and thus expose the rotten foundations of their hopes. There has been no time during the last seven years when the Whig and Freesoil parties have not been in a clear majority in nearly all the Northern States. The only ground upon which any doubt can be thrown on this presumption is the result of the last presidential election. But the vote of the Freesoil party in that contest was only partial, being but the ineffectual remonstrance (and so felt to be) of the more earnest of the Free- soilers against the settlement of the Compromise measures. And the vote of the Whigs in the North was notoriously the vote only of a party divided against itself. It was a contest utterly balked by cross purposes. The presidential election of 1848, and the congressional elections of 1850 furnish the only grounds of any just judgment as to the real strength of the anti- slavery sentiment in the coimtry ; and these elections justify the statement that in every Free State that sentiment, whenever it could be fairly reached, would prove to be predominant. Assuming this to be so, the only question to be answered is, whether that sentiment can be aroused and consolidated and brought to bear in solid phalanx against the atrocious proposi- tion in question. The fools in Washington believe it cannot. We believe it can. And we believe further that this is by no means the whole strength of the North that will be brought into the field against this infamous project. We shall have the whole 1854] THE NEBRASKA BILL, 208 conservative force of the Free States of all parties against it. We shall have all the men who do not believe in violating con- tracts nor in repudiating solemn engagements on the side of earnest opposition. The moral stamina of the Free States will be set against the measure. Fair dealing and honest purposes will everywhere frown upon such faithlessness and fraud. Sober- minded men who have leaned to the side of the South in the late contests, on the ground that the Abolitionists were the ag- gressors, will turn and resist this movement as a gross outrage and aggression on the part of the South. THE NEBRASKA BILL. [From the New York Tribune.] Washington, February 13, 1854. The Nebraska bill kills every thing here in the shape of busi- ness before Congress stone dead ; and, as things now stand, so will they remain to the end. If the bill shall be defeated, some- thing may hereafter be done ; but if it be successful, then adieu to every expectation of Pacific railroads, River and Harbor bills, or anything else. All Congress will then be up to the war point, and nothing will go through. Fierce dissensions will have arisen between the members, and Washington will howl again. The excitement is already intense, and deepening every hour. Southern men are no less denunciatory of the movement in private circles than are those of the North. They declare the South did not ask for, would not have proposed, and does not want, the abrogation of the Missouri Compromise ; but as Northern men, backed and urged on by a Northern President, have introduced and recommended the measure, they are not going to refuse the boon. It is in view of the impending storm and of the outrageous swindle of the transaction, that they con- demn its authors. Indeed, the tone of feeling is such as to en- courage the belief that the whole crew of conspirators will be ultimately crushed by the scorn and indignation of both North and South, and perish in the storm of their own raising. It is a result richly due to such traitorous conduct as theirs ; and if so righteous a retribution should fall upon their heads, it would be a proper subject for a national thanksgiving. 204 INTREPIDITY LACKING. [Feb But how strange is it that among so many Southern gentle- men in Congress who would gladly see this bill defeated, and who among themselves do not hesitate to deplore its introduc- tion and condemn its atrocity, none are to be found who dare openly vote against it ! We say none. There may be a few. Indeed, circumstances may arise which may deprive the bill of quite a number of Southern votes. But they cannot now be counted upon. Everywhere the cowardly excuse is given that to vote against the bill would be to court swift political destruc- tion at home. Or as a member, in speaking of the subject to- day said, " I might as well go upon the dome of the Capitol and throw myself down upon the pavement. " It is but an obvious remark to say that such acknowledgments evince a grovelling estimate and a melancholy obtuseness in regard to the duties of a public man and a legislator. But alas ! such is human nature ! One noble example at this moment of a lofty and chivalrous spirit of self-sacrifice would put to flight a thousand craven ap- prehensions like these, its followers would not be few, nor fail to receive their reward even in this world. For there is no vir- tue more admired nor more habitually recognized by the common mind than intrepidity, whether it be moral or physical. Should no higher motive prevail it is to be at least hoped that this pal- pable consideration may animate some to take an elevated posi- tion on this great question, and fearlessly assert their personal dignity and independence by a vote declaratory of their real sentiments. Amid the apparently conflicting claims of policy and duty it is well to remember the valuable instruction, that he who would save his life shall lose it, and that he who will lose his life shall find it. Whenever it shall come to this, that Congress is filled with men who possess none of the spirit of self-devotion, the country will become the constant and worthless prey of dem- agogues such as are now practising their infernal arts upon that body through this Nebraska bill. Unfortunately, however, we fear that reflections like these, pertinent though they be, will get no votes against the great in- iquity. What is wanted is action, action, action. The North must rouse in its might and its majesty. The people must declare themselves. The infamous scheme must fall, if it falls at all, before the direct assaults of the people. It must be stunned by 1854] LETTER FROM GEORGE F. TALBOT. 205 their blows and be blasted by their maledictions. It is no time for apathy and no time for soft words. Congress was never more sensitive to the public voice than it is to-day upon this meas- ure. Its attention is on the alert and its ears are wide open. Let them be filled with the accumulated thunders of a universal condemnation of this atrocious aggression upon the Free States. Let those thunders roll till they shake the pillars of the Capitol and resound throughout the Continent. Public meetings should be everywhere held, petitions should be everywhere circulated. Every hand should be raised and every tongue should be loosened against this crowning infamy. Let the united voices of the mil- lions of the Free States rise and swell like the increasing roar of the nearing cataract, until they shall drown every caitiff note of approval of this monster fraud, and till every ear in Washington shall feel as though it were pierced by the sound of an arch- angel's trumpet. J. S. P. |From Hon. George F. Talbot.] East Mactttas, Me., February 14, 1854. Jas. S. Pike, Esq. Dear Sir : I take the liberty to send you an article for the Tribune. It is of no particular value or interest, and I should be right glad to hold forth upon some of the great questions of politics, but hesitate to do so, first, because it seems an impertinence to interfere with the de- partment of the editors, and secondly, because I am too far off to com- ment effectually upon any passing event. Your own labors and that of your co-editors are earning for you the honor and gratitude of all lovers of freedom and justice in the land. The position of the Tribune is now one of transcendent influence. We can almost hope to turn the scale of battle against the slavery plotters with such effective aid. Every man, and woman too, of education, culture, and moral feeling, at least within the circle of my acquaintance, is talking about the Tribune. You cannot imagine how firm a hold it has on the affections of all the best people. I appreciate your kind offer to publish my communications, not particularly on account of the one I now send, as for something better which I may be hereafter inspired with. Very respectfully yours, Geo. F. Talbot. 20G ARGUMENTS OF STEPHENS AND BADGER. [Feb. THE ARGUMENTS FOR NEBRASKA. STATED AND REFUTED. [From the New York Tribune.'] Washington, February 18, 1854. All that is said in favor of the repeal of the Missouri Cora- promise may be divided into three heads : 1st, The argument for it. 2d, The excuse or apology for it. 3d, What is in- tended to be accomplished by it. Various Southern gentlemen have spoken and enlightened us fully on these three points. We have had speeches from Badger, Stephens, and Chase, and running commentaries from Judge Butler and Governor Brown on each of them, all within a few days, so that the whole story is before us. Stephens's speech in the House yesterday was more explicit and straight out than the others in some respects : 1st, Because he always is pointed and able, and 2d, Because he don't hesitate to say what he thinks and what are the real sentiments and objects of the slave power. We lamented that there was nobody to rise and spike the guns of the lean Georgian's argument on the spot as soon as they were discharged. Briefly, then : Of the argument to repeal the Missouri Com- promise, first, Mr. Badger, Mr. Stephens, the Union news- paper, and all the talkers and writers, great and small, say they put the question of whether slavery shall or shall not go into the Territories upon purely Republican ground. They say they wish to leave the subject to the people. Mr. Stephens spent half his hour on Friday in iterating this argument in every variety of statement, illustrating the sound- ness of the doctrine, and in declaiming upon it. He dwelt with the greatest unction upon the rights of the people of the States and Territories to establish their own institutions. So did Mr. Badger. So does the Union. So do all hands. This is the one great point — the rights of the people of the States and Territories to establish their own institutions. It is asserted as the doctrine of non-intervention by the National Government in regard to slavery, and as being the only Constitutional as well as the only Republican doctrine. Now, in the first place, they do not mean what they say, be- cause they have not the remotest intention of giving to the col- 1854] MR. CHASE'S AMENDMENT. 207 ored inhabitants who may dwell in the States and Territories any voice in the matter. Yet the colored population are cer- tainly people, and rather more interested in this question of slavery than anybody else. Why the men who argue in this way should desire to exclude the black and yellow population from taking any part in this decision of the question is not so clear ; for the colored person being alleged by them to be in a happier state while in slavery than when in a state of freedom, there should be no objection to letting him give his testimony on this point. If the people, the whole people of the States and Territories could be allowed to vote on the question of sla- very, it would be Kepublican, and not a voice among the friends of freedom anywhere would be lifted against a decision of the question of liberty or slavery in any State or Territory or king- dom under heaven. But our Badgers and Stephenses and other eulogists of the rights of the people do not mean any thing like this. In speaking of the people they simply mean their masters. But this is not the reply we wish to make to the argument of these gentlemen. They say the people of the Territories should themselves decide whether they will or will not have slavery among them. But do they mean that even the white men of the Territories shall determine this question ? To hear the declamations of these gentlemen upon the principles of self- government, to listen to their lofty heroics upon non-interven- tion of the National Government with the affairs of the people of the States and Territories, one would suppose of course that they meant this and nothing else. That if this is not what they are driving at, they mean nothing at all, or they are the great- est of deceivers and hypocrites. Now mark ! We bring these gentlemen square to the point to show that they do not mean what they say, and that their declarations on this head are false and deceptive, and intended to be so. On Wednesday last Mr. Chase offered in the Senate an amendment to Mr. Douglas's amendment touching the rights of the people of the Territories in respect to slavery. Mr. Chase's amendment was in these words : " nnder which the people of the Territories, through their ap- propriate representatives, may, if they see fit, prohibit the existence of slavery therein." 208 REPLY TO ARGUMENTS. [Feb. Of course everybody would say in view of the arguments we have recited as the stock in trade of the friends of the Nebraska bill, that the amendment was at once adopted. No, sir ! Mr. Badger said, No, sir — Judge Butler said, No, sir — Governor Brown said, No, sir. And why ? Governor Brown gave the reason. He said the people of the Territories had no authority under the Constitution to exclude slavery therefrom. Mr. Chase's amendment was not acted upon, but it will be rejected by a unanimous vote of the friends of the Nebraska bill whenever a vote on it is taken. Here then is the argument of the advocates of the repeal of the Missouri Compromise, and here is the practical commentary thereon by the very men who are using it. Is it asked, What, then, do these men really mean ? We will state what they mean. The Nebraska bill now before Con- gress allows of a territorial legislature to be chosen by the people. It provides for the appointment of a Governor by the President. It also provides for the appointment of Judges by the President. It then stipulates that the Governor may veto any law that the legislature passes, and it is an unqualified veto. Though the legislature may pass a law excluding slavery ten times in suc- cession, and unanimously pass it, the Governor may say I forbid, and the act of the legislature becomes wholly nugatory. But this is not all. The Judges may sit in council on any law passed by the legislature and approved by the Governor, and declare it unconstitutional and void. Neither is this all. Congress may revise any act passed by the legislature, approved by the Governor, and declared constitutional by the Judges, and with- out a why or a wherefore repeal it, and sweep it from the statute book. Now, when we consider first that we have an Adminis- tration urging on this Nebraska bill with a view of introducing slavery into that Territory, who avow their intention to " crush out" freedom, who will appoint the Governor and appoint the Judges of that Territory, which officers will, of course, be men reflecting the peculiar sentiments of the Administration on sla- very, and who will be responsible to nobody and no interest in the Territory, and who will be liable to instant removal by the President if they or either of them fail to execute Ins desires and purposes, we may see, when we consider this, what chance 1854] PLAIN SOPHISTRIES. 209 the bill offers for the exclusion of slavery. And secondly, when we reflect that after an act shall have been passed by the terri- torial legislature, approved by the Governor, sanctioned by the Judges, and acquiesced in by the President, that Congress may repeal it, and that Congress the father and supporter of the whole Nebraska iniquity, we may have a still clearer per- ception of the chances to exclude slavery by the people of the Territory. What these men mean, then, by leaving the subject of slavery to the people of the Territories is this, and nothing more and nothing less. It is to establish a government for them of such a character that the people cannot possibly keep slavery out, let them desire to do so ever so much, and vote to do it ever so often. Our exposition demonstrates this. The Badgers and Stephenses and Unions, and all the advocates of Nebraska, little and big, are thus guilty of a monstrous fraud in the use of their one great argument that it is the design of the legislation contem- plating the repeal of the Missouri restriction to leave the intro- duction or exclusion of slavery to the people of the Territories, which that restriction now covers and protects. Instead of giv- ing that power to the people, they, by the provision of the bill, as we have shown, absolutely and unqualifiedly withhold it, and put that power solely in the hands of the President and Congress. Either of them and both of them have entire control over the subject. These advocates of Nebraska are not, then, after non- intervention, as they pretend, but are making use of active in- tervention in favor of slavery. And in addition to the evidence of it which the bill itself exhibits, and which was manifested in the Senate, proceedings to which we have adverted, it is notorious that whenever these men are pressed on the point of whether they mean to recognize the rights of the people of the Terri- tories, they invariably turn up their noses at the suggestion, re- pudiate the idea, and derisively characterize it as " squatter sov- ereignty. ' ' Can there be a greater outrage upon honesty, or a grosser imposition upon credulity than this pretended argument in favor of the repeal of the Missouri Compromise and upon which it alone rests ? Let us next briefly dispose of the apology or excuse for the contemplated repeal. This excuse is that the North itself has 210 TUB .MISSOURI COMPROMISE DESCRIBED. [Feb. already repeatedly violated that compromise. Mr. Stephens re- cited a number of votes of Congress to show that Northern rep- resentatives had voted against admitting slave States South of the line 36° 30', and had also voted against extending that line to the Pacific, and this he assumed to be an abandonment and violation of that compromise. Mr. Badger dwelt upon the same facts with a most lawyer-like tenacity, as if it were an excuse for playing the rascal, that the North has already done the same thing. In other words, that as the North has ineffectually attempted to deprive the South of certain implied rights under the Missouri Compromise, the South is therefore justified in turning round and robbing the North of all she can lay her hands on. This is a precious mode of justifying its scoundrelism, even if the South has the provocation it alleges. But what constitutes a violation of the Missouri Compromise ? A bargain was entered into in 1820 between the North and South, or more properly between the conflicting principles of slavery and freedom, through the representatives in Congress of that day, that slavery should be excluded from all the then existing terri- tory of the United States north of 36° 30', on condition that Mis- souri should come in as a Slave State north of that line. This was the bargain, and the whole of the bargain. Beyond this there was no stipulation or agreement whatever. At the most there was nothing besides an implication that slavery might find its way into States south of that line. But there was no agreement nor understanding that it should do so. The bargain was ex- plicit. Missouri was to be admitted as a Slave State on one side, and slavery was to be excluded north of 3G° 30' as the condition of that admission on the other. To say that that bargain, which, thus made, found its way on the statute book, was not agreed to by all of the North, or by all of the South, is neither here nor there. Such an agreement would be a miracle. To say that it has never been unanimously sustained by either North or South is to state an inevitable fact. But it is a fact that proves nothing either one way or the other. Who dreams of unanimity in such a case ? The expectation of it is an absurdity. "What folly then to pretend that because Northern men or Southern men have been since found who disregarded it, or were in favor of its abrogation, that this fact annuls the contract. It is a trans- 1854] NAKED ASSUMPTIONS EXPOSED. 211 parent fiction. Yet upon this fact hangs the whole argument of those astute lawyers and statesmen, Messrs. Badger and Ste- jDhens, that the North has violated the Missouri Compromise. The North has not been unanimous in sustaining it, forsooth ! Neither was it unanimous in favor of its original enactment, but far from it. And what is true of the North is true of the South. But is it any the less a compact or legislative contract ? Neither was any such unanimity requisite. A majority of Congress made the bargain, as only a majority could. And it stands unannulled and unrepealed till a majority shall annul or repeal it. Away, then, with the flimsy sophistry of attempting to show that that contract has been repudiated by votes of minorities and single in- dividuals. But the Missouri Compromise cannot be violated in any other way than by repealing the restriction respecting slavery. The only unfulfilled condition of the bargain of 1820 is that slavery shall not go into territory north of 3G° 30'. The compensation for that restriction was paid down by the admission of Missouri as a Slave State. Good or bad, right or wrong, proper or im- proper, such was the bargain. And it is a bargain which a ma- jority of Congress only can repudiate, and only in this one way. Neither a majority of the North nor a majority of the South can alone do it, if they would. To assume that the North has done it is a double absurdity ; for, in the first place, she has not yet found, nor attempted to find, any Congressional majority in its favor ; and in the next to do it is for her to tear the seal from off her own bond. One point on this head remains. Messrs. Badger and Stephens contend that the refusal to extend the line of 36° 30' through the Pacific is a violation of the Missouri Compromise. What upon earth the one proposition has to do with the other would puzzle the wisest to tell. The line of 36° 30' referred to specific territory of about ten degrees of longitude in width. The establishment of it neither created nor intimated any obliga- tion to establish any coincident line anywhere on the face of the earth. And it is an implication of the most extravagant and absurd character to pretend it. As well claim the line should be run through to the Atlantic as to the Pacific. It is a naked as- sumption which carries its own refutation on its face. candidates for that honorable profession, and to strengthen the weaker brethren in the approaching electoral contest. The report, notwithstanding its vast extent, is remarkable for its omissions. It lngs in an endless quantity of superfluous matter, reciting, for example, in great detail, the proceedings of the Emigrant Aid Society, but it omits entirely to dwell upon the border-ruffian invasions of the Territory and their infamous proceedings while there. The outrages of which the settlers in Kansas are the victims are wholly slurred over or denied. Mr. Douglas seems almost as innocent of all knowledge of their oc- currence as though he had just dropped from the moon. But of course it is quite too much to expect either truth or fairness from the author of the Kansas- Nebraska bill. We have not looked for it in Iris report, and are not disappointed in not find- ing it. Some people set up a pretence of candor, but the dema- gogism of Douglas is transparent. We might go on to exhibit the way in which the much -lauded doctrine of squatter sovereignty is now interpreted, and in which Mr. Douglas emasculates it of all its pretended virtue, but it would be to very small purpose. To follow a pettifogging law- yer around the barren stump of discussion where he seeks to dodge the blows struck at him is a useless task after his tricks have been once fully exposed and his case thoroughly broken down, as is the fact with Mr. Douglas. What is wanting in the Kansas disorder at this moment is the spirit of martyrdom and Sharp's rifles. So far as the public is concerned no more argu- mentation is required on the great issue of liberty or slavery for Kansas. Men's minds are made up. The people have found a verdict ; their decision is rendered. The reports now to be heeded are the reports from Kansas, not those about it. The answers to them are wanted in the shape of true men well armed, hastening to preserve to freedom the country which these verbose modern Arnolds are ready to betray into the hands of a far more hateful enemy of liberty and equality than were the ministers and counsellors of George III. The cause of free- dom can take no harm from the paper paixhans of the dough- faces. Let the free emigrants pour into Kansas, and all may yet be saved ! S22 FREMONT FOR PRESIDENT. [April THE PRESIDENCY. [From the New York Tribune.'] Washington, April 12, 1856. I must make short stories. Everybody is full of the Presi- dency. Among the Republicans there is a strong apparent cur- rent for Fremont. Some say it is all set running by the poli- ticians and won't do. Mr. Chase has numerous friends. So has Banks. Judge McLean is spoken of. Preston King is not much mentioned, but who is a better man? But amid all the rivalry of sentiment no hostility prevails. There is an unusual disposition to defer all personal preferences to the good of the cause. The aim of all is for the best and strongest man. There is need of m-eat wisdom and caution in the selection. This is felt by all, and no desire is exhibited to crowd anybody as a candidate upon an unwilling minority. This feeling seems now so strong as to ensure unanimity at the close. Of the prominent candidates Colonel Fremont is the most questionable by his ante- cedents and the one upon whom strong doubts centre. Let there be no haste and no dropping of the substance in the pursuit of the shadow. The opposition to Nebraskaism stands on a princi- ple. In the selection of a candidate this must be recognized first of all. Availability is good in its place ; but let all look sharp that we do not abandon what we know to be good for that which, though promising, may prove deceptive. I need not argue the point. It is enough that I suggest it. It needs no extra penetration to see a rising spirit here at the prospects of freedom in the ensuing canvass. The day already breaks which betokens the coming sun. The question to be de- cided by the Presidential election is, ' ' Shall Kansas be a Free or a Slave State ?" The electricity of the question will consume the withes of party and flash liberty over a continent. J. S. P. THE ADMISSION OF KANSAS. [From the Keiv York Tribune.] Washington, April 24, 1856. "Whosoever wants Kansas to be a free State will not object to admitting her under the Topeka Constitution. And it is the true 1856] WHY NOT ADMIT KANSAS? 323 test of a man's real desire to recover that Territory to freedom to bid him say where he stands on this vital question. Whoso- ever demurs and queries and objects to coming up to the point of admission is willing to be cheated and ready to acquiesce in the final transfer of Kansas to the slave power. The North could have saved Kansas to freedom by standing together against the repeal of the Missouri restriction. It failed to do it, and threw it mercilessly into the unwashed hands of the border ruffians. It now has a second chance to save it, and may do so if it will. The catastrophe, the lamentable and ignominious catastrophe of disembowelling the great Northern preserve, gouging a whole empire out of free territory to be blackened with slavery, can be averted to-day fully and finally simply by Northern men saying it shall be done. Why is not every man alert to seize the opportunity ? Wherefore this inertia, this par- alytic gait, this palsied step ? Apparently because certain indi- viduals seem to think it would gratify and inure to the benefit of a party with whose objects they profess not to sympathize. The obstructions in the way are paltry, narrow, partisan. This great question, fraught with consequences perilous, threatening, and destructive, is treated as though it were one of no more than every-day importance. Men handle the fate and fortunes of a nation whose expansion is a marvel and whose destiny is the great political problem of the age, wholly in reference to their own personal or party interests. Every consideration of a national and patriotic character demands the instant settlement of the question. Kansas can be composed, the country tranquil- lized, harmony between the two sections measurably restored, by the prompt admission of that Territory as a State under the Constitution adopted by the great majority of her citizens. Her admission would be preeminently an act of peace and harmony and concord. It should commend itself to every interest, and especially every conservative interest, in the country. The fires of agitation would be quenched by it, for it would extinguish the fuel that feeds them. Politically, it would be the severest blow that the Republican party could receive, for it would rein- ' state the Democratic party everywhere in the North in a day. Why, then, is not Kansas admitted with her constitution as she stands, with all these inducements to back her earnest appli- 324 A BARREN CABINET. [April cation ? Mark the answer, and see how it is justified by the sequel, if the dominant party should be able to retain power at the ensuing election. Kansas is not admitted now, because it is the determination of the slave power to enslave her ; and the Administration and the Northern leaders of the sham Democ- racy are afraid to interpose to prevent the catastrophe. Kansas stands to-day, bound hand and foot by the Administration, who will not let her go free, and she is to be sacrificed and turned over to slavery through the influence of the same class of low- born and revolting considerations that originally prompted the step which exposed her to invasion and reduction by the pro- slavery border ruffians. Let it be understood that Kansas cannot save herself, the Free-State party of the Territory cannot save her, however nu- merous it may be, while the Douglas bill stands as a shelter for the consummation of the determined purposes of the pro-slavery men and the border-ruffian Legislature. That Territory is doomed, unless it is rescued by the voice of the people of the Free States in the Presidential election. J. S. P. THE PARTY OF ONE IDEA. [From the New York Tribune.] Washington, April 28, 1856. This is the most idealess of administrations, and deserves to be expelled from power for its barrenness. It has but one thought, and that is slavery. To strengthen slavery where it exists and to provide for its spread where it does not, is the only object on which we find any expression of its activities. In every other respect it sleeps, save where it may be found pull- ing the wires of small politics. Mr. Marcy is a shrewd and not unwise man, who manages our foreign relations with a com- mendable sense of propriety and no mean share of ability. Mr. Guthrie watches over Uncle Sam's strong box like any other decent man who would not choose to be implicated in stealing. Mr. Campbell looks after the mail routes, and Mr. McClelland oversees the landed estate. Mr. Dobbin takes care of his health 1856] ONLY ONE IDEA. 325 and attends to the routine of the Navy, magnifying his office what he can. The President and the two remaining members of the Cabinet, Jeff. Davis of the War Department and Caleb dishing, Attorney-General, plan and execute what is done in our domestic relations, as well as inspire an occasional newspaper splurge on foreign affairs for bunkum. The central thought of these men, and the one on which all their activity and that of the Administration is displayed, is slavery. Mr. Pierce uses it as an engine to secure his re-election ; Mr. dishing as the most ready instrument at his hand to perpetuate his official elevation ; and Mr. Davis is filled with it because he is intensely desirous to spread the institution, with a view to give political power to his section generally, and to himself particularly. "What was /originally and is now anomalous and exceptional in our institutions, and what the founders of the Government aimed to dissipate and finally extinguish as an influence of malign po- tency upon our theory and practice of republicanism, this the activities of the present Administration are wholly and exclu- sively bent upon cherishing, maintaining, and extending. The evidence is totally wanting that it has either friendship or sym- pathy for what is good in our system. It is the bad only that it seems to aim to spread and eternize. Everywhere in its acts and writings slavery is bulwarked and countenanced and put on a level with freedom. Not the slightest intimation is ever given that it is in the slightest degree unfriendly to national character, to intelligence, or to thrift. On the contrary, it is maintained as a specialty of our own, which patriotism and our constitutional obligations alike demand our people to nurse and defend and cover the country with, to an extent commensurate with the desires of the slaveholding population. It is in the cultivation and expression and development of these ideas that the brains of this Administration find their full scope and exclusive occupation. It is in deriding and scornfully defying the generous sentiments of freedom, the tranquil good sense which objects to the spread of slavery on economic grounds, and the promptings of a spirit of philanthropy and justice which declares against it on loftier considerations, that the pen of the Administration finds its chief employment. Everything else is neglected to this end. Comprehensive views of our national 326 . SLAVERY THE SOLE INTEREST. [April position, relations, necessities, and destiny, share no part of the attention of the gentlemen who inspire its action. What can be done to compose and tranquillize and harmonize the distracting elements of our national organization occupies no portion of their thoughts. The great material interests of the country are wholly overlooked in their speculations. ISTo attempt is made to strengthen the foundation of our institutions by inculcating the maxims of justice, liberty, equality ; none to nourish a genuine patriotism by showing the value and magnitude of our example as a liberty-loving people to the nations in bondage. The Ad- ministration has ignored its proper function and legitimate duties, and entered upon the ignoble employment of taking up and petting the institution of African slavery. To this institution it devotes itself. It has espoused its cause with animation and heartiness. It champions it with messages and proclamations. It vigilantly proclaims its intention to defend every inch of territory on which it stands, and to see that no obstacle is interposed to its further spread. It denounces all its opponents as enemies to the Union, and those who would prevent its extension into free ter- ritory as rebels and traitors to the Government. In such employments it appears to pass its days and its nights. Slavery would seem to be the one topic which occupies its sleep- ing and its waking hours. To slavery everything else is post- poned and deferred. The opinions and course of the Adminis- tration upon it are made the sole test of partisan orthodoxy throughout the party ranks. The party debates in Congress all turn upon the same hinge. To say nothing of the heartless wickedness of this policy, we contend that it is absurd and disgusting. The idea that we have no domestic concern worthy of the attention of an Administration but slavery, is a little too preposterous. We cannot see that it admits of any question that an admin- istration which can find no more appropriate occupation for its members, its writers, its orators, and its supporters gen- erally, than to be exalting, and magnifying, and caressing, and aiming to spread an institution that has cursed with ignorance and sterility and decay nearly one half the States of the Union, should be dismissed from power summarily and with contempt. 1856] WALKER AND NICARAGUA. 327 The dereliction of duty involved in snch a course is sufficiently odious and revolting, but the littleness of it is despicable. J. S. P. NICARAGUA. [From the New York Tribune.] Washington, May 3, 1856. The Walker and filibuster and Cuba sympathizers are as nimble and restless under the news from Nicaragua as though they had just sat down in a tub of aquafortis. Mr. Weller is agog, Mr. Douglas is agog, and even General Cass is flurried by patriotic ardor over the prospect that the filibustering crowd stand a smart chance of getting pitched into the Lake Nicaragua. And this morning along comes a letter from that prince of diplo- matists, Pierre Soule, who highfalutins the topic after his usual fashion. He speaks of it as a drama whose " multifarious pe- ripetise ' ' may involve our interests deeply. These are but signs of the extensive ramifications and wide connections of this Walker movement. Walker is no lonely fil- ibuster in whom nobody takes an interest. He is the agent and pioneer of the slavery-extension leaders. His ragged host is their advanced guard. The moment he is imperilled there is suddenly manifested a most extraordinary interest in his fate throughout the pro-slavery ranks. There is a general rush to his rescue, so far as wordy declarations go. Mr. Soule speaks of him as " a gallant adventurer who so nobly defends the rights of an oppressed people. ' ' Mr. Weller puts him on the same lofty platform. Yet Walker's government is nothing but a military despotism which sustains itself by forced contributions upon a population impoverished by his exactions. Walker's mode of sustaining himself is to smoke out every fellow in the country who has got an extra dollar, and send a file of soldiers after him and command him to deliver. It was a principal part of the duty of Walker's squad of occupation, before he got into this last war with Costa Rica, to go round in small detachments and levy con- tributions upon everybody who had anything that could be made useful for the troops, whether money, food, or clothing. Nobly defending the "rights of an oppressed people !" Why, he has been engaged in doing nothing ever since he got to Nicaragua, 328 FILIBUSTERS APPREHENSIVE. [May but squeezing dry every poor devil in the country of bis last shil- ling. Stores have been shut up, men of means have hurried off with what they could carry ; others have hid their possessions so far as they could, and general fright and consternation have seized the people in consequence of his forced levies. They are whipped and imprisoned if they withhold anything, and they starve after yielding up everything. This robbery and brigand- age Soule calls " defending the rights of an oppressed people." In all these slavery-extension schemes the backers and pro- moters at home are absurd and extravagant in their positions and language to a degree that discloses the intense eagerness of their desires and the alarm they feel lest their plans should miscarry. This Walker movement is thus regarded with the deepest interest by the Propagandists, because it is not only a scheme to reduce Central America and convert it into Slave States to be annexed to the Union, but because it is designed as the base of operations against Cuba. Cuba is the great prize they are after, and Nica- ragua and Central America are stepping-stones on the way to it. The intercepted correspondence which Walker has sent here to show that the British Government has furnished Costa Rica with arms (it is not the first time she has done it), causes very wry faces among the parties interested in his success. They feel very belligerent, but since the Russian war is over they are a little cautious about ventilating their wrath. Their indignation is chiefly vented in scowls. They know that the slavery exten- sion scheme can only be carried out piecemeal, surreptitiously, and by preserving peace with the Great Powers. " The cat loves fish, but dares not wet her foot." The Propagandists, eager as they are to subjugate the continent to the sway of the slave power, are nevertheless compelled to keep the peace. They hate to be checked and curbed by interference from any quarter, but they cannot afford to be bellicose about it. They can only growl and submit. And although the " multifarious peripetiae " of the movement may turn out to be very repugnant to their aims and desires, they have to grin and bear it. We doubt whether even that ardent and pugnacious gentleman who did not get Cuba when he went to Spain after it, would advise war as a means to rectify the tangential discordance of the " multifarious peripetiae" of the drama in progress. J. S. P. 1856] DEMOCRACY DISCORDANT. 329 INCOHERENCE OF THE SLAVERY-EXTENSION PARTY. [From the New York Tribune.'] Washington, Wednesday, May 7, 1856. The discussion in the Senate on Tuesday, chiefly confined to friends of the Administration, afforded very emphatic testi- mony to the fact that the elements which compose the great pro- slavery party are very discordant, and that nothing but external opposition prevents it from breaking in pieces. The National Democratic organization is a compound of all sorts of hostile interests, and is daily becoming more speckled in its character. In this discussion on internal improvements to which we have alluded, the South and West were in direct hostility, the South- ern wing of the party being as of old strict constructionists, while the fresh and growing and interested West believe in no constitu- tional hindrance to their having liberal appropriations for their varied uses. Mr. Cass has long striven to walk the crack which divides the Southern and Western divisions of the party on this question, and has generally only succeeded in being laughed at for his pains. The younger Western men, as they come upon the stage, are disposed to be far less restrained in their action, and to reflect the immediate wishes of their constituents, by insisting upon a rejection of the ancient Southern doctrine of lack of con- stitutional power to improve the great commercial channels and highways of trade. This fundamental diversity of sentiment upon a subject of radical and increasing consequence must result in a disruption of the political connection between the Southern and Western wings of the Democratic organization so soon as the subsidence of the slavery issue shall allow of the consideration of any other topic. In fact, on every political question but sla- very, the differences of opinion — within the ranks of the Demo- cratic organization as now constituted, being made up as it is of Southern Whigs, Southern N ulliners, Northern Straight Whigs, intense Hunkers and Old Fogies generally — are just as great as between wholly antagonistic parties. Whoever thinks, therefore, that the so-called Democratic party is a party grounded upon unanimity of sentiment in regard to constitutional construction or administrative policy touching our greatest domestic ques- tions, aside from slavery, is totally in error. And whoso believes it can administer this Government for any length of time before 330 DISINTEGRATION THREATENED. [May falling into disintegration from the want of affiliation among its elements, is alike mistaken. The only bond of union in the Democratic organization is slavery. It is merely a party for the defence and extension of the system of servile in opposition to free labor. When from any cause this issue becomes subordi- nated, or becomes repugnant to the public sense, the party, as a national organization, must go to pieces. It is indeed impossi- ble it should long continue the dominant party under any cir- cumstances. If it be defeated at the next general election, its power and prestige will be infallibly destroyed. If it succeeds, its objects are so hostile and will prove so fatal to the free labor of the North, that the masses of its own ranks in the Free States will turn and rend it into fragments. The system of servile labor, which the party now champions with an inhuman as well is an unwise zeal, will directly conflict with the interests of the laboring classes in the Free States. And when this is perceived and felt by the masses, the party will crumble like untempered /mortar. The interests of Northern free and Southern slave labor are not identical, and cannot be rendered harmonious. One con- flicts with the other, and will do so till the collision ceases. The reeking mass of free labor, sweltering under its burdens, stops not to philosophize or interrogate political actions closely, so long as it has room and verge enough, and feels no external pressure from conflicting systems of industry. But when once the path of that mass is crossed, when once it finds obstructions to its spread, when offensive antagonisms in the shape of coerced and degraded industry surround it, holding their place under the lash of a proud and haughty aristocracy, then will the ebullition of that mass overflow those obstructions and antagonisms like red- hot lava. The great error of policy on the part of the present managers of the Democratic party consists in their failure to rec- ognize the bearings and results of their own schemes of slavery extension. They are mole-eyed and blind to the operation of the primary laws which control all great political movements and give direction to the broad current of affairs. Not one of them has ever risen to the contemplation of the fundamental causes of national development, investigated those of national decline, or cast their glance forward or back an inch beyond the passing hour. They are simply men of the hour, without ideas, who deal 1856] CASS AND SQUATTER SOVEREIGNTY. 331 only in material facts. They dwell in the little political tub of their own construction, and fail to see the universe beyond. They are mere journeymen tinkers, at work upon the little dams and dikes which inclose seething elements of whose power to sweep away their childish guards they seem not to have the faintest conception. It is not such short-sighted men who lay the foun- dation of permanent parties or dig the channels for public affairs. They are botchers of work, bad workmen whose blun- ders must be repaired or end in disaster and ruin. The present attempt to abridge the area of free labor and extend slavery is fatuity in judgment as well as a grave offence against freedom and humanity. If the rising members of the Democratic organi- zation shall know no better than to place reliance upon these mere prosecuting attorneys, these pettifoggers of affairs, great is to be their disappointment hereafter when they shall expect per- manence of success in their political career. What is called the Democratic party was never so critically situated as at this hour. Defeat or success is alike fatal to it ; success will be even worse than defeat. For the objects it now seeks, the measures it now advocates, the principles upon which it now acts, are so hateful in themselves, so anti-democratic, so at war with the in- terests of free labor, that in making them the basis of a future career of the party, confusion and dissensions must arise winch will split it into a thousand fragments. J. S. P. ME. CASS. [From the New York Tribune.] Washington, May 12, 1856. Mr. Cass began to-day a post-mortem examination of squatter sovereignty. He was its father and will be its undertaker. Mr. Cass has had several previous pulls at the same question, but he seems to have never made an exposition satisfactory to himself, or one that will stay made. But squatter sovereignty has served its purpose and is of no account now any way. It was a stepping- stone pitched into the water to enable the Northern Democracy to pass over on dry land from the doctrines of freedom to those of slavery. The party has crossed the dividing waters, and it 332 A TEXAS KNOW-NOTHING. [May is useless labor now to look back and dwell upon the contrivance by which the passage was accomplished. A fly in the belly of a toad might as well try to resist his speckled devourer as for the Northern leaders of the Democratic organization to resist the control of that power into whose em- brace they have thrown themselves. The flounderings of Mr. Cass and what few confederates may join him on squatter sov- ereignty are thus practically of no more account than the squirm- ing of eels in a basket. Slavery or freedom must rule in the territories, and not squatter sovereignty. Yet while the doom of the old sinners is fixed, they being sold to the cloven hoof, sal- vation can, and we believe will, come through a holy revival among the masses of the Radical Democracy. Though the rights of the Free States and the interests of free labor have been sold out to slavery, the sovereign people of the North have not yet ratified the bargain. It is to be seen if they will. J. S. P. CASS AND BUCHANAN. [From the New York Tribune.'] "Washington, May 13, 1856. Mr. Evans, of Texas, the Know-nothing member of that State, talked an hour to-day on general topics. I listened to him till he upset the doctrine of Mr. Jefferson that " All men are born free and equal," by the statement that it could not be true, since the half -savage and wholly naked Hottentot was unequal to Franklin, Washington, Adams & Co. Probably this never occurred to the author of the Declaration of Independence. If it had, it is quite unlikely he would have fallen into the error of making that very stupid observation. The Senator from Michigan concluded his rambling essay to-day. It exhibited all those characteristics which mark the productions of this gentleman. It was a sort of sea-serpent in the sea of Kansas discussion. Probably no two observers would describe it exactly alike, its length only excepted. Seriously, Mr. Cass took up the cudgels in behalf of Presi- dent Pierce this morning, and defended him for two hours against the attack of Mr. Seward. He seems to have associated 1856] EXACTIONS OF SLAVERY. 333 himself with the effort to enslave Kansas by force, and to sustain all the outrageous proceedings against that Territory set on foot by the Administration and their border-ruffian allies. Mr. Cass was expected to do better ; but when did he ever stand up to the mark and j>lay a manly part ? Mr. Glancy Jones occupied some time in a personal explana- tion to-day which was simply a defence of the consistency and nationality of Mr. Buchanan : in other words, a humiliation in the grand confessional of the slave power. To be a Northern man and have Northern opinions is reckoned to be such an offence that every haste is made by every Democratic candidate for the Presidency or his friends to exonerate all such from the foul charge. The apologies which are made by Northern men for having entertained sentiments favorable to freedom make a man blush to own himself a citizen of the Free States. It is hard to find a lower deep than has been reached in one case or another. J. S. P. NORTHERN DEMORALIZATION. [From the Neto York Tribune.] Washington, May 14, 1856. The shameless tergiversation of Northern men on the subject of slavery is a spectacle to make angels weep. It is needless to enumerate instances in detail. They malignantly dot the surface of the Free States like pustules on a small-pox patient. Southern slavery has become the great god before which the army of place-seekers bow down with abject submission. It oc- cupies the seats of power, and robes and unrobes official digni- taries in all the plenitude of imperial majesty. It issues its bulls of excommunication with the authority of the Vatican. It saves and it damns with more than papal promptness and zeal. Its mandates issue, and the trembling herd of its obedient followers rushes in skurried alacrity to obey. This is no figure of speech ; it is sober and exact truth. Behold what slavery has demanded of Northern men in the way of eating their words and swallow- ing their opinions, and behold what it has got. Let the record be examined. There was a time, and no distant time either, when all parties in the North expressed their condemnation of 334 NORTHERN DEFECTIONS. [May slavery. It was condemned without qualification, and a manly stand taken against its spread. Every eminent and every unem- inent man in the Free States declared against its being carried into free territory. There is not a man in the North who has a political record, which is not clear and emphatic on this point. All men and all parties in all the Free States upheld the Wil- mot Proviso a few years ago. While most of them declared against agitation and against molesting the institution in the States, even by discussion, the expression of determination to re- sist its spread into free territory was universal. Search the record, and it will be found that every prominent man's position was identical on this point. The gathering up and exposing the attitude of this man and that on the question in times past, which the House has been occupied about of late, is labor lost. The record of all is alike. Ten years ago not one Northern man was as debauched as the entire body of leaders of the Democratic party is now. Ten years ago the North unanimously occupied the ground now maintained by the anti-Nebraska men. Who- ever does not hold it now has fallen from his former position and apostatized from his former faith. It is idle to enumerate indi- vidual examples. Every Northern man who does not occupy the anti-Nebraska ground to-day is a deserter from the side of freedom to that of slavery, and goes to swell the reeking mass of political apostasy that now offends the moral sense of every up- right man. Look back and around and see the individual monu- ments of this most lamentable defection. Behold Mr. Webster, himself at one time a light shining in the path of the Wilmot Provisoists. Behold Mr. Cass, ponderously rolling into the Sen- ate with a Wilmot Proviso speech in his hat, which he was only saved by an accident from delivering. Look at Mr. Buchanan, holding to the Missouri restriction, and declaring it holy and sacred as the constitution. See New Hampshire, headed by Franklin Pierce, outright and rank in declaring against the spread of slavery. Read the resolutions of every Northern State to the same purport, passed with the consent of all sides and ema- nating from all sides. Even in the South, the voice for the same general doctrine was potent with its nobler spirits. Hearken to that of Henry Clay, as late as 1S50, uttered in the Senate of the United States. There, with flushed countenance and an eye 1856] HUMILIATING EXAMPLES. 335 of fire, rising in his place, lie proclaimed with defiant gesticula- tion and impassioned tones, to a breathless and silent Senate, that he never would consent to admit slavery into territory now tree — never. Contrast all this and volumes more of the same kind, which the history of the past few years can furnish, with the state of opinion now upon the subject, and weep over the humil- iating record. And this is all done for what ? For place ; for official hon- ors ; for a temporary lease of high station ; for a day of authority. Here they go and there they go. From every Free State, and from every county of every Free State, the examples of this deep humiliation crowd forward with a disgraceful alacrity. They come from hill and valley. High and low throng in supple subserviency around the throne of slavery. They are called upon to disavow and repent of every sentiment in favor of free- dom they ever expressed, and they do it. They apostatize from the faith of their fathers. They repudiate their principles. They renounce their opinions. They learn, embrace, and repeat the catechism of the power at whose feet they cower. They begin, " I believe in one political god, and that god is slavery. I will not resist nor obstruct his sway. I will perform his service according as I shall be ordered. I will set up the symbols of his worship in every office I shall hold under him." They are thus compelled to cleanse themselves of every taint and suspicion of hostility to slavery before being admitted to the service of a country whose proudest boast is the declaration of human free- dom and the equality of human rights. Thus general has the demoralization become under the haughty exactions of an oligarchy striving to trample all opposi- tion to it under its feet. Can the Democratic masses tolerate it ? Can they endorse by their votes an apostasy so vast, so humili- ating, so alarming ? J. S. P. [From our Special Correspondent.] Washington, Monday, May 19, 1856. The leading event of the day is the oration of Mr. Sumner. He spoke three hours without finishing, and was attentively listened to throughout by a crowded audience. Mr. Sumner has 336 SUMNER'S SPEECH. [May given long and laborious attention to the composition of this production, and it will raise his already elevated reputation. He made a number of happy hits in the course of his remarks, and his defence and exposition of the Emigrant Aid Association, and associative enterprises in general, was particularly strong and complete. It was a little curious to watch the manner in which Mr. Sumner's effort was received. At the beginning, when everybody else was listening very attentively, Mr. Mason, of Virginia, Mr. Douglas, Mr. Toucey, and Mr. Toombs took to writing letters with wonderful industry, all seemingly very intent upon the subject matter of their epistolary correspondence. They, however, recovered from their lit of letter-writing after a while, and became quite natural as the speech went on. Then again quite a number of the pro-slavery men undertook at various intervals to show their indifference to the course of Mr. Sumner's argument, or their disapprobation of the boldness of his remarks, by talking in the Chamber in such a way as to compel the pre- siding officer several times to call them to order. Once, indeed, Mr. Sumner himself stopped and called on the Sergeant-at-Arms to preserve quiet. In this small way the antagonists of Mr. Sumner prefer to meet and treat him. The interruptions, to be sure, amounted to nothing ; but they disclosed the spirit of veil omous hostility which slavery everywhere exhibits towards free speech. Ten miles from this city in any direction Mr. Sumner would not be permitted to talk in the way he did to-day without being a victim to Lynch law. It is hard for the slavery men to be decent in conduct while listening to sentiments which they would not permit the expression of at home without counselling the doom of death upon the speaker, and for the utterance of which his life would certainly be taken without stopping for judge or jury. Indeed, one Southern Senator to-day declared that if he could have his way he would hang Sumner on the spot. Such is the condition of things in this Republic, and such the violent antagonisms of our system. It was impossible to help asking one's self while Mr. Sumner was heaping his denunciations upon the villanies practised under its inspiration, Of what use is it to assail even the proceedings of the conspirators against free- dom in Kansas before this body, so large a majority of which is composed of the high priests of slavery ? Or why waste time or 1856] LETTER FROM HORACE GREELEY. 337 breath in appealing to its members for justice or even decency toward that devoted and unhappy Territory ? What better is it than preaching against sin in the lower regions, or appealing to the devil to set up a Sunday-school in pandemonium ? Why inveigh against the ruthless efforts to make Kansas a slave State to men who mean to see it baptized in the blood and the fire of civil conflict sooner than move one inch toward rescuing it from its invaders and oppressors ? One cannot contemplate the ques- tion without feeling that the battle must be fought on another field. It is before the people of the Free States, face to face, that the question of Kansas, and the story of her wrongs, and the turpitude of her betrayers, should be and must be presented and considered. And there it should be determined whether the proceedings complained of should be submitted to. If the people of the Free States should say aye to that, then let them hug their chains and prepare for that further debasement which will be their due and their doom. But if they say no, then let the energy of this expression of their determination be so pro- nounced as to cleanse the pollution from the skirts of every branch of the Government. The Free States can save themselves and save the Territories if they will. But they also, and they alone, can throw all away, install the slave power in a seat from which even they cannot eject it, and crown it King over South and North alike. It is for them to say what they will do in this great crisis of the national fate. Of course, Mr. Sumner's speech is full, comprehensive, and embracing every aspect of the great question he discusses. What he has not said to-day he will say to-morrow. He will soon be followed by Mr. Wade, whose radical views are well known, but who is yet in no particular in advance of the temper of the times.* J. S. P. [From Horace Greeley.] New York, May 21, 1856. Dear Pike : We don't consider Judge McLean quite S. O. G. here ; but if you know any facts making in favor of his orthodoxy, please * It was this speech for which Sumner was assaulted in his seat by Preston Brooks. 338 LETTER FROM CHARLES A. DANA. [May send them on, and they shall be duly considered. Considering how forcibly you have written in favor of having a candidate of whose zeal and fidelity there could be no dispute, we feel that there is something that needs explaining in your recent zeal for McLean. Friend Pike, do you know that is a Delilah of a town in which you chance just now to be lodged ? Have you heard that it is unfavorable to the rigidity and perpendicularity of backbone ? Do you know that men have gone there honest and come away rascals ? Have you heard that a virtue less savage than mine would hardly have been proof against its manifold and per- sistent seductions ? Beware, O friend and compatriot ! Yours, Horace Greeley. J. S. Pike, Esq. [From Charles A. Dana.] New York, May 21, 1856. Immortal Pike : Don't growl about an old fogy like McLean. One of the first of duties is to get rubbish out of the way. He belongs decidedly to that category. With you, I don't care who is the candi- date so it isn't a marrowless old lawyer whose mind has illustrated itself by so many perverse and perverting decisions. Why don't you stick to your original idea in going to Washington — that of getting some straight-out man nominated ? For a fellow who started with that virtuous purpose, it seems to me you have deteriorated. You ought to rejoice at the interment of such a candidate rather than shed tears by the quart where he is done for. Heaven bless you, old chap. Yours, C. A. D. P. S. — I enclose a note from the patriotic Horace. THE OUTRAGE ON MR. SUMNER. [From the Neio York Tribune.] "Washington, May 22, 1856. The outrage upon Mr. Sumner is the engrossing topic of con- versation. No assault could have been more brutal or more cowardly ; but it must not be regarded as an occurrence which is to be rendered more rare simply by exposure and criticism. The state of things here and everywhere in the country where 1856] PRESTON BROOKS ASSAULTS SUMNER. 339 slavery and freedom are to come into immediate conflict is to grow worse and not better. It is idle to suppose that improve- ment will come merely by reason of censure of such an event as occurred to-day. It is justified on the ground that no man should be plain-spoken on slavery and its supporters, and that such speech should be suppressed by violence. This is the rule in the slave-holding districts of the Union, and as the General Government is succumbing, or, to speak more properly, has suc- cumbed to the slave power, the rule of the Slave States, which is silence on the subject, is to be enforced here and everywhere. Northern men, in the quiet of their homes, will say this is too much to believe. Of course it is, and they have disbelieved. But Kansas is telling the story of slavery, and Washington now echoes it. It is absurd, therefore, to indulge in mere denuncia- tion of even so monstrous an offence as the assailing of a Senator in his seat for words spoken in debate against the spread of slavery, and belaboring him with a bludgeon whose blows might have caused instant death ; for it is considered exemplary treat- ment of such an offence by the leaders of the slavery-extension movement. Doubtless Mr. Toombs, who so complacently wit- nessed the affray, thought, "Well, this hastens the day when I shall call the roll of my slaves on Bunker Hill." And Mr. Douglas, who either was present or came in before the tragedy was complete, no doubt amiably felt that the process of subdu- ing opposition to slavery extension was being properly carried out on the floor of the Senate. J. S. P. SUBDUING FREEDOM. [From the New York Tribune.'] Washington, May 23, 1856. Probably a majority of the members of Congress went to their seats armed to-day. This is simply evidence of a state of barbarism or a state of war, or of both. The South is at war against the North for trying to prevent the spread of slavery, and the habits of many of her citizens are the habits of barba- 340 ATTACK ON SUMNER. [May rians. The fighting element is predominant there, and it is the only one they cultivate. It seems extraordinary to Northern civilization that a man who is of sufficient distinction to be elected to Congress should choose a life of broil, should assume the bearing of a man bent perpetually on getting up a row or a fight. Yet such is the character of some of the Southern repre- sentatives, and such are the men who lead and champion the movements for the extension of slavery. Northern men here are thus thrown into a position which exacts a line of conduct quite foreign to their ordinary habits. There is a disposition in Congress to accommodate itself to this necessity, which the ex- igencies of the battle seem to require. The excitement in regard to the attack on Mr. Sumner has hardly abated in the least. A crowd went to the Senate and House to-day as Spanish crowds flock to a bull-fight, in expecta- tion of something in that line. But they were not gratified. The Senate was full, dignified, and tame. Mr. Wilson gave a narrative of the occurrence of the day before, and left to other and older Senators to propose action thereon. A pause ensued, and the President of the Senate was proceeding to the regular business before the Senate, when Mr. Seward, seeing no one else disposed to move, offered the resolution which was adopted. The committee it proposed to raise was voted by the Senate, and its members taken wholly from the " Democratic" side of the Chamber. Its composition was inspired by Weller, Douglas, and Mason, and was intended as a discourtesy and insult to the opposition. The slavery-extension men are determined to slight, crowd, and exasperate their opponents all they can. But if they humili- ate them it will be the fault of the anti-slavery men themselves. There is a general conspiracy all round to "subdue" all who venture to question the god-like character of slavery. It takes the form of personal assaults on individuals, in addition to po- litical disfranchisement, and it may be expected to end in assassi- nation. The conflict is real, though quiet people may not appre- ciate it, and if the party of slavery succeed in their present arro- gant determination, it requires no great stretch of vision to see that the Union will sooner or later go to pieces in consequence. The scene in the Senate to-day was humiliating. Not a man 1856] ACTION OF SENATE AND HOUSE. 341 of that whole body rose to express the emphatic and patriotic indignation that is everywhere felt over the outrage upon a mem- ber, and the desecration of that Chamber by the violent and bloody proceedings of yesterday. A member of the American Senate, sitting in his seat, had been struck down and left welter- ing in his own blood, and no man rose to vindicate the sanctity of the body, to condemn the outrage, or reprove the act. Was it lack of spirit or boldness, or what was it ? In the House, Mr. Campbell, very resolutely and in a manner which occasioned much commendation on the floor, pushed through a resolution of inquiry in the case, which prevailed by 28 majority. Mr. Clingman stoutly opposed it. Mr. Brooks tried to get the floor, and seemed quite excited ; and when the previous question was called on the resolution, a violent but brief eifort was made to kill it by factious opposition. After a little time the hostility calmed down, and the extreme Southern men, deeming discretion the better part of valor, relinquished their op- position — being, however, sustained in it to the last by a few Northern doughfaces. The President sent a message to the House to-day in answer to the inquiry respecting the movement of troops upon Lawrence. It simply referred to the accompanying documents from the War Department. Mr. Jeff. Davis, who administers that branch of the Government, takes the opportunity to insult the House by referring to its phraseology, in the resolution, in a contemptuous manner. The House asked what had been done by the army in the way of enforcing the supposed laws of the supposed Kansas Legislature. Mr. Davis replies by telling us what has been x done toward enforcing the laws of the ' ' real Legislature of Kansas. ' ' Slavery is on its high horse in every official quarter, and treats all opposition — even that of Congress — with a lofty disdain. We have come to the era of not only plantation manners but planta- tion discipline. It is the latter which it is expected will "sub- due " the North. J. S. P. 342 BENTON'S COMMENTS. [May [From Governor Seward.] Washington, May 26, 1856. My Dear Pike : I hand the accompanying manuscript to you in compliance with the request of the author, whose letter herewith will show his object. A glance through it satisfies me that it has points. Please preserve it in such a form that I can send it back if it is not in your power to be useful to the author. Faithfully yours, William H. Seward. J. S. Pike, Esq. ATTACK ON SUMNER. [From the Neio To?-k Tribune^ Washington, May 28, 1856. Before Mr. Benton went away, lie remarked upon the assault on Sumner, saying : ' ' This is not an assault, sir, it is a conspir- acy ; yes, sir, a conspiracy. These men hunt in couples, sir. It is a conspiracy, and the North should know it." To what ex- tent the allegation is true may be partially discovered by the in- vestigations of the House Committee, though, of course, all secrets that should not be disclosed it will be impossible to come at, except inferentially and by indirection. The tone of the Southern press, which is really the best exponent of Southern opinions, and the bold avowal of Mr. Toombs on the floor of the Senate, are alike indicative of unity of feeling and purpose on the part of the slavery men, and imply very conclusively that the attempt to abridge the freedom of speech in Congress is no merely individual affair. The work, it is fair to presume, is done with concert and knowledge. And it is of no use to dis- guise the fact that for the moment the late attempt in this line has met with partial success. Whoever has observed the course of things in both branches cannot doubt it. A species of terror- ism has been instituted, and to some extent has prevailed. This is illustrated by the calling to account of numerous individuals for commenting upon the transaction which has brought about the present state of things. This category, it is stated, embraces Mr. Chaffee, of Massachusetts, Mr. Campbell, of Ohio, Colonel "Webb, and even Mr. Crittenden, all of whom, if report speaks truly, have been already called upon to deny, excuse, or justify 1856] NORTHERN INDIGNATION. 343 their comments thereon ; in a word, to give an account of them- selves for their criticisms upon an event which is making the country ring with censure and denunciation. The effect is also seen in the tone of the newspapers here, and especially that of the Intelligencer. How this attempt at suppression of free speech will end, even here, cannot be doubted. If the waters be for an instant dammed, it will only be to pour in greater volume when they mount the obstructions placed to confine them. Free speech in Congress and out will be maintained, though the means of maintaining it are quite inefficient and inadequate to the exigencies of the occasion. The bold demonstrations of Messrs. Wade and "Wilson in the Senate yesterday are an earnest of what may be expected. Let them then have the full credit of what they did in being the first to break the spell of silence in Congress. No Northern man has any business to object to a compromise on the slavery question except he be willing to draw the sword in defence of freedom. The maintenance of freedom, when op- posed by its antagonist forces, always required the baptism of blood. It is as true now of it as it ever was. The North just now is very lively with its indignation and denunciation over the state of things in Kansas and in "Washing- ton. "We have no doubt it will continue so till after the Presi- dential election, and until Northern doughfaceism on the Ne- braska-Kansas bill is swept away like rubbish throughout the Free States. But Northern indignation is a very uncertain force. It comes in gusts, is very powerful at times, but it subsides. The cares of the world and the temptations of the devil consume it after a little. It will be a great thing, we know, for the op- ponents of slavery to get possession of the Executive Govern- ment of the nation, always providing we have a man of nerve for President. If we are going to install another nobody, like the present incumbent, who is only zealous in his weaknesses, the triumph will amount to nothing. But this triumph is a small matter when regarded from a high point of observation. It does not touch the essential elements of the great disorder which afflicts and threatens our national unity. J. S. P. 344 LETTER FROM HORACE GREELEY. [June [Prom Horace Greeley.] New York, May 30, 1856. Friend Pike : You get on very well in most respects ; but your legs are not of equal length. One is longer or shorter than t'other — I can't determine which. In fact, I suspect they must be travelling in opposite directions. I distrust that which has got on to disunion more than that which has hobbled back to McLeanism ; yet the former has far more of my sympathy. When we are ready to dissolve the Union for Liberty's sake, the South will not let us do it. She will come down, like Capt. Scott's coon. So let us off on disunion for the present. Now do me a favor. I want to know, if possible, on what the story is founded that Toombs threatened to call the roll of his slaves on Bunker Hill. I understand that he denies it. I am sure it must have had some foundation. Won't you ask Dr. Bailey, Goodloe, and others, and let me hear ? Yours, Horace Greeley. J. S. Pike, Esq. THE PEOPLE S CONVENTION. [From the New York Tribune.] Philadelphia, JuDe 16, 1856. A large number of delegates to the Convention to be held to- morrow had arrived in town yesterday. A still greater throng swarms around the hotels to-day. The noon train brought in very large accessions from the North. An examination of the ground during two days satisfies me that Mr. Fremont's nomination is inevitable. New York is con- tent to forego her preference for Mr. Seward, and goes almost unanimously for Fremont. Yet Colonel Webb as yet declines to concur. Mr. Thurlow Weed is more complaisant, and moves with the delegation from his State. A large portion of the delegates from Pennsylvania and New Jersey are in favor of Judge McLean, and press him with a strong belief that lie is the strongest man that can be run in those two States. Ohio is divided, some for Fremont, some for McLean, and more for Chase. Mr. Chase's friends, however, will, under the circumstances, forbear to press him, and hold a meeting to-day, at which they will decide not to bring him before the Convention. 1856] PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATES. 345 Mr. Chase out of the field, their next choice is Fremont in preference to McLean. New England is for Fremont either actively or in concurrence with the general drift. There may be some exceptions, but they have not yet turned up. Among the Indiana and Illinois men there is a considerable McLean feel- ing, which has been deepened by the reports from the New York Know-nothing Convention. Ohio does not share this feel- ing, but is generally very determined in her opposition to Judge McLean, as the worst candidate that can be imposed on that pre- eminently anti-slavery State. Indeed the fact is not to be dis- guised that as a general thing the outright, progressive movement men are in favor of Fremont, while Mr. McLean is the candidate of the slow and more hunkerish part of the Convention. The general sentiment of all is conciliatory, and all personal prefer- ences are merged in the general desire to take the best man. That ultimately the action of the Convention will be unanimous there is thus no reason to doubt. Yery little has yet been said about a Yice-President, and opinion does not point strongly in any direction. Mr. Banks is named, but his nomination would remove him from the Speaker's chair, which is a contingency to be avoided. John A. King and Moses Grinnell have been mentioned, but New York does not seek to have the candidate. It is so with Pennsylvania, who has Judge Pollock and Governor Johnston to present if wanted. My own impression is that the name of the candidate has not yet been mentioned. The Convention is very large, and promises to be very enthu- siastic. J. S. P. [From Charles A. Dana.l New York, July 24. Great and Good Pike : Buchanan has totally collapsed in this State. He won't have any vote to speak of, and as he goes down the Fillmore men are proportionately elated. But here they have no sort of show. In New Jersey and Pennsylvania they will have a better chance. In the latter State an arrangement has been made which, if it doesn't break down, will save everything. It is to run the same electoral ticket with the Fillmoreites, except the first man on it, the gentlemen all to be 346 LETTERS FROM GREELEY AND DANA. [August publicly pledged to vote for either Fillmore or Fremont, as either receives the larger popular vote. In this case only one elector of the twenty-eight can be lost. Weed and Covode have made it, but I doubt whether the malignant K. N.'s will allow it to be carried out. Greeley is opposed to it. Still, apart from all this bargaining, I think the prospect in Pennsyl- vania is rapidly improving. Our private accounts are all excellent, and indicate the mass of the Fillmore men are coming over. The truth is that the people are much more for us than we have supposed. I have been speaking around a good deal in clubs, and am everywhere astonish- ed at the depth and ardor of the popular sentiment. Where we least expect it large and enthusiastic crowds throng to the meeting and stay for hours with the thermometer at 100°. It is a great canvass ; for genuine inspiration 1840 couldn't hold a candle. I am more than ever convinced that Fremont was the man for us. At Westport it is just cool and delightful. Here in the office the regular range of the thermometer is 100°. Yours affectionately, C. A. Dana. [Prom Horace Greeley.] New York, August 6, 1856. Friend Pike : We Fremonters of this town have not one dollar where the Fillmoreans and Buchaniers have ten each, and we have Pennsylvania and New Jersey both on our shoulders. Each State is utterly miserable, so far as money is concerned ; we must supply them with documents, canvass them with our best speakers, and pay for their rooms to speak in and our bills to invite them. This is all we can do ; perhaps more than we shall succeed in. But so much we have under- taken, and we shall try. The rest must be taken care of elsewhere, or must go as it will. Your man has no business to run for Congress if he has neither the talent to stump the district nor the means to pay others to do so ; and if he fails, after such a record as Fuller has made this winter, we must try to do without him. But he can't fail. What you have to do in Madawaska is to let the Kanucks know that Fremont is French, and show them that he is assailed as a Roman Catholic. One thousand copies of Brooks's Express, with pictures of the Cross, etc., would be worth more than $1,000. Have you seen the Life we have issued ? I consider it equal to your Life of Scott ; if not in 1856] GREELEY ON MAINE POLITICS. 347 diction, at least in interest. If it were all over your State it could not help doing good. Yours, Horace Greeley. J. S. Pike, Esq., Calais, Maine. [From Charles A. Dana.] New York, Saturday, August 9. Dear Pike : Just got your screech. Delighted with it. If you had approved either Fremont or his Life I should have been alarmed, but your total condemnation quite reassures me. I notice that Garrison, Parker Pillsbury, S. S. Foster, and other disunionists hold the same language. It's alarming thus to see all the Damphools against us. Our course and our candidate need no other endorsement. Between you and me, John has ruined his chance for a foreign mission. He has put in his book a minute and complete account of the candidate's duels. We tried to stop him ; Fremont also opposed it, but in vain. Seward's awful grouty. Yours, C. A. D. [From Horace Greeley.] New York, August 13, 1856. Dear Pike : I am inexpressibly shocked at learning that Colonel Fremont and his campaign Life are not adapted to the fastidious tastes of your fellow-citizens. It is mortifying to fail on the very point where success was confidently counted on ; and we thought that in a State like Maine, whose greatest man is . . . and whose Republican party has given its best office to ... a candidate for President. . . . Had we been picking a man for Maine only, we should have chosen one who never had a father ; but, potent as Maine is, there are still other States to be consulted, and, in deference to their squeamish prejudices, we hit upon a happy compromise, which we are glad to learn renders us invin- cible in your vicinage without materially injuring us elsewhere. The French extraction of our candidate was of course contrived for your dis- trict only, and the pleasant mystery about his religion was likewise adapted to your Madawaska region expressly. You will find it worth more than a beggarly $1,000 in the hands of politicians who know how to use it. But " God sends victuals and the devil supplies cooks ;" and yours may spoil the broth in spite of all. We can't help that. 348 LETTERS FROM HORACE GREELEY. [Sept. Let your office-beggars — who whenever we win will be as numerous as the frogs of Egypt, and as odious — supply what is needed for Maine. Yours, Horace Greeley. J. S. Pike, Esq. [From Horace Greeley.] New York, September 10, 1856. Friend Pike : I congratulate you on your success in keeping the Life of Fremont out of Maine. The results surpass all expectation. They could hardly have been improved had you got Judge McLean nominated at Philadelphia. But don't you think you might let a few of them come in now ? You have at least ten thousand clear majority in the State. Allowing each copy to turn one voter to Buchanan, you could stand four thousand copies. To be perfectly safe, let us say three thousand. I am sure you can endure that number, and it will prevent their doing mischief somewhere else. Yours, Horace Greeley. J. S. Pike, Esq., Calais, Maine. P. S. — With one of Choate's letters appended, I think you might get alone; with five thousand. G. [From Horace Greeley.] New York, September 21, 1856. Dear Pike : Can't you hold an election in Maine once a week till November ? We need it badly ; for I tell you the fight is hot and heavy in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Illinois. I hope these, with Cali- fornia, are all the doubtful Free States ; but New Jersey is poisoned with Fillmoreism, and it is all we can possibly do to carry it. Penn- sylvania, I hope, is not quite so hard ; but there is everything to do there, with just the meanest set of politicians to do it that you ever heard of. Illinois is hard fought, and if we carry it, Maine shall be credited with half the glory. Indiana seems to look better. Do hold another election the first of next month, and we'll let you off on the " Life." Yours, Horace Greeley. J. S. Pike, Esq., Calais, Me. 1856] LETTER FROM CHARLES A. DANA. 349 [From Charles A. Dana.] New York, October 5. Dear Pike : I don't know how many letters I owe you. The fact is, I never worked before this summer ; and I look forward to the com- mon doings after the 4th November with anticipations of repose such as a lazy fellow like you can have no idea of. Still, I must say I have enjoyed the occasional gleams and growls with which I have been favored from your quarter. The offer of the yellow fever caused a great stir of gratitude on my part which I now emphatically express, and so on. The political prospect brightens constantly. In this State it is hard to tell how big the majority will be ; I bet on fifty thousand over both Fillmore and Buchanan — over both together. The election in Penn- sylvania week after next will go by from thirty thousand to forty thou- sand majority against Buchanan, and so oo. The tide is rising with a rush as it does in the Bay of Fundy ; and you'll hear an awful squeal- ing among the hogs and jackasses when they come to drown. I've just read your letter to Horace about Banks. Banks is greasing his legs for 1860. Don't be afraid about Fremontism. That means Chase and Greeley in the administration ; besides, Fremont is as hot an anti-slavery man as you are. There is talk of offering you Cass's place at Rome on the ground of your Catholicism. Whenever the question is asked, I swear that you are secretly a member of the Jesuits. Fry is coming out as a stump speaker. His lyrical style takes wonderfully. People say he is eloquent, but rather too profane. The old fogy himself is greatly elated by his success. He goes to Penn- sylvania this week. I suppose there are about two hundred orators, great and small, now stumping that State for Fremont. The Democrats are terrified and demoralized. Reeder alone takes over three thousand voters bodily over in his district. The war is great and full of fun. My impression now is that every free State will vote for Fremont. The Tribune now sends out two hundred and eighty thousand papers regularly to its subscribers. C. A. D. New York, October 6, 1856. Friend Pike : I have yours of the 30th ult. If we win this election, we shall make Kansas a free State — that is all I expect as the direct fruit of the triumph. Indirectly, the victory will be worth a great deal, as demonstrating that Freedom can win in a pitched battle with Slavery, and that a man needn't be a doughface in order to have some show for an office. 350 GREELEY'S COMMENTS. [Dec. We shall go quite as far as the public sentiment will justify ; and I trust that will be farther in 1858 than in 1856. But it is beaten into my bones that the American people are not yet anti-slavery, though I live in the hope that they will become so, are becoming so. Still, I appreciate the wisdom of Mrs. Glass's directions for hare-cooking, " First, catch your hare." I think you incline to begin at the other end. As to Banks's speech ; I think St. Paul on Mars Hill made a better — I mean, better for Mars Hill ; I am not sure that Banks's is not better adapted to Wall Street. T trust Banks himself does not deem it suited to the latitude of Bunker Hill or Tippecanoe. The prospect brightens. I hope we shall win. If we do, I believe the conquests of slavery are at an end. Its subjection is still in the future. Yours, Horace Greeley. J. S. Pike, Esq., Calais, Me. EVENTS LN CONGKESS. [From the New York Tribune.] "Washington, December 12, 1856. The second week of the session has expired, and has been passed in both branches in political discussion, mainly growing out of the President's Message. The speakers generally are uncommonly fluent and full, according to the measure of their several capacities. They are all fresh from the stump, where they have had ample opportunity to rehearse their speeches, and they are now presented here in the most compact shape possible, and pointed with a quiet indignation, on the Republican side, at the Jesuitical denunciations of the President. The temper ex- hibited in the discussion is marked with far less acerbity than could have been possible during the canvass. Here and there is a discourse without brains, but it is an exception. In the Senate, especially, the debate has been carried on apparently with a view to ascertain precisely the points of difference between the parties, and to shave off all merely declamatory excrescences of the con- tending champions. I have not witnessed a debate in which more general candor has been displayed in its conduct, and where more attention to its proprieties has been observed. This I attribute in part to the absence of two or three of the more 1856] GREATER MODERATION. 351 porcine members of the body, who, being apt at debate and of coarse grain, always do a good deal to exacerbate discussion ; although the most prominent reason may be found in the fact that the winning side feel happy in having achieved success, and that their arrogance is restrained by the consideration that they came near missing it, while on the other the desire to vindicate the justice and nationality of their political position, joined to the natural instinct of propriety that belongs to their side of the chamber, has lent moderation and dignity to expression. Taking this general fact in connection with an apparently earnest desire to fully understand one another's position on the exciting issue of the time with all its relations and all its qualifications, the dis- cussion has had more than ordinary interest and significance. We may consider that the arrogant impertinences which have marked the tone of debate on the Southern side in the Senate are for the present ended. The enormous popular vote in the North sustaining the champions of freedom in that body, and the crushing rebuke administered to the doughfaces there by an indignant constituency, have had a wonderful effect in producing this salutary change. Hereafter these insolences of debate will be left to the mere blackguards of the party, whose instincts never lead them in any other direction. Yesterday Mr. Cass gave us an illuminated edition of squatter sovereignty. We have to acknowledge that the old man has been stuck so full of pins by his ungrateful constituents in the late election that he is more than commonly wide awake. He flounced round with a good deal of vigor on his favorite topic. Indeed we are struck with the virility of the aged Senator. But it is one of the last flares in the socket. He did not undertake to make a speech, but only rose, he said, to upset Mr. Trumbull's interpretation of the decision of Judge Marshall in the Florida Admiralty case. He did what he could, which was not much, and wound up that portion of his remarks with censuring the decision itself — thus showing that he was far from being satisfied with his own exposition of its true bearing. Mr. Cass went on, and instead of speaking fifteen minutes as he proposed, made a speech of an hour and a half. I have long observed that the speeches which are intended to be short, and come of a full stock of the materials belonging to the sub- 352 CASS'S ILLUMINATED EDITION. [Dec. ject discussed, are always the best. When a man undertakes to tell all he knows on any subject, he is always tedious. Thus set speeches generally bore rather than please. On the whole, the week has worn away without being barren of results. The discussions have smoothed some rough places, and brushed away some clouds and mist. The whole horizon begins to brighten up, and I think there will be a clear held for operations to commence in about a fortnight, more or less. J. S. P. New York, December 14, 1856. Dear Pike : You're right about . . . and I have been all the week putting a stopper on him. If he is not more quiet now, I shall cut his head off. He's a smart fool — one of the same sort of animals as . . . Somehow, we are greatly exposed to them at Washington. I wish you would get Page's report of the River Plata, and do it up. Yours truly, C. A. Dana. P. S. — I enclose also a letter from Governor Stevens for you to write a reply to. It is a fight of yours originally, and you may as well follow it up. I put in with it a copy of the letter to which it replies. If you are too lazy for the job, send both back to me— indeed, you had better do that anyway. SLAVERY AND THE SUPREME COURT. [From the New York Tribune.] Washington, December 18, 1856. The case now before the Supreme Court involving the con- stitutionality of the slavery restriction clause of the Missouri Compromise goes on with increased interest among all who re- flect upon the importance of the decision which may be made. Not that a decision of the main point will be made. This is not, by any means, reduced to a certainty. The Court may think it wise, under the existing circumstances of excitement on the topic throughout the country, to place a decision of the case upon a subordinate issue. Yet the urgency of the slave power is g rea t_the temper of the slave-holder within the bar and without the bar, to say nothing of the bench, is roused to crush the re- 1856] ARGUMENT OF REVERDT JOHNSON. 353 bellious spirit of the North, and a decision of the Supreme Court is eagerly desired which shall promote this end. Prudence may, however, prevail, and the Court refrain from enunciating a de- cision which would neither enhance its reputation nor strengthen its influence. To-day was given to Reverdy Johnson, who occupied the entire sitting of the Court by an argument marked by his usual characteristics, interspersed by that personal interest and fervid dogmatism always manifested by Southern slave-holders whenever they treat the negro question. Mr. Johnson's argu- ment was well considered, compact, and about as remarkable for what it did not contain as for what it did. He steered clear of several modern heresies of constitutional interpretation, while he embraced others of a general character with alacrity. Thus he declared that " Slavery promises to exist through all time, so far as human vision can discover;" and further, that it may turn out, and not improbably will, that "the extension of slavery on this continent is the only thing which will preserve the constitu- tional freedom we now enjoy. ' ' Yet while he did not rush to the extreme Southern ground that the Constitution carries slavery into the Territories, he yet went far enough to satisfy the South- ern pro-slavery party, with which he has lately identified himself. In denying the colored race all claims to citizenship, which he did with expressions and manners of supercilious disdain, which cannot be counterfeited by any man outside the ranks of the born slave-holders and aristocrats ; in his sneers upon Lord Mans- field's language in the Somerset case — in which that distinguished jurist pronounced one of the noblest decisions ever made by any court, and which will live in undying lustre when the memory of the whole present race of judicial oppressors shall have rotted and been forgotten — Mr. Johnson amply justified his fitness for the service in which it is understood he voluntered in the present case. No one can have failed to observe, in the growth and develop- ment of the ideas which underlie the case now under adjudica- tion, that our judicial decisions upon constitutional questions touching the subject of slavery are rapidly coming to be the enunciation of mere party dogmas ; that the country is dividing geographically upon questions of constitutional law, and that in 354 THE POINT OF COLLISION. [Dec. 1856 the process of time, if we continue a united people, what the law of the country and the Courts is will depend upon the political ascendency for the time being of the doctrines of freedom or of slavery. It is manifest that an antagonism of doctrine upon the question of slavery will divide the Court as it has divided the churches, and that while the latter are allowed to separate, the former are held together by a political tie that will necessitate the decision of cases by the mere power of majorities. What under one administration may be declared to be sound constitutional in- terpretation is to be totally repudiated under another. If the Supreme Court were to-day to decide that Congress had no power over slavery in the Territories, the decision would be simply a majority decision, carrying no moral power with it in the North, and if a speedy change were possible in one or two of the individ- uals composing the Court, such a decision would be unceremoni- ously reversed at its very next session. It is useless to disguise this state of things, or to pretend that there is any present probability of restoring the harmony that existed in the workings of the Government when there was a common agreement, North and South, that slavery was a nuis- ance, and an evil to be got rid of at the earliest practicable mo- ment. Such was our condition when the Union was formed and the Constitution adopted. At a later period a comparative harmony was preserved by compromises on the question. Now the old idea is repudiated by the slavery men, and the compro- mise system seemingly abjured by all. We are thus arrived at the point of collision between the opposing forces in the Govern- ment. While this state of things continues to exist there can be no peace. J. S. P. New York, December 23, 1856. Dear Pike : There's rather too much truth in this to print, and I send it to you for your private edification. You old fogies die hard, but you can't live forever. In my judgment, we are a great deal better off as we are than we should have been with McLean elected ; but as for his coming within a gunshot of Fremont's vote, it is all gammon. He couldn't have carried the Northwest, and wouldn't have got over one hundred and seventy thousand in this State. Merry Christmas and happy New Year ! C. A. D. Jan. 1857] POSITION OF THE SUPREME COURT 355 1857. THE LEGAL CRISIS. [From the New York Tribune.] Washington, January 5, 1857. The rumor that the Supreme Court has decided against the constitutionality of the power of Congress to restrict slavery in the Territories has been commented upon in the most unreserved manner at this metropolis. It is very generally considered that the moral weight of such a decision would be about equal to that of a political stump speech of a slave-holder or a doughface. Many have expressed the opinion that the question would not be met by the Court, and numbers are still of that way of think- ing. It makes but little difference to slavery whether it gets a decision in its favor now or after the public mind shall have had time to cool a little. But it would be best for anti-slavery that the decision should come now, while the popular heart is in a fused condition. The impression it would thus make would be deeper and more distinct, and the whole series of pro-slavery aggressions and triumphs would then be burned into it together. The Congress, the Court and the Executive would then take their proper position of joint association, in the mind of the people, as confederates in the work of extending the intolerable nuisance of slavery. It is, therefore, to be preferred that the judicial department shall now put itself actively upon the side of the slave-holders while the mind of the country is warm and burn- ing, rather than wait and do it by and by when apathy shall have again overspread it. When a political scheme is to be furthered by judicial action, it is a thousand times better that that action should be taken boldly, when every man, woman, and child have 356 A POLITICAL DECISION THREATENED. [Jan. their eyes upon the Court, than to have that body steal silently and stealthily in the same direction. Judicial tyranny is hard enough to resist under any circumstances, for it comes in the guise of impartiality and with the prestige of fairness. If the Court is to take a political bias, and to give a political decision, then let us by all means have it distinctly and now. The public mind is in a condition to receive it with the contempt it merits. It is a matter of surprise that everybody does not see, or at least will not acknowledge, that many of the steps taken by slavery to strengthen itself are more weakening to it than any other course of policy that could be devised. Instead of trying to propitiate the Northern conservative sentiment which really pervades Northern society everywhere and in all ranks — in its re- ligion, its literature, its industry — slavery defies, insults, and ex- asperates it. Instead of the people of the South demanding the toleration, sympathy, and commiseration for the existence of a gigantic curse among them, which are really their due while they behave with decency before the world, they insanely swear their curse is a blessing, hug their rottenness, and claim to shove it upon others, all the while exhibiting a demeanor that expresses uncharitableness, and contumely, and hate. They are thus alien- ating the North from the South, and abolitionizing the whole of the former in the most rapid manner. They are in so doing pro- voking their torments before their time. J. S. P. THE GHOST THAT WON T DOWN. [From the New York Tribune] Washington, January 20, 1857. The ghost of anti-slavery haunts the footsteps of the expiring Administration. The Union of this morning labors to show that the whole question between the North and the South is in respect to the morality of slavery. And it sagely concludes that the North has the right to its convictions that it is an immoral institu- tion, and the South to its pet belief that it is an institution entirely compatible with morality and Christianity. Thus it pleads for non-intervention as applied to discussion, or, in other words, no opposition to it, not even in the harmless form of words. 1857] THE " UNION" NEWSPAPER. 357 But the Union is blind. It will not see. Slavery is opposed not only on moral grounds, but as a nuisance in our political sys- tem. It stands directly in the way of the harmonious working of the Democratic principle. Mr. Calhoun always used to declare this fact to be the saving grace of the Government. But Mr. Calhoun did not believe in democracy, and democracy does not believe in Mr. Calhoun. Slavery is the great exceptional fact in our institutions. It is the great antagonist principle that mars their workings. Now, unless the principle of human slavery is stronger than the principle of democracy, it must go to the wall in the end. What anti-slavery has worked for hitherto in its great politcal movements has been to limit the extension of the institution. The founders of the Government put it under the ban, and the attempt has ever been to so hold it, and, through this disparagement and the influence of limitation, to finally wear away and extinguish its existence. Thus it has ever been esteemed a political excrescence to be absorbed by the growth of a great, flourishing, democratic body politic. The idea has never been entertained, when considered in connection with the ultimate development of the democratic principle to its final issues, that slavery was to develop itself pari passu along with it, and be its everlasting companion. Non- intervention with it in the States where it exists has been a rule of political action ; but underlying this rule has always existed the sentiment that slavery was a temporary incident in our na- tional existence ; and the rule never forbade the idea of discuss- ing the question of amelioration and providing for its ultimate removal. But in the progress of events it turns out that the leading po- litical thought of the country on this subject is to be forced into revolution. Ideas upon it are to be shoved over on to an entirely new track. We are substantially told that democratic republican government must be developed in company and along with its great antagonism — slavery ; that the Republic and slavery are loving twins, to be nurtured and fostered and grown up together ; that when we have expanded our model Republic into a popula- tion of one hundred millions, we must likewise have fostered the growth of the sister interest into fifteen millions of slaves. Now, this plan will not work. The Union's homilies and 358 ONLY A TRUCE POSSIBLE. [Feb. the theory of Nebraskaism alike drive in this direction, but the contest turns on the very point they put forth, as the one for general concurrence, and upon which all should agree, namely, that slavery should be allowed to expand without hindrance. And we must tell their authors that the hostility to its spread cannot be effectually countervailed by political defeat on that issue, whether fairly or unfairly put. The party of abridgment, when that plan shall fail, will turn to the party of expulsion. It will in the end grow even more decisively malcontent on the basis of a settlement looking to its unrestrained spread and the consequently increased permanence of the institution. There is no peace for this Union on the basis of the extension of slavery and the perpetuity of slavery. The first point has awakened the existing uproar on the subject, and the agitation of the second will only make things worse. The existing generation may patch up a truce on the subject, and probably will, if Kansas comes in as a free State ; but unless the South shifts its ground, or Kebraskaism is conquered in a national contest, who can doubt that the wedge is already en- tered that will sever the black torpid mass of Southern barbarism from the flourishing intelligence of Northern civilization ? Who can doubt that the dead branch will be severed from the living trunk ? J. S. P. [From Hon. George F. Talbot.] Machias. Me. , February 5, 1857. My Dear Sir : I have read with great interest all of your com- munications to the Tribune since your return to Washington, and par- ticularly those in which you express the conviction that the dissolution of the Union is a probable event. I think your opinion is by no means a heretical or unusual one, but is shared by nearly all of the intelligent thinkers in the country who are opposed to slavery. Few political writers have the manliness to express in writings for the press — which are for the most part toned to suit the most superficial popular preju- dices — philosophic and speculative views in the same frankness and truthfulness they would use in discussing questions of science, art, or literature. When we write upon science we address ourselves to the educated minds, and when we discuss literature we stand in awe of critics, but in politics we habitually address ourselves to the mob. 1857] LETTER FROM GEORGE F. TALBOT. 359 I think we fall into this vice from the necessity we are under of making stump speeches to achieve some special election, and of editing cam- paign papers to smuggle in some candidate on some platform. The position the Tribune holds is due to the opinion that people have of it as an independent journal that will discuss political subjects upon abso- lute principles, without reference to the necessities of candidates or the odium of particular opinions. If it is not such a journal, then there is a field for such a journal, and the readers of the Tribune would rush to its support in larger droves than they have gathered round the Tribune. I am very glad that you are disposed to magnify your office as a political writer, and doubt not you are securing for yourself a high position as an independent and profound thinker, whose ideas proceed from no exigencies of a party, but from the maturest convictions of truth. I only wished, however, to say that I do not believe you have been misunderstood or prejudiced by any of your readers. It was a sheer piece of cowardice to call you a disunionist. A man may be an intense lover of the Union, and yet be unable to close his eyes to the plain prognostications of its dissolution, in spite of all his own patriotism. A father might as well be charged with seeking the death of his child who communicates to others his knowledge that she is hopelessly sinking under a disease which no skill or care can prevent or cure. Your views upon this whole matter quite accord with my own. Two or three years ago the Tribune printed an article of mine tracing the history of the policy of the Government relation to slavery in three epochs — from 1790 to 1820, slavery discouraged, freedom fostered ; from 1820 to 1850, slavery and freedom equalized; from 1850 to , slavery fostered, freedom discouraged. The concluding paragraph was some- thing like this : When the nation deliberately adopted the policy of giving the slave power the control of this Republic, the dissolution of the Union became inevitable. The Tribune men put the consequence thus : An intense sectional contest between North and South became in- evitable ! What a miserable bugbear is this. Can we never say dissolution of the Union without drawing down upon us an inquisitorial visit from the police ? I hope you will continue your able and timely discussion. One such manly warning as yours of the results of the present madness will do infinitely more to avoid the catastrophe than a regiment of Mrs. Parting- tons with their brooms to sweep out the Atlantic Ocean of popular revo- lution that will directly surge in the very direction you indicate. With much esteem, yours, Gr. F. Talbot. 360 LETTER FROM T. W. HIGGINSON. [Feb. [From T. W. Higginson.] Worcester, Mass., February 9, 1857. Dear Sir : I do not know whether you have any interest in the Massachusetts disunion movement ; but it inspires deep interest among many who are neither non-resistants nor Garrisonians ; and from the suggestions thrown out in your powerful letters in the Tribune, I should judge that you were not so blind as most people to the real tendencies of the time. To me it is plain that the chasm which the founders of the Republic could not close when it was a crack can still less be closed when spread to its present dimensions. I understand Wilson's policy, but think he underrates the ignorant conceited obstinacy of the South, which will not make or sustain doughfaces, as we do, and will risk the last issue sooner than yield a point. All the laws of nature work for disunion ; there is a mine beneath us, and the South will cram in powder quite as fast as we can touch it off. My present object is to ask if you can render any assistance, pri- vately or openly, in circulating about a hundred copies of the printed report of the Convention among the proper persons in Washington — gratis, of course, so far as they are concerned ; and it would be worth our while to pay for having it well done. If you prefer not to appear in the matter, can you not get it done, or put it in the way of being done ? Any aid or suggestions will greatly oblige Yours cordially, T. W. Higginson.* THE DALLAS TREATY. [Prom the Kew York TrHnine.] Washington, February 21, 1857. The long secret sessions of the Senate on the Dallas treaty are by no means devoted to dry discussion. They are of the most interesting character. The substance of the case before the Senate is this : Mr. Dallas was instructed to approach the British Government, and ask it to make a treaty explanatory of the Clayton and Bulwer Convention. Lord Palmerston replied that they thought that convention was plain enough now, but he did not want to be difficult, and if the United States were dissatisfied and had any propositions to make, he would hear them. If Uncle * This and the preceding letter refer to a personal discussion in the THbune, for which there is no room or appropriateness in the text. ?857] LORD PALMERSTON AND MR. DALLAS. 361 Sam would only tell him what lie wanted, he would try and grat- ify him. Mr. Marcy instructed Mr. Dallas to name the Mos- quito question and the Bay Islands. ' ' Well, ' ' replies Lord Palmerston, "what of the former? We are as desirous to get out of that scrape as you are to have us out. But how to do it is the question. The poor devils have a claim on us that we can- not shake off honorably. But we have agreed not to colonize or fortify or exercise dominion there, and what can this miserable little protectorate be to you anyway ?" " Oh," says Mr. Dallas, "we are afraid some Englismen may go and settle there." "Well," admits Lord Palmerston, "this would be shocking. But Yankees may do the same — and may do it as quick as they like. We will just put ourselves even with you there." " But," responds Mr. Marcy through Mr. Dallas, "the boundaries of that Mosquito coast are indefinite. " "I am sorry for that, ' ' says the British negotiator. "But this is a matter that touches Hon- duras, and we must consult her about that. But anything to stop your growling : we will fix it as you say. Now what else ?" "Well," says our bushy-headed embassador, "there are the Bay Islands." " Yery well ; we do not care anything about the Bay Islands. We will give them to the d — 1, or to Honduras, just as you say. Which shall it be?" " To Honduras, " says the meek Mr. Dallas. "To Honduras it is," says Lord Palm- erston. " Is there anything else that lies heavy on your mind about this eternal Central American business?" To which in- quiry President Pierce, through Mr. Marcy, and Mr. Marcy through Mr. Dallas, replies : " Nothing at all, my Lord, that I think of. " Then asks Palmerston, " You are satisfied, are you ?" "Well, may it please your lordship, we believe that this fixes the whole thing up, and that we have nothing more to ask, ' ' answers our embassador. "Then I am rejoiced," responded Lord Palmerston. " Now send the treaty over and have it rati- fied, and let us have a final end to this whole business." Such is the substance of a long correspondence before the Senate between this and the British Government in regard to this treaty. The correspondence fully shows that it was dictated to Mr. Dallas piece by piece from the State Department, and was reluctantly acceded to by the British Government, but without objection, because that power was willing to promote 362 MR. CASS FOB PEACE. [Feb. the offices of good neighborhood and satisfy every wish of the United States in the premises. It is the awkwardness of the case that gives rise to the pro- longed debate, and this arises from the pertinent fact here set forth, that the treaty is a bantling of our Administration, a dic- tation of our own Executive Government ; and that, after Eng- land has reluctantly acceded to its terms, we stand in the shilly- shallying position of objecting to ratify it. One of the points of filibustering against it we have already referred to — that of applying the Wilmot Proviso to the Bay Islands. The discussion has been fruiful of political situations. Part of the South has been indignant and warlike, and desirous of being held by the coat-tail. This favor having been denied by Northern Senators, and the benefits of a foreign war on our manufacturing interests and its probable local disasters in Southern latitudes having been quietly suggested, the truculent heroes of the plantation have taken to roaring as gently as suck- ing doves. Mr. Cass has again made a distinguished exhibition of his rotatory powers. He now declares that it was a great mistake to suppose he is a war man. He is no such thing. He is for peace. He protests that this difficulty with England can be set- tled and must be settled. War is not inevitable. It need not take place. It must not take place. It shall not take place. He at once conjugates : I am for peace, you are for peace, we are for peace, the slaveholders are for peace. "Who wants war ? George Sanders and the filibusters ; Robert J. Walker and the incertitudes generally. But R. J. is not in. I myself am Sec- retary of State ; and however truculent I might have been while General Jackson lived, I am peaceable now. Gentlemen, we can't fight. The friends of the peculiar institution say No. And I know when they say No that you know and we all know that it means No. No, gentlemen, we shall have no war. The slave-holders object, the Administration will object, I object. We are all a bundle of George W. Joneses together, and " ob- ject." Give the devil and the new Administration and General Cass their due. They are conservative on the question of war with any first-class power. They will not have it, for the slave-holders 1857] A SUBLIME CREDULITY. 363 dare not. As to the promotion of the interests of slavery itself, they are cut and dried for all rank and radical measures. No war, but plenty of slavery. Gentlemen, proceed ! J. S. P. BUCHANAN — KANSAS. [From the New York Tribune.] Washington, February 23, 1857. It is instructive to witness the just beginning spasms of sub- lime credulity in the North over the lately bedimmed prospects of Kansas. There are those who will have it, and have had it ever since November, that Mr. Buchanan is to inaugurate a reign of peace and quietness and fairness, subduing the lion of slavery by stroking his back, and making him a lamb before the world. These too credulous persons are just beginning to show symptoms of uneasiness lest after all it should turn out not to be so. They have cast aside huge facts demonstrating that Mr. Buchanan can be nothing but an instrument in the hands of the oligarchs, and have founded their opinion upon the indications afforded by straws lying in the lull that succeeded the Presidential storm. These they took to denote the essential mollification of the sla- very usurpation and to betoken the essential tranquillity of the nation. Facts have not changed, the prospects for the future have not changed ; the only change has been in the vision of these bland commentators, whose obtuseness has not recognized those facts or those prospects. The coming Administration has nothing to do, and contem- plates doing nothing but to carry out the policy of the slave- holders, whatever that be. We have more than once said that the force of the Republican movement in the North had its in- fluence upon them. It admonished them to be wary. There are those among them, of whom Governor Aiken is a type, who yield to the admonition, and would prefer to quiet the question by letting Kansas go. If this small minority could make its counsels heeded, Kansas might be allowed to come in as a free State. But while we admit this we have reasons to believe that the suggestions of moderation will not be heeded. The slave- holder has tasted the blood of conquest. His pride and his pas- 364 SLAVE-HOLDERS RELENTLESS. [Feb. sions are roused, and the reduction of Kansas he means to con- summate. The elements are too combustible, the parties too fiery to be controlled by the counsels of moderation. They will kindle into flame again at the touch of a spark. The pile is again raised by the late action of the usurpers in the legislation to create a slave State out of Kansas. Ere long the blaze will mount as high and the heats become as intense as ever over this bitter topic. The slave-holder is determined and relentless. His purposes are clear and his will indomitable. He is after Kansas. He means to have Kansas. He has meant nothing else since Atchi- son took the first step to obtain it. There has never been weak- ness or doubt or hesitation either in the plans or the action taken to reduce that Territory to slavery. As the slave-holder has be- gun, so he will end. Mr. Buchanan is not a straw in his path. Mr. Buchanan is simply one of his weapons of war in accom- plishing his purpose. The Administration will be coerced into rendering him vital aid. It cannot help itself unless it goes over to the Black Republicans. Its right arm is in the South. There are its backers and supporters. The imbecility of the Northern wing of the Democratic organization, their demorali- zation as the mere janizaries of slavery, make them totally unfit to be relied on, totally helpless as a party of opposition to the dominant power of the South. Mr. Buchanan will not even make a feint of standing up against the oligarchy. Kansas has not had and will not have the shadow of a chance of redemption from her present thraldom, except at the instance of the South itself. We have thought there was a chance for this interpo- sition. There is the barest possibility of it still. But our judg- ment is daily strengthened that no such interposition in behalf of fair play for Kansas will be made, and that the slave-holders will go on with the same arrogant imperiousness with which they be- gan to complete the conquest of that Territory, and to more com- pletely reduce and humiliate the political power, and principles, and self-respect of the Free States. The Free and Slave States are in a war for power, and the fact should never be forgotten. The contest is hand to hand. The hostility finds its foundations in immutable principles. The feud is deadly. The collision is fierce. However much we may hope for it, however believe in 1857] BUCHANAN'S INAUGURAL. 365 the possibility of an accommodation of the strife, reflection teaches it is too much to expect that an advantage gained by either party in such a strife will be surrendered to the other. The slavery men have by the foulest infamy obtained the legal mastery in Kansas, and we may expect they will keep it. Let the dull-seeing moderates of the North learn to view this question as it really is, and cease to utter their jeremiads over dangers that beset their hopes. The tones of deprecation and fear are not befitting the Free States at the present crisis in their fate. For they are the tones of cowards, and will be, as they deserve to be, trampled under foot. The attitude of the Free States should be that of defiance and resistance. They should assemble in council and repudiate the bastard rale of a slave- holding oligarchy, backed by a mercenary minority of place- holders — a rule converting the Free States into mere instruments for the unlimited extension of slavery within the present and prospective limits of the Federal Union. J. S. P. THE TRIUMPH OF SLAVERY. [Prom the New York Tribune^ "Washington, March 5, 1857. The Union of to-day contains two poorly-written articles, whose gentle platitudes and by-your-leave air do clearly intimate the character of the new President and his new organ. But if Mr. Buchanan is not clear and forcible in style, we must admit that the doctrines of the Inaugural are sufficiently pointed and distinct. Of these we come at once to the expression of a firm conviction, blunt as it may seem, that this Union is not worth saving nor this Government worth preserving, upon the basis of the doctrine of the Inaugural, backed by the coming decision of the Supreme Court, to which the President, by intimation, clearly points. This doctrine is that slavery must be allowed a co-terminous existence with all our existing territory not under State government, and its extension must be allowed to keep pace hereafter with the extension of our future territorial limits. In other words, and in brief, no restriction must be placed upon slavery outside of the Free States, and Congress must be pro- 366 THE CORONATION. [March hibited by judicial decision from imposing any such restriction — thus establishing the motto of the Federal Government to be, ' ' No Freedom outside of the Free States. ' ' Perhaps we ought to be grateful to Mr. Buchanan for placing himself, so distinctly as he has placed himself, upon this clear ground. The world can see it and can understand it. Such of the American people as choose to see can see just what position the Federal Government, under Mr. Buchanan's Administration, takes on this * question, and they will soon see that the Federal Judiciary supports it by a decision which declares unconstitu- tional any adverse position. "We need not, however, thank Mr. Buchanan, for he has been driven upon his position by the force of events, and the deep- laid, slowly-matured, and always consistent and far-reaching policy of the oligarchs ; for whom the Free State men of the Union, w T ith here and there a rare exception, have never shown themselves to be any match. This policy of planting the Fed- eral Government on the side of an open, undisguised, entire devotion to the interests of slavery, and demanding conformity thereto of all participants in its administration, has been grad- ually forcing its way through fogs and murky darkness, its ex- istence doubted and denied wherever partisan interest required the denial, until at last this policy bursts upon the country and upon the w r orld in the Inaugural of Mr. Buchanan and in the coming decision of the Supreme Court upon the right of Con- gress to restrict slavery in the Territories, with a distinctness and clearness as impressive and alarming as it is vivid. It is the closing in of an Arctic night in our history. It is the swing-to of the iron door of a political Bastille upon the principles and the aims of the founders of this Government. But that night will end; that door will be opened. "We said, when the Kansas-Nebraska bill passed, " The revo- lution is accomplished, and Slavery is king." "We point to Mr. Buchanan's Inaugural and the coming decision of the Supreme Court as the coronation of that power. The lesson of to-day is, that triumph must be triumphed over, that crown must be torn from that brow. But it will take something besides sentimental Abolitionism, something beyond the scope of party discussions, looking primarily to the preservation of the Union, to do it. 1857] NOTHING LEFT BUT RESISTANCE. 367 "What that something is cannot be spoken into form. Its essence is the spirit of determined resistance to political usurpation. Let it be everywhere understood that the oligarchs have at length fully emerged from all obscurity as to their polity and designs, and now stand forth before the world in the person of Mr. Buchanan and in the decision of the Supreme Court, pro- claiming that hereafter the fundamental rule of the Federal Gov- ernment shall be, "No Freedom outside the Free States.." There is thus nothing left for the people of the Free States but to confront and break down this insulting domination over their rights and their interests, or ingloriously succumb to their conquerors. The only question left for the consideration of those who do not intend to recognize the legitimacy of this revo- lution in the administration of the Federal Constitution is, What is the true mode of resisting it ? In what way shall the Free States extricate themselves from this conquest over them ? How shall they throw off the foisted infamy of a Union and Govern- ment forcibly converted to the uses of human slavery, and wielded with a determined purpose of politically debauching the Northern masses, crushing the principles and the instincts of freedom, and quelling all opposition to its sway ? A greater and more serious question was never propounded in the whole course of our history than this. Upon its solution hang results of momentous importance. For no political calm and no personal indifference can lessen the magnitude of the fact that the people of the Free States have now to decide whether they will consent that the Federal Government shall be made a gigantic engine for the spread and perpetuation of African sla- very all over the North American Continent, or whether they will unite together to frustrate this ruinous and guilty purpose, regardless of consequences. J . S. P. DECISION OF THE SUPREME COURT. [From the New York Tribune.] Washington, March 8, 1857. The slavery question has at length found its way into the Su- preme Court in all its length and breadth, and that body has 368 THE DRED SCOTT DECISION. [March fully justified all predictions and all anticipations that the system would find therein a home and a bulwark. The members of that body have done for it all and more than all that it was ever alleged they would do by those who, like Mr. John P. Hale, have always considered and characterized that Court as the "Citadel of Slavery." Alas ! that the character of the Supreme Court of the United States as an impartial judicial body has gone ! It has abdicated its just functions and descended into the political arena. It has sullied its ermine ; it has draggled and polluted its garments in the filth of pro-slavery politics. From this day forth it must stand in the inexorable judgment of impartial history as a self- disgraced tribunal. And from this day forth it will be one of the great and leading aims of the people of the Free States to obliterate the shameful record and undo what it has done. What has been done will be undone. For that Court, instead of plant- ing itself upon the immutable principles of justice and righteous- ness, has chosen to go upon a temporary and decaying founda- tion. If there is such a thing as Eternal Justice in the universe, that foundation must crumble and fall and carry all who repose upon it into an inevitable ruin. The Court decides that the Constitution of the United States recognizes property in man, and that under it, and by force of it, human slavery is nationalized, and must be protected and defended in its spread and perpetuation, whithersoever that Constitution is carried and is legitimately in force. It is plain that the decision must be temporary, from the fact that slavery cannot exist forever in this Republic. It must per- ish in some way. The aim of those who believe in its disas- trous influences and pernicious results has hitherto been to re- strict its spread, in the benevolent desire of limiting those malign influences and results, and in the hope that it could be thus re- strained within manageable limits and be brought to a peaceful end. The decision now made has been made in the hope of baffling these objects. It has been made with a view to head off the party of restriction and to give to slavery full swing. If the action of the Court in this case has been atrocious, the manner of it has been no better. The Court has rushed into politics voluntarily, and without other purpose than to subserve 1857] JUDGES CURTIS AND M'LEAN. 369 the cause of slavery. They were not called, in the discharge of their duties, to say a word about the subject. Judge Curtis created a very marked sensation among his colleagues by charg- ing this as an offence, and a violation of their own rules of ju- dicial action. But they were in hot haste to enter the service of slavery. They would not wait to be called. They volun- teered their service. They at once violated their rules, sacri- ficed principle, and disgraced the judicial character. They hur- ried upon infamy. The appearance of the Court during the delivery of the opinions and at the final close of the case was that of nervous exultation over their attempts to garrote the Free States and the people of freedom. The only consolation an ob- server could draw was in the reflection that the garroters would themselves be sent to Coventry in the end. They seemed to feel that they had headed off the great Republican party which came so near triumphing, and had confirmed and consolidated the slave-holders' political power. They forgot that their decision would be regarded, throughout the Free States, and wherever the pulse of liberty beats, only as the votes of five slave-holders and two doughfaces upon a question where their opinion was not asked, and where their votes would not count. For this is the true state of the case, considering their decision to be, as Mr. Justice Curtis substantially pronounced it, extra-judicial and foreign to the case under review. They had achieved a tri- umph ; but what was that triumph ? The Supreme Court had been called to vote on a political question, and but two con- sistent and judicial minds were found therein. The vote accord- ingly stood seven to two, the five slave-holders and two dough- faces making up the seven. Their cunning chief had led the van, and plank by plank laid down a platform of historical false- hood and gross assumption, and thereon they all stood exult- ingly, thinking, or feigning to think, that their work would stand during the remainder of their lives at least. The proceed- ing had a merit. We acknowledge that it was a number-one specimen of judicial caucussing over a political subject on the side of the winning party. It had this merit ; no other. The opinions of Judge McLean and Judge Curtis were ex- ceedingly full and thorough, and crammed with sound doctrine. To speak of their ability would be superfluous. Judge McLean 370 JUDGE CURTIS'S EXPOSITION. [March stands forth in full lustre, uttering opinions on the side of Jus- tice and Freedom, to which the North will respond as one man in grateful admiration. Judge Curtis followed him with a mas- terly exposition of the whole subject. On the question of the citizenship of the people of African descent, which Judge Taney laboriously denied, Judge Curtis's argument was entirely ex- haustive. He has settled the question. He ground up the Chief Justice's argument, and has placed his case upon immuta- ble foundations. He has made the law on this subject, and the question will never be argued again. He may be voted down by legislatures, courts, and executives, but the argument will for- ever stand unimpeached. The Chief Justice and his next-door neighbor Wayne evidently felt the weight of his exposition. And while Judge Curtis did not tell his legal chief that he was guilty of falsehood, he did say that his statements would be re- ceived with very great surprise, and proceeded to demonstrate his gross historical misrepresentations. The Chief Justice's dis- comfiture on this point will have a very serious and damaging effect upon the other parts of his opinion, which would be weak enough standing alone, and which, under existing circumstances, deserve no more respect than any pro-slavery stump speech made during the late Presidential canvass. J. S. P. [From the Neiv York Tribune.'] "Washington, Monday, March 23, 1857. "What are you going to do about it ?" This is the question tauntingly asked of the opponents of the rule of the slave power, in view of the recently-erected barrier attempted to be thrown around its usurpations by the Supreme Court. " What are you going to do about it ?" Let us answer the inquiry. And since we are about it, let us come directly to the point, and neither mince nor disguise matters, nor attempt to conceal from our- selves or the public the actual state of affairs. The country is in a great civil conflict. The party of slavery is in power, and intends to hold its grip by the exercise of usurped authority. The party of freedom is in opposition, and borders upon a state of insurrection against that usurpation. That usur- pation consists in a double-headed violation of the Constitution — 1857] WHAT IS TO BE DONE? 371 one aspect of it being an arrogation of power to the Federal Gov- ernment in the assertion of the right to extend slavery into the free territory, and declaring that the Constitution itself does so extend it — a power never hitherto asserted nor exercised ; and the other a derogation of the power of the same authority, by denial of its right to modify, control, or prevent such extension — a power recognized and exercised, according to Judge Curtis, in an unbroken chain of administration of the Federal Constitution ever since its adoption. This is a strictly accurate and the simplest possible statement of the existing condition of public affairs. The " what-are-you- going-to-do-about-it " people are those who believe or profess to believe in the ability of the usurpers, by force of the central power, with its array of suborned judges and hemp-suggesting allies, to deter the party of freedom from attempting to repel and prostrate the usurpation by unusual measures. It is too much to expect of this class of men to perceive the deeper springs and grander movements of history. They simply look upon the people as so fettered by constitutional forms and legal impedi- ments that they cannot extricate themselves from their own humiliation but by acts which they are not willing to perform. The power of the people cannot be disputed ; it is simply their manhood which is questioned. Fearers and worshippers of power themselves, like the same class of time-servers under all govern- ments, these poor-spirited parasites look upon the chains of tyrants only to laugh at their victims. And while they exult over the apparent strength of these chains, they tauntingly ask of those over whom they are thrown, ' ' What are you going to do about it?" For one, we make answer to the insulting inquiry by prompt and unequivocal reply. We propose to revolutionize the revolu- tion. We design to prosecute countervailing measures to the usurpation which shall be sufficiently radical and effective to ac- complish its overthrow. We intend to strike directly at the usurping power. That power is slavery. We propose to drive directly at its vitals, wherever it exists. Forced into a war, driven into straits where one party or the other must sink, we go for sinking slavery. In a contest of vital consequence and far-reach- ing results we cannot stand upon ceremony. Having no alter- 372 TIIE COURSE POINTED OUT. [March native but to yield to slavery or to conquer slavery, we strike for its unconditional extinction in this Government, whether by ex- pulsion or otherwise. Upon this ground we believe the battle should be fought by all who do not intend to be victimized and degraded by the insulting rule of the slave power. This war upon slavery must be made by the Free States act- ing in their own sovereign capacity or by such co-operative union among them as shall be deemed best by the parties. It cannot be effectively carried on to its successful completion by the sole action of Federal agencies. It is too late for that. This plan has been tried and found wanting. The reasons why might be given at length, but we must omit them here. The Lower House of Congress may, where possible, be used as an auxiliary force, but this is all. The Free States, acting in their own sep- arate and independent capacity, must accomplish the work. What those States must first do is to rise from their dependent, secondary, half-torpid position, and assume the attitude of inde- pendent, self-respecting, self-reliant States. They need organi- zation. They must be aroused to feel and to declare their rights. It is time to shake off the dust and sloth of generations, and to assert their powers, so long left in abeyance. They have need to recur to first principles, to brush away the cobwebs which have accumulated upon their books of constitutional law, restore to light their almost forgotten reserved rights, erect their prostrate political status upon a pedestal where it can be seen of all men. They must train their people and organize their military re- sources, not for war but for defence. They must assert their sovereignty, and be ready to defy all possible assaults upon it. Thus they may at one and the same time secure peace and com- mand respect. This done, and it may be quickly done, let them hurl their bolts into the ranks of slavery. Let them begin their approaches and prosecute their assaults in whatever manner and direction can be shown to be most effectual. This work may in fact be carried along pari passu with the work of preparing the Free States for whatever emergency their position may induce. They may be skirmishing against the enemy while being disciplined. At present the anti-slavery spirit lies embosomed in a mere mob of numbers. The Yankees, are to too great an extent, degen- 1857] POWER OF THE STATES. 373 erated to schoolmastering and huckstering. They are cultivated effeminates, like the last of the Greeks. All this must be re- formed. For the slave-driving oligarchs wind the men of cul- ture round their finger. Determination, discipline, organization must take the place of all such sentimental vigor and growling imbecility as was witnessed in that disgraceful spectacle, the An- thony Burns mob. In a word, the North must learn to act as well as talk. Do we need to intimate in what direction ? We think not, except to wilful obtuseness. Wisconsin has taken one step in the true path. Yet, nobly as she has acted, and grate- fully as her early assertion of State independence shall be re- membered hereafter, her star will yet be pointed to only as one of a glorious galaxy, with which the future shall overspread the heavens, that was the first to shine out from the unbroken dark- ness of a murky sky. But there are larger and more comprehensive functions to be discharged than any State has yet initiated. For no State has yet come to a full view or a full contemplation of the force and criminality of the usurpation which has vaulted into the saddle of the Federal Government. Usurpation must be met by revolt, and revolt does not deal alone or stop with barricades. It makes necessity alone the rule of its action. The law of its conduct is not laid down in the books. It is extemporized on the gate- posts of the usurper by those who crowd in to his overthrow. The States must move directly upon the object they combat. Slavery has enthroned itself upon the violated Constitution. It must be dethroned by the parties to that instrument. Their starting-point for this work, the fulcrum to the lever by which they will overturn its power, is the Declaration of Independence. The Free States must throw themselves directly back upon this instrument. They must fearlessly propagate its doctrines and scatter its fires wherever the Constitution extends. The effort will pierce the vitals of the barbarism that seeks to instal itself upon the wreck of a violated Constitution. This is the magic power that shall dispel the curse that now threatens to blast the hopes of mankind. This is the spear that shall transfix and de- stroy its existence. " For no falsehood can endure Touch of celestial temper. ' ' 374 LETTER FROM JOSHUA R. OIDDINGS. [Marcii The people of the Free States have Only to go to their work in earnest to accomplish this result. It has always been the doctrine of the State Rights or old Democratic party that the States had the right to judge of in- fractions of the Constitution, and, in a case of importance, to de- cide upon the mode and measure of redress. And since the Slave States, regardless of every consideration of constitutional obligation, of comity, and of State equality, have undertaken to control and degrade the Free States by making them parties to a scandalous oppression, they — the Free States — may rightfully retaliate by aiming at the condign punishment of their adversaries, the transgressors, by the overthrow and destruction of slavery it- self. They are rightfully entitled to exercise this power under the Constitution, as expounded by its great authors. Let the Free States, then, rouse to their proper work, which the aggres- sions of slavery have necessitated, and go resolutely forward to the extinguishment of this pestilent institution — an institution that offends the world with its disgusting characteristics, and whose upholders dare to trample the rights and the principles of freedom under their feet, and in doing so to obtain tyrannic sway over millions of freemen and the uncontrolled dominion of a continent. After this manner let the people of the Free States answer the inquiry of the usurpers : " What are you going to do about it ?" J. S. P.^ [From Hon. Joshua R. Giddings.] Jefferson, Ohio, March 31, 1857. My Dear Sir : I seize a moment before leaving home to say that I thank you most heartily and sincerely for your letter to the Tribune of the 23d, and published in that paper of the 27th. Your plan is what every reflecting man of the Free States must see and approve when he once examines the subject. I thank God that we have men who ' are willing to speak out, and this decision of the Supreme Court is exciting attention. It has driven our fogies and doughfaces to the wall. They can go no farther. My health is pretty good, and I yet hope to do some little in aid of the great cause. Remember me very kindly to Mrs. Pike, and believe me, Yours for freedom, J. R. Giddings. J. S. Pike, Esq. 1857] GREELEY AND GUROWSKTS LETTERS. 375 [From Horace Greeley.] New York, July 1, 1857. Dear Pike : I have your resolves, which will go into to-morrow's Daily. Their appearance in the Weekly depends on Dana and Fortune. I think you were very judicious on the silver question. But our judges won't let us refer to the people. They say that makes a law unconstitutional. I will write you again about Tribune stock after I can see how I stand, pecuniarily. Yours, Horace Greeley. J. S. Pike, Esq. [From Count Gnroweki.] Saratoga Springs, July 16, 1857. My Dear Pike : I am a big scamp for answering so late your kind letter. How it came I could not explain, but I call myself the worsest names, so you not need to do so. On my return from the Western trip, I had no regular lodgings, expecting to leave New-York every day ; and the days have been taken or rather cut up between sending to immortality various dead and livino- individuals through the " Encyclopaedia Americana" — the great under- taking of Dana — and between swearing, eating, and the like uninterest- ing occupations. I am here for the whole season, hitherto satisfied with the place, the water, the climate, and my little self. I have given up Newport and the seashores, as last year I was perfectly stupefied during my stay near the roaming Atlantic. This shall prevent me from availing myself of your hospitality. Even previous to having received your lines, I planned to go to Maine, but now it is all over, being engaged in serious and tedious work, which I cannot interrupt, intending to have it done previous to my return to New-York. Besides, I could only admire your yacht out of the window, as for putting my foot on it would be altogether out of question. In less than five minutes every- thing within me should turn up and down. As politics are all the same, and a little dull, there is nothing to speak about. Pity that they cannot hang Mayor Wood. Have you any influential paper in your State ? It comes into my mind that you may help me most secretly to a vengeance upon Appleton, my publisher. He is frightened with the anti-slaveryism of my book to that extent that first he did not send it to the South, for which some of my Southern acquaintances overwhelmed me with reproaches ; but even — as I have been positively told — he does not care for, or rather underhandedly pre- 37G LETTER FROM DONN PIATT. [Sept. vents the spreading of my book. He fears the South, with whom he has a large business, and which, as he believes, will be injured by his sincerely contributing to the expansion of America and Europe. This object cannot be broached in the Tribune, on account of many and various reasons. If you could thrash him a little in your State, or in a letter to some Boston paper, I shall have at least vengeance, if no moneys. But keep it secret. My most hearty respects to Mrs. Pike and to your daughter if she is with you. By the by, you paraded at the exposition. Likeness good, painting middle, middle. Yours, Gurowski. [From Donn Piatt.] Old Bailey, September 13, 1857. Mr Dear Friend : I have never, to my shame be it spoken, re- duced to writing my heart-felt thanks for your exertions in our behalf. That I am late in so doing only goes to prove how strong they live within me. Last year's thanks are generally as flat as they are frail, and after all I cannot say but that I write this more to remind you that you are my friend now, than to offer you my poor thanks for by-gone services. The fact is, I have been almost in monthly expectation of running against you. I found myself possessed of twenty -four hours in New- York the other day, and made directly for the Tribune office, in hopes of meeting you in the shade of the establishment you have done so much to make famous. But you were what Pope calls the noblest work of God, an non est man. I then tried Father Greeley, but he was off to his farm ; and as a last resort I took from him, said Greeley, a letter of introduction to Mrs. Cunningham Burdell, and thereby secured an hour's most agreeable, because entertaining, conversation. If I cannot drink with my friend, I will study the depraved. Well, all acknowledgments aside, for I doubt not that they bore you dismally, I want to announce to you in an informal manner — to speak diplomatically — as Doctor G. Bailey will inform you officially, that you and yours have been unanimously made members of the Old Bailey Co. The forms and conditions, rules and regulations, will be transmitted to you in due course of mail. But I will say to you that we — that is, my wife, who joins in all this — have passed the summer in this most de- lightful place, and so pleased are we that we have purchased — Doctor Bailey and I — and now find that we have room for a few more. We want you and family to join us. The property, a handsome cottage, with two acres, touching the ocean. Now for four months in the year 1857] LETTERS— DANA AND DR. BAILEY. 377 we seek to be well and happy. We will put " No admittance on busi- ness" on om* gate, and, with bathing-dresses, Catawba wine, a double- barrelled gun for bores and a big dog for duns, we will let the world go hang. Now make us happy by saying Yes ; and believe with love from all to all, Your sincere friend, Donn Piatt. Mr. James S. Pike. [From Charles A. Dana.] New York, November 12, 1857. Dear Pike : Yours of the 9th just received. The English papers shall be sent as soon as we get a lot. The financial era grows no brighter very fast, and we who foretold it console ourselves with crowing over you who didn't believe it would ever come. I must confess, though, it is a consolation I would rather not have had use for. But you are right to swear it isn't here from the cause on which our prophecy was based. Stick to that opinion. It is now time to abandon sensual pleasures and cultivate the higher parts of the soul. I heard from Henry James the other day, and at the end of the letter was a special remembrance to you. He's homesick, and is now convinced that his own country is a good place to bring up a fam- ily. . . . Yours faithfully, Charles A. D. Washington, D. C, December 15, 1857. Dear Pike : We live in an interesting age, as orators are apt to inform us. Douglas eulogized in the Tribune, and one editor beating up for subscribers to another ! Certainly we are in the last days, or at least the penultimates. Let me thank you ; it was kind of you ; I should not feel more grateful should you send me a score of subscribers. The times are perfectly awful on newspapers, T should think. I am quite sure I shall lose a third of my list. The letters are doleful — full of affection, sympathy, admiration, and fragmentary lists. What are you going to do this winter ? Why stay in New York ? You can't understand matters till you come here. I do not see how you can stay away. Do alter your plans ; we do not feel quite at home without you and Lizzie. I do not owe her this compliment, for she has fallen into the absurd habit of ignoring me of late. . . . Let us hear from you often, and believe me, Truly yours, G. Bailey. J. S. Pike, Esq. 378 LETTER FROM SENATOR WADE. [Jan. 1858. [From Senator Wade.] Washington, January 10, 1858. My Dear Pike : I saw and read your article before I received your letter. I regret that you are not to be with us ; there are many scenes transpiring among us every day that no pen but your own can do justice to. I repeat that I had read with the greatest interest your article on the cribis, and I had noticed it to others, who agreed with me in believ- ing that you had discovered the true cause of all our monetary difficul- ties. I know that Buchanan, in attributing it solely to the banks, talked like a fool. Others were equally wide of the mark. These were all manifestly but the effects of some deeper cause, as human nature is always about the same. To me your article makes it as clear as mathe- matics ; and with this clue, how simple and childish seem the specula- tions of all our wise men — Chase, Banks, Buchanan — curing the evil by restraining the issue of small bills. There is no great wonder that two minds discover a great truth about the same time ; this frequently hap- pens, and I could assign the reason if my paper was long enough. But I rejoice that the truth in this matter is out, the cause of the evil known. I hope a remedy may be found, and this eternal quackery about banks put to rest forever. My opinion is that the end of the old Locofoco party is at hand. It gives " signs of woe that all is lost." They are hopelessly broken, and must die. The party is in the same fix that the old Whig party was in on the repeal of the Compromise — divided in the middle, North, and South. I hope to be able during the session to preach its funeral sermon. Truly yours, B. F. Wade. 1858] KNOCK-DOWN IN THE HOUSE. 379 [From William Pitt Feesenden.] Washington, February 2, 1858. My Dear Pike : Yours received. I think the Army bill will be defeated, though we may authorize volunteers. Some of our people are frightened by the idea of refusing supplies in time of war ! ! Seward, I understand, is to make a speech for the bill. He is perfectly be- devilled. He will vote alone, so far as the Republicans are concerned, but he thinks himself wiser than all of us. Yours always, Fessenden. GROW ON KEITT. [From the Neiu York Tribune of February 6, 1858.] It will be seen by the proceedings in the House of Repre- sentatives on Friday night that the game of intimidation and violence has been begun by the slave-drivers on the floor of the House of Representatives at "Washington. Mr. Grow, of Penn- sylvania, for a civil and proper assertion of his rights as repre- sentative on the floor of the House, was assailed and had his throat clutched by Keitt, of South Carolina, who, if we may judge from South Carolina practice hitherto, probably designed to dirk or shoot Mr. Grow. Mr. Grow, however, frustrated any such intention by suddenly knocking his assailant down. Fortius summary chastisement of Keitt's insolence Mr. Grow deserves unqualified commendation. The only wonder is that he escaped with his life. This Keitt belongs to a trained band of Southern assassins, one of whom assaulted Senator Sumner. Keitt stood by on that occasion with his hand on his pistol, which projected half-way from his coat pocket behind, with the mani- fest design of co-operating with Brooks ; and if Sumner had not been at once disabled, but had retained strength enough to reach his assailant, it was clearly the purpose of Keitt to have shot the senator on the spot. We have always regarded it as sheer acci- dent that the murderous purposes of the assassins were not car- ried out on that occasion by the death of Mr. Sumner from the ball of a revolver. On the present occasion the prompt action of Mr. Grow probably frustrated a similar purpose. We pre- sume this to be but the beginning of a series of transactions of a 380 INCREASE OF TEE ARMY. [Feb. similar character, if the opposition to the admission of Kansas as a Slave State is persisted in by the members from the Free States. thp: army. [From the New York Tribune of February 10, 1858.] What is the case before the country as regards the army ? It now consists of 18,000 men. The Administration asks that five more regiments shall be added to the permanent force. The Senate Committee have reported a bill granting 25,000 men in all. For what 1 The Administration and the Senate Committee, headed by Mr. Jeiferson Davis, say because the military neces- sities of the country require it. But what military necessities ? Is it the Mormon rebellion? "Oh, no," say the Administra- tion, and so says Mr. Jefferson Davis. What then ? " The army is not large enough to protect our extended frontiers, and to put down the Indians." But let our readers see what General Houston and Mr. Toombs, of Georgia, have to say on this head, for neither will be accused of being governed by mere partisan views in discussing the question. Their remarks will be found elsewhere in to-day's paper. Let it be observed that no increase of the army is called for by the Administration or the Army Committee of the Senate on the ground of the Mormon difficulties. The increase is asked purely on the general ground of the necessity of permanently enlarging the army. Against such an increase many of the most distinguished men in Congress have vehemently protested, and we think with entire propriety and justice. Among them are Messrs. Hale and Fessenden, Republicans, and Toombs and Houston among the Democrats. The general considerations on this side are presented by Mr. Toombs with a masterly brevity and force, while the specific objections to the use of detachments of the regular army for frontier service are depicted by General Houston with a distinctness and point which could only arise from a thorough knowledge of the subject. We think the position of Mr. Fessenden on this question wholly impregnable, and that is briefly this : "If the Adminis- tration wants an increase of the standing army, let it say for what purpose, and let Congress judge of the necessity. If the 1858] ARMY TOO LARGE NOW. 381 state of affairs in Utah demands the increase, let the Adminis- tration say so. If the troops are not needed to quell the Mor- mons, but are needed for something else, let that something be specified. But if there is no specific necessity, but only a gen- eral sentiment or wish for the increase, or some hidden purpose concealed in the demand, then let the increase be peremptorily denied." Such is the substance of Senator Fessenden's views, and they are sound. We do not want an increase of the army on any general grounds. It is too large now. The army is as dangerous to public liberty here as it is elsewhere, and as it has always been in all ages. It is absurd to pretend that the people of this country hold or can hold any exemption from the uni- form experience of mankind. The army is the great engine of oppression wielded by all governments. And, as has been well observed by Mr. Hale in the Senate debate, in these days of steam and railroads, an army of 25,000 men is a more effective weapon for the subjugation of the people than 100,000 were fifty years ago. In view of the alarming aspect of public affairs — in view of the conspiracies against freedom which the repeal of the Missouri Compromise has hatched — in view of the determined purpose of the Federal Administration to plant slavery in Kansas, and then subject the people there to as gross a military despotism as any- where bears sway in Europe or Asia — these general considera- tions have a startling force. The demand for an increase of the army at such a juncture as this is to be looked upon with alarm. We have no faith in the discernment of those who would sing lullabies to the public suspicion amid such events as are now transpiring around us. The mercenaries of the federal govern- ment are kept in Kansas to support fraud and put down the right. There is no fraternity of feeling between the free people of Kansas and our rulers and masters at "Washington. They are despised and treated with contumely both in the Senate and at the White House. They are described as insurgents and rebels, fit only for the halter and the knife. The President so regards them ; senators so regard them. Should Kansas be admitted under the Lecompton Constitution, the army will be let loose upon them without hesitation, and in that spirit of remorseless cruelty that marks every footstep of slavery. 382 JEFF DA VIS'S POLICY. [Feb. Is this a time, then, to favor the increase of the army and augment federal power? We protest against the assertion that the Kansas question is so near a conclusion that we can treat this subject without any reference to the difficulties in that long ha- rassed Territory. On the contrary, it is all-important that the question should be at least postponed till the Lecompton swindle is disposed of, and the slave interest develops its policy after it shall have succeeded in enslaving Kansas. Mr. Buchanan inti- mates that if that State is now admitted he shall withdraw the troops. We do not know whether Mr. Buchanan is truthful here or not. But one thing we do know ; his masters and our masters will permit no such thing as withdrawing the troops. Are they ready to see their darling scheme of establishing sla- very in Kansas, which they have toiled for, lied for, swindled for, robbed and murdered for so long, blown to the wind in a day ? By no means. If they succeed they will have established a despotism in Kansas by means of the army, and they mean to perpetuate it by means of the army. These men have not played their stupendous game of fraud and infamy for nothing. Jeiferson Davis, as Secretary of War under Pierce, and now as Chairman of the Military Committee, has manipulated and is manipulating the army with a steady view to " crushing out" the opposition to slavery in Kansas and elsewhere. This was the daily boast of his colleague dishing, during Pierce's adminis- tration. That purpose lies next the heart of the slave power, and Mr. Buchanan is its facile instrument. Mr. Toombs does not join in Davis's peculiar scheme because he is fearful it will not work, and that when the machinery is well established there is danger it may fall into the wrong hands. Hence his opposi- tion. But the root and fountain of the present attempt to en- large the army is a covert, deep-seated, malignant purpose to subdue, conquer, and " crush out" the opposition to slavery in the Free States. It is intended to set this power in motion as opportunity offers. Kansas is the theatre chosen for its first ex- ercise, if it be admitted under the Lecompton Constitution. All general and all special considerations thus conspire to an- imate the most determined opposition to an increase of the army. We want no such standing army as is proposed under any circumstances. It is an anomaly in our form of govern- 1858] PUBLIC MEETING CALLED. 383 ment. If we have any service of a warlike nature to be per- formed, give us volunteers and nothing else. POLITICAL DEBAUCHERY. [From the New York Tribune of February 27.] This city is rotten from centre to circumference. At least one would naturally arrive at this conclusion from reading the published list of names attached to a call for a public meeting to sustain the Lecompton Constitution. Perhaps we ought in charity to set down a portion of this gratuitous homage to vil- lainy, to stolidity and ignorance. There is an instinct of conser- vatism in the well-to-do circles which has no perception of duty beyond sustaining the public authorities, whatever they may do or advise. All noodledom has an idea that opposition to them is disorganizing and dangerous, and leads to a disruption of the social fabric. This conviction leads blindfold many a fool. It is charitable to believe this to be pre-eminently true of this city, and we are willing to accept the idea in lieu of a conviction that would go far to undermine our faith in all mankind. We have before us a list of those who have signed the call referred to, and who have thus assumed the unenviable position of defending the most unblushing public fraud of our day. These gentlemen have stepped from private circles before the public to indorse the concentrated essence of Kansas scoundrelism, and we hold them to their proper responsibility. Here are re- spectable gentlemen of wealth and standing, holding no public station and wanting none, who come boldly out and declare that John Calhoun's Constitution ought to be put immediately in force over the people of Kansas, whether they like it or not. They fully adopt and approve the results of years of fraud, vio- lence, outrage and crime. They sustain the fruits of a political conspiracy conducted and perfected by drunken, armed vaga- bonds, whose presence in their counting-rooms or offices, their halls or their ante-chambers, they would not for an instant tol- erate. They put themselves before the world confederates and accomplices, after the fact, of the most intolerable villainies, the most shameless outrages, the most scandalous frauds ever per- petrated in our political history. Placed in no position or rela- - 384 NEW YORKERS BY NAME. [Feb. tion to public affairs that demands an expression or an intimation of their judgment they nevertheless volunteer their support and rush to the aid of these signal iniquities. Let us see who some of these gentlemen are. Not to be invidious, we will go pretty extensively into the list. We find there the names of Messrs. Henry Grinnell, E. Caylus, Barclay & Livingston, Charles O'Conor, Robert J. Dillon, John A. Dix, Moses Taylor, Gar- diner J. Howland, August Belmont, Watts Sherman, Samuel L. Post, Jr., John Van Buren, L. Delmonico, Stewart Brown, Matthew Morgan, Charles Augustus Davis, Robert Grade, Gerard Stuyvesant, Isaac Townsend, Richard Busteed, James Lee, A. Eickhoff, James M. Brown, C. A. Secor, C. Melletta, J. A. Machado, Royal Phelps, Gerard Hallock, Henry G. Steb- bins, " and thirty-three hundred others." Of those among this body of gentlemen who have obtained political preferment, or who yet expect to obtain it by such service as this, we have nothing now to say. They sell for pay. But we wish to ask gentlemen of probity, of character, like Mr. Henry Grinnell and Mr. Moses Taylor and Mr. Gardiner Howland and Mr. E. Caylus, who are opposed to forgery in private, why they desire to sustain it in public affairs ? Is cheating and swindling any better in Kansas than it is on South Street, that they should countenance and approve it there while they would denounce it here ? Is the disgusting villainy of ballot-stuffing, of wholesale lying among the members of a public convention assembled to create a State constitution, of copying a volume of a city di- rectory and returning the names as the voters at a precinct where not a handful of men were present, of shamelessly counting in and counting out members of Convention and Legislature, with- out reference to their election, any more praiseworthy in Kansas than in New York? Do you say that you do not know that the Lecompton Constitution is the result of a fraud like these, and worse than these ? Gentlemen, you do know it. We do not claim that you are especially intelligent in political matters. But no man is so ignorant that he does not know it. There is not a political bruiser of the Sixth Ward who does not know it. But do you say you are opposed to the Black Republicans, and that you think the best way of settling the Kansas question is to admit that Territory as a State as soon as possible ? Yery well, 1858] APPROVING VILLAINY. 385 gentlemen, who opposes the admission of Kansas as a State ? Are not all parties anxious for that ? Does anybody, anywhere on our side, ask that any thing more or less shall be done than to submit the two constitutions framed in Kansas to a fair vote of the people, and that that Territory shall be admitted as a State at once under whichever Constitution the people shall choose to adopt ? Does anybody anywhere, among the opponents of the Lecompton Constitution, ask any thing more than that it shall be submitted to the people for ratification before going into opera- tion ? Is this to hinder or obstruct the settlement of the Kansas question ? Nothing is now asked by the opponents of the Kansas villainies but that the people of that Territory shall be allowed to have peace and quiet and manage their affairs in their own way. It is the opposition to their doing this that alone hinders the quiet and immediate settlement of the whole Kansas question. It is the outrageous attempts to consummate the gigantic frauds of which that Territory has been for years the theatre, by im- posing a hated Constitution upon an unwilling people, which you, gentlemen, and your confederates are now sustaining, that makes all the difficulty and continues all the agitation now exist- ing in the country on this subject. We say, then, that for what you are doing you have not a shadow of an excuse, and that your volunteered approval of the plan of admitting Kansas under the Lecompton Constitution makes you sharers and participators in the guilt of crimes which should make the nation blush. But, gentlemen, your responsi- bility does not stop here. By your public acts, you are delib- erately undermining public and private virtue — you are shaking the pillars of national integrity. How do you appear before the country ? Why, as substantial citizens, honorable citizens, honest citizens, high-minded citizens, claiming consideration for those moral qualities that adorn private life; yet under no pres- sure of party or personal exigency, deliberately coming out, and, under your own signature, voluntarily indorsing and approving the crimes of lying, fraud, and forgery. And it is not done in a corner. Every ballot-box stuffer, every political swindler and renegade in the country knows it. Every liquorish scoundrel who makes politics a trade and cheating at elections a practice knows it. Every contemptible pipe-layer and political intriguer 386 RISING TIDE OF CRIME. [March knows it. Yes, gentlemen ; and they must henceforth regard the benevolent authors of Arctic expeditions, the Howlands, the Dillons, the Shermans, the Posts, as men who not only wink at such frauds as they practise, and for which they inwardly feel and know they deserve the penitentiary, but absolutely approve them. The subterranean vaults of crime underlying society everywhere grow resonant with applause over such accessions of respectability, such homage to open-handed villainy. Gentle- men signers of the meeting to approve the final results of intensi- fied border-ruffianism, who profess to hold your heads high in society as men of character, we leave you to settle this matter with your own consciences. Go on in your corrupting and de- moralizing process, and how long think you it will be before you will find you have sown the wind to reap the whirlwind ? Pro- fessing to have a stake in society, you prostrate the standard of public morality, prostitute your own characters, break down the barriers between honesty and dishonesty, and then wonder, will you, at the rising tide of crime and general debauchery ? REOPENING THE SLAVE-TKADE. [From the New York Tribune of March 5.] Keopening the slave-trade with Africa is freely advocated by the Southern papers. Among the most prominent in the list is the Richmond Whig. The trade in negroes is such a common one in Virginia that the advocacy of its extension by the jour- nals of that State is nowise unnatural. Indeed, negroes are the most important article of Virginia commerce. About 15,000 of them are sold to other States annually. Being mostly adults, their value does not fall short of $15,000,000 per annum. This is a lucrative crop ; more lucrative, indeed, than any other pro- duct of the State. Virginia's chief revenue is, in fact, derived from the sale of her population. It brings more by far to the coffers of her citizens than is received from all other sources of production. The entire corn crop of the State is not worth over ten millions, the tobacco crop not over four or five millions, the wheat crop less than ten millions. Of the corn and wheat of course a very large proportion is consumed on the soil. Tobacco 1858] VIRGINIA AND TEE SLAVE-TRADE. 387 and negroes are thus the chief articles of export, and they stand, as above stated, say fifteen million dollars' worth of negroes, and perhaps four millions worth of tobacco. Add to these a million dollars' worth of quadruped live stock, and we have the bulk of Virginia's exports. In view of these facts we have looked with some amazement at the want of consideration exhibited by the spectacle of a Vir- ginia newspaper advocating the opening of the negro traffic with Africa. The Whig of Richmond, familiar with the profits of dealing in this kind of stock, very naturally imagines that the more the State has of it the better ; but, like most Southern cal- culators where trade is concerned, it exhibits great short-sighted- ness. According to the Whig, Virginia is short of laborers. The high price they bring is, it argues, evidence that they are scarce. They are sold to other States ; and the way to remedy the difficulty is to import fresh supplies from Africa. But did it never occur to the Whig that if Virginia may replenish her ■stock of negroes in this way so may the Gulf States which now absorb Virginia's surplus ? And what then ? Why, that the price of that article of merchandise would suddenly fall from 81200 a head to $200. Did this very occult view of the case never cross the mental vision of our respected contemporary ? Virginia sells now 1500 negroes per annum at the average rate of $1000 a head. They bring to the mother of States and of statesmen $15,000,000 per annum. Suppose the same article, bating the F. F. V. blood in their veins, can be drawn from Dahomey or the Gaboon for $200 a head, what then becomes of the fifteen millions now received and spent by the whites of the Old Dominion ? We assure the Whig that however the reopening of the slave- trade with the African coast may suit the purposes of the buyers •of flesh and bone, it will never do for the raisers and sellers thereof. Virginia is declining and decrepit enough as things now stand, with an annual revenue of fifteen millions from the sale of her own sons and daughters. Deprive her of this and what will become of the great stock-growing interest there ? what will become of the Virginia that W3 know, the great slave- holding, slave-breeding, slavery-extending, slavery-sustaining Virginia of modern times ? She will be sacrificed at a blow. 388 DISUNION AS A BUGBEAR. [March Her revenues, which we now set down at twenty millions, will then be reduced to five millions. She will be driven to the mis- erable necessity of retaining and maintaining her own growing population. Deprived of the glorious privilege of selling off her own children at remunerative prices, what will become of the miserable remnant of prosperity that remains to that most ancient and renowned commonwealth ? The Whig must review its con- clusions touching the opening of the African slave-trade, or we fear it will ere long be set down as a more malignant enemy of Virginia than the most rabid Abolitionist alive. THE ARMY" WANTED FOR KANSAS. [From the New York Tribune of March 6.] An extraordinary degree of sensibility is manifested by the leading organs of the Administration over the accident which recently befell the Army bill in the Senate. The defeat of the bill we are solemnly told is a malignant ' ' conspiracy against the government " and " a disunion movement of the most repulsive description." The disunion bugbear has hitherto only been brought out to serve the slave-holders and promote the spread of their favorite institution. But now it is ruthlessly dragged from its depository to terrify us on a very common occasion. We submit that this is making use of a valuable adjunct in quite too miscellaneous a manner. We pray gentlemen will let modest legislators vote on small matters without terrifying them by so dreadful a scarecrow. The next thing we shall know dis- union will be threatened on a motion for adjournment. And then what is to become of us ? The border-ruffian journal of the commercial circles in this city is very prompt in its response to that opposition to the in- crease of the army which is based on the idea of forcing the troops out of Kansas It speaks as follows : "We should hope, for the credit of our country and of the Senate, that the number of those who do not desire that the Mormon rebellion should be suppressed, is exceedingly small. That those who have sympathized with Jim Lane and his treasonable associates in Kansas should try ' to force the Government to withdraw the troops ' from that Territory, so that their friends may have full power to murder and plunder all who differ from 1858] QUELLING TRAITORS. 389 them, and to set the law of the land at defiance, we can readily believe. To such men the dignity of their country, the honor of the army, the safety of the troops now exposed to hardship and danger, and the protection from the savage of our border settlements, are matters of very small impor- tance compared with the triumph of their selfish, sectional views. We hope, however, that there is sufficient patriotism in Congress to defeat any such combination, and that both the rebels in Utah and the traitors in Kansas may be made to feel that the federal arm is long enough and strong enough to reach and punish them. ' ' We see here plainly enough the animus of the proposition to increase the army. It is openly avowed that the object of it is to make the " traitors in Kansas feel that the federal arm is long enough and strong enough to reach and punish them." After this avowal we think we ought not to be compelled to urge very warmly a steady and unanimous denial on the part of the Repub- licans in Congress of any increase in the army whatever. If the business of quelling ' ' traitors in Kansas, ' ' or elsewhere, is to be undertaken, we ask for nothing more than fair play all around. In our judgment the real traitors in the case are the scamps who are undertaking to force the majority to submit to the minority, and they who are backing them, whether in Kansas or New York City. The greatest of traitors are traitors to principle, traitors to truth, traitors to honesty, traitors to integrity ; and if bullets are to be fired and blood to be shed, we ask that all "traitors" shall be served alike. If "Jim Lane" is to be shot, so must be Gerard, Hallock, Henry Grinnell, and the "three hundred and thirty-three others." We have had quite enough of this sort of talk about quelling " traitors" by a hired soldiery. If the Journal of Commerce or any other journal is anxious for civil war, let it not be too confident as to who will be regarded as the "traitors" in the contest. They had much better be ready in such an event to take their chance of being found among the executed as well as among the executioners. If they are anxious to hang, let them consider that they may also stand a most excel- lence chance of being hanged, and let this moderate their ardor for amusement in that line. For our own part we have an in- ward conviction that the majority of this country is bound to rule, and not be ruled, either by minorities at home or federal power from abroad ; and whenever the business of crushing ma- jorities, whether in Kansas or elsewhere, is undertaken by the 390 THE REVIVED SLAVE-TRADE. [March use of powder and ball, on the ground of putting down " rebel- lion" or quelling "traitors," the gentlemen who undertake it will find they have got more than they bargained for. We are, however, entirely opposed to granting troops for the purpose of having the experiment tried, not because we fear the result of the trial, but for reasons of a totally different character. SLAVE-TRADE IN VIRGINIA. [From the New York Tribune of March 7.] Is the slave-trade any thing so new or so astonishing in this country that the whole world should stand agape at the announce- ment that it has been reopened at the South ? When was the slave-trade ever closed in this happy land ? There are laws on the statute-book against importing negroes from Africa ; but what laws are there against shipping the same article from the ports of Baltimore or Norfolk to Mobile, New Orleans, or Gal- veston ? None whatever. The slave-trade is just as " open" in the Southern States as any other trade. It never was other- wise. And pray what is the vast difference between shipping negroes by sea, chained for market, on a twenty days' voyage from Baltimore into the Gulf of Mexico, and shipping them for the same purposes in the same way on a voyage of forty days from the Gaboon River to the lagoons of Florida ? Isn't it six of one and half a dozen of the other? Slavery is slavery, and the slave-trade the slave-trade, and nothing more and nothing less can be made of them wheresoever they exist. They are horrible and disgusting wherever they are, and whether near or remote, foreign or domestic, makes not a particle of differ- ence. That men should be able to wink at the diabolical efforts to fix the cancer of slavery upon our Western Territories, and yet profess horror at the intimation that a little traffic in flesh and bones was about being opened with the African coast, is only one more instance of human weakness and human incon- sistency. Whether the traffic in negroes can be successfully carried on between our Southern coast and the coast of Africa we do not know and cannot conjecture. This trade would be against law. 1858] RICHMOND WHIG'S VIEWS. 391 But so is the same traffic against law between Africa and Cuba. But it is carried on in the markets of the latter with great suc- cess. Why may not the same thing be done on the opposite shores of the Gulf of Mexico ? Are the planters of the Ked Eiver any more virtuous than those of Cuba? Have Alabama and Mississippi conscientious scruples against supplying the annual waste of human life on their plantations in the cheapest way '( And if they can get African negroes at $200 or $300 by a little connivance and a little stealth will they refuse, and insist upon having Virginia or Maryland stock at $1000 or $1200 a head ? The whole case will turn upon the question whether the slave- buying or the slave-breeding interests dominate in the adminis- tration of the federal government. Put Mr. Jefferson Davis at the head of it, and the slave-trade will nourish. Put Mr. Hunter there, and the interests of Virginia will put the boot on the other leg. As we observed a da} 7 or two ago, the Richmond Whig has lately undertaken the advocacy of the African traffic. We showed the stupidity of its position, and it will soon be found that all Virginia will be clamorous against the African slave-trade the moment it begins to flourish in the Gulf, as, according to the New Orleans Delta, it speedily will. Virginia will hold on to her present monopoly of this business, and the Whig will be forced to take the back track. Let it study the statistics of its own State, or those of the State of Maryland, and it will discover that the opening of the African slave-trade will make both of them Free States in a very short period. There is no possibility of keeping Virginia a Slave State but by keeping up the price of negroes. This was foreseen and announced by Mr. Upshur as long ago as 1829 in a Virginia Convention, and made the ground of an argument at the time in favor of taking Texas. The amount of money received by Virginia for the sale of negroes at high prices is almost incredible. It is a most extraordinary fact, but one nevertheless true, and demonstrated by the statistics of the census, that since the time of that declaration of Mr. Up- shur, Virginia has received as much money for the sale of her population to other States, as all the present taxable property of the State, real and personal, amounts to. In 1830 Virginia had 470,000 slaves. In 1850, 472,000. In 1858 it is estimated the 392 TRADE OF VIRGINIA IN SLAVES. [March State has no more, and it is said not so many. The average in- crease of the slave population of the country is 30 per Gent at every decade, or 3 per cent per annum. Since the average throughout the country is so much, in Virginia, which is a breed- ing rather than a working State, it is of course more — the waste of life being greatest in the sugar and rice States. But only es- timating the increase at 3 per cent per annum, we find that since 1829 Virginia has produced from her then stock of slaves an increase of 87 per cent, or 409,000. Of this increase none or next to none remain in the State. Of course they have been sold to go elsewhere, and the census tables show plainly enough where. They have gone to Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, Texas, and to other States South. The sales of slaves are like all other stock sales, those of grown animals, adults. Virginia adults have for many years averaged in the market over $1000 a head. At $1000 apiece these 409,000 negroes would produce $409,000,000. This is probably not far from the sum Virginia has received from the sale of her population since 1829, or in twenty-nine years. The taxable value of the entire landed and personal estate of Virginia in 1850, according to the census of that year, is $382,000,000, or some five-and-twenty millions less than the State has received from the sale to other States of her inhabitants within the last thirty years. And even this dimin- ished sum includes the value of all her present stock of slaves. We doubt if the civilized world can furnish a parallel to this stupendous example of general thriftlessness and universal bank- ruptcy. Here is a State containing about a million of free peo- ple, consuming every thirty years all that it produces during that period, and the sum of $400,000,000 in addition ; which four hundred millions it raises by selling off its growing popula- tion to other States. Can this exhibition of magnificent poverty be matched anywhere ? Virginia, under her present system of labor, does not pay her own way or defray her own expenses by the sum of thirteen or fourteen millions of dollars per annum. This deficiency, we see, is made up by disposing of her negroes at $1000 a head, and even at this high price the State is barely able to make both ends meet by selling off her entire annual in- crease of slave stock. Are not slavery-loving Virginians insane, therefore, to advocate a policy which will utterly destroy this last 1858] LETTER FROM FITZ-HENRY WARREN. 393 miserable mainstay of Virginia solvency ? Reduce the price of negroes to $200 or $300 a head, as would be done by opening the trade with the King of Dahomey, and what would become of slave-holding Virginia then ? The negroes would have to be packed off to lower latitudes, and the whites would have to go to work. The reduction of the price of slaves, no matter how produced, whether by opening the trade with Africa or the de- cline in the price of cotton, would inevitably result in freeing all the slave-breeding States. This exposition makes it manifest that the question of the African slave-trade has two sides to it at the South, and shows that its opening depends entirely upon which of two great Southern interests dominates in the federal government. If Mr. Buchanan's Administration should approve the project, we have no doubt that Messrs. Henry Grinnell, Matthew Morgan, J. H. Brower, John A. Dix, John Yan Buren, Robert J. Dillon, Moses Taylor, "Watts Sherman, Charles A. Davis, Stewart Brown, and thirty-three hundred others would voluntarily come forward to call a meeting at Tammany to strengthen the hands •of the President in that virtuous undertaking. "Why not ? The act would not be half so mean as the one they have just per- formed in this line, for it would be dignified by the selfish pur- pose of promoting their own interests at a period of uncommon commercial dearth. [From Fitz-Henry Warren.] Burlington, Iowa, March 10, 1858. My Dear Pike : Your printer does not, perhaps, make me any more •of an ass than I deserve, but certainly enough so to fill the ambition of a man much less aspiring than myself. As I intend to make a handsome mention of him in my last will and testament, I hope that he will make "an effort" to keep me from being indicted for a wilful murder of syntax and prosody. Uncle Truman proposes to bring out his deferred speech on Douglas. This, enlarged by extracts from the editorials of the Tribune, will make an irresistible campaign document, and place the " Little •Giant" on a pair of substantial pegs for his long travel to the White House. This arrangement carried out, I think the republic might be spared for another presidential term, at least. 394 SENATOR SEWARD'S GENERALITIES. [March I shall send you another letter this week. The Tribune is going down for want of writers of distinguished talent. I intend to supply the deficiency. Console your printer by the assurance that all extra suffering here will be deducted from the amount inflicted in the next world. It is only diluting over a longer period. Where is Congdon ? I miss his small-sword practice from the edi- torial page. Yours truly, Fitz-Henry Warren. SENATORS SEWARD AND COLLAMER. [From the New York Tribune of March 13.] We have already published Senator Seward's last speech, and have expressed our commendation of it in such general terms as we think it deserved. There are some points of it, however, to which we do not yield our assent ; and to avoid misinterpretation we wish to allude to them. But first we wish to express our dislike to the system of generalizing upon subjects of immediate interest that require practical treatment, into which some states- men and legislators are prone to fall. For example, we dislike to be told, as we were by the late Mr. Webster, that the laws of climate are against the spread of slavery in certain latitudes, and that therefore it is not worth while to concern ourselves in the passage of specific enactments to exclude that very peculiar in- stitution from such latitudes. We thank no man for thrusting a general principle in our face as a reply to a proposal to do a reasonable act. Instead of the late Mr. Webster, therefore, who was against " Wilmot," in the cases of Utah and New Mexico, we prefer the former Mr. Webster, who, before he became subli- mated in his principles of legislation, advocated and applied a "Wilmot" to Oregon. M. Guizot, while managing the political affairs of Louis Philippe, was fond, according to his mental habit, of dealing in generalities, and acting on his theories, instead of dealing with the actual facts of his situation. Thus, immediately before the revolution which sent his master into a precipitate and unantici- pated retirement, the philosophic statesman, instead of pene- trating, as it was his duty to have done, the actual circumstances around him, busied himself in composing essays to demonstrate, 1853] SENATOR COLLAMER S PHILOSOPHY. 395 by an exposition of the broad concatenations of historical pro- gress, that a revolution at that juncture was impossible. His philosophic exposition and the news of the revolution got pub- licity in several distant European capitals on the same day. Germane to this subject are some observations of that usually clear-sighted and hard-headed Yankee, Senator Collamer, of Vermont. He is a man who generally goes directly to the point and makes his blows tell as certainly and effectively as any man in the Senate. But even he took to philosophizing a few days ago after this fashion : " I cannot but say at times, that if we look at the subject of African slavery on a broad and liberal scale, and with reference to great periods in the progress of the world, it is after all a very small subject, a very little affair. I think from the footprints they have left behind, it is obvious that the family of man makes around this earth great cycles of revolution. They follow the setting sun. The human family are prompted by reasons which they cannot control and which they hardly understand. Their progress is from the east westward. At the present moment the great exodus of Europe, which is throwing its avalanche on this continent, joined with the emigrants from the northern and eastern portions of this country, go to swell the great tide of emigration. The family of man is led out to possess its great patrimony. It is going around the earth, and the little accidental colonization of a few Africans here, compared with this, is nothing but small eddies along the margin of the great stream. It is a small matter in the long run, but it seems to be enough to agitate our day and our time, though I can hardly consider it worthy of the great attention and deep re- gard of philosophic statesmen." Now, part of this is harmless, part of it stands directly in the way of the senator's legislative duty, and the whole of it is false. In respect to the first clause of the statement — that history shows the movement of population to be uniformly toward the west — it is not true. Taking the generally-received idea — that the original sources of population lie to the westward of the Indus — which, we presume, Senator Collamer does not reject, we perceive that the great currents of population have flowed eastward from that source, rather than to the west. The largest portion of the great human hive lies in India and China, and not in Europe and America. Population has not, then, thus far in its great historic movements, " followed the setting sun." It went first and naturally toward its rising. It only took the 396 SENATOR COLLAMER'S ERROR. [March opposite direction when the Eastern Continent and the great islands beyond had become occupied. It is the occupation of the land that checks emigration ; it is its unoccupied condition that invites it. There is no other law in the case. The present current westward owes its existence simply to the fact that on this continent are unoccupied lands, a salubrious climate, and free government. There is no occult or transcendental philosophy in the case. As to the statement of the senator, that a "little accidental colonization of a few Africans" on this continent is but the "small eddy of a large stream, deserving no great attention or regard from philosophic statesmen," we submit that his " phi- losophy " is quite too narrow for the subject. Mr. Collamer ought to know that it is not as a stream of emigration that the African race has mainly derived consideration on this continent. It is their personal condition that gives significance to that race, and not by any means solely in reference to themselves either, but in reference to the race that holds and proposes to hold them in subjection. Yet the Ethiopianizing of this continent is no such small fact as the senator seems to regard it. On the contrary, it is a great, a stupendous fact. Behold the results of emigration from Africa. The numerous and magnificent islands of the Caribbean sea, whose situation, beauty of scenery, and fertility of soil render them almost the garden of the world, are in Afri- can hands. The progress of population shows that they are gradually eating out every other race there, and that ultimately those islands must be held in their exclusive possession. As with them so it is getting to be with extensive portions of South America ; so it is with the Gulf States of this Republic ; and so it is to be with Central America — all of which countries are sub- ject to the same general law of population, and will ultimately inherit the same general destiny. The wrong and outrage which the African has suffered by being torn from his own country to serve the white man's greed will have its compensation, is already having it, in the possessions the black man is acquiring on the best parts of this continent. While Mr. Collamer has on his " philosophical" spectacles, let him cast his glance in the direc- tion we have indicated, and perhaps he will discover that the present and prospective Africanization of very extensive portions 1858] MR. SEWARD' 8 PHILOSOPHY. 397 of this continent now, and in a long hereafter, is no such very small fact after all. So far as the slavery of the African race is concerned, that has or may have still mightier relations and con- sequences, but into that question we shall not enter. We leave Mr. Collamer to study it at his leisure. Mr. Seward's generalizations are ever abundant. Indeed, he is always quite too axiomatic for our taste as a practical states- man. The one particular effort in this line in his late speech to which we feel especially drawn, which more than another excites our surprise is this statement : "Mr. President, the expansion of territory to make Slave States will only fail to be a great crime because it is impracticable, and therefore will turn out to be a stupendous imbecility." Mr. Seward here declares it is impracticable to do just what the country has been doing during Mr. Seward's own public life, and just what the ruling interest declare it is their purpose to do in the future. Does Mr. Seward really mean to say that either our times or our circumstances, the maxims of our Na- tional Administration or the principles of the Constitution as now expounded by the federal courts, forbid "the expansion of ter- ritory to make Slave States?" Or does he mean to say merely that if they are made they will be unmade ? This must be the meaning of the senator. But this, it seems to us, is very much like declaring that slavery will no longer exist because it will not exist forever. The annexers of Texas, authors of Ostend Mani- festoes and Central America fillibusters might well laugh in their sleeves over such an axiom, in view of the facts of the case. In reply to what Mr. Seward says cannot be, they can triumphantly point to what is. Was the annexation of Texas an impractica- bility and an "imbecility" as regards the spread of slavery? Mr. Seward may say so, and undertake to philosophize away one of the most pregnant facts of our political history ; but a man must get into a very rapt state of mind to believe him. Mr. Seward's philosophy is too fine for every-day wear. If the men who are striving to convert this government into an engine for the spread and perpetuation of slavery are simply engaging in an " imbecility, ' ' why need practical statesmen oppose or re- sent the effort ? We think President Buchanan in his efforts to buy for us or steal for us three or four new Slave States in Cuba, 398 THE MISSOURI RESTRICTION. [March and President Walker, who proposes to rob for us in Central America, may well look with great complacency upon the views of Senator Seward. We do not wonder that the sappers and miners for slavery compliment Mr. Seward upon bis soaring speculations ; but while they do this they very industriously prosecute their work on earth, and, when Mr. Seward comes down, he will understand the meaning of their compliments. But, leaving the matter of generalization, we come to a prac- tical proposition of our distinguished senator. He proposes the reinstatement of the Missouri restriction, and on this point we again let him speak for himself : " It would be wise to restore the Missouri prohibition of slavery in Kan- sas and Nebraska. There was peace in the Territories and in the States until that great statute of freedom was subverted." One of the principal objections, if not the chief objection, to the repeal of the Missouri Compromise was that it would compel the Free States to fight a battle for the freedom of the territory north of 36° 30', while it had by bargain and sale been once al- ready made over to us in perpetuity. We did not want to take the trouble, nor incur the risk of loss in this battle. But we have had to do both. The result has been favorable. The right has triumphed, or is on the eve of a triumph. Money has been lavished and valuable lives have been sacrificed. A still greater number may yet be taken by a hateful oppression before freedom shall be as firmly planted on the territory north of 36° 30' as it was before the repeal of the Missouri Compromise. But the ter- ritory is again ours. What, then, do we want of an act of Con- gress saying freedom shall have what it has won by its own good right arm, and intends to keep by the same token ? This would be but mockery indeed. But this is not the worst of the prop- osition. The restoration of the Missouri restriction takes with it its original implications. These were that slavery should have the territory south of that line. But these implications have been destroyed in the contest, and freedom is now as free to carry its conquests South as it was to make them where it has made them. Do we desire to relinquish this advantage ? We do relinquish it if we restore the Missouri restriction. Most cer- tainly we are entirely opposed to any such proposition at this stage of the slavery contest. We have suffered every possible 1858] GOVERNOR HAMMOND. 399 evil that could be suffered from the repeal, and now, if we can obtain any benefits from it, we are certainly entitled to them, and should be indeed "imbecile" to voluntarily forego such advan- tages. AN ARISTOCRATIC DEMOCRAT. [From the New York Tribune of March 15.] South Carolina has sent a fresh theorizer to the seat of gov- ernment in the person of Governor Hammond, her last-elected senator. The governor is a gentleman of wealth, character, and respectability. We have been favorably impressed by at least one declaration he has made since he took his seat. This is that any investigation of the frauds in Kansas would, in his opinion, " end in nothing but inflicting almost unendurable disgrace on the United States." So far as we have seen, this is the best reason for not making such an investigation that has been given on the Lecompton side of the House. For several years Governor Hammond has been in retire- ment, cultivating his extensive possessions. During this period he does not seem to have either enlarged or liberalized his ideas. The modes of thought which he carried with him into private life, and which were then warmed by the glow of enthusiasm and passion, seem to have only changed in this — they are now rigid and hardened. It is the soft mud of a bad road frozen into ruts and ridges. The way is not better, but worse in con- sequence. The ex-governor occupied the greater part of his speech on Lecompton with an exposition of the capacity of the Slave States to establish and maintain what he called ' ' a separate political organization." This is a common topic of abstract inquiry with South Carolinians, and we do not object to it, though its special relevancy to the question of admitting Kansas into the Union under a fraudulent Constitution we do not perceive. In this re- view Mr. Hammond went over the old ground of Southern the- orists, and reproduced with little change and no novelty the vari- ous considerations going to show how admirably a Southern slave-holding government would work in practice. For our part, as a general proposition, we have no hesitation in admitting 400 GOVERNOR HAMMOND'S FALLACY. [March that the Southern States are able to maintain, in one way or another, an independent government of their own. How power- ful it would be or how prosperous is a question upon which there- will be diversity of opinion. Governor Hammond has the good sense to admit that its strength would not consist in its lighting power. He gives it a high prospective rank among the nations, however, on the ground that, as he declares, " Cotton is king," and a king with whom none can afford to go to war. The reign of this monarch will thus, as Governor Hammond thinks, be not only eternal, but eternally pacific. But we cannot allow one fallacy of Governor Hammond to go unreproved and unexposed, especially as it is one that the slave- holding statesmen are forever putting forward. We mean the notion that foreign exports are the measure of a country's wealth and power. We cannot understand how it is that gentlemen of intelligence can so tenaciously insist on this dismal fallacy. What can be plainer than that it is the aggregate production of a country that constitutes its wealth, and is the real measure of its power ? Exports are nothing but the exchange of products that are produced, for products that are not produced by the export- ing country. Diversify production sufficiently in any country, and no exports or exchanges with foreign countries are necessary. Simplify production by confining, it to one or two staples, and ex- changes for foreign productions or exports must be proportionally large. But is this to be taken as any evidence that the country that has a varied production is poor, and the country that has not is rich ? Yet such is substantially the deduction of economists who count exports as evidence of wealth. If they were right, then an island in the ocean whose entire population was engaged in the oyster or whale fishery, and who by dint of hard work and poor fare were able to make both ends meet at the end of a year, could point to their exports wherewith they bought their pork, and hard bread, and tarpaulins, as an evidence of their abundant prosperity, because their earnings were comparatively so large. This is just the kind of prosperity the South exhibits in her ex- ported surplus. She raises cotton, but she can neither eat nor spin it, and hence it goes abroad to buy what she wants to eat and to wear. But this is not all. A country where industry is not diversi- 1858] MASSACHUSETTS AND VIRGINIA. 401 fied, but where production is confined to one or two, or a very few staples, is constantly in a precarious condition. A failure of its chief crop for a single year spreads bankruptcy and fam- ine. A threatened war fills it with dismay ; an actual one with ruin. The country of large exports in proportion to its produc- tion is thus the weakest of countries rather than the strongest. The country whose products are the most varied, and the gross result of whose industry is the largest, is that which has the greatest amount of all the elements which constitute wealth, even though its exports may be comparatively small. But if the Southern economists reject so sound a test of the wealth and resources of a people, they surely cannot object to estimate them by the earned surplus on hand in the form of taxable property. If this be done, how stand the Slave and Free States in a com- parative estimate ? The State of Massachusetts, with a popula- tion of 994,514 in 1850, possessed personal and real estate to the amount of $573,342,000. The valuation of the State of Virginia, with a population of 1,421,661, at the same period, was $391,646,000 ; and this comparison can be almost indefi- nitely extended between the Free and Slave States. What then becomes of the labored attempt of Governor Hammond and his coadjutors to show the comparative wealth and power of the Slave States, by exhibiting their exports as contrasted with those of the Free ? And when we can demon- strate, as we did lately, that the aggregate production of the largest of the Slave States is not equal to its annual expenses of living by $14,000,000 per annum ? This one fact exhibits the wastefulness, weakness, and poverty inherent in the system of slavery in a more striking light than volumes of theoretical illus- tration. It shows, too, why it is that commercial capital does not accumulate in the South as it has done in the older Free States, and why a never-ending succession of bankruptcies seem always necessary to extinguish the indebtedness which the South is constantly incurring at the North. It shows why it is that the banks of the South are so long in showing recuperative power after their suspension. If Virginia is any evidence, and even Maryland any evidence, of the working of the system of slave labor, none of the Slave States are paying the expenses of their own living. They do not support themselves, they do not 402 A BANKRUPT SOUTH. [March pay their own way, but live, to a greater or less extent, accord- ing to situation and circumstances, off the industry of the rest of the country. In fact, the slavery of the South is a positive pe- cuniary burden upon the Free States — an absolute tax upon the free labor of the country. Testimony to the same effect, showing the ruinous character of slave labor, was rendered in the case of the British West In- dies at the time of emancipation. It was there found that all the estates were eaten up by mortgages that had accumulated upon them under the slave-labor system. The $100,000,000 paid by the English government went mostly into the pockets of mortgagees residing in the United Kingdom, who had advanced money to defray the expenses of maintaining a very small white population in the islands. We think a rigid investigation would show that the decline of material prosperity in the British West Indies under the slave-labor system was as great as that in Vir- ginia. The difference in the two cases is that Virginia makes up her deficiencies by selling off her increase of slave stock, while the West Indies funded their annual deficiency in the form of regularly increasing mortgages, which were finally sponged out by the gratuity of $100,000,000 appropriated by the govern- ment. Upon the features of Governor Hammond's speech, which oppose and insult the idea of a democratic government, we make no special comment. They are the ordinary ideas of the slave- holding oligarchy that now heads and leads what is facetiously termed the "Democratic party" in the North. They are the sentiments of all aristocracies, and simply assert the old propo- sition that the few were made to rule, and the many to be gov- erned. In this country that "few" are the slave-holders, and the " many " are the blinded masses of the foreign-born popu- lation, with a sprinkling of the native in the Free States. They are led by the cry of "Democratic" to the support of such "Democracy" as Governor Hammond's, which plumply de- clares that the white laborers of the Free States are no better than the negroes of the South. Neither do we stop to criticise the governor's absurdities about the South having saved the solvency of the country in the late crisis, by handing over its cotton to be sold for the relief of 1858] LETTER FROM I. WASHBURN, JR. 403 Northern banks and merchants. But we will ask him if the South has sent any of its cotton anywhere, whether it has not got its pay for it in advance ? Has it done any thing with it but pay debts to Northern banks and Northern merchants ? Is the governor stupid, or does he fly balloons merely for the pleasure of seeing them punctured and collapse ? [From Hon. I. Washburn, Jr.] Washington, March 16, 1858. My Dear Pike : I think they are distributing sorghum in small quantities at the Patent Office. Do you want some ? I think the Tribune must be hard up for cause against Seward when it relies on such specifications as are contained in your article — it seems it was yours — yesterday. Laurence Sterne has said somewhere that when it is determined that a victim shall be offered up, a fagot is never wanting ; but in this case, as old Antoine Lachance, of said, it was a ' ' d — poor stub. ' ' By the way, is it true, as an inside rumor here has it, that the Tribune is in for Douglas for President ? I am willing he should be any thing else, but this would be up-hill travelling just now for our Republican masses worse than the Beddington hills. Because one can get a new mail route to Schoodic, it don't follow that he can do any thing he has a mind to. The Tribune, too, is mortal. I am for Seward in 1860, ain't you ? I do believe that old Wade's speech was just about the best that was ever made. Of argument, hard hits, and wholesome abuse that left nothing to be desired, it was full — express and admirable. In my opinion the Lecompton bill ought to be kilied. It is right that it should be, and therefore, in my philosophy, it is expedient. As it ought to be killed, there is no weapon, scimeter or handspike, that we should not use. Time and the chapter of accidents may help the friends of freedom. The next best thing to defeating the bill is its passage only after the longest, hardest, honestest fight that can be made. I am glad you have our friend Foster in hand ; no man is more true. Wasn't Benjamin's reference to Tennyson unfortunate ? A volume of Tennyson, printed and published by Moxon or Longman, would, I take it, be respected as property in New York ; and but for the local law of England he would have no right even there to sell his songs. Is the right to the sale of one's inspirations a higher law right, or one 404 SENATOR BENJAMIN. [March depending on local legislation ? When God gives a great intellect to one of his children it is for the benefit of all of them. When a divine tale is told, all who have ears may hear it. I never heard that old Homer sold his Iliad, or that the Saviour of men claimed a copyright on the Sermon on the Mount. In these imperfect times, when Tribunes abuse Sewards, no doubt it is well to give copyrights to their inspira- tions ; but when the Christian bells shall have " rung in the Christ that is to be," these things will be done away. But if one has a divine right to his works, Fred Douglass, a slave, would, in Benjamin's view, have a claim to his writings that he would not to himself. When are you coming here ? Yours truly, I. Washburn, Jr. J. S. Pike, Esq. JXTDAH BENJAMIN. [From the Mic York Tribune of March 20, 1858.] Mr. Benjamin, the Jewish senator from Louisiana, whom Senator Wade, of Ohio, wittily described as an " Israelite with Egyptian principles," lately made an able and ingenious argu- ment to show that slavery in this country is the creature of the common law. The legal gentlemen on the slavery side have always been in great straits to find a legal or constitutional basis for their institution in the Territories. The last effort in tins line is that of Senator Benjamin, who must have the credit, to say the least, of novelty in his exposition. Since the slavery men have finally concluded to put aside all minor scruples and take the bull by the horns, by declaring without rhyme or rea- son that the Federal Constitution, proprio vigore, carries sla- very into the Territories, it seemed hardly worth while for Sen- ator Benjamin to exhaust his energies and his ingenuity on the new theory he has put forth. But the fact is that among good lawyers the dogma that the Constitution extends slavery into the Territories is very hard to accept. It is a doctrine which, when first broached in the very desperation of the slavery party, was ridiculed and scouted by such men as Webster and Clay, who were supposed to have some correct perceptions of constitutional interpretation, and was met by the uniform denial of all sound legal minds. Mr. Benjamin is unquestionably an able lawyer, 1858] BENJAMIN PETTIFOGGING. 405 and lie has shared the opinions of his class. But, apparently determined to come to the same result with his less scrupulous confederates, and feeling that slavery must be proved to exist in the Territories by some process, he has betaken himself upon a voyage of discovery ; he has spurred up his inventive faculties to their highest activity in the search of a groundwork for his predetermined faith. Setting aside, therefore, the current dogma of the slavery extensionists, that slavery exists in all the Territories by virtue of the force of the Federal Constitution, Mr. Benjamin proceeds to show that it is there by force of the common law. To establish this bold and novel proposition, Mr. Benjamin resorts to the British history of African slavery. Of course it is incumbent on him to show that slaves were recognized as property in Eng- land. First, he adduces the fact that Queen Elizabeth granted a charter to a company formed for the purpose of supplying slaves to the Spanish- American colonies. Next, he alleges that the Vir- gin Queen was herself a slave-holder. Again, he shows that in 1662, in Charles II. 's reign, a company was created with authority to carry three thousand slaves per annum to the colonies, which company long nourished under royal auspices. In 1695 the British House of Commons resolved that all the subjects of Great Britain should have liberty to trade to Africa for negroes. In the reign of William III. an act was passed stating that the slave-trade was beneficial to the kingdom and the colonies. In 1708 the Commons again resolved that the slave-trade was im- portant and ought to be free to all British subjects. In 1711 they again resolved substantially the same thing. In 1719 they resolved the slave-trade to be advantageous and necessary to the colonies. In 1775 the Secretary of State declared that the government could not permit the colonies to put a stop to the slave-trade. Besides, shortly after the treaty of Utrecht, in 1713, the British Council called upon the twelve judges of the realm to give judgment as to the legal character of certain slaves exported under one of the Parliamentary charters from Africa to the Spanish- American colonies. Ten of them answered as fol- lows : " We do humbly certify our opinion to be, that negroes are merchandise." The question of property in slaves being further mooted about this time, some merchants of London sub- 406 LORD MANSFIELD'S DECISION. [March mitted the query whether they were so to the Solicitor and At- torney-General of the kingdom. They answered that " a slave coining from the West Indies to England doth not become free, but may be legally compelled to return to the plantations. ' ' Subsequently, in 1749, the same question came before the Lord Chancellor, who had been the aforementioned Attorney -General, and he affirmed his previous opinion. This narrative gives in full the ground upon which Senator Benjamin places his deduction that slavery was the common law of the thirteen colonies and the mother country, and that it rests upon that foundation in this country now, and the equivalent law of France and Spain, wherever it has not been abolished by special statute. This argument, we learn, was received at the time of its delivery with great favor, and is considered at Wash- ington by the slavery men as a signal instance of triumphant legal acumen. In the year 1771 Lord Mansfield gave his celebrated decision in the Somerset case, which has always been understood, before Mr. Benjamin's time, as settling what the common law was in regard to slavery. That distinguished judge declared that sla- very was not the common law of England, and this was the first judicial decision ever made on the point, and it has never been reversed since. Mr. Benjamin offers nothing whatever to con- trovert this fact beyond what we have faithfully narrated above, and the query naturally arises how Mr. Benjamin gets over it. He is reported in the official journal as follows: " I say that in 1771 Lord Mansfield subverted the common law of England in the Somerset case." The groundwork of Mr. Benjamin's de- claration is to be found in the record we have given. He claims that that record shows that slavery was the common law, and that Lord Mansfield failed to recognize the fact, or recog- nizing it denied it, and so " subverted " the law. Thus it will be seen that the only difference between Mr. Benjamin and the rest of the world on this particular and fundamental point is, that mankind in general have believed that Lord Mansfield de- clared and established the common law on this question, while Mr. Benjamin holds that he subverted it. Mr. Benjamin is here in a very curious position. He is seek- ing by investigation to discover what the common law of Eng- 1858] A REACTIONARY MOVEMENT. 407 land is on a given point. Now we have always supposed that the highest judicial decisions determined the common law, as indeed, all law. In the particular case which is taxing Mr. Benjamin's ingenuity he comes across a judicial decision of the highest character on the point in question. It is the first de- cision made. It has never been reversed since. It is received without reserve throughout the vast empire in which that de- cision is still the rule. Yet our Louisiana senator claims that the law thus declared and thus held is not law. The true law, according to his authority, is the law that was never declared to be law by judicial decision, the law that was denied to be the law by the only court of competent jurisdiction eighty-seven years ago, and has been so held ever since. This doctrine of Mr. Benjamin, if it fails in its purpose, is yet of useful import. It discloses a sense of dissatisfaction in the legal mind of the South with the present position of the courts upon the slavery question. Mr. Benjamin cannot swal- low the monstrous dogmas of the time touching the spread of slavery by the agency of the Federal Constitution, and he seeks a way of escape as desperate as that we have depicted. We refer to this speech not for itself, but as a feature in the present reactionary or reflux movement in this country on the constitutional status of slavery. It is one of the drifting miscs that have been accumulating about our political fabric. In the Revolutionary era, and for seventy years succeeding, our politi- cal and constitutional system stood before the world in distinct outlines. The charter of our independence declared all men to be free and equal. The formation and interpretation of the Constitution rested upon this broad and unequivocal asseveration. Slavery was the exceptional fact of our institutions, doomed to death by the ideas on which the government was founded. Theoretically, our system was consistent and harmonious. Our legislation and our jurisprudence conformed thereto. Slavery was forbidden in the Territories. The Federal Constitution was considered by the courts to exclude slavery entirely from its sphere, in no manner recognizing it. The institution was left to the supports of positive enactment in the communities that still preserved it. Every thing was clear, well defined, and con- sistent, in theory at least, and all pointed to gradual change and 408 WILL THE REACTION STAND ? [March gradual improvement. Such was the condition of things before the new era dawned. The slavery men of the South united to overturn it, and they have done so. Now the doctrines of the Declaration are denied and ridiculed. All men are not born free and equal is the modern theory. Congress has not the power to restrict the spread of slavery. The Constitution recog- nizes slaves as property. Slavery exists under the common law wheresoever it has not been abolished by special statute, and no power but State sovereignty is competent to the enactment of such a statute. The Federal Constitution is not in the interest . of general freedom, but of general slavery. The reactionary movements stand at this point. As Mr. Bocock, of Virginia, declared in his late speech in the House, it is the greatest and most pregnant revolution of our political history. "We may add, it is the most shameful. Will that reaction stand ? It will not. No reaction and no advance can be stationary. The law of existence is the law of movement. The war of ideas is as rife to-day as ever. The question is entirely open as between the old interpretation and the new. The one is the symbol of the advance movement ; the other is the symbol of a retrograde action. The latter is now in favor, with all its looped and windowed raggedness. It is the broad target for attack. It cannot shield itself and it can- not long resist its assailants. Mr. Benjamin is doing his duty to slavery as one of the Todtlebens of the defence. But the new Sevastopol of slavery must fall. lie defends, but he cannot sustain the great and most criminal agent in this revolution. The court of the United States is guilty. It cannot be dis- guised. Posterity will so pronounce. It has belied the Declara- tion of Independence. It has subverted the jurisprudence of the country uniformly administered for seventy years. It has condemned the sentiments, judgments, and actions of the found- ers of the Republic and the framers of the Constitution and their successors during our whole national existence. It has ex- tinguished the lofty lights of interpretation fixed by them in de- claring this to be a government for freedom and not for slavery. For this bitter record, for this unholy conduct, the court is ex- tolled by Senator Benjamin. That commendation will not stand the test of history. It will crumble and perish along with the patched-up ruins it is intended to adorn. 1858] LETTER FROM I. WASHBURN, JR. 409 [From Hon. Israel Washburn, Jr.] Washington, March 20, 1858. Dear Pike : Excuse me. I was mistaken in saying there was sor- ghum at the Patent Office. There is not, as I learnt upon inquiry there to-day. The Tribune's suggestions for offering damaging amendments to the Lecompton bill are good ; but in the event, now not unlikely, that every man who can be induced to vote against the P. G. , in order that an opportunity may be had for offering amendments, would vote against the bill, it may be deemed wise to meet the question at once upon a square vote ; for in this business of amendments there are two sides, and the Lecomptonites, if they fear they are in a minority, may propose amendments themselves to plague our tender-footed, and may be carry them off, you perceive. But we ought to be certain that we can beat before we venture a direct vote. Your ticket for President and Vice-President is a grand one, and will be particularly acceptable to Trumbull. How is James ? I approve of your remarks in reference to Wade, and as we — W. and I — agree about Seward's speech, there need be no more con- troversy between us. Your success in President-making in 1852 gives you rights that I would be the last to question, especially when you are with Truman. Couldn't you make those pictures of Scott useful ? Some profane rascal has been abusing our friend Foster in the ' ' lying Argus. ' ' I wish you would ' ' edit' ' that correspondent a grain. Foster's speech was listened to respectfully, and was, I take it, a, good speech, and the district which did not elect you is not to be made faces at. Yours most sincerely, I. Washburn, Jr. J. S. Pike, Esq. [From Fitz-Henry Warren.] BunxiNGTON, Iowa, March 20, 1858. Dear James : I see by my date that this is a day of equal length, which is about the only equality we get now. I have your letter of loth. I have just laid down your paper of the 14th in which there is a complimentary notice of Mr. Toombs, which I detect as yours by the unmistakable ear-marks. It is a vara pretty piece of denunciation, and lakes rank along with certain charcoal sketches of our anti-Lecompton leader. Suppose Toombs should be our candidate in '60, would the statute of limitations run against mustard-poultice application ? If it 410 FITZ-HENRY WARREN— B. F. WADE. [March will not, I shall regret it, mainly on account of our foreign diplomacy, which is sadly in need of reform. But my main purpose in writing was to suggest to you to come out here early in May, and take a run up the Mississippi River, as high as St. Paul and the Falls. There are many objects of interest, including the Fort Snelling reservation and Cheever and Cushing's big saw-mill. Gushing runs his saw at tide-water. You have sniffed the salt sea breeze and smelt the bilge- water of a fishing smack ; now penetrate into the bowels of the land and widen your scope of geography. I will go along with you. My wife has a flitch of bacon, and I have a resi- duary bottle of the " Vidonia" brand. What say you ? Why will Greeley persist in going to that tadpole State of Indiana to give his agricultural addresses ? We tried to get him out here, but he would not come. I suppose it is because one half of our State is not under water and the rest a peat-bog. I suppose your printer has asphyxiated. I sent you a letter some two weeks ago which has never shone in the columns of the Tribune. When I have evidence of his death I will stop throwing my pearls before swine, and send his widow a deed to a dozen corner lots. I am summoned to dinner. Yours truly, Fitz-Henry Warren. [From Senator B. F. Wade.] Washington, March 21, 1858. My Dear Pike : I received yours of the 10th, inst., in time to have used your article in my speech, but the result was so astounding that I dared not make use of it without a careful comparison of your items with the census. I have done so, and find them all correct ; and truly there has been nothing touched in the whole concern of the anti- slavery investigation so damaging to the " peculiar institution" as your disclosure. I intend to make use of it the first chance I get. A.s it was, I gave them all the hits that occurred to me for the time being, and, as John the Evangelist would say, I poured out several vials of wrath on to the seat of the beast, which caused not a little squirming. It looks just now as though the Lecomptonites would be defeated in the House, and I have no doubt they would should the vote be taken now. How it may be three weeks hence no one can tell. Truly yours, B. F. Wade. 1858] LETTER FROM COUNT GUROWSKI. 411 [From Count Gurowski.] Thursday, 4 o'clock, mg., March, [1852]. Pikus Magnus : As I aim at perfection! ng your judgment on his- tory, so I read the article about Marc Antony which enraptured you so much. I am sorry to say that it can not stand the touch of criticism. I do not speak of facts, but of judgment of them, of the stronger and appreciative. It is brilliant, superficial, and false. In your further studies be on your guard against those brilliant antitheses, against which protest sound knowledge of history, sound criticism, and philosophy. To me facts are perverted for the sake of effect, as that about the speech after the murder of Caesar. But the worst of all is the comparison with Mirabeau : ridiculous ! Antony deserted his caste to serve Caesar or divide a part of power over enslaved fatherland ; Mirabeau deserted to emancipate those who were socially enthralled, to create free millions. Antony wished for supreme, absolute power ; Mirabeau, to be the premier of a cabinet in a constitutional monarchy. Antony fought bravely battles ; Mirabeau, duels only. The dissolute life of Mirabeau consisted in making suppers with courtesans in an age and society when everybody did the same without offending public morals or public opinion ; Antony can be said found a savage pleasure in offending the hitherto sternly preserved chastity of the domestic hearth of the Romans. The like elucidations could be carried further on. I hope what is said above is sufficient to justify the ground taken by me. Antony was both greater scoundrel and warrior than Mirabeau. Events made that Mirabeau stand in history as the godfather of liberty for a whole epoch and world ; Antony, as the murderer and entomber of free institutions of his country, as the godfather of lawlessness and of the despotism of one. Gurowski. [From William Pitt Fessenden.] Washington, April 8, 1858. My Dear Pike : I send you a copy of speech. Did the same thing weeks ago, directed to you at Tribune office. Direct this one to New York generally. A very foolish article, so far as my speech was concerned, arising from a misapprehension of the telegraphic report, appeared some time since in the Missouri Democrat, charging Seward and myself with avowing a want of interest in the struggles of our friends in the Slave States. The article was copied into the Tribune, and public attention called to it by a column of editorial approving and indorsing its stric- 412 LETTER FROM WM. PITT FESSENDEN. [April tures. It was quite manifest that the writer had never read my speech, or else that he wilfully perverted it. In either case the article mani- fested a very unfriendly feeling, either by condemning without exami- nation, or by wilful perversion. There is nothing in the speech which is not entirely consonant with the Philadelphia platform. Dr. Bailey copied the speech, and spoke of it in terms of high commendation. Mr. Brown, of the Democrat, has, in correspondence, acknowledged his error, and promised to make matters right. Whether he has done so or not I am unable to say. I do not write this for the purpose of having any thing said about it in the Tribune, as the article did me no harm at home, and it is unwise to call attention to such matters. But I wish to say to you, confident tially, that it is quite generally thought here, among our friends, that the Tribune takes a pleasure in finding fault with them, and calling public attention to their real or supposed errors. In my judgment it is not wise to diminish the standing and influence of those who are striving in the same cause, unless duty to the public absolutely requires it. Nor does it look well for a leading paper to seek a reputation for indepen- dence at the expense of its friends and fellow-laborers. Of course you will understand that I say this to you as a personal friend, and only for your private consideration. The great battle comes off to-day in the House. I trust it will be successful, and it is believed that the antis of all stripes are firm. When do you go down East ? Family troubles prevented me from carrying out my design of last year. I have hopes of accomplishing it before this year is out. Your friend truly, W. P. Fessenden. DEATH OF BENTON. [From the New York Tribune of April, 12 1858.] In the death of Mr. Benton the country loses one of its marked public characters. He was a man of great force, but that force was of a personal rather than of an intellectual nature. An intense individuality characterized all that lie said and did. His frame was large, his health robust, his nature burly. He was truculent, energetic, intrepid, wilful, and indomitable. He always wore a resolute and determined air, and, simply viewed as an animal, possessed a very commanding aspect. He strode into public life with these qualities all prominent and bristling. 1858] DEATH OF THOMAS H. BENTON. 413 Whenever he shone he shone in the exhibition of them. His intellectual powers always appeared as subsidiary ; they never took the lead, never appeared to be the propelling force in any of the marked epochs of his life. The leading points of his career were his land-reform measure ; his opposition to the old United States Bank ; his expunging resolution ; his war on Mr. Calhoun after his disappointment in the succession to the Presi- dency ; and his hostility to the compromise measures of 1850. In all these contests, at least in all but that for the reform of the land system, he bore himself as a fighting man. He carried this so far as to allude, in one of his later senatorial exhibitions, to a pair of pistols, which he said had never been used but a funeral had followed. Mr. Benton had been ten years in the Senate beiore he was known to the country as a prominent debater. The discussion on the United States Bank question brought him out fully, and was of a character to exhibit his powers to the greatest possible advantage. It was a question that touched the feelings and the private interests of individuals deeply, and roused the intensest ardor of all partisan politicians. The debates were heated and fiercely personal. A hand-to-hand political encounter over- spread the country. This contest suited Benton exactly. He loved the turmoil and the war, and he rose with each successive exigency until he became, par excellence, the champion of General Jackson's Administration in its contest with the Bank. On one occasion, in 1830-1, he made a speech of. four days. At the close of the fourth day Mr. Calhoun sarcastically remarked that Mr. Benton had taken one day longer in his assault on the Bank than it had taken to accomplish the revolution in France. The intellectual strength of Mr. Benton's efforts never im- pressed his great adversaries, Clay, Calhoun, and Webster. They never regarded him as belonging to their class intellectually. Yet they always appreciated and dreaded his great personal force. In no case did this peculiar Bentonian ability manifest itself more clearly or more offensively than in the passage of the expunging resolution. General Jackson had been censured by the Senate in a resolution drawn by Mr. Clay for acting ' ' in derogation of the Constitution. ' ' Mr. Benton set about to re- move the censure by expunging it from the records. He has 414 HIS POLITICAL CAREER. [April told how he accomplished this in his "Thirty Years' View." The story is fairly told and illustrates the man perfectly. The whole transaction bears the marks of a haughty, domineering, and repulsive spirit. The reader, as he peruses Mr. Benton's ac- count of it, feels the triumph to be of a coarse and vulgar char- acter, the work of ill-temper and passion, with not a single flash of intellectual or moral elevation in the whole proceeding. In his political career Mr. Benton often showed himself a fierce and malignant, but never, we think, a generous adversary. It is said that on his deathbed he has done full justice to Mr. Clay in finishing his abridgment of the debates of 1850, and it is pleasant to hear it. We do not doubt that his temper was molli- fied in his later years, as he found himself rapidly approaching the termination of his life. In that debate he came directly in collision with Mr. Clay, and was the only man, indeed, who offered or was able to offer any thing like real practical resist- ance to the impetuous and overbearing march of that great par- liamentary leader. In the great debate of 1850 in the Senate, Mr. Clay crushed at will all effective opposition but that of Mr. Benton. On that occasion Benton did not, however, furnish the brains of the debate any more than on previous occasions. Mr. Seward and others of the opposition had clone that much more strikingly. But in parliamentary tactics, in the exhibition of personal intrepidity, and in individuality and manner — which in every legislative contest are important elements — Mr. Benton rose superior to every ally. His temper was roused, and he hurled wrath and defiance at his enemies. On a question of parliament- ary law he came in immediate conflict with Mr. Clay, who had the majority of the Senate with him and was determined to carry his point. Mr. Benton met him with equal resolution, and with a bull-dog ferocity that caused his antagonist to recede and yield the point from considerations of expediency. Mr. Benton was allowed his way after hours of violent struggle and a night's de- liberation of the majority. It was, to a very great extent, a tri- umph of his fighting qualities. Foote, of Mississippi, entered very largely into that debate, and persisted in dogging and at- tacking Benton. Benton at last bade him stop, he would bear no more of his insults. Foote continued in the same strain. Benton rose from his seat and strode directly toward Foote, as 1858] HIS PECULIAR CHARACTERISTICS. 415 if to throttle him on the spot. Foote fled, and Benton was checked ; but Foote never referred to Benton afterward in the Senate. On another occasion Mr. Benton laid himself out to attack Mr. Calhoun. He did it with ability, but his bad blood, his ill-temper, his violence of manner and gross personalities were the predominant characteristics of the attack. There was no pleasure to be derived from it merely as an intellectual demon- stration. On the contrary, it only impressed the hearer as re- pulsive and disgusting. In all these examples we see where Mr. Benton's power lay as a parliamentarian, a debater, and a man. He never carried his point by winning or convincing, or by pure mental effort. He never reached his objects nor accomplished his successes by mere force of oratory or intellect. He never impressed his audi- ence or the public by sheer strength of mind. It was his in- tense individuality and animal force, acting upon an intellect of common scope and character that gave him all his triumphs. His industry was great and his memory remarkable. His knowl- edge was large, but it was in the domain of facts. He never rose to the consideration of scientific principles, and perhaps never even to the commoner field of philosophic generalization. For himself he claimed to be a man of " measures," rather than of principles or ideas. We should further qualify this claim by saying he was chiefly a man of ' ' facts. ' ' His ideas of currency and the "gold" refonn, which occupied him for many years, were very crude ; and so far as we know were never improved by after-study or reflection. They found expression in the existing Sub-Treasury system. Another favorite measure of his was a road to the Pacific, across the Continent. His services in establishing the pre-emption system in the disposition of the pub- lic lands were conspicuous, and their results have been eminently beneficent, but we think the record of his principal " measures" must stop here. Mr. Benton's mental activity being confined to an inferior plane of action, however busy and industrious, however constant and indomitable he might be, the very nature of his efforts pre- vented him from accomplishing much intellectually. We look in vain in the writings or speeches of such a man for any of the electric influences and inspirations which minds of a nobler mould 416 HIS PRIVATE LIFE. [April often unconsciously impart. He never spoke the word which touched the nation's heart. He himself thought he would make a good military commander, and perhaps he was right. Of his personal peculiarities his egotism was the most striking. It was a source of entertainment to his visitors ; his own apparent un- consciousness of this peculiarity, or his sublime conviction of its pre-eminent propriety in his own case, giving a zest to its often- times extravagant manifestations. Of his private life and domestic relations it gives us pleasure to speak in language of unqualified admiration. He was a de- voted husband, and his fond and considerate attentions to an in- valid wife in her declining years offered a spectacle honorable to humanity. He was the preceptor of his children, whom he taught with the same industry and assiduity that he always man- ifested in whatever he undertook. They were Bentonian in their ways, however, and did not all please him in the choice of their mates ; but we believe they all at last had his entire approbation, the most repugnant of the matches to the paternal care, we be- lieve, being the marriage of his daughter to the late Republican candidate for the Presidency. Mr. Benton's moral character as a public man is also deserv- ing of very high praise. In his public acts we believe he always followed the dictates of an honest purpose. He did not legislate for popularity nor for pay, nor for any individual advantage in any way. He advocated and opposed public measures on the ground of what he considered to be their merits. His judgments may have- been clouded by passion or partisan feeling, as no doubt at times they were, but we believe he was always true to his convictions. Of venality and corruption in legislation he had an instinctive abhorrence, and during the thirty years of his senatorial life we do not think the perfect integrity of his votes on all subjects, whether of a public or private character, was ever impugned. In this respect his example is worthy of the attention of all our rising public men, who, in these budding years of corruption, are likely to be tested by severer temptations than the statesmen of the past. Whatever else is unattainable in re- putation to a legislator, the proud distinction of integrity is be- yond no man's reach, and it is a virtue that is not likely to lose any of its lustre by being too common. 1858] LETTERS, W. H. SEWARD AND DR. BAILEY. 417 [From William H Seward.] Washington, April 15, 1858. My Dear Pike : I discern by your note that you are in New York, and so I beg to spear at you. A few days ago the Tribune had a very generous article containing courteous notices of the debates on the Lecompton bill. I hear on all sides of me very grateful expressions about this article, and confessions that the praise was discriminating. But one Republican senator was forgotten. He is as true a man a& any other, more modest, and abler than many. He made a good speech, I think a great one. I mean Mr. Harlan, of Iowa. The article praised Douglas justly. But it forgot, I think, to speak of Stuart and Broderick. Both did exceedingly well, and their moral influence, especially Broderick's, is prodigious. Would it be advisable for me to suggest to you to have a few generous words for them ? When are you coming here ? Why don't you come ? How do you expect we are to get along without you ? What do you mean ? What are you about ? How is Mrs. Pike ? Do you think the inter- rogation a proper form of argument ? Faithfully yours, William H. Seward. J. S. Pike, Esq. [From Owen Lovejoy.] House op Representatives, April 20, 1858. My Dear Sir : Yours of 16th is received. Hope to have the pleasure of seeing you here sometime. It looks now as though English would strand our ship. My hope is in the people. Yours truly, Owen Lovejoy. (From Dr. Bailey, Editor National Era.'] Washington, D.C., April 23, 1858. My Dear Friend : Night before last we returned from our Western trip. Mr. Clapham told me that he obeyed your order, and sent you a copy of that Era to New York, care of the Tribune office. Yesterday I directed him to send you another copy to Avondale. If you do not get it, let me know, and tell me, too, where I shall have the Era sent to you henceforth. I do not expect to be able to edify you, but it will serve to remind you and Lizzie of two persons in Washington who 418 LETTER FROM SALMON P. CHASE. [May consider that they have been maltreated by you. Hang Calais ! Let it go to the mischief. Don't you see that the republic is in danger ? Can't you sacrifice a little for your country's good ? The Lecompton deviltry on the eve of a triumph, and you thinking of nothing but your truck-patch in Calais ! Come, now, you are close by ; two or three hours would bring you here. If we had not been to the West, we should go to Avondale ; so there is nothing left but for you and Lizzie to come to C Street. As for my being well, it is not the fact. I have really been an invalid since last July — my head the only well part, I believe. Out West we sojourned with the Piatts — full of fun, frolic, and wit as ever. Corwin we spent two or three evenings with, and Tom was great — brilliant, cynical, genial. Chase, at Columbus, inquired after you and Lizzie ; he holds you both in high esteem. The Governor grows fat on the cares of State. Shall we make him or Seward Presi- dent ? Or who shall it be ? Have you made up your mind to wait till 1864 ? I am uneasy. Perhaps by the time the Republicans gain their first presidential victory, I may startle you with a series of " table- tippings" in that venerable old mansion at Calais. Good-by. Sincerely yours, G. Bailey. J. S. Pike, Esq. [From Count Gurowski.] April 28, 1858. Dear Yankee : Do not leave the city for the season without seeing me, should it be only for a few minutes. Do not be afraid. I have no particular business, but wish to shake hands for a rather protracted time with one who behaved as a friend when I was much scarred right and left. Gurowski. [From Salmon P. Chase.] Columbus, May 12, 1858. My Dear Sir : In the Tribune of the 12th there is an article in relation to interference of East with West, which in many respects seems to me fair and just, but which contains an allusion which I would like to have explained, to " a secret coalition between certain Republican leaders and the little faction, etc., who, for the sake, etc., pretend to approve the Lecompton fraud, and are now hounding on the track of Senator Douglas." As some correspondent of the Times was weak 1858] MR. CHASE'S LETTER. 419 enough to believe, or wicked enough to invent, the story that Mr. Buchanan had a letter of mine approving of the Leconipton bill, which statement was very extensively copied, it occurred to me on reading the foregoing extract that some allusion might be intended to me as one of the Republican leaders coalescing with the Lecomptonites against Doug- las ; and as I am sure you are a personal friend, I thought I would write you and ascertain the truth. Nothing could possibly be further from the truth than the assertion that I ever by word or deed intimated the slightest disposition to consent to the Lecompton iniquity. Re- sistance to it by all means not dishonorable, and to the last extremity, was ever my counsel to all who thought it worth asking for. I even counselled against the contingent consent proposed by the Crittenden amendment, and would never, had I been in Congress, have voted for that proposed by the Montgomery amendment, except as the only means left of defeating the direct consent to the Lecompton bill. Regarding it as the only means left, I should have acted just as our friends in the House acted, whose votes, under the circumstances, for that amendment I have constantly approved and still approve. If the Lecompton bill had passed, it would have been expedient, in my judgment, for the new State members and officers elected under the Lecompton Constitution on the 4th of January to take possession of the government, and, abstaining from all other action, call forthwith a convention to form a new consti- tution and organize forthwith as a Free State under that. Happily, the practical defeat of the Lecompton bill did not make it necessary to determine the practical question of adopting or rejecting this line of policy. Such, in brief, are my positions, and I think them impregnably sound. As to coalescing for any purpose with the Lecomptonites who are *' hounding on the track of Senator Douglas, " if any allusion is in- tended to me, or any Republicans whose action is known to me, it is certainly groundless. Confidence with me is not a plant of swift growth, and before I indulge in any extravagant laudations of a man I want to know not merely what his action has been in a prior contin- gency, but upon what principles he acted and what guarantees these will afford of his future action. That Douglas acted boldly, decidedly, effectively, I agree. That he has acted in consistency with his own prin- ciple of majority-sovereignty I also freely admit. For his resistance to the Lecompton bill as a gross violation of his principle, and to the Eng- lish bill, for the same reason, he has my earnest thanks. I cannot forget, however, that he has steadily avowed his equal readiness to vote for the admission of Kansas as a Slave or a Free State, in accordance with 420 LETTER FROM DR. BAILEY. [May the will of the majority of the voters ; that he has constantly declared his acquiescence in the Dred Scott decision, which makes slave territory of all national territory, leaving to freedom only a partial and precarious possession of Free States ; and that he indorses and maintains the plat- form lately adopted in Illinois, which is diametrically opposed to the declaration hitherto made by Republican conventions, State or national. If holding these sentiments in regard to the position of Mr. D. is coalescing with Lecomptonites, I am guilty, and mean to continue guilty. Otherwise, I repeat, the allusion, if any be intended, to me, or those who agree with me, is groundless. I cannot believe, however, that any was intended. I am very certain that the great masses of the Republican party ao-ree with me in determination to maintain Republican principles with- out compromise, welcoming cordwlly all aid, whether temporary or permanent, grateful to all aiders who act on real principle, whether our own or others, but firmly resolved not to leave our own to stand on foreign ground. We shall not adopt the notion that all that is necessary to make slavery a good thing is the consent of the majority of the voters ; nor, in our judgment, can any party command or deserve the confidence of the country which does. " There is a way that seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof is death. ' ' There is a road that seemeth to lead to success, but the end thereof is defeat. Excuse me for writing you at this length, and pardon me for a little sensitiveness to allusions, which were probably not at all intended for me. Write me soon explaining what the Tribune really means. From what 1 have heard from the office, I have supposed that none but kind feel- ings towards myself were entertained ; and it will give me great satis- faction to have your assurance that this information was correct, and that those feelings have undergone no change. I hoped to hear from Mrs. Pike and yourself in reply to my last. Why have you not written ? With best regards to her, and cordial remembrances of both, I am, Ever sincerely your friend, S. P. Chase. [From Editor National Era.] Washington, D. C, May 23, 1858. My Dear Friend : I want you to write to Dana of the Tribune, and request him to let our friend Donn Piatt alone. Every now and then comes out an editorial about our diplomacy, the bad character of our agents, how they won't pay their debts, and all that, and covert 1858] LETTER FROM N. P. TRIST. 421 allusions are made to Piatt. This is unfair. It were well for the repu- tation of the country if there were no bigger sinners than our Cincinnati friend. He did become embarrassed, but he has been honestly trying to redeem himself ever since. Besides, the principal cause of his em- barrassments was being obliged to act as minister so long on the small salary of a Secretary of Legation. The position was forced upon him, and he vacated it as soon as he could. For the same service his predecessor, Sanford, was allowed $7000. Piatt, because his wife was cleverer than Mrs. Moran, and because he fell into disgrace with our slave-holding corps of diplomats, was cut down to $2300. Dana ought to remember these things ; nor should he forget the exertions of Piatt and his wife for Greeley in Clichy, and generous attention always to his countrymen while abroad. Do stop these cruel attacks. Darby and Joan, I suppose, are well. How is the yacht ? Of course you are enveloped in fogs and rains. I doubt whether you have seen the sun for forty days. Possibly you may have just opened the window of your ark, and let out your dove on a voyage of discovery, in quest of some dry land. When I was up your way, it was easy enough to find any thing but that article. Truly yours, G. Bailey. [From Nicholas P. Trist.] Philadelphia, June 22, 1858. J. S. Pike, Esq. My Dear Sir : The present agitation of the " Protectorate" scheme has suggested to me that the moment is an opportune one for obtaining attention to my plan of " protecting" those unhappy Spanish- American peoples from the villainy of " claims," and at the same time of protecting ourselves from becoming the perpetrators of the iniquity of subjecting those peoples to desolating wars founded upon that vil- lainy. I will ask the favor of you, therefore, to return to me by the express the papers I placed in your hands when I had the pleasure of making your personal acquaintance here. Please put into the bundle, also, the printed volume of extracts from a Congressional document. The Baltimore paper containing that piece under the signature of a Kentuckian, copied from the Louisville Journal, which I wrote to you about, was unfortunately lost in the office of the editor into whose hands I had placed it in the hope of its being republished here. It started with the proposal of an amendment to the Constitution forbiddino- all further acquisition of territory, and it had throughout the rino- of what 422 LETTER FROM HORACE GREELEY. [July was regarded as true metal in the days of what was then called ' ' Jeffer- sonian Democracy." The tone of your note on this subject gave me great satisfaction. Some years back, in tbe hope that it might do good there, I placed in the hands of Mr. Sinclair, for the Tribune office, a thin octavo volume, bound, " Madison's Report," etc., which I studied very closely, some thirty-five to forty years ago, as my first step in American political science. I had previously read Aristotle, etc., etc. If you will read Randall's Jefferson from beginning to end you will not, I think, regard it as time wasted. Should I put forth any thing (it will be the first time in my life that I have done any thing of the kind, any thing calculated to attract public attention to myself — and I am now not far from sixty), I will send you the paper. Should you deem it worth making use of, please send me one of your papers containing the notice of it. The Tribune was, for many years, the only paper I took, and I have ceased to take that, my circumstances requiring my expenses to be reduced to the lowest point possible. With very respectful regard and friendly wishes, Yours truly, N. P. Trist. [Note. — Mr. Trist was the gentleman who negotiated the treaty with Mexico under Mr. Polk.] [From Horace Greeley.] New York, July 7, 1858. Pike : I agree with you entirely about Mr. Branch's speech. But I was away last week, and Dana sent up Doesticks to caricature and ridicule the convention as much as possible ; so he reported every thing which seemed calculated to render it odious, and slurred over every thing else. I think this was alike unjust and unwise. I hope you are going to slaughter most of your present delegation. Maine is not strongly represented — weakly in the House, and barely respectable in the Senate. If you have any better timber, send it along. We shall have all sorts of an election in this State, and may win handsomely, but I am not so sure that we will. Personal intrigue and selfish aspiration are likely to spoil every thing. I only mean to make sure that Haskin shall be returned, and, if possible, H. F. Clark also. John Cochrane can be beaten if the right man is run against him. I think the Tribune is getting to be an old Hunker concern. I shall stop taking it soon, if it don't evince a little more reformatory spirit. Yours, Horace Greeley. J. S. Pike, Calais, Maine. 1858] LETTER FROM COUNT GUROWSKI. 423 [From Count Gurowski.] Brattleboro', Vermont, August 19, 1858. My Dear Yankee : After having cleansed my body for four weeks in Saratoga, I intended to take advantage of your friendship and start for the great Yankee region. But old age poking impertinently at my ribs, in the shape of rheumatism and lumbago, took me by the hand and dragged me here, to fight it out at the water-cure. How long ? I do not know ; neither does the doctor, as the fighting of the intrusive and obtrusive old gentleman requires every year more time. I suppose that, true to your Yankee general character, you got as excited as the rest of the great population of the g-r-e-a-t country about the Atlantic Telegraph. Have you nominated Cyrus Field for the next President ? Have you kissed each other in the streets and con- gratulated right and left ? Have you sang hosanna and peace to all nations ? In one word, have you made fools of yourselves to a sufficient degree ? To be sure, the laying of the cable to that extent is a triumph of mechanical skill and a proof of energy and stubbornness. But the hifalutin about the Henrys, Morses, Fields, is one more evidence of the familiarity with the history of the progress of science in general, and of that of electricity in particular. I am sorry to find that electricity was not discovered even by Franklin, but by a certain bearded gentleman living about two thousand three hundred years ago in a certain city called Miletus, in Asiatic Grecia. And then the galvanic battery, the voltaic pile, Oerstedt's discovery of fusion of magnetism and electricity, or magneto-electricity, down to Henry or Morse, who only combined and applied the above discoveries. And then the laying of cables in the Mediterranean and Black seas. Not that I disparage what is now done, but for the present I do not see any other results, but only the increased facility for large cotton and flour merchants to become more wealthy, and tread down the poorer. But if the cable will not imme- diately influence the higher social condition of nations, at any rate it will soon produce a reform in the trade, and such a reform will generate others. Buchanan's answer to Victoria was foolish. He speaks of neutrality of the two points, when in a few years we shall have several such cables and points. I rejoice beforehand to read the stupendous blunders which the papers will commit and spread over the country in commenting upon the daily news received in short despatches from Europe. We shall see what skill and knowledge they will unfold. I am busy, first, keeping up the correspondences for the journals in Moscow and Warsaw, then in writing of a French book to be published in Paris concerning Poland and the policy of Nicholas towards it. I ■424 LETTERS, I. WASHBURN, JR., AND MR. FESSENDEN [Aug. defend the old gentleman and myself, as that policy was my suggestion, and therefore the hook will likewise be a kind of my personal memoirs, or autobiography. The third volume of Cyclopaedia is out. If it is not better (and it cannot be) than the two former, I am decided to break down the whole concern. The people ought to be warned and preserved from such a heap of stupendous ignorance and bad faith, scientifically. It could be published in Rome by the Jesuits. My hearty compliments to Mrs. P. Yours with whole heart, Gurowski. [From Hon. I. Washburn, Jr.] Orono, August 30, 1858. My Dear Sir : We hear that all is right in Hancock, but that there is surprising apathy in Washington. A gentleman who has just come from that county says that in many of the towns literally nothing is being done, and Republicans are saying, " Bradbury is a smart man and will be elected ; it is no use trying to defeat him." I have no doubt you can get Henry Wilson to speak all next week in the district if you want him. He told me in July that he would come into Maine if he should be wanted. I shall be in Hancock all this week after to-day. I think you should have Hamlin next week. Yours truly, I. Washburn, Jr. J. S. Pike, Esq., Calais, Me. [From William Pitt Fessenden.] Portland, August 30, 1858. My Dear Pike : If the Sixth District depends on the doubtful voters, and those who can pay for them will have them, we are beaten, for the Democrats can spend three dollars to our one. Hence, if your figures are reliable, and include Hancock, the matter is past hope, and we may as well save what little money we can raise to pay expenses, getting home our voters in this district. As yet we have reserved noth- ing for ourselves, and the contest here is to be a hard and close one. . . . Your letter has been sent to Stevens for his opinion as to whether it is advisable to make any further effort. On your statement it does not look so to me. Yours very truly, W. P. Fessenden. J. S. Pike, Esq. 1858] LETTERS, C. A. DANA AND HENRY WILSON. 425 [Prom William Pitt Fessenden.] Portland, September 5, 1858. Mr Dear Pike : Stevens has undoubtedly written you, as he re- turned from B. on Friday, and was in some degree successful. I had a letter from a friend at Albany, to whom I wrote, saying that it was too late to effect much, but he would write you at once. Gunnison writes me that with a little care the Pembroke, Robbinston, Eastport, and Lubec districts may be secured. I trust all will be done that can be, as we do not look so safe in this region as I could wish. We learn that our adversaries are making a rush upon all the close Republican districts in this quarter, and have some hopes of checkmat- ing us in the House. It rejoices me to see that your hopes of the Sixth are rising. Our friends in Hancock speak bravely. Yours always, W. P. F. [From Charles A. Dana.] New York, September 6, 1858. My Dear Pike : Print your speech ? Yes, sir ! of course. In fact, if we are sure to do any thing, it is to print your speeches. In- deed, we carry it so far that we have sometimes printed those that you only meant to make. This one will go in within two or three days, with a first-rate notice from one of the ablest pens in the country. Horace has gone to Indiana to deliver his agricultural address, and also to be absent when he is nominated for Governor, or isn't. I stay away from the convention for the same reason. The Horatian move- ment is strong, though both he and I have carefully kept aloof from it. Have you received the Household Book of Poetry ? It was sent ten days ago. Give my love to Mrs J. S. P., whom I esteem to be the best of women. Yours ever, C. A. D. [From Senator Wilson.] Natick, September 16, 1858. J. S. Pike, Esq. . Dear Sir : I congratulate you on the vote of your district, and especially of your county of Washington. Foster owes his election to you. Bradbury must feel that you have wiped him out. I only wish 426 LETTER FROM WM. PITT FESSENDEN. [Sept. you or your brother Fred were chosen. Either of you would be of service in the next great fight. I fear Foster will be able to do but little. I spoke in seven towns in your county, and I never saw such workers as I saw in your county. I left it with high hopes ; but when I got to Bangor I saw that little had been done out of the First and Sixth Districts ; that we were in danger in the Third. I hope French is elected, but I fear he is not. Our friends in that district deserve the lash for their conduct, and French personally deserves defeat. I am reading Mrs. F. A. Pike's new book, and I am most deeply interested in it. Give my regards to your wife ; also to your brother and his wife. Yours truly, H. Wilson. [From Mr. Fessenden.] Portland, September 16, 1858. My Dear Pike : I congratulate you. All honor to the county of Washington in general, and "J. S. P." in particular. Bion must feel decidedly used up. Give us credit, too, for the fight in No. One. We contended under every possible disadvantage. The Navy-yard at Kittery, the new forti- fication in our harbor, the naturalization of Irishmen, and a bad family quarrel all told heavily against us. I suppose that Bion would have had more votes in Aroostook if he had supposed they would be needed. I trust we have carried the Third, though the doubt is mortifying. A " live man" could not have been beaten there. I hope to see you before I go to Washington. In the mean time, with regards to Mrs. Pike, I remain, Always yours, W. P. Fessenden. J. S. Pike, Esq. [From Hon. Thomas Corwin.] Lebanon, O. , September 24, 1858. Dear Sir : After two days of pain enough to kill a buffalo, I have just relief enough to read with sincere joy your Machias speech. As it was postmarked at Calais, I take it for granted I am indebted to your personal kindness for it. It bears the marks of great reflection and mature thought. I think I comprehend its entire scope, with only one exception. What limitation you propose to the jurisdiction of the Supreme Court, or rather how you propose to accomplish this object, I 1858] LETTER FROM THOMAS COR WIN. 437 do not so well understand. Let me know what yOu mean by this, and how it can be done. I have very unwisely dashed again into the arena of politics, and for about four weeks been speaking thirty-six hours in every twenty-four. I thought about two months ago Ohio was going over rapidly to Demo- cracy. Four years ago we had a majority of sixty thousand, last year we had fifteen hundred. I sought to bring the old Fillmore men to their senses. I have succeeded. But in this work I was compelled to be a candidate. I wait to see what Ohio will do. If there is hope of saving her, I shall (if elected) take my seat, but sub rosa. If no such hope is indulged, I think I shall not. Can you tell, can anybody tell, why the opposition did not unite in New York ? In Ohio there will not be one hundred Americans, or Fillmore Whigs, as they here prefer to be named, who will not vote the entire Republican ticket. Oh ! that ineradicable curse of partisan selfishness ! I fear no party in New York is exempt from it. Fools ! fools ! fools ! It will destroy them all. I have been working in Campbell's, Nichols's, and Case's districts, all hotly contested, all doubtful. I think we shall retain Nichols and oust Cox and Vallandingham. We shall beat Burns and Miller, I think. I have spent some time in the latter districts, and they, I hope, will be carried. My son has handed me this moment the stupid apology of an assin- ine editor for not reporting me truly. I have glanced at his pretended report. It is full of the most provoking and ridiculous misstatements of principles as well as arguments. I go to-morrow (if alive then) to speak each dav and night for two weeks. I shall carry a revolver, and he dies who comes on the stand with pen and ink. Instead of the speech, I send the apology. Yours truly, Thos. Corwin. J. S. Pike. [From Senator Fessenden.] Portland, September 26, 1858. My Dear Pike : I saw the Governor last week, before receiving yours, and he asked my advice on the point you mention. I advised him to do as you desired. The result, however, may dispense with the necessity, as Foster's election is not now disputed. I received a letter from Bigelow of the Evening Post a day or two since, asking for the details of our plan of organization, and expressing the opinion that, if adopted in New York, it might save the State to 428 LETTERS FROM GOVERNOR MORRILL. [Oct. Republicanism. In reply, I have referred him to you, and expressed the hope that your counsels would be followed. Perhaps you had better post him up on the subject. I told him that our great secret was unity of action, thinking nothing of men or cliques, and working for suc- cess. I shall be glad to find you and Mrs. Pike established in Washington for the winter. Yours, as always, W. P. Fessenden. J. S. Pike, Esq. [From Governor Morrill.] Augusta, October 2, 1858. My Dear Sir : "Will you take an appointment to examine into the subject-matter of the alleged frauds in the plantations in Aroostook county at the late election ? I very much desire it. If you are dis- posed to, the necessary papers will be provided as soon as we can have access to the lists to be returned within thirty days after election. If you prefer, you can have a gentleman joined with you. Mr. Hall will confer with you, and if he has no desire to accompany you, will advise as to some proper person. If you please, advise me by telegraph. With much respect, Yours, Lot M. Morrill. Jas. S. Pike, Esq., Calais. [From Governor Morrill.] Augusta, October 11, 1858. My Dear Sir : I have persuaded Mr. Smith to meet you at Bangor and explain whatever may need explanation, and to take papers which may be useful you should see, and which cannot be trusted to public conveyance. As for specific authority, beyond inquiry into the record and returns, whatever may be supposed to exist in the executive is incidental to the powers given to count and declare the votes. I have given you specifically power to examine into the correspondence between the records and returns, and under general language leave to your discretion the rest. I do not intend to limit the inquiry ; but the commission is, or may 1858] LETTER FROM E. L. HAMLIN. 429 be, a public one, and in terms should not be questionable in its authority. Mr. Smith will explain all. With esteem, yours, L. M. Morrill. J. S. Pike, Esq. [From Hon. Elijah L. Hamlin.] Bangor, November 10, 1858. My Dear Sir : I have received your memorandum of the weather during your expedition to the Aroostook, and herewith I send you my account. My thermometer hung upon the outside of my brick house, and not far from the door, and possibly it might range one or two degrees higher than in a more exposed situation. The difference is more than I expected ; the country is really colder in Aroostook than in Penobscot. You have done a good thing in your investigation among the French voters, and I hope we shall have a detailed account of these villainous frauds. It is time for some legislative action in the premises. Truly yours, E. L. Hamlin. J. S. Pike, Esq., Calais. 430 LETTER FROM HON. AMOS N0UR8E. [Jan. 1859. [From Hon. Amos NourseJ Bath, January 25, 1859. J. S. Pike, Esq. My Dear Sir : I have just been reading a part of one of your letters (all that was within my reach), and I cannot forbear to tender you a vote of thanks. You will readily understand what letter I refer to — that in which you scout the idea of abating a jot of principle for the sake of picking up a few votes here and there. The truth is, our strength lies in our principles, and only in our principles. If faithful to them, we shall prevail ; if otherwise, defeat will be but our righteous doom. The position which Douglas has stooped to take will, I trust, save us from all danger of entanglement with him ; but where is Forney here- after to be found ? Nobody that I have conferred with is able to answer me that question, and I doubt if he can himself. But it is a most interesting question notwithstanding. How nice it would be if I had now, as a couple of years ago, a chance to drop in upon you every now and then, and talk over these matters ! But, alas ! there will never be another fragment of a sena- torial term small enough for me to fill. The delightful talks I used to have with yourself, and your sensible, genial lady, are never, I fear, to be repeated. But we shall have the pleasure, I trust, of feeling that we are co-workers in the same good cause. Tell Mrs. P., if you please, that if she will get her friend Governor Chase fairly on the presidential track, I will write for him, speak for him, and work for him with all my might and main ; which is more than I would undertake to do for Mrs. Judge McL. or her husband. And tell her, too, that I should like mighty well to know whether she writes as well as she talks ; and, to that end she will oblige me exceedingly by sending me her autograph in the shape of an epistle. 1859] LETTER FROM CHARLES A. DANA. 431 I had the good fortune last winter to make the acquaintance of another Mrs. P. — the veritable "Ida May," a most interesting, agree- able, and accomplished lady. Hope I shall have the pleasure to see more of her. Her husband, let me say, as well as she, has already established a most enviable reputation. The promise of a brilliant future is before him ; but it is sad to think how often, from one cause and another, do such promises fail to be realized. Please drop me a line, if you are not too busy, with a postscript, if no more, from her ladyship. Yours very truly, A. Nourse. [Prom Charles A. Dana.] New York, February 4, 1859. My Dear Pike : My wife and I are so charmed with your descrip- tion of your felicity in Washington, and above all with your invitation, that if we could only get away from the cares of housekeeping at home we should be there before to-morrow night. It is time for the Tribune to be looking out for a telegraphic corre- spondent at Washington. Carter's engagement expires on the 4th prox., and we must have some one in his place. My conviction is that there is nobody so good as ... on the whole. He is dear, but that is not the worst of faults. Horace likes him as he does calomel and jalap, but that, too, can be got over if necessary. I wish you would tell me what is your judgment on the subject, and whether there is any new man who is worth trying. The subscriptions to the Tribune look wonderfully well. We are getting immensely strong in Pennsylvania, and before 1860 shall have over thirty thousand subscribers in that single State. At least that is my opinion from the way it is going now. I see nothing to prevent our having the weekly up to 250,000 before 1860. Would you take hold of the duty of publishing the Tribune aftei next July ? Salary $2500. Love to your wife, and tell her Henry James is coming here before a great while to give a course of five or six lectures on Shadows, involv- ing not only ghosts and goblins, but pretty much all the universe besides. Yours faithfully, C. A. Dana. V 432 JUDAH BENJAMIN. [Feb. [From Charles A. Dana.] New York, February 11, 1859. My Dear Pike : I dare say you feel better by this time. I agree with you that ... is one of the greatest fools in the world. But Greeley insists on having him ; and Colfax, who is a special friend of Greeley's, never ceases urging Horace to give him a chance. That's the secret of his engagement, which, I am happy to say, is only to the end of the session. As for the Napier letter, that was written by a distinguished gentle- man ; and when Horace learned who it was he said he agreed perfectly with you about it. I inclose the lee-scupper article. I think it is great, and Horace never has done praising it. It was written by George F. Talbot, of East Machias. Yours faithfully, C. A. D. BENJAMIN ON SLAVERY. [From the New York Tribune ] Washington, February 11, 1859. Mr. Benjamin made a speech to-day in the Senate on Cuba, which opens the discussion of the slavery question in all its as- pects and relations. He boldly threw down the glove challeng- ing admiration for slavery and the slave system, and making the most offensive comparisons between slavery and freedom. No man could talk as he did who believed in any God but the almighty dollar. Yet Judah is a gentleman, a scholar, a man of capacity, and a practised talker. Alas, too, he is a law- yer, and is as used to talking on the wrong side as the right. But what a disgusting aggregation of cupidity and rapacity would the world exhibit, if everybody looked upon the great ends of life and humanity to be what Benjamin's argument assumed them to be ! Yet Judah did not seem to appreciate this peculiar and most striking weakness of his discourse. He seemed to for- get that the world had a moral sense, or humanity any rights. Mr. Benjamin having boldly called attention to the evils of freedom, the awful condition of the people living in tropical regions outside the beatitudes of the slave system, and having read varied and lengthy extracts in aid of this view, he has pro- voked a like detailed examination of the svstem he so much ex- 1859] HIS GOLD-BLOODED SPEECH. 433 tols. It is the duty of the Republicans of the Senate to take up the gauntlet he has thrown down, and re-read to him and to the Senate what slavery is in the tropics, what it is to the slave and what it is to the freeman, what it is to the colored man and what it is to the white. Mr Benjamin's provocative cannot be with- stood. The story of slavery must be told in its length and its breadth to the same pleased and admiring crowd of slave-holders who listened with so much gratification to-day as Mr. Benjamin recited tales, that, though naturally productive of no emotions but indignation and horror, were yet received with a general chuckle of delight by the slave-holders, on no other ground that could be perceived than because the horrors of slavery were rivalled by Coolie abominations. "As the devil travelled through Coldbath fields, He saw a solitary cell ; And the devil smiled, for it gave him a hint For improving the prisons of hell." The inevitable inference and logical conclusion of Mr. Ben- jamin was that no other form of labor should exist within the tropics, everywhere, all. over the world, East Indies and West Indies, than compulsory labor. The necessities of civilized man demanded slavery ; slavery in the Southern States and sla- very in Brazils and in Cuba ; slavery in Jamaica, slavery in all the islands of the Caribbean Sea. For Mr. Benjamin declared, and essayed laboriously to show, that compulsory labor was alone ad- equate to provide for the wants of civilized man. But who shall be forced to work for civilized man ? Mr. Benjamin says the African. Who shall decide who shall be the compelled and who the compeller ? Is it not time for the slave- holder of the tropical regions himself to be set to work as a pro- ducer. Has he not lived long enough off the labor of others to take his turn at his splendid system of compulsory labor ? Off jackets, Messrs. Benjamin & Company, and take to the cotton- field ! And how is it with that vast class, that wretched mass of degraded humanity, the "poor whites" of the South? The doctrine of " compulsion" is as good for them as for the blacks. Why not? And where is the line to be drawn on the earth's surface between voluntary and compulsory labor ? Who is to run that Mason's and Dixon's line ? If the Southern slave-holders 434 REMARKABLE SPEECH OF SENATOR THOMPSON. [Feb. are to establish it, it must be by consent of other men south of the St. Lawrence and the Great Lakes. Mr. Benjamin's whole speech was simply and plainly an open advocacy of the right of the strongest. This was his cen- tral idea. This odious and insulting dogma was proclaimed by him in open day, on the floor of the United States Senate, to the manifest delight of the whole Southern slave-holding aristocracy, and with an apparent forgetf illness upon their part of the fact that we have a free government, that rests on a declaration of the rights of man. Let the issue here involved be met. Met by freedom and the Free States. Met by the millions of the North. These gentlemen rush upon their fate. They steadily force on the great conflict of ideas, regardless of results. Who, then, shall hold back ? Shall it be the genuine Democracy of the Free States ? Certainly not. They welcome the conflict. J. S. P. AN EXTRAORDINARY SPEECH. [From the Neiv York Tribune.'] Washington, February 17, 1859. The Cuba debate went on yesterday in a speech of Senator Thompson, of Kentucky, against Slidell's corruption project. The speech was very able, full of sharp points, and immensely entertaining. The Senate was full and the galleries crowded. The entire audience were often convulsed with laughter, and the Vice-President at last grew too weak to rap any but the most gentle admonitions. Indeed, it was about the only occasion I ever witnessed in the Senate in which the attempt to preserve order was abandoned. The fun got to be so universal and up- roarious that it was idle to attempt to stop it. Although Senator Thompson's name is not one of the popu- lar celebrities of Congress, he is no new man, but has been in one branch or the other, " oif and on," as he himself expressed it to-day, for twenty years. He is not a rising man nor a grow- ing man, for he described himself in debate the other day as a " political corpse ;" immediately adding by way of relief to his sympathizing friends, that he saw several gentlemen around him "in equally bad health." Mr. Thompson is an old Whig, and 1859] GENERAL GLEE. 435 just now belongs to no existing political organization. One of his most enthusiastic moments to-day was where he alluded to Henry Clay as Coeur de Lion, and himself as one of his field marshals. "What Mr. Thompson said I shall not undertake to recall or to repeat, even in brief. To measure its effect, the matter of the speech is not alone sufficient, even if presented in the full verbatim report of the Globe. To give a true idea of it needs the time, the audience, the circumstances, the appearance of the speaker, with his apparently shattered constitution, his feeble frame, his entire concentration on his subject, his imperturbable gravity, his evident sincerity, his nervous susceptibility, his ec- centric ways, his intense anxiety of expression, his restrained but effective gesticulation, and finally his sitting posture, in which from weakness, he delivered all but the first fifteen minutes of his speech. Around the speaker sat senators of every name and degree. There was Pugh who laughed till the tears ran down his cheeks. There was Gwin, brawny and broad, who shook himself entirely out of all remembrance of all railroad projects. Close by and directly in front sat Douglas, who with his head bent upon his breast, seemed in danger of choking as he convulsively bobbed it up and down upon his chest. There was Mason, the imperson- ation of the Virginia idea of senatorial propriety, sitting first in front, and then moving over to one side, and then standing in the rear, but wherever he went intent on listening, and actively participating in the general glee. There was Father Simmons, of Rhode Island, sitting close by, from beginning to end, a per- fect convert to Free Trade — in laughter. There was Mr. Seward, not having the due restraints of a grave senator upon him, some- times to be seen in a convulsed, sometimes in an exploded state of hilarity. There, too, was his colleague, Preston King, whose fat sides never stopped shaking. There loomed Hale, with his face constantly lighted up with a sort of glorified merriment. There was that soberest and gravest of ancient senators and ven- erable men, Mr. Allen, of Rhode Island ; a man who never speaks and never smiles, eagerly listening and constantly laugh- ing, looking first this way and then that, to see if it could be possible that he was justified in such an unwonted exhibition of 436 JOHN BULL AND LORD NAPIER. [Feb. exuberant nature. There was the Speaker's colleague, the vet- eran Crittenden, gradually sinking under the inexorable humors of his friend and admirer, until, in apparent despair of being able to hold out himself, he suggested that his colleague should give way for an adjournment — a suggestion gratefully recognized, but not acceded to, on the ground, apparently, that the audience ought to be able to hold out as long as the speaker in his present • infirm condition. Clingman refused to go away, and laughed to the end, generously helping the speaker with an apt correction of a i ' free love ' ' allusion, as a good bachelor should. Governor Hammond took a seat in the immediate vicinity of Mr. Thomp- son at the start, and resolutely clung to it to the end, not miss- ing a single good thing nor failing to enjoy it. General Hous- ton stuck by equally close, swallowing the entire dose. Directly by the speaker sat Reverdy Johnson, wholly unable to restrain himself, and laughing as though he would split. The detail might be pursued. Suffice it to add that in addition to the dis- tinguished gentlemen referred to, there sat nearly all the rest of the senators in a similar condition of broad cachinnation. Bring- ing up the rear in close order was Lord Napier, who began to listen with his coat on and hat in hand. Directly he sat. Then he removed his overcoat, and next he put down his hat. For the rest, he went in with the crowd and became an unconditional partner in the general merriment, taking most philosophically the awful delineations of John Bull, the "bloody old bruiser," and the palpable hits at the dinner-giving tactics of her diplo- matists at Washington. Another live Lord on one of the sofas did not take the sketch so graciously. While this speech of Mr. Thompson's did not treat the sub- ject from the Republican point of view, it is entirely too full of good things to be neglected. It is a good speech to circulate, for it contains much sound doctrine in an attractive form. Mr. Chandler, of Michigan, follows to-day in a financial view of the question. But Cuba is a humbug, and meant for nothing else. J. S. P. 1859] SENATOR COLLAMEB ON CUBA. 437 SENATOR COLLAMEE ON CUBA. [From the Keus York Tribune.] Washington, February 21, 1859. Mr. Collamer delivered a very able speech to-day of over three hours against the acquisition of Cuba. As an argument it was like all Mr. Collamer's efforts, of great force and complete- ness. He bore down directly upon the merits of the measure, grappling with it in close quarters, and levelling it stone by stone, to its foundations. He made clean work in a most lawyerly and judicial manner. He argued fairly and squarely without pettifogging, talking like an upright man and an intelligent statesman, and endeavoring to convince and not to delude or befog the understanding of his hearers. Jefferson Davis inter- rupted him once, but got brushed away. Jefferson mistakes passion for sharpness, and temper for intellect. He always as- sumes a dictatorial air in his criticisms and this makes him offen- sive. There are a large" number of speeches to follow Mr. Colla- mer's on this subject, and though Mr. Slidell gave notice to-day that he would drive the question to a vote to-morrow night, I doubt if it will be done. I do not see how even the prepared speeches can be crowded into the limited time proposed to bo allowed, without talking all night ; and this the Republican Sen- ators will not probably consent to. Of course they cannot be forced into any thing unreasonable. The failure of the attempt to coerce them on Lecompton last session is too fresh in the re- collection of gentlemen on the other side to lend weight to the supposition that they will repeat the effort. The minority will insist upon a reasonable time to deliver their speeches, and they will get it. Benjamin's proposition to invest the President with imperial power is dead. It was badly scorched in the debate the other day, and went to the table. It may be called up at any time, but seeing the temper of the Senate, Mr. Benjamin has wisely abandoned it. He says he shall not touch it again at this session. Mr. Collamer undertook to demonstrate to-day that it was part and parcel of the Cuba scheme, as I have before suggested. The State Bights men of the South were evidently afraid of the pre- 438 FOLLY OF DEMOCRATLC LEADERS. [Feb. cedent, although favoring the object aimed at. Again, " The cat loves fish, but dares not wet her feet." It looks now as though the failure of this project would have an important bearing upon the designs of the thirty million men. They want to get both sword and purse into their hands. If they could succeed, their fillibustering folly might involve the country in a scrape which would require an extra session to pro- vide the means for a general war. The managing politicians at the head of the government are really in such straits, politically, that the public peace is in constant jeopardy, and the prosperity of our commercial interests hangs by a thread. Mr. Buchanan is sort of Cuba-crazy, and John Slidell, everybody knows, and Plaquemine attests, is one of the most reckless of men. As to the wisdom of our rulers, it is not worth while to say much about that. We have seen what havoc they committed on their own ranks by their insane project of repealing the Missouri Com- promise, in defiance of every dictate of political prudence. We have seen how madly Mr. Buchanan rushed to the support of the Lecompton Constitution last winter, and what a miserable minority of his own party it has left him in in the Free States, and how isolated his Administration stands here in Washington, with a majority in neither House. Judging of what we have thus seen of the unspeakable folly of the Democratic leaders, acting on subjects directly under their nose, and nowise difficult of treatment by men of prudence and discernment, what are we to expect of those same gentlemen in the present juncture ? They are blundering about in blind pur- suit of some fancied political advantage, and do not hesitate to handle the great questions of peace and war with the same temerity they have exhibited in treating subjects of mere do- mestic interest. They have done nothing but blunder hitherto — and are we to expect that they will do any thing but blunder hereafter ? The country may congratulate itself on its good for- tune if it gets the government out of their hands in season to avert some great national catastrophe. Never did any party ex- hibit greater incompetence in its leaders, than has the so-called Democratic organization of this country exhibited since the year 1854. The country cannot be rid of them too soon. J. S. P. 1859] LETTER FROM JAMES E. HARVEY. 439 [From James E. Harvey.] Washington, March 7, 1859. Dear Pike : You slid off so quietly that I knew nothing of the exodus till it was all over. I had expected an opportunity to have talked some matters over, but they must be deferred. Dana wrote to me a few days ago in regard to resuming the place of " our own correspondent," and I replied frankly and fully. As you know something of the subject, perhaps it might be as well to confer with him. There are plenty of cheap chaps here, who, in my opinion, are a positive nuisance to any respectable paper. In the first place, they know nothing ; and in the second, they have no principle to guide their action. No man who does his whole duty properly, and has the neces- sary facilities, can afford to give his time and labor at the price these Bohemians do, who have degraded journalism and damaged the papers with which they have been connected. However, you know all about this, and I shall say no more. As ever, James E. Harvey. * [From William Pitt Fessenden.] Portland, May 1, 1859. My Dear Sir : I trust you will be present on the 17th, if you can, for you know those last year's accounts are to be looked over and settled, and a new system adopted. Come down, if you can. I am living quite solitary, having only one son with me, and no females but servants. Come to my house at once. I am about to have an opera- tion, and shall be confined to my house pretty much. You would be most welcome at any time, and particularly so just then. I have been thinking that the Arnold affair is not of much con- sequence. The man is living yet, for any thing I know to the contrary, and I should not, at any rate, wish his pride injured in the least for my benefit. He really, on the whole, behaved well at the time, considering the circumstances, and, as I came off best, of course I forgive him. Yours truly, W. P. Fessenden. J. S. Pike, Esq. [From William Pitt Fessenden.] Portland, May 8, 1859. My Dear Pike : I have a large house enough, and servants enough, and, provided, as I have no doubt she will, Mrs. Pike can make all 440 LETTERS, MR. FESSENDEN AND GOV. MORRILL. [June proper allowances, and whether she can or not, I should he delighted to see hoth her and your daughter. At all events, I think she could do hetter here than at any hotel in town. That I said nothing about her in my former letter was owing, mainly, to the fact that her being with you did not occur to me at the moment. Please present her with my regards, and say that I shall esteem her coming with you a very par- ticular favor, and will allow her to be comfortable in her own way. I saw Peck in the street the other day, who told me that he knew nothing of any meeting of the State Committee, or any settlement of accounts What are the Tribune and Era quarrelling about ? They both aim at the same point, and mean to reach it in the same way. Are they put- ting on airs to " gull the flats" ? Sincerely, W. P. Fessenden. J. S. Pike, Esq. P. S. — Drop me a line as to-day and train, or telegraph. [From Governor Morrill.] June 21, 1859. My Dear Sir : . . . I fully agree with you that the negro ques- tion is quite likely to split the Democracy, or rather to render the split altogether irreparable. They must continue to break into discord as the question develops itself. Douglasism is the dangerous element to them now. It will give a temporary strength to a faction, sure to give out in the end, like any new makeweight. Therefore do not, I pray you, be too savage on it at your next convention. It is an indication that the leaders North are conscious that they must keep up a semblance of opposition to the doctrines they now are advancing, and to which they intend to submit, if they can only have time to get the rank and file prepared for it. I am by no means sure we should not desire the success of the " squatters" in their convention. It is the rankest treason to the Administration and to national Democracy, and is all to be repented of and atoned for ; but its success now will make the peni- tential goat all the more a means of grace to all that portion of the rank and file who are honest in their attachment to Democracy, and who think the Douglas leaders are honest in their present efforts. The impression here is, the Administration will have the convention at Bangor. It is feared hereabouts that vou have killed the Railroad bill. It is 1859] LETTER FROM CHARLES A. DANA. 441 said that the Presque Isle circular, under the imposing frank of an Hon. M. C, did great mischief in the western counties. It was not my purpose to be in complicity with the proposers of the coming convention, and so had not thought of being in attendance. I will, however, be in reach of you, if you advise me of any thing likely to take place to the detriment of our glorious party and country. I am, my dear sir, Very truly and sincerely yours, Lot M. Morrill. Jas. S. Pike, Esq., Calais. [Prom Charles A. Dana.] New York, June 23, 1859. Dear Pike : You are right about the political paragraph. That was just what I intended to do myself ; but here is this infernal war, which occupies every minute of the time, and works me pretty hard at that. However, the war is the absorbing subject, and the Presidency is only secondary. My impression is that we had better concentrate our forces on Chase, and that he is the only man we can beat S. with. The Fessenden movement is good, but it can't come to any thing directly. Indirectly it may be very useful. That is my notion. I have handed your letter over to old Rip, and if he takes notice of it, I desire to have it understood that I will not be second to either party. By the way, the Count has expressed a desire to be reconciled to me, and declares that he will not abuse the Cyclopaedia any more. On that motion I published his manifesto to the European press, and he sent an editorial, which duly appeared in the Tribune. The millennium is at hand. Yours, C. A. Dana. [From William Pitt Fessenden.] Portland, July 23, 1859. My Dear Pike : I received the proof, and sent it to Dana, making a few alterations by striking out one or two sentences. I saw Stevens's article. He or somebody else sent me the paper. The paragraph in the Tribune troubled him very much, as I learnt from other quarters. He was very much afraid it would injure me, considering it best that Maine should make a demonstration for S. in the first instance, etc., etc. Isn't he a sort of ostrich ? 442 LETTERS FROM W. P. FESSENDEK [Aug. Whatever might have been the effect of your proposition, of one thing I am sure, that I could not have stood a whole session of Con- gress under such an embarrassment. This consideration decided me. It was a sacrifice I am not bound to make for the good of anybody, or everybody, under the circumstances. You will notice that your popular sovereignty resolution takes well, and is looked upon as expressing the true idea. I am more and more satisfied every day that the Irishman was right when he said that " the best way to avoid danger is to meet it plump." The people, espe- cially our people, are in a condition to receive the truth into willing minds, and I am for letting them have it on all occasions. Did you see Mr. Pangborn's article upon the Tribune paragraph ? I was at a loss to understand this at first, as Schouler expressed the hope that our convention would make a nomination. But I am told that the Bee is an organ of Governor Banks, and P. his particular mouthpiece. Is it so ? I am yet lounging about home, trying to get in better condition, but my success is not very flattering as yet ; but I am a patient man, and can wait. With much regard to Mrs. Pike, Your friend, truly, W. P. Fessenden. J. S. Pike, Esq. From William Pitt Feesenden.l Portland, August 17, 1859. My Dear Pike : The trouble is that the United States Courts its on the 23d of September, and there is one case which I must help. Then our Superior Court sits on the second Tuesday of October, and there is one case in a similar fix. If, with all these troubles, I can come subsequent to the 23d, I will ; but just now I cannot fix a day. I don't mean to lose the chance if I can help it. William is going to sea as soon as he can get a good place. If at home then, I will take him with me. I am assured it is just what we both want. I get no news, and am going off in a day or two somewhere, for a ten days' trip. Perhaps I shall contrive to see Foot before I come back. I hear from all quarters that Seward is losing ground, particu- larly in the West ; but perhaps " the wish is father to the thought." Yours as ever, W. P. Fessenden. 1859] LETTERS FROM CHARLES A. DANA. 443 [From Charles A. Dana.] New York, August 26, 1859. My Dear Pike : I send with this a clever statement by an Oregon man, which I propose to print as soon as you can examine it, and write an article to go with it. Of course you will look only to what is right and just in the premises ; but it might be well to remember that the course of the Tribune on this very question has hindered the progress of the Republicans in Oregon. I dare say that if we had put it to them less sharply Logan might now have had the certificate instead of Stout. However, that is all right ; and if it can't be helped, the work must be done again. Only let us be very sure and draw it as mild as practicable. I am very anxious about Hildreth. He has long been in delicate health, and now for a month nearly has been in Massachusetts doing nothing but nurse himself, though to no great purpose, for at the last news he was no better. He suffers from dyspepsia, I fancy, as much as any thing else, combined with a horrible nervous depression. I think one of his brothers had his mind overset under similar circum- stances. To lose H. would be a great calamity, not only from the loveliness of his character, but from his incomparable professional utility. You can fancy that his total absence has put me to my trumps, and to my work too. However, that is good for us. I wrote you a very hasty note yesterday on politics. Later in the afternoon I saw Ashley (M. C), of Toledo, travelling in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and New York to look after Chase's interests. He's a good fellow and no fool. He swears that the North-west is for Chase quite as much as for Seward. I think he is mistaken ; for I have the best information to the contrary, particularly from Wisconsin, Iowa, Minnesota, and Michigan, where the Germans, who hold the balance of power, are hot Seward men. Yours faithfully, C. A. Dana. P.S. — Thermometer here about 90°. [From Charles A. Dana.] New York, September 1, 1859. Dear Pike : The policy of Union is a subject on which the Tribune took its position long ago. Mr. Greeley wrote in May and June some five or six articles on the subject ; in his Kansas speech he enforced it at great length ; we shall have it from him again in a long speech which I expect to receive by the next California steamer. This I mention 444 LETTER FROM MR. FESSENDEN. [Sept. to remind you that I have not invented or added any thing to the pro- gramme of the paper when it came into my hands. I have simply pursued, and that with greater moderation, and, I think, with much greater caution than he exhibited, the course which Mr. Greeley started it upon. I think he was right, and I think I have been right too. As to Mr. Bates. He has this great advantage, that while he is a conservative and a citizen of a Slave State he can be run as an emancipa- tionist and practical anti-slavery man, and carry his own State on that platform. Thus he may be supported by both the old Whigs and Americans of all the doubtful Free States, and by the Abolitionists of the others. This, you see, is something that can't be predicated of Mr. Bell or of any other Southern man whatever. However, these are things that will take care of themselves. But here in New Jersey is a State election at hand which it is important not to lose. Another is to take place in New York. The Americans hold the balance of power in both. Their party is in the act of final dissolution. Shall we let the fragments fall into the arms of the Loco- focos ? I think we had better not ; and I believe that the course of the Tribune for these three or four months has saved them to the Republicans. It seems to me that Breckenridge must be the Democratic candidate. And he will be a hard one to beat. There can be no question that if we are to be beaten, Seward is the best man to run. But I hope we are not to re-enact with him the old Whig tragedy of Henry Clay. Let me hear from the Oregon question as soon as you conveniently can. There is a difference between Weed and Morgan. M. is not so malleable as was expected. But he is the best Governor New-York has had for twenty years. Yours faithfully, C. A. D. P. S. — The Count is still in Canada. He has written two or three letters to the paper. He now thinks that I am a good boy, but that Ripley is a villain. [From William Pitt Fessenden.] Portland, September 4, 1859. My Dear Pike : I am sorry to be compelled to say that I must give up the camp. Business has been growing upon me to such an extent that I must give the remainder of my time to it. 1859] LETTERS FROM MR. FESSENDEN. 445 I have just returned from a fortnight's tour, having spent much of it at Saratoga. Preston King came over from Ballston to see me for a day, and I returned by way of Rutland. I also saw Harvey at the Revere, he having been at Brattleboro' for a few weeks. How doctors disagree ! Harvey thinks that neither Seward, Chase, nor Banks has a living chance for the nomination, and is, at present, inclined to stump on Judge McLean, who is bright and hearty again, provided he con- tinues so. He thinks, moreover, that the Republicans have no living issue left. I didn't discuss the matter with him, of course. Weston is here, and has come to the conclusion that Douglas will force a nomination, and will be dangerous. W. is a sagacious man, but if the South agrees to Douglas it will lose its character. He (D.) would be troublesome in one or two States, but would lose several Southern ones, iu my judgment. After all, speculation is idle just now. We must wait and see. You and Pennsylvania may become reconciled to Seward yet, and then I shall expect to see him elected. Yours very truly, W. P. Fessenden. J. S. Pike, Esq. [From William Pitt Fessenden.] Portland, September 26, 1859. My Dear Pike : I went to the " United States" on two successive days, but didn't find you. You ought to know that if there is a corner of my house not occupied at any time, your filling it is a pleasure to me, whether there is room for you elsewhere or not. And a man wouldn't love you unless he loved your wife also. I do not know when the ship [the Great Eastern] will arrive, and we all expect our friends, and shall do our best to take care of them. You may feel sure that I shall be glad to see you and Mrs. Pike, just as I know you would be glad to see me. So " nuff sed" on that point. But if I am full when you arrive, all is, you shall find a place some- where. Just consider me your Committee of Arrangements. For so you may be certain I should do by you under like circumstances, and feel that I was doing just the thing you would expect me to do. Maine did the thing about right, didn't she ? What do you think of New York Americanism ? Yours always, W. P. Fessenden. 443 KILLING OF SENATOR BRODERICK. [Oct. MUKDER OF SENATOR BRODERICK. [From the Washington Era of October 29.] The killing of Senator Broderick in a dnel by Judge Terry is one of the most execrable tragedies in onr recent political history. Though neither a Republican nor an anti-slavery man himself, he is yet a victim and a martyr to the spirit of slavery. He has been hunted to his death because he dared resist the tide of pro- slavery fanaticism in California. He dared to stand up, both in Congress and out, against the leaders of the negro-holding aris- tocracy, and he pays the penalty of his resistance by his untimely end. He was marked for destruction, and he has been destroyed. Such bloody instances as this are among the pains and penalties which the cause of freedom has to suffer in its struggles against a barbarous enemy in its march toward a final triumph. We by no means wish to be understood as indorsing either the principles or position of the late lamented Senator Broderick. He occupied his own peculiar place. That place was at least one of respectability and manliness. He acted under the light he had. That he acted on a comparatively low plane is not to be imputed to any want of uprightness and integrity. He had the character and the determination to resist the demands of the fell tyranny that sought either to sway or to crush him. If he did not exhibit the spirit of a reformer, he yet manifested the temper of a man. He refused to succumb to dictation, he stood faithfully by what he regarded to be the rights of the people. For this he perished, and it is for this we honor him. The im- mediate circumstances of his death are immaterial. He hap- pened to fall by the hand of Judge Terry. But if he had es- caped his deadly aim, the bowie-knife or revolver of some other of the conspirators against his life would have been equally fatal. He was a doomed man. His fate reads a lesson alike to those who went with him in his hostility to the slave-holders, and to those who go farther than he did. It should animate resolu- tion, and fortify determination to hedge in and destroy that stalk- ing tyrant, the slave power, that thus vindictively pursues its victims to the grave. We are taught another lesson in the death of Mr. Broderick. And that is the consummate folly of unprepared, unpractised men allowing themselves to be dragooned into the duel with 1859] JUDGE TERRY. 447 proficients in the art of human slaughter. Of course, we de- nounce the duel in all its aspects as a hideous relic of barbaric ages. But we here particularly condemn it as an engine of assas- sination. Judge Terry is a Texan. Of his personal character- istics we know nothing. But this we do know : That the peo- ple of his section dwell in arsenals, and are themselves often walk- ing arsenals. Slavery necessarily compels constant war, forces the arming of the dominant race. They are therefore skilled in the use of weapons. Powder and lead are important items in every Texan's annual domestic expenditure. Every man's house and every man's pockets are crowded with deadly weapons. South-western life and history is full of feud and quarrel and bloody collision. Probably a majority of the Southern members of Congress to-day have had at some period or other in their lives, an affray, an encounter of some sort, and very often bloody and fatal. On the other hand, we do not suppose there are five members from the Northern States who ever were en- gaged in any thing of the kind. In the South to be a fighting man is a good passport to Congress. In the North to be a fight- ing man is reckoned a conclusive reason for such a man being kept out of that body. These statements afford sufficient indi- cation of the inequality of the position of individuals of the two sections when opposed in the duel. It is well illustrated in Sen- ator Broderick's own case. He was a New Yorker. His oppo- nent came from the far South. Unused to his task, Broderick's pistol was discharged through confusion or accident before it was in a position to endanger his antagonist. Profiting by this cir- cumstance his wily adversary had only to deliberately level his weapon, without risk, and coolly fire through the body of his victim ; which he did, with scientific skill and fatal accuracy, his ball evidently going within an inch of the spot he intended to strike. Southern men, in their duelling intercourse with one another, seldom come to actual conflict. Duelling itself is not only a profession with them, but duelling correspondence is equally an art. They are usually proficients in both. On the contrary, Northern men know nothing about either. "When a Northern man can be forced or induced to recognize the code, he at once finds himself enveloped in mysteries of corre- 448 PRACTICE OF ASSASSINATION. [Oct. spondence, as well as ignorant of the customs and practices of the duellist. If he is likely to be found a troublesome antago- nist, as Brooks found Burlingame, suddenly a convenient way of escape is found for the reluctant brave, in the written propo- sitions that precede the meeting. If, on the contrary, he is likely to be but a blunderer, as most of them certainly would be at this business, then he is regarded only as a target which quick shooting or some other sleight-of- hand contrivance is sure to hit. As a general proposition there is no equality between the parties when they are Northern and Southern men, and it is intended there shall be none. Practice, skill, quickness, steadiness are opposed to the absence of all these qualities, and the chances against the inexperienced side are as ten to one. We say, therefore, it is stupid folly for Northern men, with their habits, to accept the duelling code at the hands of the South. Moreover, it is too near the business of assassination to suit any man of genuine honor or humanity. Our professed duelling men are mere assassins. They hunt in couples. No one of them intends to put himself fairly and aboveboard against an an- tagonist every way equal. Is a man to be attacked ? Then he must be allowed no fair chance. Sumner, unarmed, was assailed sitting and confined, by an armed man. Close by stood a con- federate bristling with weapons, ready at a moment's warning. Had Sumner drawn a pistol and shot Brooks, Keitt would have drawn a bowie-knife and stabbed Sumner to the heart. He stood by his friend to guard and revenge this very contingency. What is this but the confederacy of assassins ? When a job of this or kindred character is to be done, who of these men goes alone ? One follows another at convenient distance, as they prowl through the streets. If the attack of a single adversary is made, before the victim can recover himself he finds his enemy doubled. This is South Carolina practice. We call it assassina- tion, and nothing else. We say the whole duelling code, as at- tempted to be applied to Northern men, is no better than a code of assassination, brutal, cowardly, and infamous. We consider Senator Broderick's murder a case in point. He was without the practice or the habits of the duellist. He had spent months in an excited political canvass. Fresh from the heat of mental 1859] BRODERICK'S CHARACTER. 44£ strife, his nervous sensibilities at the highest pitch, without fa- miliarity with the use of weapons, with no time for training, he is suddenly called to the field before breakfast of the next morn- ing after the election, with its smart of defeat fresh and provok- ing, by a disciplined and trained fighting man of the South-west — a man who, it is fair to suppose, from what is said of his ap- pearance on the ground, had been carefully and deliberately pre- paring himself for the event during the whole period in which Broderick had been on the stump. Thus unequally matched, what was to be naturally expected but just what followed ? The inexperienced man's pistol going off before he had even aimed it ; the experienced man's bullet, fired at leisure, and without risk, going with deadly malevolence straight through the vitals of his victim. The act is a cool, pre- meditated murder and nothing else. Unpractised Northern men are fools to allow themselves to be dragooned into such toils. Let the assassins of the slave power be met as assassins. Let them bear the odium of their real vocation. And let Northern men do their duty and prepare for whatever consequences may threaten, but let no one of them foolishly expose his life to the unequal chances of a challenge conflict with men of such an in- famous profession. Senator Broderick's whole course, since he has been in the Senate, has been such as to command the respect of all sides. Unassuming in his deportment, upright in his conduct and pur- poses, attentive and fearless in the discharge of his duties, his loss is a public calamity, irrespective of his political position and the circumstances of liis violent death. JOHN BROWN. [From the New York Tribune of October 29, 1859.] John Brown is a natural production, born on the soil of Kan- sas, out of the germinating heats the great contest on the soil of that Territory engendered. Before the day of Kansas outrages and oppression no such person as Osawatamie Brown existed. No such person could have existed. He was born of rapine and cruelty and murder. Revenge rocked his cradle, dis- 450 OLD JOHN DROWN. [Oct. ciplined his arm, and nerved his soul. We do not mean to say that revenge alone was the motive power that actuated him. His moral nature was roused, and its instincts and logic backed his determination with a profound power. But Kansas deeds, Kansas experiences, Kansas discipline created John Brown as entirely and completely as the French Revolution created Na- poleon Bonaparte. He is as much the fruit of Kansas as "Wash- ington was the fruit of our own Revolution. Let those, then, who have reproaches to heap upon the au- thors of the Harper's Ferry bloody tumult and general Southern fright, go back to the true cause of it all. Let them not blame blind and inevitable instruments in the work, nor falsely malign those who are in nowise implicated, directly or indirectly ; but let them patiently investigate the true source whence this de- monstration arose, and then bestow their curses and their anath- emas accordingly. It is childish and absurd for Governor Wise to seize and sit astride the wounded panting body of Old Brown, and think he has got the villain who set this mischief on foot. By no means. The head conspirators against the peace of Vir- ginia are ex -President Franklin Pierce and Senator Douglas. These are the parties he should apprehend, confine, and try for causing this insurrection. Next to them he should seize upon Senators Mason and Hunter, of Virginia, as accessories. Let him follow up by apprehending every supporter of the Nebraska bill, and when he shall have brought them all to condign punish- ment, he will have discharged his duty, but not till then. As to this whole tumultuous raid of subsequent excited vol- unteers and fussy officials against a crowd of unarmed and frightened negroes, with this malicious effort to fix criminality or blame upon innocent parties, to subserve personal or party ends, we can only regard it with contempt. There is nothing in it worthy of any other emotion. It has neither sense nor dignity nor honesty. Old Brown is simply a spark of a great fire kindled by short-sighted mortals. When Old Virginia had roused her- self in the persons of her governor and senators, and in the might of her military power, and had extinguished that spark by getting old Brown under, wiry, that was the end. That was all there was to be done. The subsequent valor and activity, the epaulettes and lace, and horses and sabres, afterward displayed 1859] LETTER FROM CHARLES SUMNER. 451 were so much sheer surplus, and the exhibition only provocative of ridicule. The other branch of the display, in pretending to fix the responsibility of the outbreak upon the Republicans gen- erally, we dismiss with the exposition we have already made. There is no just responsibility resting anywhere, no just attribu- tion of causes anywhere, for this violent attempt that does not fall directly upon the South itself. It has deliberately challenged and wantonly provoked the elements that have concentred and exploded. [From Charles Sumner.] Washington, December 4, 1859. Dear Mr. Pike : I am surprised and pained at what I learn from you of the affairs of Dr. B. . . . Every anti-Slaveryman is his debtor, and I shall rejoice in any op- portunity of testifying, by word or act, to this conviction. Pray let me know frankly what I can do to this end. I shall see Mrs. B. to-day. There are other things of which I shall be glad to talk with you. But you will surely be here with the New Year. Present my compliments to Mrs. Pike, and believe me, Ever faithfully yours, Charles Sumner. GOVERNOR WISE ON JOHN BROWN. [From the New York Tribune of December 8.] Governor "Wise complains of General Sympathy, and is re- ported to have said he would have preferred his execution to that of John Brown. The sentiment, or one similar to it, has been re-echoed in Congress. The Southern men profess astonishment and indignation that the execution of John Brown should excite sympathy in the North. Even our professional Union-savers are excited to rattle their dry bones at the spectacle, and propose cot- ton meetings to condemn it. But, what is there remarkable in the exhibition ? John Brown has been pronounced by Governor Wise a man, il honest, truthful, and sincere." Is it not an astonishing fact that such a citizen should be condemned to death and executed bv hanging ? 452 GOVERNOR WISE ON JOHN BROWN. [Dec. Is it any wonder that such a fate for such a man should excite sympathy ? Straightforward, simple-minded people are at a loss to comprehend how it is that the gallows should be the doom of the " honest, truthful, and sincere." They have a stubborn be- lief that that awful engine of death was intended for another and very different sort of persons. In Governor Wise's own volun- teered indorsement of John Brown's character is to be found ample reason for all the sympathy shown toward that brave but misguided man. "Honest, truthful, and sincere" — Governor Wise understands the force of his own language. And when he thus characterizes a man, ought he to expect, ought any man with a heart in his bosom to expect, to repress the sympathy that is naturally excited by the hanging of such a citizen f We do not need to tell Governor Wise or anybody else that the thing is impossible. That sympathy is as widespread as human- ity itself. Governor Wise would have to belie his own nature to deny that he himself feels it. Here, then, is the rub. It lies in the cause that exacts, or, if you please, necessitates, the hanging of an " honest, sincere, and truthful" man. All agree that that cause is slavery. But thence comes a diversity of feeling. Governor Wise and other supporters of slavery at this point diverge from the sympathies of many others. That is all. The governor and his coadjutors believe in hanging "honest, sincere, and truthful" men for the benefit of slavery. But humanity and civilization revolt at the spectacle. INCENDIARISM. [From the New York Tribune of December 13.] Who are the incendiaries ? The autocrat who presides at the head of the Post-Office Department dares to pronounce upon the character of the matter that shall be allowed to pass through the public mail. He declares incendiary matter shall not be trans- mitted. But, leaving aside this monstrous pretension, we ask, What is incendiary matter ? Who are the incendiaries against whom his despotic rule proposes to shield the Slave States? Is it only the Republican journals that are to be stamped out in the South? A little reflection will convince Postmaster Holt that he 18.59] POST-OFFICE USURPATIONS. 453 has undertaken a more difficult and comprehensive job than he imagined he was undertaking in thus outraging the common rights of every American citizen. Will Postmaster Holt permit the transmission of the proceedings of the recent Union-saving meeting in Boston, got up especially to reassure the South, to sympathize with the slave-holders, to save the Union ? Does not the presiding officer of that meeting declare that he is opposed to the spread of slavery, and desires its abolition? Did not its most eloquent orator expose the vital weakness of the South by illus- trating the dangers that encompass it, and the ease with which its patriarchal institution could be demolished ? Is not this in- cendiary matter ? Is it not just such views that the South pro- tests against fiercely and constantly ? Are they not the very things the Southerners say should be suppressed and must be suppressed ? How is it with that reckless and unprincipled sheet the Herald f Certainly it is the most incendiary of all publica- tions. It publishes Mr. Seward's Rochester speech once in every six months at least. It prints Henry "Ward Beecher's ser- mons with John Brown's comments. It publishes Wendell Phillips's rank abolition speeches, and all the proceedings of the most furious anti -slavery assemblages that get together in this city and elsewhere. If any outrageously radical emancipation sentiment gets expression in any part of the country, the Herald pounces upon it and publishes it, and dwells lovingly upon it for the amiable purpose of showing what incarnate devils the Re- publicans are. The Herald is thus crammed brimful of incen- diary matter all the time. How, then, can Postmaster Holt, how can Virginia permit the circulation of the Herald f The truth is, that to the South, while holding her present position, all matter that is not carefully prepared with express reference to the institution of slavery is " incendiary." Leading articles, paragraphs, reports of public meetings, speeches, geo- graphical and statistical information, every genuine utterance of the human heart, every untrammelled conception of the human brain is opposed to slavery, and, in this sense, incendiary. Thought itself is incendiary. What then is to be the limit to the circulation of printed mat- ter in the South, if it is determined to avoid and exclude every thing that bears against slavery ? What but absolute sup- 454 LETTER FROM CHARLES SUMNER. [Dec. pression and exclusion? There can be no stopping short of this. The rule must be silence — perfect, utter, inexorable silence ; the silence of despotism — brutal, stolid, universal ; the silence of the dungeon — of death. And for every man who violates the rule hanging is the only specific. Brown has been hung, Seward should be hung, howls out a Southern representative in Congress. He is an incendiary. Come, Mr. Postmaster Holt, if these are not your limitations, say what they are. Let us know what is incendiary matter in your opinion. If you can tolerate the Herald, with John Brown's, Theodore Parker's, Lloyd Garri- son's, and Wendell Phillips's speeches, and deem it tit to circu- late in the South, perhaps we can make up the Tribune so as to suit even your fastidious taste. Speak out, Mr. Holt ! [From Charles Sumner.] Washington, December 14, 1859. My Dear Sir : Pray, if you can, talk with Mr. Weed about Mrs. B.'s case. Twice I have tried to see him, but he has now left town. I am in constant communication with members on this matter, and find response. But as yet no person is fixed upon in whose name Mrs. B. can be represented. Perhaps this cannot be done till after the election of Speaker. I have always insisted that no arrangement should be permitted which did not recognize Mrs. B. Tell the Count that I always welcome him and all that he can say. But I have no personal griefs to dwell on. I have suffered. But what is all this compared with the cause ? On sait assez qu'on ne doit guere parler de sa femme ; mais on ne sait pas assez qu'on ne doit guere parler de soi. This is Rochefoucauld, and the Count will agree in it. Ever sincerely yours, Charles Sumner. [From Ex-Senator Truman Smith.] New- York City, 49 Wall Street, ) December 26, 1859, \ My Dear Sir : I have long been of the opinion that the question of slavery in our territories is not treated in our leading Republican 1859] LETTER FROM TRUMAN SMITH. 455 journals in a way best calculated to produce an effect on the masses — particularly the laboring masses — in the free States. I send you an article which I have prepared expressive in some degree of my views on this subject, but I have in my mind other ideas which it seems to me should be developed and kept incessantly before the Northern mind ; but being deeply engaged in my profession, I can only talk them over, and shall be happy to do so if you will call at my office. Faithfully yours, Truman Smith. Hon. Pike. P. S. — The manuscript inclosed is entirely at your disposal ; it will not mortify me in the least if you stick it into the fire. HOLT & CO. VS. CIVILIZATION. [From the New York Tribune of December 27.] The New York Herald doesn't deny its incendiary char- acter, but declares it does not care a brass farthing for its South- ern support, and that Mr. Postmaster Holt may cut it off as soon as he likes. This is neither here nor there. Our controversy is not with the Herald. We desire to bring the South and Mr. Holt to their true bearings on this subject of the circulation of incendiary documents. It has been very flippantly determined by the autocrat of the National Post- Office — who, in our estima- tion has as much right to say what kind of printed matter shall and what shall not be transported by the United States mail, as he has to determine what sort of fish Catholics may eat in Lent — that his Virginia postmasters may exclude all incendiary matter from the mails. Now, what we have to say is, that neither he nor they shall be allowed to make flesh of one and fish of another. If the regulation is intended simply as a partisan regulation, de- signed to operate on Republican journals only, let us know it ; and let the country know it, if it is meant to run the Post-Office on this basis. But if the South really means to establish a Jap- anese system, and cut itself off from the outside world, in respect to the ventilation of the negro question, let us know that ; and let all parties fare alike. "We want to see it demonstrated fairly whether the South intends to isolate itself from the surround- ing rays of intelligence that issue from a great daily press like 456 POSTMASTER-GENERAL HOLT. [Dec. that of this city. We want to test the question whether any part of this country is able to deny itself the luxury, privilege, necessity, or what-not of a daily New York newspaper that gives a living picture of contemporary events of all sorts, as they arise throughout the world. We have our own opinions on this head, and they are that it cannot be done. We are clear in the opin- ion that the South must take the great New York newspapers, whether they are pleased or displeased with them. Slavery and the slave-holders cannot lock themselves up in seclusion and silence. They must hear and read what the world has to say of every class and institution under the sun, slavery included. While this government and Union endure, and until the coun- try gets a master too strong for the people, we have no institu- tions among us, we have no state and condition among us, that will not be thoroughly exposed North and South. If those in- stitutions will not bear the light, if that state and condition are at war with justice or humanity, so much the worse for them. But bear their own proper burdens they must. Submit to inspec- tion, investigation, probing to the bottom they must. If sla- very cannot stand such a discussion, so much the worse for sla- very. The nineteenth century will not roll backward on its ac- count. Slavery must submit to the scrutiny and the ordeal that all things human and divine are now subjected to by the intelli- gence of the world. Such, at least, is our opinion. If the South contests the point, and intends to try to resist the currents of civilization, if it is able to secure the continuous services of Mr. Postmaster Holt, it may succeed. The first Mrs. Partington was not able to sweep back the rising waves of the Atlantic, but a second Mrs. Partington might do better. There is nothing like trying in this world. Mr. Holt talks bravely, and says he has a great backer in Pierce's Attorney- General ; and the two together may be more than a match for time and civilization. What we particu- larly desire to know is, whether the South and Mr. Postmaster Holt are in earnest in this contest, or whether it is only the in- tention of the parties concerned to reduce the Post-Office Depart- ment to a mere instrument of partisan politics. 1859] SOUTH WANT8 TO BE LET ALONE. 457 " LET US ALONE." [From the New York Tribune of December 30.] The Richmond Whig indorses the sentiment of the Mem- phis Avalanche that all the South wants is "to be let alone. ' ' But how "let alone?" This phrase covers a very comprehen- sive meaning, or may be made to do so. The burglar may say all he wants is "to be let alone." The African slave-trader may say all he desires is "to be let alone. ' ' We are a Confederacy of States, embracing vast diversities of climate, position, and oc- cupation. The North is commercial and manufacturing ; the West agricultural ; the South plants broad acres by a peculiar form of labor. The interests of the various sections are to a con- siderable extent diverse, and yet the action of the Confederacy must be a unit. Recur for a moment to our past history. The maritime interest of the Republic is highly prosperous. Our canvas whitens every sea. The nation's rights are infringed. The Confederacy deems it an imperative duty to impose restraints and put shackles upon our foreign commerce, and the maritime interests of the North fall prostrate before the embargo and the war that follows. Those interests could have exclaimed, did ex- claim, all we want is "to be let alone. ' ' But the common in- terest of all demanded that they should not be let alone. And they were not. When a high tariff had turned capital into man- ufacturing channels, and its industry was prospering, that in- dustry demanded " to be let alone. ' ' But the tariff was reckoned to be a bridle on the planting interests of the South, and it was repealed, and manufacturing industry turned adrift to shift for itself. When the commercial interest had established a financial system that suited it, it demanded "to be let alone. ' ' But it was not, and the United States Bank fell before other interests combined against it. When territorial expansion at the South was demanded in the annexation of Texas, in order to spread and strengthen slavery, Northern interests and principles op- posed and demanded ' c to be let alone. ' ' But the Confederacy acting as a whole said, " We will take Texas," and Texas was taken ; and what was not openly bargained for, a war with Mex- ico, was taken at the same time. That war brought more terri- tory, and forthwith disputes arose between the North and South 458 THE SOUTH IS ALWAYS DOING. [Dec. as to whether it should be free or slave territory. Neither side in this controversy was content " to let alone," or be " let alone." Interests and principles clashed in the contest, or were supposed to clash, and the dispute went on. This recital is simply intended as an illustration. It shows that diverse sections and diverse interests within the common Union never have let one another alone, and, by inference, that they never will. This inference, based on the facts of our history, is amply sustained by the deductions of reason and common-sense. The very fact that we have a country extending through distant parallels of latitude, giving variety of climate and production, that a portion is ocean-washed and abounds in safe havens, while other portions lie far inland, or are debarred from maritime de- velopment by shoal waters and shifting sands, is enough to ac- count for various and antagonistic interests. When we add to this the great fact of our national life and history, that one portion is covered with free laborers and another portion occupied by a de- graded and servile race, we find elements inevitably hostile, always clashing; a conflict " irrepressible. " For any one part of a great country thus situated and circum- stanced, to enunciate in the midst of that country's career, with legislation of every sort bound up in the volumes of its statutes, holding each portion to certain duties and responsibilities, creating claims and compensations, and reciprocal obligations ; for any part of such a country to undertake to express the exigencies of its national wants in the simple formula, ' ' All we want is to be let alone," discloses a lack of comprehension of its condition and relations not at all creditable to the intelligence of its utterers or its indorsers, whether in the first or second degree. Yet we have the requirement thrust upon our attention as a demand of the simplest and most modest nature. Now we beg to observe that the Southern end of this Confederacy has been do- ing something of vast consequence to its interests ever since it became a part of the Union. It did something vitally affecting the whole public weal when it took Texas and brought on the war with Mexico, in order to get territory on which to spread slavery. It did something of unusual significance when it in- sisted upon throwing down every barrier to the spread of slavery into all the Territories. It did something of very especial mo- 1859] RIGHT OF THE NORTH. 459 merit when it undertook to pat down free labor by violence in Kansas, and substitute the servile system. It did a great deal when it brought over the law-making, the Executive, and the judicial power to the side of the slave-holding party, and thus put the whole gigantic weight of the government of the Union on the side of slavery ; and it does a great deal in holding it there this day against the decided convictions of a large, and, indeed, an overwhelming majority of the people of the country. When, under these circumstances, we are blandly informed that all that the South asks is "to be let alone," and are assured that of all modest and natural requests this must be admitted to be the most modest and most natural, we claim the right of in- vestigating what that demand means. We think we have con- clusively shown that it means that the South shall be allowed to do just what it likes in the government and with the govern- ment. We appreciate the modesty of the demand, but we really fail to see any conclusive reason for acquiescence. We claim the right of the North to share in the administration of this govern- S ment in relation to every subject that comes within the scope of the Federal Constitution ; and the subject of slavery in the Territories and the slave-trade we claim to be among them — and for the best of reasons, to wit, that the Federal Government has acted upon them from the time of its formation until now, with the sanction and approval of all the most illustrious names inter- woven in its history. 460 CONOBESS10NAL DUELLING. [Jan. 1860. CONGRESSIONAL DUELLING. [From the New York Tribune of January 7, I860.] One of the modern methods (no doubt borrowed from the ancients) of acquiring a cheap reputation for valor is to challenge a man to mortal combat, of whom it is known that he will not accept the invitation. Nowhere is this expedient in higher favor than among the Southern members of Congress. Mr. Branch, of North Carolina, has just given an illustration of this fact in his proposal to fight Mr. Grow. Mr. Branch ought to know, and there can be no doubt did know, that in all Northern con- stituencies there is a powerful moral feeling against duelling which almost everywhere would be sure to end the political career of any representative who under any circumstances should be engaged in a duel. Most especially would this doom fall upon a man who should rush into one on a matter of punctilio like that with which the Hon. Mr. Branch sought to impale Mr. Grow. The idea of a man going out deliberately to imbrue his hands in the blood of a fellow-creature on account of a mere mis- arrangement of terms in a public discourse, in a case where no offence was intended, is so abhorrent to every sentiment of civilization, to say nothing of morals, humanity, or Christian- ity, that a community like any of our Free State constituencies would visit such an offence with swift and certain retribution. A man guilty of such a deed could not stand for an instant in the political atmosphere of the North. The cases in which any Northern man could fight a duel, or offer to fight one, without being politically destroyed, are ex- tremely rare. Even in the remarkable instance of Mr. Bur- 1860] THE CODE OF HONOR. 461 lingame, where the patriotic and partisan indignation of the North had been roused to the very highest pitch by the infamous assault on Mr. Sumner, Mr. Burlingame's re-election was perilled because of the manly stand he took on that occasion. He was even gracelessly assailed by the Boston Post, when a candidate for a re-election directly afterward, as a " cowardly duellist." The opposition to him was, happily, not successful ; but the fact that he was thus attacked at such a time speaks volumes in regard to the latent public sentiment of the North against duelling. If a public press in South Carolina, under similar circumstances, had thus assailed a candidate for such an offence the author of the assault would have been hooted out of the State, if he had been happy enough to escape an extemporized gibbet. Yes, a Northern man who felt himself urged to take a hated position from what he deemed an inexorable necessity, and in full sympathy with the sentiment of the hour all over the coun- try, was yet denounced and pursued as a " cowardly duellist" by the leading Democratic organ of New England, backed by a determined and hopeful effort of that party to crush him under the charge. This circumstance is of itself sufficient evidence of what a Free State representative would have to encounter who should dare to brave the hostility of his constituency by propos- ing, or consenting to the luxury of a duel under ordinary cir- cumstances. Now it may serve the purposes of the duelling fraternity to urge that this consideration is really nothing in the Court of Honor — that a man must tight regardless of all consequences, when the code demands it. This does very well for gentlemen who at home are not subjected to inconvenience on this score, but who, on the contrary, find it exceedingly profitable, in a per- sonal point of view, to take part in an affair of honor. But until this state of facts is changed, we shall very lightly esteem all such protestations. In fighting duels, as in most other things, men in general are governed by very business-like views. "We see this in all the circumstances belonging to the profession of duelling ; for duelling is a profession which has its students and its adepts as much as any other. And this is another point in which Northern men are taken at great disadvantage in the business. For instance, in the very matter between Mr. Branch and Mr. 462 AN ABSURD TRAP. [Jan. Grow, any expert would have bowed himself out of Mr. Grow's dilemma with entire ease ; could have done it even gracefully and honorably under the code. When Mr. Grow had the ques- tion suddenly and unexpectedly sprung upon him, whether he, Mr. Grow, intended to impute conduct to Mr. Branch unworthy of a gentleman, all that Mr. Grow had to say, to avoid the sub- sequent call for satisfaction, was to declare that he was only al- luding to Mr. Branch in a parliamentary, and not in a personal sense. But Mr. Grow did not on the instant think of this duel- listic dodge. He had not been educated in the duelling school, and was not familiar with the numberless expedients of that most renowned class of persons known to chivalry as " men of honor." Any one of these, or a mere neophyte in their arts, would have poked this ready subterfuge at the Honorable Mr. Branch and disarmed him utterly and satisfied him completely. So shadowy are the boundaries between an insult which demands the life of the transgressor and no insult at all. This exposition is alone sufficient to cover the code with contempt as a rule for the guid- ance of rational beings, and its professors with derision. But if the professed duellist is ridiculous in one point of view, he is detestable in another. Taking the practices of the most noisy professors of the art as evidence, we pronounce the whole body of duellists a gang of assassins. The idea of duelling is simply skilful assassination. The main object of its proficients is to avoid equal combat. Thus, the first point in a " difficulty" is to adroitly manage so as to throw the onus, or the necessity of acting, upon your adversary. This makes him the chal- lenger, giving to you the choice of the kind of weapons, which is of so much consequence in many cases as to forestall the re- sult. "When this advantage is lost, the next is to obtain a choice of the special weapons to be used. This is sometimes of equal importance. It was so in the case of Terry and Broderick. The latter was a dead man the moment the choice of the pistols fell to his trained adversary. But our more distinguished professors of the art often do not allow their intended victims any chance whatever. They delib- erately arm themselves and hunt in couples, tracking their un- armed victims even to their places in the public councils ; and there, while one assails with bloody and murderous intent, the 1860] SOUTHERN DUELLISTS ASSASSINS. 4G3 confederate stands by loaded with deadly weapons, ready to shoot down the victim if he resists, or any one else who inter- feres for his rescue. Such are the modes and practices of our duellists of the Slave States. If a more cowardly and atrocious method of assassination prevails anywhere, we are ignorant of the locality. The fact that it has been put in practice at Wash- ington is enough to forever blast all reputation for honor or de- cency on the part of a class who justify such deeds. Prating of courage and honor, and the necessity of personal responsibility in the intercourse between gentlemen, in nowise palliates the diabolical character of such barbarous and cowardly conduct, or takes the parties to such transactions or their defenders out of the category of assassins, with whom no man of decency or hu- manity could entertain a serious quarrel of any kind. But there is another peculiar reason why Northern men should decline all pistol controversies. That is, that the North- ern people do not, as a general thing, send their fighting men and bullies to Congress. We have plenty of this class of per- sons, but they rarely if ever find their way to Washington as representatives or senators. New York City and all our large towns can furnish any number of plug-ugly customers, who could, if necessity required, do up a monstrous quantity of work in the fighting line. But we do not think it would improve matters at Washington to launch a squadron of these gentry upon the federal capital. Our Southern braves might con- clude that it would be quite too much of a good thing. Our members of Congress at home are almost universally peaceable men. We doubt if there are five representatives from Free States who were ever engaged in a personal broil in their lives. On the other hand, we doubt if there are five representatives from the Slave States who have not been engaged in one or more broils, often of a very serious character. A good, stiff, bloody fight at home would be a real help to a Southern man in the way of getting into Congress ; while such a thing in the North would be fatal to any man's hopes in that line. Thus it is that the two sections are very unequally matched in this re- spect. It is pitting the practised against the unpractised. It is opposing skill and experience against the want of both. Brod- erick, with all his coolness and bravery, stood no chance against 464 INCENDIARY PUBLICATIONS. [Jan. Terry on this very ground. And what sort of a match would a gentleman like Charles Sumner be for a fellow like Brooks ? Yet it is these very inequalities that render our loving cousins from the South so very free in their language, and so uncom- monly ready at all manner of truculent demonstrations. They are very brave at an exceedingly cheap rate, as they always have been. We have referred to this subject at this time without regard- ing the moral aspect of the question, not because that is not of controlling importance and weight, but because we have desired to present views that we consider better suited to the nature and quality of the members of the duelling profession. INCENDIARIES — WORSE AND WORSE. [From the New York Tribune of January 9, I860.] Another freight of incendiary matter was dispatched through- out the Slave States yesterday in the New York Herald. It was composed of a summary, filling a page of that inflamma- tory journal of all the slave insurrections that have ever taken place, with all their exciting and frightful details. It is an ex- position going to show the slaves and disaffected poor whites in the South just what has been done, and what can be done again in the way of a bloody rising to throw off the galling yoke of slavery. This exposition is accompanied by commentaries to show how great is the apprehension and dread felt by the South of these fearful social convulsions, and what horrors they inflict and leave in their train. The whole thing appears to be got up with the malevolent design of producing a repetition of the hor- rible scenes there depicted, for the purpose of thereby winning some possible political advantage over the republicans in some present or future contest in the North. This diabolical purpose peers through the whole of this exposition as it has done in the general drift of that newspaper for weeks. It discloses a depth of treachery to Southern society, for the mere chance of a con- tingent and remote political advantage in the North, which it would be difficult to parallel. We venture to say that the reck- less malignity of the effort cannot be equalled out of the col- umns of the same journal. 1860] THE HERALD AND MR. HOLT. 465 The real object is attempted to be vailed by the preposterous deduction from the facts narrated that the Republican party- should be defeated because they desire to prevent the spread of an institution thus terrible in its consequences ; whereas, all the world sees, and every man knows, that the very fact of these dreadful insurrections is one of the most powerful and conclu- sive arguments against the spread of slavery that mortal man can adduce. To spread slavery into any country is to fill it with moral volcanoes, as these insurrections show. It is to dig mines under the whole of society, and fill them with magazines of frightful extent and power, that only await the lapse of time and circum- stance to explode with wide and certain devastation and ruin. How gigantic, then, is the absurdity of the Herald in pretending that striving to prevent the spread of this evil of African slavery on this continent tends to promote these social explosions ! No ! the argument is as insincere as the purpose is malignant. The Herald shows itself, in its whole course, ready to excite any convulsion in the South, social or political, whether sudden and bloody or remotely and lastingly bitter and sanguinary, it plainly does not care a rush which. Of all mischievous and inflammatory journals circulated in the Slave States, we again say, therefore, the Herald is the worst ; and we renewedly appeal to Mr. Postmaster Holt and his Virginia postmastering censors to place it in the list of papers which those self -elected robbers of the mail-bags dare to say shall not circulate on the forbidden ground. You pretend, Mr. Holt, to be the guardian and protector of Virginia tranquillity. If you are what you pretend — if your creatures are what they pre- tend to be — dare you stand silent and dumb while these exam- ples of arson and murder are held enticingly before the oppressed and incendiary people in slavery, whose revenges you profess so much to fear ? ME. RAYMOND S SPEECH. [From the New York Tribune of January 11.] The Union-saving meetings in the North afford an excellent opportunity to ventilate a very superfluous kind of oratory. We 466 GOVERNOR RAYMOND'S SPEECH. [Jan. do not allude, of course, to the Charles O'Conor stripe of men, because they are audacious and refreshing. Such do not j>re- scribe emollients to the suffering body politic, but go for scarifi- cations and heroic treatment generally, warranted to kill or cure in the shortest possible time. But gentlemen like Governor Hunt or Lieutenant-Governor Raymond are not of this class. Neither of these statesmen belongs to any healthy political or- ganization, and they attend these meetings to say what nobody wants to hear, and what amounts to nothing when it is said. A speech of Mr. Raymond at the Troy Union meeting was printed last week in the New York Times, which we have only just now perused. In this speech Mr. Raymond expounds his political views as they stood on that day. From a large amount of in-and-out kind of observation, in which something seems to be said only to be qualified or taken back again, we have ex- tracted what appears to be his position on the relative duty of the North and South toward each other — a duty which, if duly performed, he is of opinion, would preserve this Union — a Union, however, that he is satisfied cannot be broken by any means, and which, he says, he is persuaded, is substantially broken already ; and whether broken or not, he further adds, is a matter of no great consequence any way, except to the South, which would, in such an event, be surely destroyed by a vast crop of John Browns. Mr. Raymond's recipe being simple, we conclude it is best for us to advertise it, since a good many anxious people are afraid our national disorders are fast growing incurable. This opinion, we trust, they will take an early occasion to dismiss, after hearing Dr. Raymond's prescription for the restoration of the national health. Our Doctor says that to preserve the Union the North and South have each got to do something. This is very well. Now let us see what it is. The duties of the North in Dr. Raymond's schedule being the most numerous, we begin with them. First, then, Dr. R. says the North must make laws to prevent the John Browns from going down into Virginia, and for punishing them if they do go. In the first place, we must say that this proposition is vague, because prevention of acts that are only contemplated is beyond the power of all law. All that can be done is to punish offences when committed. But pf what value 1860] DR. RAYMOND PRESCRIBES. 467 would a law of this sort be to Yirginia in a Harper's Ferry in- vasion ? "When Yirginia catches the intruders, does not she hang them ? And if they should escape, is it not already obligatory upon the States to which they flee to deliver them up to those whose laws they offend ? What need of more than this ? The duty is already fully performed, and all the laws in the world would not improve the present state of things either as regards prevention or punishment. Secondly. The North shall make no laws to discharge fu- gitives, says Dr. Raymond. All right, say we. But we sup- pose even the Doctor himself would not object to ascertaining whether a claimed fugitive is actually a fugitive before he would give him up. This is all we propose in the case ; and we know no fairer way to ascertain the fact than by a trial by jury. Con- gress may pass any fugitive law it likes, and if it will incor- porate this provision into it we will answer for it that every thing like serious hostility to the operation of the law will cease throughout the North. Does Dr. Raymond say this plan would fail to catch the runaway negroes ? He has no right to say it ; and the demand for such a provision rests on the clearest princi- ples of legal right and justice. Give us this, and controversy ends on point No. 2. Thirdly. The North must not " meddle with the domestic in- stitutions of the Slave States ; must not tamper with their laws ; must not incite the slaves to insurrection. ' : All right again, Dr. Raymond. Every Republican says this. Fourthly. Trying to stop the spread of slavery the Doctor thinks is perhaps commendable, but in the effort, he asserts that the North should implicitly follow the directions of the Supreme Court. That is to say, the only allowable kind of doing in this case is doing nothing. Stop the spread of slavery into the Ter- ritories, say the Republicans. That is right, says Dr. Raymond. You shall not stoj) the spread of slavery into the Territories, says the Supreme Court. Exactly so, that is right, says Dr. Raymond. With this extraordinary consistency and lucidity is this knotty point of his discourse treated by the ex-Lieutenant-Governor. We can hardly do justice to his manipulation by the brevity of our statement. We, however, preserve its substance. Such is a summary of the present duties of the North as de- 4C8 MR. CUSHING—MR. CONOR. [Jan. fined by our orator. Let us see what he lays down as the duties- of the South. The South must recognize the fact that the North is not, in the abstract, in favor of slavery ; this sentiment the South must not attempt to change by reasoning or coercion. On this point the ex-Lieutenant-Governor professes to be firm. He declares that if the North must subscribe to the doctrine that slavery, in the abstract, is a compendium of all the Christian graces, as a condition of a continuance of the Union, then for his part he is willling to say, " Good-by to the Union." He won't stand such nonsense. Slavery can go where it likes, and do what it likes, and be what it likes, but as for swearing it is really good, a prime article in the raw state, the ex-Lieutenant says he won't. To which we say, Bravo ! Dr. Raymond. Next to this the Doctor has one more thing for the South to> do, and this concludes its circle of duties. He says it must abandon the attempts to carry slavery into the Territories. "We do not see how the South can refuse this small favor to our friend, inasmuch as it is the last he has to ask, and considering that slavery goes into the Territories of itself, and can't be kept out according to the doctrine indicated by the Supreme Court, which, when finally and authoritatively pronounced, all parties are to follow. This exposition comprises the leading points of Mr. Ray- mond's speech, and we believe fully discloses all its marrow. Now, we think there is a superfluity of this kind of talk wherever there is any of it at all, for it does not satisfy any want in the public mind. It is not noisy enough to impress the fools, and the wise men see there is nothing in it. The HerakVs tearing hullabaloos, pine-knot fires, brimstone flames, knock-kneed imps, and subterranean illuminations, got up daily with improvements and variations, and on the same general theme, are much more impressive. Mr. Cushing's wrath and oaths challenge attention by their vigor and passion. Mr. O' Conor's learned and philo- sophical deductions to show that the right place for the son of a Virginia planter by a quadroon slave is a rice swamp, under the lash of an overseer, excite everybody's admiration for their hu- manity and general loveliness. But these dreadful platitudes, that have neither brass nor audacity, nor the heats and passions 1860] HELPER'S INFLAMMATORY BOOK. 469 of pandemonium, but only exhibit a boxing-glove conflict be- tween suppressed convictions and an agile insincerity, do not amount to any thing. Nothing at all, Dr. Raymond. Nothing at all. THE HELPER BOOK. [From the New York Tribune of January 12.] "The stars in their courses fought against Sisera. " The slavery question cannot be discussed, even in the most commen- datory manner^ without inuring to the advancement of the cause of truth and righteousness. The Congressional denunciations of Helper's book are producing the most astonishing effect in pro- moting its circulation. The orders flow in for it from all quar- ters, in all quantities, from a single copy up to three hundred in a bunch. We do not know how many copies have been ordered, but we have reason to believe the number already exceeds one hundred thousand. The price is now reduced to about eighteen dollars a hundred in consequence of the extensive sale. The work goes everywhere, through all sorts of channels, to the North, East, South, and West. Old fogy Union-saving merchants in the Southern trade stand aghast at the sly requests slipped in all over the South, in the shape of notes and postscripts to orders for goods, for ' ' that Helper book that is making such a fuss in Con- gress. " Innocent bales, bags, boxes, and barrels bound South, looking for all the world as though they contained nothing more inflammatory than coffee, calico, hardware, and other similar commodities, have each a copy of Helper tucked furtively away in the hidden centre of their contents. In this way the work is penetrating the whole South in a maimer that, no hunter for in- cendiary pamphlets would suppose or can possibly arrest. If we go about the streets of this most conservative city, ten to one we are delayed at the first crossing by a hand-cart or wheelbarrow load of Helper. It is Helper on the counter, Helper at the stand, Helper in the shop and out of the shop, Helper here, Helper there, Helper everywhere. It looks now as though every man, woman, and child in the United States was bound to have a Helper before the year is out. There never was a politi- cal pamphlet that had such a rushing demand and sale before, with 470 MR. O'CONOR'S MISTAKE. [Jan. the exception, perhaps, of the Life of Scott, issued in the presiden- tial campaign of 1852. For the extraordinary impetus thus given to the sale of this highly valuable and interesting work we renewed- ly tender our heartfelt acknowledgments to the ' ' Gulf Squadron ' ' of members of the Federal House of Representatives at Washing- ton. "We certainly never expected them to do so much for the cause of their country, and we dare say they are equally astounded and sorry to have aided it so essentially. Let them be thankful that they have been the means of public enlightenment on an important topic, and that they have widely contributed to the spread of anti-slavery sentiment. It shall be gratefully remem- bered by the children of oppression, and be chiselled on their tombstones. ' ' The meanest reed that trembles in the wind, If Heaven select it for its instrument, May shed celestial music on the breeze, As clearly as the pipe whose notes Befit the lip of Phoebus. " MR. O CONOR S MISTAKE. [From the New York Tribune of January 13.] Mr. O' Conor makes one statement in his late letter which we must specially protest against. He says if the position that sla- very is an evil and a wrong " cannot be refuted, the Union can- not endure, and ought not to endure." This is a reflection upon the founders of the government which we cannot indorse. They believed a Union could subsist between Free and Slave States on the basis of the mutual recognition of the fact that slavery was an exceptional institution, at war with the funda- mental doctrines of the government, which, though tolerated for a time, would ultimately fade away and disappear. The Union was established on this basis, has continued on this basis, and can be perpetuated on this basis. What imperils the Union is the demand of the slave-holders and of Mr. O'Conorthat the original idea shall be changed, and the new one, upholding the merito- rious character of slavery, be substituted. It is this offensive claim that provokes the hostility of every genuine Democrat, and creates the disturbance between the Free and Slave States 1860] MB. O'CONORS EXTRAVAGANT VIEWS. 471 that we now witness. Genuine Democracy holds to the doctrine of the equal rights of man, and regards this government as estab- lished to illustrate and vindicate that principle — not to vindicate it too hastily or too eagerly, where great obstructions exist, but nevertheless fully and surely and faithfully. American Democ- racy has never urged the unconditional overthrow of slavery without reference to time and circumstances. But it always has looked upon its ultimate removal from the republic as an inevit- able consequence of the lapse of time and the progress of events. Just at what time or in what way it has never undertaken to decide, even speculatively. But that the result was somehow and at some time to take place it has never doubted, and this confident expectation has always made it tolerant of the presence of the great anomaly in our system. Its hostility to it, however, becomes naturally and necessarily active when it is told that its own principles are unsound and must be revised and reversed, and that slavery must be accepted as a permanent and beneficent institution. Hence have arisen our present complications, and hence the present conflict between the two sections of the Con- federacy. The relief from this embarrassment is not to be found, as Mr. O' Conor supposes, in asserting the excellence and justice of sla- very, because that declaration arouses endless hostility and war, and creates a perpetual struggle for domination between con- tending forces. But it is to be found in the repudiation of this doctrine, and in the position that, whether slavery be an evil or no, it must be left to the discretion and control of those local communities in which it exists. It is neither a rational nor a los:- ical view of the case to say that the States of the Federal Gov- ernment outside of these localities are in any way responsible for it. And neither Mr. O' Conor nor Mr. Garrison, and the radical Abolitionists with whom he agrees on this point, will ever con- vince men of simple common-sense in the Free States that they have any responsibility in the premises. The only way out of existing strife, therefore, is not that pointed out by Mr. O' Conor, which tend to its perpetuation, but lies in directly the opposite direction. Slavery must be left exactly where the founders of the government and the framers of the Constitution found it and left it ; and that is as an excep- 472 MB. RAYMOND AT ALBANY. [Jan. tional anomalous institution which time and circumstances are to rid us of, and which, meantime, is to be tolerated where it exists, except so far as the people on the spot refuse to tolerate it, and which, above all, is to be spread nowhere else. On this basis there is no necessary conflict whatever between the North and South, no necessity of rewriting history, none of revising and reversing the opinions of the best and wisest men in all ages, none of crushing the spontaneous sentiments of humanity that rise instinctively in every breast, none of denying the rights of man, or repudiating the exactions of morality and Christianity, none of ignoring or denying the justice of the Almighty. These are some of the slight difficulties that Mr. 0' Conor has to contend against on his hypothesis, that are entirely sur- mounted by adhering to the faith of the fathers, and regarding slavery as an evil to be abridged, and not as a blessing to be ex- tended and perpetuated. MR. RAYMOND AT ALBANY. [From the New York Tribune of January 17.] The Hon. H. J. Raymond has given us another screed of several columns in length on the medication of the sick and suf- fering Union. We hardly know from its perusal just what he is at at present. The performance would seem to be purely that of an amateur, to pass away time or fill a hiatus. Since his last, the distinguished practitioner has grown homoeopathic. While he makes the case of his patient a great deal worse, he makes his dose a great deal smaller than before. He enlarges the wound and contracts the plaster at the same time. Indeed, he even goes so far as to declare this time that his patient is stone dead. But like quacks who profess unbounded faith in their own speci- fics, he believes he can fetch him to notwithstanding. By what simple process we shall see in the sequel. Mr. Eaymond declares distinctly and unqualifiedly that this Union is no better off than the Pemberton Mills — in fact, that it is just as completely smashed. He furnishes, however, another strange specimen of waywardness or indistinctness of conception, similar to what we referred to on a former occasion. 1860] MR. RAYMOND AS A DOCTOR. 473 He first speaks of the ' ' extreme improbability of the catastro- phe" of the dissolution of the Union, and directly afterwards proceeds to lay down, as the fundamental proposition of his dis- course, that ' ' the Union is already dissolved, and the question we have to consider is, how it may be re-established. ' ' When a doctor thus begins by telling us that his patient is dead, but that this little circumstance makes no particular difference with him as to his treatment of the case, we naturally conclude that he must be a prodigious fellow, or — something that shall be name- less. The next step our ./Esculapius takes in this case is to make a post-mortem examination, and tell us what his patient died of. This we consider a superfluous task, performed, too, with a pro- voking tardiness toward the friends of the deceased, who are anxiously awaiting the process of resuscitation. But we cannot hurry our Doctor, and must follow him through his own ways. He says the cause of this dissolution is to be attributed to the '" direct action of the Abolitionists — to the manner in which that action has affected political parties in the North, and to the man- ner in which it has been resisted by the Southern States." Now it would appear unseemly to engage in a controversy over a dead body in respect of the cause of his untimely end, although we presume it would be strictly professional. We shall therefore merely dissent from the foregoing diagnosis, though of course in the most modest manner. We think that the optics of any dis- sector must be remarkably keen who can trace any connection between the action of the " Northern Abolitionists" and the re- peal of the Missouri Compromise ; that one flagrant, unprovoked, and most comprehensive measure, which is the distinct and ac- knowledged source and origin of the Kepublican party, of the existing attitude of our domestic politics, and also of the raid of John Brown ; the one great event that has so lately convulsed Southern politicians and brought about these very Union meet- ings on which Dr. Eaymond gives gratuitous professional at- tendance. We never heard it even hinted before that the " di- rect action of the Northern Abolitionists" prompted Pierce and Douglas to start the repeal of this Missouri Compromise, thus prolific of existing ills and agitations. We always had supposed, on the contrary, that the reason for that repeal was to be found 474 MR. RAYMOND'S PATIENT. [Jan. in the belief of those gentlemen and others of their doughface as- sociates, that this very " abolitionism " had been " crushed out." We remember very distinctly to have heard that little gentleman y of whom Mr. Benton used to say he wore his coat-tail too near the ground ever to be President, make the observation, in 1854, in reply to a remark that the projected repeal was a bold experi- ment upon popular forbearance : "Not at all," said Mr. Doug- las, " not at all, it is perfectly safe ; this is a nigger era." This was said in reference to the triumphant passage and indorsement of the compromise measures of 1850, followed by the overwhelm- ing success of Pierce in the presidential election, and by the perfect lull on the slavery question which then prevailed through- out the country. The cause of our present disorders thus arose from a conviction that "abolitionism" had been effectually quelled and demolished, and that it was thus safe to venture on any outrage upon the anti-slavery sentiment of the North, and not from any spirit like that exhibited and acknowledged by Mr. Calhoun in his taking of Texas. Herein the Hon. Mr. Ray- mond manifests a want of precision of idea and a great lack of political penetration, such as is often seen in attempts to gen- eralize from a series of historical transactions that have only an apparent connection. He fails to discriminate between totally different classes of events ; and, with equal simplicity and shal- lowness, classes them under one general head, and draws his conclusions therefrom in a heap ; thus landing in a mere mass of absurdity. We have not room here to devote to the evidently very necessary enlightenment of Mr. Raymond's mind on this subject, and we can only advise him not to venture upon public elucidations of these topics while his own understanding is in such a fog in regard to them. Thus much in regard to the dis- ease Dr. Raymond's patient died of. Our orator and physician now turns his attention to other dis- orders which he has discovered in the corpus under examination. He discourses at length about the fugitive slave law, and about personal liberty bills, but his remarks on this head are all point- no-point. It is all, They did and they didn't through a column. The Doctor, though he claims to deal in specifics, is not at all specific himself. He winds round and round and in and out like a man following a deer's beat in a deep snow, and finally comes. 1860] DOCTOR RAYMOND'S SPECIFIC. 475 out at the same place where he went in. Mr. Raymond does not tell us in any precise way how this should be or should have been. "We suggested to him last week that the right of trial by jury, applied to the fugitive slave bill, was the true and com- prehensive and full solution of all questions and discussions on this disturbing topic. To all which he is blind and deaf, and merely talks and talks and talks very much in the same lugu- brious manner that Sam Cowell represents Lord Lovell to have "rode and rode and rode," on his way to Lady Nancy Bell's funeral. But enough on this head. "We hasten to unfold the crown- ing act proposed by our distinguished professor of political re- surrection. But, like the actor who reserves his best part for his benefit night, Mr. Raymond holds his great secret and panacea back for exhibition at the State capital ; and, as if feeling that it was too powerful in its character and too miraculously effica- cious in its nature and essence to be wasted on any subject with the breath of life in its body, he only consents to produce it after all sense is fled, all vitality gone, all life extinct. Having de- clared that ' ' the Union is already dissolved, and the only ques- tion we have to consider is how it may be re-established," he slowly, solemnly, deliberately, and dramatically comes before his audience, the country, and the world, with his celebrated resusci- tation process. Our readers must by this time be impatient to behold it, analyze it, and see it applied. Here it is. We assure our readers that Dr. ' Raymond prepares his hearers for the great secret with much more solemnity than we can excite by our tame exposition. Dr. Raymond says — we quote from the pho- nographic report of the Atlas and Argus : " I think the way out of the difficulties in which the country is involved lies in the recognition of the fact that, whether Slavery in the Southern States is right or wrong, we have no responsibility for it, and no right what- ever to interfere with it. Let the North take this ground and the Union may be preserved" [restored to life]. That is it, reader, the whole of it. That is Dr. Raymond's specific, panacea, remedy, and resuscitator-general for this once glorious but now defunct Union ! It is no fault of ours if our article has no climax. If the Doctor falls we must descend with him. It is the fate of com- 470 A DILETTANTI POLITICIAN. [Jan. mentators not to rise above the level of their subject. That we have soared with the ex-Lieutenant- Governor only to, be finally precipitated into a morass is our misfortune, not our fault. Being down, however, we have a parting word. Mr. Ray- mond quotes after-dinner facetiae of his quondam political friends as serious declarations, and aims to use such material against the party whose volunteer exponent he was in 1856, and whose candidate for United States Senator he was not in 1857. We submit that this violation of the confidences of private inter- course was not to be presumed of a gentleman even as hard pushed as he was to make out a case against the party he had abandoned. GEORGE WOOD. [From the New York Tribune of January 18.] Mr. George Wood, a retired politician of the old Whig party, thus dawdles into the political ring in a recent letter to the public in general. We do not know that it makes any difference to any mortal man beside Mr. Wood himself what George Wood's political opinions are, but he evidently thinks them fit for public use. It isn't necessary to go through his letter, of which the following paragraph gives the keynote. After saying that slavery is good as well as bad, he gives as a reason for an apology for its establishment : "Experience has shown that the black race, accustomed to slavery, will not work when free, especially in a climate which relaxes and enervates the faculties, and which renders them indolent." Well, Mr. Wood, suppose this is true (which by the way we deny), whose business is it ? Is it yours ? Are you a vicegerent of the Almighty, placed on earth to set everybody to work who thinks he finds his happiness in being idle ? Suppose Cuffee and Sambo, as Mr. Carlyle calls them, won't work ? Is it your busi- ness or Mr. Carlyle 's business to load them with chains and scourge them to the fields ? Whence comes your right to do this ? You, sir, have no authority whatever to dictate to men what they shall do or shall not do, when those men have been guilty of no crime except having a color not like your own, and when 1860] MR. ARNY A WILLING WITNESS. 477 they have intrusted you with no legal power to exercise control over them. Perhaps Cuffee and Sambo might retort the com- pliment, and thinking Mr. George "Wood would do better in some other employment than in practising law, might some day conclude to transfer him to a rice swamp. What would Mr. Wood think of that ? It would not be one whit a greater wrong or a more insufferable impudence in Cuffee and Sambo to flog Mr. Wood into a rice swamp in Carolina, than for him to scourge Cuffee and Sambo on a sugar plantation in Louisiana. Perhaps the subject has never presented itself to our letter- writer in this novel aspect. Suppose you revolve it in your mind a little, Mr. Wood, and try and find out whence you derived your personal rights, and whence Cuffee and Sambo may be violently sup- posed to have got theirs. INVESTIGATING ARNT. [From the New York Tribune of January 20.] The Senatorial Committee on John Brown (alas ! that Mason and Vallandigham should have so signally failed to pump the old Roman dry at Harper's Ferry) have been industriously at their labors for some days. They are just now investigating Mr. Arny, of Kansas. Mr. Amy is very willing to tell all he knows in regard to Kansas, John Brown, Harper's Ferry, and every subject in any way connected therewith. But it is reported from Washington that Mr. Arny persists in telling too much. For- getful of that most common of all injunctions to witnesses, to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, our Senatorial Committee insist on stopping Mr. Arny in the midst of his most interesting revelations. He desires to tell his story, to disclose all he knows in regard to the subject on which the Committee is instructed to act. But we are told that the Com- mittee keep saying, " That will do, Mr. Arny ;" " You need not pursue that topic, Mr. Arny ; " " We do not wish to hear anything on that head, Mr. Arny ;" "Why will you say what we do not wish to hear, Mr. Arny ?" " Will you please to quit talking, Mr. Arny ?" " Arny, shut up ;" " Arny, stop. " This we are assured is substantially the way in which this willing witness, Mr. Arny, is 478 A CROWD OF BORDER RUFFIANS. [Jan. treated. Now, we beg to know if it is in this mode that information is to be elicited fit for a Senatorial Committee to prepare, and for that grave body whose representative it is to consider ? Why not let Mr. Amy tell the whole truth ? He is evidently no knife - grinder who has no story to tell, though it is by no means so clear that some of the Committee are not nearly related to that pro- fession, and have not some very dull axes of their own to grind. "We entreat, let Mr. Arny go on and say his say. We desire to know what it is. We are ignorant, and our readers are ignorant, as the babe unborn of the facts connected with this Harper's Ferry business, except the statements that have from time to time got into the newspapers since the arrest of Captain Brown. Our subscription list attests that they were considered very en- tertaining reading, and we are selfishly interested, if in no other way, in having every thing for, against, precedent, contemporary, subsequent, near or remote brought out into the open daylight. Let us know about those Sharp's rifles that Mr. Arny says he can tell more about if the Committee will only let him ; where they came from, and what was done with them, and with o f her formidable instruments at Black Jack and Osawatomie and elsewhere. There are plenty of people beside our readers who would be deeply interested in this kind of reading. It would please Atchison, Pate, Buford, Stringfellow, and others pro- digiously, and a whole crowd of border ruffians beside, in Mis- souri especially and elsewhere as well. We really trust the Committee will not disappoint our reasonable but ardent expectations, nor wilfully balk our hopes. We shall take it ill if they do. We have a right to expect in- formation through this Committee, if we may look for it any where. Let us have an investigation as is an investigation, Mr. Mason, and not one got up like your slavery discussions in Vir- ginia, all on one side. Gentlemen of the Committee, will you please to let Mr. Arny talk ? And then will you bring on the Hon. Mr. Yallandigham, of Ohio, and let him tell what he pumped out of old Captain Brown while he was lying faint and bloody on a stone floor at Harper's Ferry ? We are afraid that we did not have a good report of what that smart and candid M. C. did on that occasion. 1860] LETTER FROM I. WASHBURN, JR. 479 [From Hon. I. Washburn, Jr.] Washington, January 25, 1860. Dear Pike : "Want of penetration !" "By the Lord, I knew ye !" but as I had been told that you were coming to Washington about this time, I supposed Greeley would be most likely to get the letter, and I desired mainly to thank the Tribune. Tom Corwin has made a six hours' speech, wise and witty, a little pro-slavery, a good deal anti-slavery, but quite likely to bring out twenty speeches on the two sides, and not unlikely in the end to elect a Demo- cratic Speaker, and certain to make the country hold the Republicans responsible for the non-organization ; i.e., responsible to a considerable extent. Only think, a six hours' speech on all subjects under the sun addressed to the clerk, and this in rebuke of those Republicans who have labored all these weeks to bring the House to its duty, and prevent speaking on our side ! Are you for Edward Bates for President ? A categorical answer requested. Yours truly, I. Washburn, Jr. THE LONDON TIMES AND SLAVERY. [From the New York Tribune of January 28.] Our English cousins are very kind and obliging. They fre- quently undertake to enlighten us in the most luminous and magnanimous manner. Some astute writer in the leading col- umns of the London Thunderer, in a tone of lofty condescension, propounds and disposes of the slavery question in a manner that leaves nothing more to be said or done on the subject. Whether this writer be young or old we do not know. That he is grassy green we can attest. He says, in an essay which we copied en- tire a few days ago : " That the harshness of masters in the Southern States maybe lessened, that the slaves may receive education and moral instruction, and that ulti- mately slavery may be changed into a system by which the colored race shall enjoy personal liberty and the legal rights which are necessary for the pres- ervation of life and property, we most heartily desire ; but any thing fur- ther we cannot join in seeking." The -writer appears to think that the people of the Free States are just now demanding something more than this whole- sale scheme of freeing the entire slave population, which, he says, 480 THE LONDON TIMES ON SLAVERY. [Jan. is all that should be asked. That such ignorance should find its- way into the leading columns of the London Times is something to amaze those who look there for at least a fair measure of in- telligence on the topics it discusses. What will this philanthropic writer, who aims apparently to throw his influence in favor of allaying the imaginary national disturbance created here by the John Brown panic, say when he is told that, instead of the people of the Free States asking more than he verdantly expresses his willingness to yield, those people are not seeking the overthrow of slavery at all where it now ex- ists ? They, or that maligned portion of them who profess to be- lieve freedom to be better than slavery, are simply objecting to the further spread of the institution over unoccupied territory within the Union, and to the acquisition of slave-holding countries- lying outside the Union. The pervading anti-slavery sentiment of the North, over which our orators and negro-spreading news- papers so constantly and so dismally caterwaul, making day and night hideous, and which is represented by the Republican party; hath this extent, no more. It wars primarily, mainly, and we may say exclusively, against the further spread of this detestable institution. Of course the war involves the exposition of the intrinsic character of slavery and of its character and influence in the United States ; and thus it ramifies into extensive relations. But as a political or social movement, it goes not an inch beyond the limits we have indicated. We think it would be well for the London Times to try and understand the position of political affairs in this country before it ventures on further expositions. Otherwise it will throw light on nothing but its own dense ig- norance, as in the article from which we make the above extract. There are a handful of Abolitionists in this country, and al- ways have been at any time these thirty years, who oppose sla- very purely on moral grounds, and who aim directly at its over- throw in the States where it exists. But they do not form a political party, and are professedly non-resistants and non -voters. Their numbers are really inappreciable among the great mass of American citizens. John Brown, after his experience in Kansas represented the peculiar anti-slavery ideas of this party, but he acted in total opposition to their methods. He embodied in his own person also every other form of hostility to the institution,, 1860] JEFF DAVIS ON DISUNION. 481 and boldly flung himself at the head of twenty-one like-minded men against it. But in this rash act he went counter to the ideas not only of our radical Abolitionists, but against those of all other anti-slavery men in the country. And we are free to avow our conviction that while every generous-hearted or clear- headed man must sympathize with the wonderful traits of char- acter exhibited by Brown, yet of all parties in this country that could be mustered against slavery Brown's would be the smallest. As yet there is no insurrectionary party in the country, and out- rageous and provoking as has been and continues to be the con- duct of the Slave States in maltreating, imprisoning, lynching, and driving out peaceable citizens of other States, and terrible as the treatment of slaves sometimes is, nobody anywhere has ever yet proposed the awful resort of exciting insurrection, either by way of revenge for outrages, or by way of relief for the en- slaved. Even John Brown, whose views were more nearly those of an insurrectionist than those any other man has ever mani- fested, would deny, were he living, that he had any such design. It is our judgment that if every voter in the Free States were called upon, one by one, to know if he approved John Brown's method of getting rid of slavery, not one in a thousand would be found to acknowledge that he did. And yet the commentators upon our affairs in the London Times would seem to take it for granted that Brown's method is the accepted style of dealing with slavery in vogue throughout the Free States. So long as the Times continues to consider the New York Herald a trusty exponent of the ideas prevalent in political and other circles in this country, so long will it continue to fall into stupendous blunders like this. JEFFERSON DAVIS ON DISUNION. [From the New York Tribune of January 31.] We publish elsewhere a colloquy that occurred in the Senate on Thursday last between Senators Davis and Fessenden, in re- gard to the position which the former holds on the subject of the election of a Republican President, on which there has been so much gasconade in the other branch of Congress. We make our 482 MR. FESSENDEN ON AN INQUIRY. [Jan. extract from the official record, namely, the columns of the Washington Globe. Mr. Davis is one of the contingent candidates of the bogus Democracy for President. Of course he has to be more guarded in his utterances than those whose time has passed by for that honor, or who know it will never come. When one of either of these classes gets the floor we have unbounded extravagance of assertion and declamation. They scold and rant and bluster and threaten and throw oil windy explosions at a prodigious rate. The numerous examples of this sort of thing in the House, that have been constantly occurring ever since the as- sembling of Congress, have sufficiently illustrated the factious temper and traitorous declarations of Southern Democrats. It is an object to know if any of the gentlemen who stand in the category of possible candidates for the Charleston nomination are ready to back these declarations. Mr. Davis, in his answer at first, was quite exj)licit in saying that if a moderate Republican, like Mr. Foote, of Vermont, for example, should be chosen by the Republicans, he would not regard it as a reason for secession. But he afterward qualified the admission, as he was pressed by Mr. Fessenden, so as finally to leave his position open to a double interpretation. As his exposition stood at the close, his disunion-threatening friends could claim him to be on their side ; and yet it could be proved to the anti-disunion masses of the people of the Free States, on his statement, that he was no kind of a disunion ist whatever on the point in question. The real truth of the matter is, that nothing is meant by all the blustering and bullying on the question, except to try to in- timidate the North from voting as the masses of the people are inclined to vote. Mr. Davis came very near pricking the whole bubble by his frank admission made at the start. But finding it would not do to leave his more open-mouthed supporters and con- federates so suddenly in the lurch, he laboriously and smokily qualified his original expression. [From Hon. I. Washburn, Jr.] Washington, January 31, 1860. My Dear Pike : I am rejoiced to hear you talk so sensibly. I am for Pitt, and hope onr State will be for him in good faith, and secure 1860] LETTER FROM 1. WASHBURN, JR. 483 his nomination. But if, after all, this cannot be done, I am for Seward. No indiscriminate admirer of the governor, I cannot forget how much he has done for the great cause, how brave and logical have been his words, nor the trials and struggles of the last eight years in this Gol- gotha. May Maine be firmly and honestly for Fessenden ; but let her Dot be used to defeat not alone her noble son, but every genuine Republican. I have no doubt that you are entirely right in your apprehen- sions that there is a deep, widely extended, and formidable movement to nominate Bates, or some one like him, and to this fact, in my honest opinion, is it due that John Sherman was not elected Speaker weeks ago. The effect of electing our first and only candidate, and a Helper signer, after all the clamor made on that subject, was seen, and it was also sur- mised what would be the argument if, driven from a straight Republican nominee, a non-Helper, non-representative candidate should be chosen. Hence sundry diversions from Sherman to South Americans, hinting to the Democrats to hold on and our line would break soon. Hence the movements of at least one Bates man, who professes strong Republican- ism, of whom I may speak hereafter. Sherman permitted the campaign to be directed in the main by these men, and was persuaded by them to favor the diversions I have referred to, or some of them, and to make what I regard as unfortunate speeches. There is not, that I know of, a single correspondent here who has understood the ground we were travelling, or who, if he understood it, has not been laboring in the interest of the ' ' opposition' ' party rather than of the Republican party. "With our " Peck" of troubles in Maine, and anybody for the Re- publican nominee who is not a live and true Republican, we shall have a campaign such as I hope not to be obliged to labor in, and which would not promise the most happy results. Put us on the defensive, set us to explaining and apologizing, give us a candidate of whom we only know that he is an old line Whig and never a Republican, and the canvass will be the hardest we ever had. When are you coming on ? Yours truly, I. Washburn, Jr. J. S. Pike, Esq. [From Fitz-Henry Warren.] Burlington, Iowa, February 2, 1860. Particular Pike : The ills of a congested liver, brought on by attempting to decipher a letter of the First of the Tribunes, addressed to me from Galesburg, 111., have been much assuaged by your comforting letter of the 29th of January. When I look at a bald head, I expect to 484 LETTER FROM F1TZ-HENRY WARREN. [Feb. find under its polished surface good sense. Horace is an exceptional case. I am glad you agree with me about Edward Bates. I have no doubt Blair is right about him (Bates). He is with us in sentiment and sympathy. But, in the language of Daniel the Dark, " What is all this worth" for a President ? For a church-warden or a congrega- tional deacon I should be for him, with both hands up. What business have we to nominate and elect a man President who has never been in political life, who has no taste for politics, and no personal knowledge of public men ? If I had had any room for a favorable impression of his qualities beyond my slight acquaintance with him, Peter Parley's in- dorsement would finish it out. The paper was bad enough before, as. the bank president said, " but with that indorsement it is not worth a d — n." For God's sake let us look to life and not to resurrection for our success in '60. I go in for electing ; but why go into the bowels of Niggerdom for a candidate ? If you can carry Missiouri for Bates, you can carry Arkansas for him ; and you can lift yourself up by the waistband daily for ten years before you can do either. The King of Terrors has a large work to do in Missouri before any Republican can- didate can touch bottom there. I pray to be spared the anguish of voting for any man who can get this electoral vote. With regard to the governor, the slender chance he had has gone out with John Sherman. Possibly you know what we have gained by electing old Pennington ; I don't. I would far rather have been beaten with E. than to have backed down from him. I am consoled somewhat that it was not Corwin. Pitt Fessenden would make a President after my own heart. But he is too near the " open Polar sea." Uncle Dan's telescope could not discern the North Star, and your feeble lens can hardly reach it. If he lived in Iowa, or Greeley's paradise of bullfrogs, Indiana, he might come in ; but we can't go into the tall timber of Maine. The question now recurs on the original question, " Who are you (I) for ?" I am for the man who can carry Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and In- diana, with this reservation, that I will not go into cemetery or cata- comb ; the candidate must be alive, and able to walk at least from parlor to dining-room. I am willing to take the opinions of the dele- gates from those States on this point. But if the choice is to be be- tween King Stork and King Log, count me in for the former. I had rather have a President who would take me by the nape of the neck and kick me down stairs, than to have one who would smile me out with the hypocritical leer of that greatest of all nuisances in the White House, Millard Fillmore. Very truly, Fitz-Henrv Warren. 1860] FITZ-HENRY WARREN'S HUMOR. 485 [From Fitz-Henry Warren.] Burlington, Iowa, February 6, I860. James : I send you a published letter of an aged gentleman, tbe sauds of whose political life are nearly run out. The style, as you can- not fail to notice, is copied from Washington's Farewell Address : some may think it superior to that outlawed production. Mr. Dana is not to be permitted to read it unless his family physician is present, with burnt brandy and smelling salts. Since Horace " saw visions and dreamed dreams" out here in the land of divine inspiration, the contents, per- haps, may be broken to him gently. Do tell me, confidentially, if Fremont will probably be the nominee. Mule-steaks can now be got cheap, and I wish to lay in a stock for the campaign. I see the Tribune " squawks" a little over the committees. It was a very glorious victory, that election of Speaker. By the way, why don't you bring out Winter Davis for President ? After the action of the Maryland legislature I think there is no doubt of his getting that elec- toral vote. Dana and Ripley appear to be quite well thought of down in Mississippi. Will one of them consent to take the nomination of Vice ? That would take Mississippi, certain. With a pledge to make Helper Secretary of State we could bag North Carolina. In that case I shall insist on having Mr. Randall, of Philadelphia, Secretary of War ; being in the " conservative zone" that would be all right. But I weary you. Adieu. Fitz-Henry Warren. Is Henry C. Carey temporal or eternal — " a spirit of health or a goblin damned ?" [From Hon. Benjamin Stanton.] Washington, February 11, 1860. J. S. Pike, Esq. Dear Sir : Yours of yesterday is received. Many thanks for your kindness in saving me from another assault in the Tribune. I see from the Tribune of yesterday that you suppose there was some unbecoming altercation between Mr. Colfax and myself in the House. This is a great mistake. There are no two members of the House whose personal relations are more kind and cordial than Mr. Colfax's and my own. I of course felt the awkwardness of my position in opposing the election of a candidate nominated by a caucus in which I participated. To break the force of an anticipated attack on that 480 ASSAULT ON A MEMBER OF CONGRESS. [Feb. ground I referred to the vote of the friends of Mr. Defrees, and espe- cially Mr. Colfax, in 1856. I probably acted indiscreetly in doing so. Mr. Colfax exhibited a little feeling in his reply, but subsequent ex- planations have removed every trace of it, and our former amicable relations are fully and completely restored. Yours, etc., B. Stanton. THE ASSAULT ON MR. HICKMAN. [From the New York Tribune of February 13.] There is a class of Southern men, belonging pretty exclusively, so far as we can judge, to what is facetiously denominated the Democratic party, who seem to believe in bullying and terror- ism as appropriate influences for the conduct of public affairs and for the usual intercourse of society. Ever since the memorable year of 1854, these persons have attempted the introduction of their tactics into the national councils. They began by decry- ing the spirit of the Northern people, terming them cowardly Abolitionists, incendiary poltroons, who must be whipped into subjection. They acted upon the supposition that a few armed bands of assassins in Washington and in Kansas would stop Con- gressional discussion of the slavery question, and would convert Kansas and all the rest of our Territories into Slave States. They commenced operations on this theory. "We have seen what we have seen in Washington, and what we have seen in Kansas. The House of Representatives has had more than one melee since, and has exhibited on the Northern side but small disposition to retreat before the bullies. But the full develop- ment of the deliberately challenged contest between Free-State men and Slave-State men has only been seen in Kansas. What the result has been there the world knows, and particularly that part of it embraced in the Slave States. The South know, and we are willing to take their testimony of the fighting capacity of the " cowardly Abolitionists," who went from the North to make that Territory a Free State. They found it in possession of the assassins and bullies, and they have either driven out or ex- tinguished the whole crew. The fact is not only illustrated in general by the triumphant success of Northern men in making Kansas a Free State, but in highly significant minor details. 1860] A MISSOURI SLAVE-HUNTER. 487 We saw a narrative the other day in a Missouri paper directly in point. Half a dozen slave-hunters from Missouri pursued a fugitive into Kansas. While at a tavern on their journey some Free-State men of the Territory rode up, bringing with them the fugitive of whom the slave-hunters were in quest. The slave was introduced to his master on terms of equality, and bade to enter into a conference with him. He did so. After some friendly observations on the slave's part, his master was in- formed that Sambo had concluded not to return to Missouri, but was bound to Canada, and as his hat was minus a crown and rim, and his coat shabby and ragged, his master was invited to exchange with him, which he cheerfully did. Sambo being thus well furnished, so far as apparel was concerned, his old master was persuaded to lend him money enough to defray his expenses to the Canaan of the colored man's hopes, and also to furnish him his horse to lessen the fatigues of his journey. These arrangements being completed the two parted. The colored man in his improved attire went North, and the slave- owner and his friends back to their homes, wiser if not richer than they came. The pro-slavery journal from which we de- rived the foregoing facts, after condemning the action of the Free-State men, remarked that the denuded slave-owner was a law- and-order man, and would take no steps in the way of reprisals. This story carries its own moral. It shows what the South- ern assassins and bullies have done in quelling the " cowardly Abolitionists" of Kansas, as the Northern men who went to make that Territory a Free State used to be so volubly termed. It is an incident that shows, or may show, the bullies and assassins that, in hanging John Brown and some of his confederates, and slaying others after they were made prisoners, they have only cut off the advance-guard of the Kansas Free-State men. There are plenty more left of the same sort. Virginia, Mr. Edmundson, Mr. Keitt, and Mr. Vice-President Breckinridge have some acquaintance — at least by hearsay — with Captain Brown, of North Elba, more familiarly known as Old Brown, of Osawatomie. They have heard, perhaps, of the diffi- culties in Kansas, and how the Free- State men bore themselves in numerous desperate conflicts. They may have heard that Kansas is likely to become a Free State, and if they have, it may 488 PBOVOKING REVENGES. [Feb. also have crept into their ears by what means. They must have some knowledge brought direct from Kansas, by their own friends and confederates, that the Southern scheme of bullying and assassination has failed in that Territory. From all this in- formation and other enlightenment, derived from reading and re- flection, they must by this time, if they are men of half the brains possessed by their slaves, have come to the conclusion that bully- ing and assassination will not work for any length of time in dealing with Free-State men in Kansas, in Washington, or else- where. We are thus at a loss to understand the assault of those gentle- men upon Mr. Hickman, of Pennsylvania, on Friday last. Do they want to reopen the physical contest provoked in Kansas in the streets of Washington ? Do they desire to reorganize bul- lying and assassination at the federal capital ? If they do, they can certainly achieve their purpose. And if they do, it needs no ghost to prophesy that their scheme will be more promptly met than it could have been at any former period in the history of this government. Do they doubt that the constituencies of Free-State representatives have men among them who would be only too glad to go down to Washington and defend and avenge these representatives ? Does any such doubt exist after their reading of the history of Kansas, of John Brown and his twenty-one fighting confederates ? But whatever their design, such assaults as this on Mr. Hick- man tend only to provoke just such revenges as the history of Kansas and John Brown have already developed and are yet developing, and it is amazing that the Southern men do not see it. This assault upon Mr. Hickman, a man of weak frame and feeble health, a gentleman who distinctly signified to the House the other day that he could not be provoked or forced to recog- nize the assassin code of the South — this assault upon such a man is one of the most inexcusably atrocious acts, in purpose, that we have been for a long time called to record. If a deed of cowardice can be perpetrated, is not this one ? Here are con- federated assailants, each unquestionably armed — for Southern men generally go armed — and always when on missions like this, attacking an unarmed man incapable of defending himself, and ready to assassinate him if he attempts defence. We consider 1860] SENATOR BRODERICK'S OBSEQUIES. 489 the attack, so far as evident purpose goes, equalled only by the brutal and murderous assault on Senator Sumner. It is a class of acts of which only bullies and assassins can be guilty. J. S. P. BEODEEICK IN CONGEESS. [From the New York Tribune of February 14.] The House of Representatives adjourned early yesterday, after taking two indecisive ballots for Printer, and going through with the obsequies of Senator Broderick. Mr. Morris, of Illi- nois, was pointed in his closing observations on the death of the senator in saying that more than one will be found answering at the final roll-call for him, "Am I my brother's keeper ?" No doubt many are as guilty of Broderick's murder, in the eye of Eternal Justice, as the assassin who aimed the fatal bullet. The proceedings in the Senate were marked by unusual cir- cumstances. Mr. Foster, of Connecticut, very properly and very manfully expressed his doubts of the propriety of paying the usual testimonials of respect to Mr. Broderick's memory, on the ground that he fell in a duel in violation of the laws of God and man. For this reason, therefore, he proposed to withhold his vote for the resolutions of respect, though entertaining a high regard for the manly qualities of the deceased senator. Mr. Toombs took exception to this natural and eminently proper expression of Mr. Foster's sentiments. He seemed to regard it as some sort of a personal imputation on him that a man who had no regard for the laws of God or man should be thought unworthy of senatorial honors in his obsequies. It was natural that Mr. Toombs should express the feelings he did, if he thought he was sure to die a senator. But he should remember that the chances are against his demise in this capacity, and therefore he might have restrained his impetuosity. Mr. Toombs need not have advertised so officiously his wrath against the Almighty, though he may have felt it ever so strongly. His intimations that he had a perfect right to disobey the divine commands, and yet exact the tribute of respect from his fellow-men, though char- acteristic, might yet have been withheld without injury to his reputation. We do not suppose that Mr. Toombs's remarks 490 SENA TOES MASON AND BROWN. [Feb. were sharpened by the reflection that he, too, might die the death of Broderick, and that in his protest against Mr. Foster's views, he was thus casting an anchor to windward, because we cannot believe that Mr. Toombs intends to make a fool of himself by dying in a fight with any one man, in view of that brilliant de- nouement of the temporal career of the whole of us which he in- voked the other day, in which he and his Georgia confederates, with joined hands clasping the pillars of our national fabric, are to drag down the glorious temple of our liberties, and bury govern- ment, Senate, Toombs & Co. in the ruins. His advertisement of his position on the general subject of revolt against God and man was thus quite superfluous. No doubt Mr. Toombs thinks that the great brimstone dealer immortalized by Milton was a paragon of honor in his rebellion ; but it would be a needless offence to good society to propose honors to his character on that account. We cannot but think that Mr. Toombs was hardly less happy in his demonstration in his reply to Mr. Foster than he would be in proposing the devil for a toast. NEW CONSTITUTION FOR KANSAS. [From the New York Tribune of February 15.] The Senate had before them yesterday the new Constitution for Kansas. The Hon. Mr. Mason, of Virginia, observed that it was impossible for Kansas to be admitted as a State under it, inasmuch as there was a law requiring a census to be taken before she could apply. The Hon. Mr. Brown, of Mississippi, blandly observed that the people of Kansas were guilty of a " criminal violation" of the laws of Congress in asking to be admitted as a State under the Wyandot Constitution. Is not this a blessed pair of worthies ? Both of these gentlemen were red-hot for the admission of Kansas long ago under a Constitution that certain officious interlopers had made for her. Then this Master Mason and this unworthy namesake of the man lately hung in Virginia, were fast and furious to have Kansas admitted to the fraternity of States. How comes it they have so suddenly changed their tune ? If Kansas was fit to come in as a State two years ago, why not now ? The reason is only too plain. Then she was to 1860] ACTIVITY OF TEE SLAVE-TRADE. 491 come in as a Slave State, but now she desires to come in as a Free State. The odds makes the difference. Why have not the objectors manliness enough to say so ? Why swell and look big and talk about solemn statutes ? Talk about law if you will in connection with this Kansas business, but have the grace to fol- low the example of Atchison, and admit, with him, that it is all "d — poor law." You cannot disguise your real purposes and motives, and it is folly to attempt it. After a brief discus- sion a characteristic obstruction to the further consideration of the subject was suggested by the chair, who stated that he must call up the special order — to prohibit the issue of bank-notes under twenty dollars in the District of Columbia. After a topic of this gigantic importance was started, of course Kansas had to stand one side. ACTIVITY OF THE SLAVE-TRADE. [From the New York Tribune of February 16.] The Journal of Commerce bemoans the existing activity of the slave-trade, which it admits is now mostly carried on under the American flag, and by American vessels having American owners. It dawdles over the subject, and laments that so many difficulties are in the way of putting an end to this infamous traffic. It states that the captured slaver, unless found with his cargo on board, " is almost sure to escape in the courts." This circumstance, it argues, diminishes the vigilance of our naval officers, because in all cases of failure to secure conviction after capture they are exposed to vexatious litigation. Here we are, then, according to the Journal of Commerce, with the slave-trade in full blast directly under our noses, with no means of helping ourselves. The slave-traders defy the naval power, defy the law, defy the courts, and the Journal of Commerce regrets the circumstance. Now we desire to probe this matter a little. How does it happen, as the Journal of Commerce asserts, that " the captured slaver is almost sure to escape in the courts ?" For here, it seems, lies the whole difficulty in breaking up the traffic. What is the reason the courts are unable to see a captured slaver as easily as such a craft can be seen by those who first suspect, then ferret her out, and then make the capture ? We think the 492 THE REASONS FOR IT [Feb. answer is very plain. It is because of the demoralized condition of the law-officers of the federal government, judges included. It is perfectly well known that this revival of the African slave- trade is a new thing altogether. It has all taken place within a very few years. Formerly there were no difficulties in the way of apprehending and punishing men engaged in the slave-trade. When judges were ready to execute the law, and when public sentiment was undebauched upon the subject, no American and no American ship engaged in the infamous traffic. When the tone of our law-makers and its administrators was what it ought to be, we heard of none of the execrable scoundrels such as now hold up their heads among the respectabilities in this city, who, if not openly, are yet secretly understood to be participators in this nefarious business. The whole thing has come about in this wise. Our Supreme Court has substantially decided that the col- ored person is not a man, but only a thing. He is not a citizen, and cannot be one, and has no rights which a white man is bound to respect. Our Presidents have indorsed the atrocious sentiment. Mr. Buchanan has declared it to be a mystery that the right of the white man to hold the colored man in slavery in a territory where no law ever established or sustained it, should ever have been doubted. Congressional orators have declaimed upon the right and duty of the white man to hold the colored man in per- petual slavery, and to trade in human beings when and where he likes. The Democratic party have borne these doctrines upon their flag, and called upon the people to rally under it, and no- body has done this more fervently than the Journal of Com- merce. The people of Africa and their descendants have been pronounced by the federal authorities — from the President and their Supreme Judges down to their lowest and meanest tools — the proper and lawful plunder of the white man. Hence has arisen in fresh and active development the diabolical African slave- trade, so long the horror of the civilized world and disgrace of humanity. It has come from the efforts of our slave-holding politicians, acting through the organization of the Democratic party. Thousands, always ready to embark in any scheme that promised to minister to their cupidity, have taken advantage of this demoralization of the national authorities, and of the moral debauchery into which a great and once invincible party has been 1860] JOURNAL OF COMMERCE'S RESPONSIBILITY. 493 plunged thereby, and have rushed into the slave-trade, seeking shelter for their avarice under the wing of the power that stim- ulated its exercise. And they have not sought in vain. That shelter has been accorded. The American slave-trader, bringing his cargo of victims into our own ports, has found immunity from punishment ; and not only this, but he has found countenance and sympathy in his villainies in the judgments of our courts, in the tone of Presidents' Messages, in discussions in Congress, in dia- tribes from professional advocates, in elaborate essays of the press and encouraging words from the pulpit, here on the free soil of this commercial metropolis. These are the agencies that have created the modern American slave-trader, and herein is to be found the reason why ' ' the captured slaver is almost sure to es- cape in the courts." And for all this the Journal of Commerce itself bears a heavy responsibility. This disgraceful condition of things especially illustrates the powerful necessity of the reforming action of the Republican party. That party has to stay the tide of a general demoraliza- tion which for years has been encroaching upon the national conscience. It has an important duty to discharge in correcting the pernicious influence of the examples set by the highest officers of the government within the past few years. The progress of opinion and of events connected with this African slave trade testifies to this necessity, and calls upon all good citizens to aid in accomplishing this work. The slave-trade will flourish and increase in this country, and over the world, until a check is given to the downward course of this government upon the whole slavery question. The Republican party can alone arrest this declension. It alone will undertake to arrest it ; and until this is undertaken our merchants, our navigators, our mariners will continue to wallow in the mire of this hideous trade in hu- man beings on the African coast, and will justly consider that they are countenanced in it by the highest legal, judicial, and executive authority of the land.* * Hon. Henry Wilson, in his work on the "Rise and Fall of Slavery in the United States," says the New York Evening Post published a list of eighty-five vessels fitted out at New York for the slave-trade between February, 1859, and July, 1860. 494 CARNIVAL OF THE SCAMPS. [Feb. SCAMPS WANTED. [From the New York Tribune of February 21.] The disgusting business of dragging the politics of oar busi- ness men into their trading relations is producing its natural effects. The merchants who thought to get an advantage by succumbing to the process of explaining their politics, by adver- tisements, recommendations, indorsements, and such-like agencies, and especially by getting themselves puffed and put into white lists in sundry one-horse newspapers at the South, are getting the just deserts of their meanness. They have raised a swarm of loaf- ers and suckers about their ears that are annoying, persecuting, and bleeding them at every turn. A whole crowd of ragged, sponging fellows have arisen in the shape of correspondents of Southern journals, editors, attaches, drummers for advertisements and subscriptions, who surround them like buzzards hovering about a wounded buffalo on the prairie. The gentlemen who are anxious to be represented in the Southern one-horse press, are be- set by these fellows day and night, at their stores and counting- rooms, at their houses, at the dining-table, in their bed-chambers, in their goings out and comings in, at their risings up and sittings down. The curse of frogs and locusts was as nothing to their rag- amuffin appeals, their seedy, mendicant importunity. The worst of it all is, it is next to impossible to distinguish the real vaga- bonds from their counterfeits. Not that there is any essential difference in their character, only one may not know enough to write a blackmailing paragraph, and the other may. To make sure work, therefore, each craven, humiliated wretch of a mer- chant who has allowed himself to be entangled in the toils of these land-sharks has no other escape but to buy off every fel- low who besets him. He shivers in his shoes at every knock and every application, and planks down the dust in every case to avoid the threatened attack on his business at the South if he does not. Not knowing who is who, he pays to all alike. The whole crowd of beggars and blackmailers are thus flourishing just now, like pigs in clover. We give publicity to this fact so that there may be fair play among the vagabonds. The poor devils have struck a placer, and all should fare alike. "We want them all to come on. Now 1860] LETTER FROM FITZ-HENRY WARREN. 495 is their happy time. Now is their feast and carnival. The table is spread. The repast loads the board. Money is easy, bills plenty, bank checks abundant. If any fellow is hard up, or shinning, or dodging corners to shun Ins creditors, let him show himself and make his Jack. Come on, then, one and all. Come to the gathering, come ; come pimps, leeches, swindlers, shysters, ragamuffins, mock- auction graduates, counterfeiters, forgers, liars, knaves, cheats, blackguards, loafers, jail-birds, dirty dogs of all breeds, every moral leper and every accomplished villain ; come to the feast of the New York merchants. They will be glad to see you, will welcome you, will entertain you, will go down on their marrow- bones to you, will pay you freely and liberally for your help, for your promises, for your knavery and lies, for every thing you can do, and every thing you cannot do, toward getting or sav- ing a little Southern trade. Our merchants are paragons of vir- tue themselves, but they have opened their doors to the scoun- drels. Let this interesting class of our fellow-citizens accept the invitation. They will never have a better chance to prey and fatten on the upper-tendom of Southern trade. Gentlemen scamps, will you please to walk up and help yourselves ? [From Fitz-Henry Warren.] Burlington, Iowa, February 23, 1860. Dear James : I must begin to cultivate Southern pronunciation and Southern orthography to prepare for the new Administration. Dana, I suppose, is in the sulks at my nonsense ; but I can blackguard you as long as I can raise a three-cent postage-stamp to pay for the amusement. My main purpose now is to ask you if you do not wish to engage a Pike county jeans suit, not of " Tyrian dye," but of emancipation butternut bark. Of course that must be the court color and court dress. Your bowie-knife and tobacco (pig-tail twist) can be got from Virginia. Bayard Taylor can get you a supply when he goes to Rich- mond to lecture. As you have the nomination of President, won't you allow us out here to name the Vice ? We shall name Philip M , of Buffalo, gentleman who once turned the government grindstone for the ' ' use and behoof" of some dealers in sanded cotton. I should have said that I 490 THE WIT OF FITZ-HENRY. [Feb- have just been reading Dana's article on Bates or Baits — which is the true orthography ? One word soberly. If I had had my hind quarters kicked to a jelly, as you have by the South, I should wait till quite warm weather — say the temperature of the " brimstone zone" — before I volunteered to advocate a Southern man for the Presidency. I shall not hereafter read your essays on Pluck with half so much relish as formerly. I am sorry for all this, for I see where we are to drift. Governor Seward will be the nominee of the convention, if it is to be a choice between him and Bates. I am in for the Nexo York Evening Post's doctrine — death if need be, but no dishonor. Very truly, Fitz-Henry Warren. Don't read this to Dana. [From Fitz-Henry Warreu.] Burlington, Iowa, February 25, 1860. Esteemed Individual : I am charged to the muzzle with quinine pills, but mind asserts its supremacy over matter. I thank you for your letter of 22d ; but I am more cheered and consoled by other events of that same day. Pennsylvania knocked Baits ; and Indiana, where Martin Colfax has been cross-ploughing and harrowing in the good seed, has died (in convention) and made no sign. I agree with you ; take apartments for me in the Pitti Palace. My acquaintance with him is slight, but all in his favor. I revere, admire, worship, adore pluck ; a stiff backbone is worth all the rest of the human anatomy. Let us have an order of knighthood established whose cognizance shall be a spinal vertebra on a field gules. Brain is nothing compared to the dorsal column. Let no man be eligible to the nomination who can take a kick behind with no change of countenance perceptible to the spectator in front. I hope that will not rule out any of your New York candidates. Will it ? I join hands with you on Pitt ; and now, come out and " fight the beasts at Ephesus" (Chicago) with me. And now, once more. Will you keep me in a stock of speeches ? I want Mr. Corwin's, Avho is a splendid talker ; Winter Davis, also, and John P. Hale. Never mind : if you are weak and cannot go to the capital on foot, take a carriage ; it only costs fifty cents. I am glad the Speaker is just what he is when it is necessary to take a candidate to please Geo. Briggs and Adrain, when the responsi- bility of having the control of the House is one which ought to have 1860] BRECEENKIDGE EXPLAINS. 497 been dodged if it could be. I am happy that justice is more nimble- footed than usual. I saw Pennington and Bates at Washington about the same time, and came to an early conclusion that neither of their anxious mothers knew they were out. As superb an ass as old P. is, I would rather take my chances with him for President than the Missouri pre-Adamite. You can understand my horror, then, of such a possible result as making a Republican President. Horace is kinky, but what has obfuscated Dana ? My suspicion is that Weed does not want Seward, and does not intend he shall be nominated, but does want Bates ? He is one of Weed's style of men. W. has been a correspondent of his for a long time, and Mister Weed could turn the crank and grind out any tune he wished. Weed made Fillmore, Fish, and Wash. Hunt. That's my theory, and it has to me great plausibility. There would be glorious picking at the Treasury for the New York banditti. But this is private and very confidential. Use your eyes and your nose, and see if there is not something in it. Let me hear from you when the fascinations of the federal city can be thrown off. I suppose you dine frequently with Mr. Buchanan. Please assure him of my tender and abiding affection. With compliments to Mrs. P. , Very truly, Fitz-Henry Warren. MR. BRECKENRIDGE S APOLOGY. [From the New York Tribune of Feb. 25.] In justice to the Vice-President we publish elsewhere his card, taken from the Constitution of Saturday morning, in which he denies that he was privy to the assault on Mr. Hickman, on which we have heretofore commented. We are rejoiced, for the credit of the country, that the Vice- President is able thus to exonerate himself from the suspicious indications attached to the fact that he was present when Edmund- son's assault was made. We are glad also to be able to chronicle the fact that Mr. Breckenridge is not in the habit of wearing arms about his person. But we have done Mr. Breckenridge no injustice, either intentional or unintentional. His is simply the old case of Tray being found in bad company. The chief point of our comments was, that these assaults, actual and meditated 4D8 WHERE IS KEITT? [Feb. upon Northern members of Congress, are contingent assassina- tions, and that whoever engages in them is an assassin in spirit and purpose. If Mr. Breckenridge was not cognizant of Mr. Edmundson's intention, or was present only by accident, an un- armed spectator, of course he is not amenable to our criticism. It is impossible that even a tolerably intelligent observer of the occurrence should be able to know the actual facts upon which our comments turned, without this highly proper confession of Mr. Breckenridge. While it exempts him from censure, it in no way blunts the force of our general charge or takes the case of Mr. Hickman out of the category where we placed it, as illus- trative of assassin purposes. This "was the charge we made, and this is the charge to which we adhere, and to which we shall ad- here, until Mr. Keitt can clear his skirts in the manner in which Mr. Breckenridge has done. Let us hear from him that he knew nothing about the intended assault, and that he never goes armed in the streets of Washington. As to his always happening to be present, accidentally, of course, whenever deeds of violence are contemplated or perpetrated, it is unnecessary for him to speak. Everybody knows about that. The thing to which we desire to call public attention, and which we denounce and execrate, is assassination — bullying, cow- ardly, infamous assassination. The men whom we stigmatize and hold up to public odium are the assassins, be they who they may. We say, as we have always said, that the confederate as- sault on Mr. Sumner in the Senate was one of the most abom- inable acts ever recorded in the annals of bullyism. The subter- ranean rowdies of the Sixth Ward would cry shame on such a transaction within their own purlieus. In that case we saw one armed man assail and strike down an unarmed person, while an- other armed man stood by as a confederate, ready to aim the fatal bullet or plunge the deadly poniard in case the victim should be able to offer resistance. Can any thing be more foul than this ? The Hickman assault belongs to the same class of attacks. It was premeditated contingent assassination on its face. A confed- erated attack on a single man means this where the assailing parties are armed. It can mean nothing less. It is against such diabolical attacks of the armed upon the unarmed, or two or more upon one, that we make our protests. 18G0] THE VERMIN OF SOCIETY. 499 We denounce them as infamous. They are the bloody manifes- tation of a cowardice and a cruelty that disgrace our civilization. No man can guard himself against the assassin. Any man can be stabbed or shot in the back. Any man may be waylaid, or set upon by those who aim to kill him, and they may accomplish their bloody purpose before he can have time to resist, be he ever so brave and determined. But the actors in such transac- tions are the vermin of society who should be ground under its heel. Let it be understood that in these remarks we have not touched upon the question of equal personal combat. Whatever our judgment may be upon any bull-dog performances of that sort, we are not now referring to them in any way. When a man assails his equal upon equal terms — the unarmed against the unarmed, or the armed against the armed, each without confed- erates, and each with an equal chance — though we may deplore and condemn, it is not a case for which which these observa- tions are intended. That is a branch of the subject that we leave for a suitable occasion. It is not likely to arrive among the fight- ing bullies of Congress. We are now asking for a public verdict against foul play, against stabs in the back, against confederate assaults of armed ruffians upon unarmed representatives of the people, against assassination and against assassins. [From Horace Greeley. 1 New York, February 26, 1860. Friend P. : Before you say much more about John Bell, will you just take down the volumes of the Congressional Globe for 1853-4 and refresh your recollection of the part he played with regard to the Ne- braska bill ? Will you look especially at his votes, February 6th, on Chase's amendment ; February 15th, on Douglas's amendment (the present slavery proviso) ; March 2d, on Chase's amendment (allowing the people of the Territories to prohibit slavery) ; March 2d, against Chase again, etc. It does seem to me that you or I must be mad or strangely forgetful about this business. I venture to say that Bell's record is the most tangled and embarrassing to the party which shall run him for President of any man's in America. And as to his wife's owning the slaves — bosh ! We know that Bell has owned slaves — how 500 LETTERS FROM GREELEY AND DANA. [March did he get rid of them ? That's an interesting question. We know- how to answer it respecting Bates. But I don't care what is done about the nomination. I know what ought to be done, and having set that forth am content. I stand in the position of the rich old fellow, who, having built a church entirely out of his own means, addressed his townsmen thus : "I've built you a meeting-house, And bought you a bell ; Now go to meeting, Or go to h — !" Yours, Horace Greeley. James S, Pike, "Washington City, D. C. [From Charles A. Dana.] New York, March 3. Mt Dear Pike : I reckon that rumor lies this time too. I don't know, of course ; but I should need to have strong evidence to make me believe those letters were puffs for lcbby use. However, if there is any proof let us have it. I wish you would come back and go to work here again. Horace rather sweats under the toil, and cries for help now and then. You might as well stay here till the first of June as not. Yours faithfully, C. A. Dana. [From Horace Greeley.] New York, March 4, 1860. Friend Pike : I don't happen to have that $10 to spare to-day ; but I'll do the next best thing — I'll double the bet. Do you " take it "? You ought to be rejoiced to see your favorite phrase used gram- matically for once. Why don't you go in for having the printing done by the lowest bidder ? There is no other way. When you see the Charleston convention in blast, you'll see stars. Then you'll see that the people are stronger than Washington City. Yours, Horace Greeley. J. S. Pike, Esq. 1860] GREELEY ON BETS—DANA. 501 [From Horace Greeley.] New York, March 5, 1860. Friend Pike : Your grammar is perfect. The bet is all right — $20 to $20 on Douglas's nomination. Now if you want to go $20 more on Seward against the field for our nomination, I take that. I can spare the money, for I don't want to go to Chicago, and mean to keep away if possible. If Douglas shall be nominated, I think Bates will have to be, unless we mean to rush on certain destruction. However, we shall see what we shall see. " Capita] States" and " Labor States" is foolish. Slave States and Free States tells the story, and no one can misunderstand it. Why don't you go in hard for awarding the printing to the lowest bidder ? I should be perfectly willing that Mrs. B. should have it all under that rule, if you can get it. Under the present system, I object. And a " National Printing Office" would be worse than this. Do try to help along some practical reform. I've written Sherman to send me a table of the mileage. Then we'll see who votes and how when that question comes up, and what they make or lose by it. Yours, Horace Greeley. J. S. Pike, Esq., Washington, D. C. [From Charles A. Dana.] New York, March 8, 1860. Dear Pike : Horace wants to go off in April, along between the 1st and the 10th, to be gone for a week or so, and I write to propose that you should get here by the 1st. He is going over Pennsylvania, and without your help we can't get along. I have had a second letter from Hildreth. He is mending, and really writes in good spirits. I infer that he is going to get well. The Seward stock is rising, and that will console some of our friends for the defeat of the city railroad schemes in Albany. George Law has beat all the other speculators, and got a bill through the Senate which looks like smothering the whole concern. It charters a road in the Seventh Avenue, with forty-eight branches running through every cross- street. The great political engineers are aghast at this triumph of their opponent. Perhaps they may beat him yet ; but I doubt it. Yours faithfully, C. A. Dana. 502 LETTER FROM MR. GREELEY. [March [From Horace Greeley.] New York, March 8, 1860. Friend Pike : I have bet you $20 on Douglas against the field. So far good. Now you say Seward will be our man. Well, I offer you $20 on that. I name my man for Charleston and back him against the field. You name your man for Chicago, and don't back him against the field, as I proposed. Very good. It seems that I have more con- fidence in my judment than you have in yours ; so we will stand there on the original $20 on Douglas, which I trust you will win ; only, if Douglas has no chance, you and Harvey should " poor pussy" him, not abuse him. F. is one of the poorest and most debauched of the drunken sailors that floated ashore from the wreck of Know-Nothingism. He is, of course, the very man for a printer to Congress. No honest man could get it, for none of that stamp could lie enough. Hence Follett's failure in '56, and Defrees's now. Both these are honest men. But Gurley's bill to establish a Government Printing-Office is worse even than Ford or Bowman or Wendell — worse than all three together. It is to establish a national hospital for broken-down editors and printers, the jackals of the Camerons, and Bankses and Brights and Gwinns of all time. It will be more expensive and more nauseous than any thing we have yet known. Every drunken printer and ex-editor who won't work, and can't earn a living if he would, will be billeted on the public Treasury, and jobs will be invented to keep up a semblance of work for them — and very little work will do them. Just see. I hope F. will cheat the crowd out of every dollar. If he will do this with the impudence of a highwayman, I'll go in for giving him another as good thing somewhere. Genius should be encouraged. Yours, H. G. J. S. P. [Prom Salmon P. Chase.] Columbus, March 19, 1860. My Dear Friend : Your letter came just as an imperious business necessity compelled me to go to Cincinnati. Pieturning, I found the announcement that it is determined to suspend the publication of the Era. The necessity of this step is greatly to be deplored. Surely a very little activity among our friends at Washington might have averted it. I fear the effect of it upon any attempt to obtain the surrender of the certificates in the Chicago Block Property. If I were only able I would 1860] LETTER FROM MR. CHASE. 503 myself take the responsiblity of carrying it on through the year ; but I am literally exhausted by the expense of my residence here for the past four years, coupled with the great depreciation of property in the State. I regret now that I did not recommend Mr. French to you. Al- though not the man to take the helm of the Era exactly, he is prompt, talented, and faithful, and might have organized a support which would have continued it. I believe I will write to him yet on the subject. Meantime please let me know what you are doing or propose to do, what propositions are made, if any, etc., etc. As to the Chicago nomination, I possess my soul in patience. That I shall have some friends outside of Ohio who prefer me to all others, I know ; that many more prefer me as a second choice is plain enough. What the result will be nobody can tell. If I were certain of the nomi- nation I can hardly tell whether I should be more gratified by the con- fidence implied in it, or alarmed by the responsibilities and trials which it would impose. There seems to be at present a considerable set towards Seward. Should the nomination fall to him, I shall not at all repine. If the best interests of our cause and country will be best pro- moted by it, I shall not only not repine, but shall rejoice. Many, how- ever, think he cannot be nominated ; many, that if nominated he cannot be elected ; many, that if elected, his administration will divide the Republicans, reorganize the Democracy, and insure its triumph. Situated as I am, I cannot enter into these speculations, but prefer to let opinions form themselves. I wish I could come to Washington without seeming to seek votes. If I could, I would. There are some things of a business nature I want to do, and there are friends I want to see. But I suppose it will not do for me at present. I would rather never have a place than seem even to be importunate for it. Give my best love to the children, and believe me, Affectionately and faithfully yours, S. P. Chase. [From Horace Greeley.] New York, March 20, 1860. My Dear Pike : I don't think I am ordinarily a bore ; but now I insist that you shall take up a file of the Daily Globe, turn to the dates of February 29th, March 6th, and March 7th, and read just what W. did and said with respect to the mileage bill. Then see, if you will, how gently I growled the first time he began to cut those 504 FROM MR. GREELEY AND MR. CHASE. [April didoes, and how he went on hardening his heart and stiffening his neck to the end. I like a manly opponent, who makes a square, stand-up fight ; but his were the tactics of a Tombs lawyer defending a mock auctioneer or pocket-book dropper. His vote for the bill at last was adding insult to injury. If the devil isn't to be allowed to deal with the fellow who acts thus, we might as well not have any devil, for I am opposed to all sinecures. Pike, I know your deadly hostility to all robbery and prodigality in the abstract, but you must read those Globes and tell me what you think of them. Yours, Horace Greeley. J. S. Pike, Esq. [Prom Salmon P. Chase.] Columbus, April 2, 1860. My Dear Sir : Your letter reached me just as I was leaving home, and I take the first moments at my command since my return for reply. You have doubtless learned ere this that I had anticipated Mr. Sew- ard's suggestion by sending to Mrs. B. a list of the subscribers to the Chicago Block purchase who have not already assigned to her the shares held by them, with a suggestion that some friend in Washington write or speak to each suggesting similar transfers. I have no doubt that all, or nearly all, will act at once ; and I suppose this property must be actually worth even now (say) three thousand dollars. This will cer- tainly be some help ; but it cannot be permanent. Nor is it easy to say what can be done in the way of permanent help. After the neglect of the obvious duty of providing for the Era by the Republican members of Congress, it is hard to say what can be expected from political friends. If I had power I am very sure I should find a way of testifying a proper sense of the worth of the father by giving such honorable em- ployment to his sons as would enable them to support the family. In time the rise of property at Chicago will, I think, afford a competency, with proper efforts and success of the boys so aided. But meanwhile what is to be done ? I see no way in which the Era can be made available. It will be hard to find anybody who would be willing to take its list and supply its subscribers for the good-will ; much harder to find anybody to pay anything in addition. But perhaps I am wrong in say- ing that I see no way of availing of the Era. Mr. Clapham thinks, I understand, that with a vigorous editor associated with himself the paper might and could be placed on a paying basis and made profitable. So 1860] MR. CHASE ON THE "ERA." 505 it seems to me. If such a person, then, could be found, and the Era could be revived in friendly hands, Mrs. B. might start the child's paper she proposes with an excellent prospect of success. It seems to me certain that a good Republican paper in Washington, seeking no public patronage, but taking that which would naturally come to it, would not only live but prosper. You with your abilities might from such a point do great good — exceedingly great good — with no detri- ment, but with advantage, to yourself. To be sure it would require work ; but you have the intellectual and physical energy which would sustain it. Should it be impossible to revive the Era, I will join in whatever other plan may be agreed on by our friends at Washington in aid of Mrs. B. and her family to the extent of my means. These, however, are now so thoroughly exhausted by the heavy drafts made on me by the necessary expenses of my position during the last four years (for you perhaps know that we have no governor's house, nor rent for one, and only a salary of $1800). I cannot advance any money immediately. In the course of the year, however, I would do my share. If I were to consult my own feelings I should not thus restrict my offer ; but I am compelled to bow to absolute necessity. I wish there were some way of giving employment to the boys. But there is not. Our public employes are wretchedly paid ; but the posi- tions, badly compensated as they are, are sought in this time of general depression by three applicants at least for every post, and those who have them to dispose of think themselves bound to prefer Ohio appli- cants. Being myself out of office, I have no influence which would sway them to different views or action. The neglect of Mrs. B. and the Era by our political friends at Washington has produced a deep and painful impression in many quar- ters, and may have wide and unhappy influences. It is greatly to be deplored on all accounts. For myself I have felt for some time an increasing disposition to quit political life. It would have been entirely satisfactory to me had our friends here in Ohio been willing to allow me to close it with the expiration of my term as governor. But they thought that I ought to consent to an election to the Senate as an indorsement with reference to another place, and I did consent, perhaps unadvisedly. But, having consented, I shall abide the issue. The indications are that the choice of Ohio will not be confirmed by the Republican preferences of other States. Should such be the fact, I shall give an honest, independent support to the man whom the Republicans do prefer, and at the close 506 MR. LOVEJOTS FIERY SPEECH. [April. of the struggle feel myself at liberty to consult my own inclination and judgment with regard to further public service. Cordially your friend, S. P. Chase. J. S. Pike, Esq. MR. LOVEJOY'S POWERFUL SPEECH. [From the New York Tribune.] Washington, April 6, 1860. Mr. Lovejoy's fiery speech, which created such a sensation in its delivery yesterday, is an excellent speech to circulate. It presents a view of the peculiar institution and its supporters much needed for all inquiring minds. The slavery men have boldly challenged the discussion of the great opprobrium on its merits. The slave-holders audaciously declare that slavery is a good thing. Charles O' Conor says so. The New York Herald says so. The Democratic party are very generally beginning to say so. The time, therefore, has fully come when a faithful and thorough exposition of slavery is de- manded. It is no longer out of place. We cannot meet our political opponents in any effective manner without doing this. The Abolitionists proper have been about this business for many years. But the hostility to their agitations and discussions in the North has always been placed upon the ground that everybody knew and admitted that slavery was a vast evil, and that the fact could be made no more plain by harassing and inflammatory discussions and expositions. But all this is changed. The country is now called to a consideration of slavery on its merits. The North is invoked to the support of slavery as a good thing, and a most proper condition for a large portion of mankind. It is incumbent, therefore, upon those who oppose the spread of the nuisance to meet the challenge promptly and fully. And no man can now say that the discussion of the slavery question, down to its very bottom, in Congress or out, is superfluous. It is strictly in order ; and, indeed, it is about the only question in our poli- tics that is in order. If we are called upon to let slavery go un- molested into the Territories on the ground that it is a beneficent institution, we must begin and continue to show up its detestable character. If we cannot succeed in establishing that, we have no ground upon which to stand in opposing its spread. 1860] TWO MILLION COPIES NEEDED. 507 We want, therefore, an indefinite number of such speeches as Mr. Lovejoy's, to stand as reasons why we oppose the spread of slavery. For all who wish to know why we insist upon keeping it within its present limits, such speeches as Mr. Lovejoy's furnish the ready answer. For all who desire to be informed what slavery is, and what is the answer to the various sophisms by which it is defended, Mr. Lovejoy's speech tells the story. And it does it in such a graphic and emphatic way that nobody can fail of comprehending the subject. Of course an hour's speech cannot exhaust the question, or give the statistics in the case. It takes a book to do that. This fuller exposition can be found in Mr. Helper, of North Carolina. But Mr. Lovejoy, being a very full man upon his topic, has managed to produce as many daguerreotypes and crayon drawings of slavery, in its vari- ous aspects and pretences, as can well be crowded into an hour's speech. And the whole is so vitalized by vividness of concep- tion and depth of conviction and martyrdom of spirit, that the pictures blaze with a fervent heat. Of this speech an edition of two million copies should be cir- culated. Though it is what is technically termed a violent speech, it is yet really a speech of the most truly conservative and influential character. Its wit is abundant, and its sincerity transparent as the light ; and it is not too much to say that it was admired on all sides. The speaker proposes no harsh or vio- lent measures in respect to slavery, but is broad and catholic and Christian in his views on this branch of the subject. He only insists upon his rights, and the rights of all American citizens, to discuss that and all other subjects everywhere in the country, and to boldly expose the naked facts of the case. For himself, he has certainly done his work with unsurpassed power of delinea- tion and force of rhetoric. J. S. P. THE NEW YORK HEKALD. [From the New York Tribune of April 11.] The New York Herald republishes my letter on the Con- necticut election, and makes it the text of a leading article, in which it indulges in its usual perversions. I stated what has 508 NEW COMBINATIONS IN PARTIES. [April long been apparent to every thinking man, that in the mutations of our politics we were at last coming to a natural division of parties in which the aristocratic elements of society were being ranged on one side, and the democratic on the other. It has always been evident to every reflecting mind that the alliance between the democratic masses of the Free States and the slave- holders of the South was an unnatural union that must sooner or later come to an end. Their sentiments and interests being diverse and antagonistic, they could not always be kept in an enforced union. The wonder is that that union has existed so long. With this separation of Northern democracy from the Southern aristocracy there naturally comes the affiliation of the aristocracy of the North with that of the South. This North- ern aristocracy is one based on wealth, commerce, and trade. It is a money aristocracy merely. This general declaration is perverted by the Herald into an admission that republicanism is naturally opposed to all the in- dustrial interests of the country. And thereupon a discourse of characteristic exaggeration and partisanship is preached. I will make this misrepresentation the occasion of a few observations, elucidating a little further the idea I expressed. There exists in every country the aristocratic and democratic element of society. Ours is no exception. We have the slave- holding and planting aristocracy of the South and the money aristocracy of the North. The democratic element of the coun- try resides almost wholly in the Free States. They have the making of a democratic element in the Slave States, and one day it may assume its functions as such ; but at present the non- slave-holders of the South have no voice except in unison with the slave-burners. They are a degraded and repressed people, unlike any other on the face of the earth. They are neither la- borers like the slaves, nor idlers like the masters. They hold an anomalous position, nominally higher than the slave, but as a class, in physical comforts, below them. Ignorant and indolent, ground between the upper and lower stones of society, they have no standing, no reputation, no character. We regard them as the most unhappy class of mortals in the world, with the fewest chances for any future of hope, any good time coming. The real democracy of the country is thus wholly in the Free 1860] NORTHERN AND SOUTHERN ARISTOCRACIES. 509 States. Here we have them fresh, pure, strong, bristling with activity, energy, and power, and still militant after every achieve- ment. This democracy has made the country what it is. All that we have done, all that we are, all of national reputation that the country possesses comes of the Free-State democracy. In trade, in mechanic industry, in the higher grades of manufac- tures, in maritime development, in arts and in arms we are only what we are through the growth of that democracy which has sprung from the untrammelled expansion of the democratic idea in the Free States. Our Northern aristocracy is an after- growth, and is the weight democracy is compelled to carry in its race. Heretofore a large part of this great democratic element has been in political affiliation with the slave-owners. This has been the case particularly with the rural portions — the reason being that the Southern slave-holding aristocracy originally had the advan- tage of democratic leaders at the time the elements of our political society, in its early stages, first began to crystallize. That very association, accidental in its creation, drove the budding aristo- cratic developments of trade, commerce, wealth, conservatism in the North into political opposition ; and this bastard condition of things has continued for half a century, until the force of ideas is at length, aided by favoring circumstances, rupturing the connec- tion. But the slave-holding aristocracy having at length broke ground, and blazoned forth their natural and inherent anti-demo- cratic sentiments, the two forces are now dividing on funda- mental principles. As this work progresses, the aristocratic element of the North naturally shifts its position, and, main- taining the same attitude towards its natural antagonist in the North, it swings into line alongside of its natural ally in the South. And this is what I meant in speaking of the re-forma- tion of parties on natural divisions. The Southern slave-holder having dropped the mask of de- mocracy, and now fully asserting the aristocratic sentiment, we are entering upon a totally new cycle of our political history, in which new combinations are inevitable, and which assume a rad- ical character. It would be an interesting inquiry to try to as- certain just where we are to land in this transition, if we had 510 OLD DEMOCRACY BEWILDERED. [April time and room for such political speculations. Those who en- tertain a steady faith in the democratic idea can have no doubt, however, about the general result. In a republic we cannot allow it to admit of question, whether in the contest of public opinion the aristocratic or the democratic sentiment shall go to the wall. We, to be sure, labor under the prodigious disad- vantage of having to contend against the dead weight of a large number of slave-holding communities, where the free expression of thought is inexorably kept down, and where brute force and violence are substituted for the ordinary restraints of modern civilization. But, even with this disadvantage, our democracy must triumph. The money of the North can marshal the bru- talities of the North in aid of the man-owning and wrong-doing aristocrat of the Slave States. The mercenary trading spirit, so far as it has intimate con- nection with the South, can also be relied on to sustain that aristocracy, however offensive its acts, or however outrageous its pretensions. We have not come to the millennium yet, and vast masses of mankind will show themselves earthy, sensual, and devilish, if they are approached on the side of the pocket nerve, even in the great republic. But the great body of the demo- cratic masses of the North do not hold these relations to the aristocratic elements of our society. They are quite removed from and independent of them. And it is their independent action that is the stay and hope of republicanism. They at least will resist the reaction first set on foot by Mr. Calhoun, and now being urged and driven by Heralds that blow discordant trumpets — by perverts trained to the sophistication of their own understandings, like Charles O' Conor — by political bruisers, energetic through corruptions, like Mayor Wood — by selfish and degraded influences of all sorts, drunk with the spirit of gain, with leaden eyes and the brains of brutes staggering in a moral midnight to the assault upon the most precious interests of hu- manity, regardless of consequences. In the immediate contest before us these are backed by the broken and blended members of the old democratic host, always hitherto used to success, but now bewildered by defeat and the loss of old leaders, who, for want of intelligence, still cling to the empty name of a once true and honest party, and marshal themselves in ranks to which they 1860] TEACHINGS OF KANSAS AND JOHN BROWN 511 do not belong by sentiment or conviction, and which they must ultimately desert, as, little by little, the intelligence of their true position dawns upon them. There is thus no reason to believe that the reactionary move- ment of the time, made on a gross basis of material interests, and in bold and open defiance of all humane sentiments, and of our cardinal political doctrine of equal rights, can succeed, either in the immediate or remoter future before the country. There is much more reason for believing that the barbarism of the South is undermining its own foundations by provoking this struggle. The doctrine of the rights of man is the electric force that has shaken empires and toppled down thrones even among the ignor- ant and brutalized and oppressed of mankind. How is it to be among men born to the inheritance of those rights, appreciating their value, and rejoicing in their possession ? "Will not even the theoretic denial of them raise a j)rejudice against the classes who preach the detestable heresy, that shall first cover them with odium and then crush them with obloquy and proscription ? Let the reactionists be warned in time that the spirit of democracy in this country, if it be once fully roused by an arrogant and oppres- sive and aggressive aristocracy, such as is now combining, North and South, to deny its principle and fetter its action, will sweep like a tornado through the political atmosphere. It will be more than wind and rain and lightning and tempest. Is the example of Kansas past and Kansas present to go for nothing ? Does the John Brown incursion teach nothing ? Is the Douglas rebellion, not in all its inspiring motives, but in its resulting consequences and intimated popular forces nothing ? Is there no indistinct banner seen floating over all these move- ments on which is dimly perceived the ancient motto of the rights of man ? It is more distinct in some of them than in others, we know. Nevertheless that banner floats over all. It is the idea it embraces that inspires the actors in each in greater or a less degree. These indications of the spirit and temper of the Northern democracy ought of themselves to be sufficient to warn the re- actionists of their future fate. The commercial and trading in- fluences of the great cities, and the communities that hold in- timate financial relations with them, are strong within their own 512 REPLY OF THE NEW YORK HERALD. [April circles ; but these do not include the great industrial interests of the country, or even exhibit a sensible approximation toward doing it. The products of the plough, the loom, and the anvil are not influenced by political considerations, nor are the producers amenable to political tests on any broad scale. The law of sup- ply and demand is omnipotent in the main. Ideas will rule on their intrinsic merits all through the ordinary departments of in- dustry, with but a slight deflection from influences that the reac- tionists seem to consider will prove controlling. "We are satisfied, then, to see parties range themselves by their natural relation as before stated — the aristocratic and despotic and reactionary against the democratic and liberal and progres- sive. We are content to cast our lot with the latter, and abide the fate of the contest. J. S. P. [Reply of the Herald.'] THE BLACK REPUBLICAN IDEA AND PARTY — ITS UNIVERSALLY DE- STRUCTIVE TENDENCIES. We give elsewhere to-day another letter from the Tribune's Washington correspondence on the true black republican idea. In these letters the writer shows himself to be superior to Sew- ard, Spooner, Helper, and all the other black republican advo- cates, both in his ability to trace an idea through its logical an- alysis to its ultimate results, and in his fearless honesty, which impels him to acknowledge the destruction which must attend its triumph. The Tribune writer persists in his idea that parties in this country are ranging themselves under "natural divisions ;" and assures us that " the mercenary trading spirit" is bringing about an affiliation between " the slaveholding and planting aristocracy of the South, and the moneyed aristocracy of the North ;" that in the coming conflict " vast masses of mankind will show them- selves earthy, sensual, devilish, when touched on the side of the pocket nerve ;" but that " the rights of the man is the electric cry which has shaken empires and toppled down thrones ;" and under its banner a black republican movement is on foot which will, if it can, " sweep like a tornado through the political at- mosphere." 1860] LETTER FROM MR. COR WIN. 513 Now, in the essence of these things, though not in the epi- thets which he applies, we agree to the dotting of an " i" and the crossing of a " t" with the Tribune correspondent's descrip- tion of black republicanism and its workings. [From Thomas Corwin.] Wednesday, 2 p.m. Do you go to dine with Bache to-day at five p.m. ? If so, do you walk or ride ? If the latter, shall I call at five precisely with a carriage ? Mr. Pike, do you not know that you can travel at a cheaper rate with one carriage than two ? Answer ine truly by the bearer hereof. Thos. Corwin. J. S. Pike, Sixth Street. [From Count Gurowski.] New York, Monday, April 16. Dear Yankee : Congratulate Mr. Potter for me from the bottom of my heart. What is the talk about code of honor ? There is and never was such a codification in Europe among the genuine chivalry for these one thousand years, neither among nobles of any country of Europe. There is a kind of common law which every one knows, and a practice of details which is acquired in the same way as by a lawyer. I fought more than thirty duels, was second perhaps sixty times at least, and all with gentlemen and noble- men, and never heard of code of honor or absolute rule about weapons. If there is any code, rule, or common law about it, it is this : that cowards only refuse when a weapon magnifies danger. I assisted to duels, as second, when one of the combatants, pistols in hand, proposed to approach each other from ten paces (the original distance) to three. It was accepted. Old and hoary as I am, and never having really seen the use of a bowie-knife, I would accept it if I still should insist on my reputation as duellist. We Polish nobility, we fight generally with short, half-round Turkish swords. It makes ugly gashes, and I saw bowels come out once. Mrs. Potter is a Spartan lady, and has a true gentleman for a hus- band. Greeley is an ass. Yours, Gurowski. 514 LETTERS FROM COUNT QUROWSEI. [April [From Count Gurowski.] Thursday. Damn Yankee : I lose with you all the cold blood in my veins and all patience. Why misuse, desecrate, the holiest words and concep- tions ? What for I write books and give to you specially long lectures ? Again you speak of the two civilizations. Shame ! shame ! If you northern wiseacres do not stop such balderdash, I shall be obliged to pitch into you all, and expose your ignorance rivalling that ot the South. One of the banditti, Wigfall or Iverson, said in the Senate, " the South will organize a confederacy or government never yet known in the world." Tell him that he is an ass, as they are all. History knows already, and has recorded a society, community, and government based upon piracy, enslavement, rapine, and slave-traffic. It existed about nineteen hundred years ago for the first time, in Kilikia, or Cilicia, in Asia Minor, and was destroyed by Pompey (not African). Only the Greeks, Romans, Egyptians, Syrians, representants of civilization at that era, called the Kilikians pirates, and not a different state of civilization. How can you make such confusion and offend the civilized Northern villages, operatives, farmers, mechanics ? Atone for it. I suggest to you for the next definition to use the expression, two different and opposed to each other social conditions, as piracy is a social condition after all. How much did T. W T eed get for his pacificatory article ? The South will be amazed to hear soon the terrible thunder and malediction coming from the other side. Already a forerunner arrived in the London Saturday Review, the best and most independent English weekly, and a Tory. It answers to the menaces made previous to the election. It is splendid, vigorous, and going to the bottom. And what will they say when they learn the fact ? The Saturday Review takes, in the name of civilization (there is only one civilization, recollect that), of Europe and of England, the same ground as did the Tribune of November 28th. , Guess who wrote it ? My respectful compliments to Mrs. Pike, and my sincere love to my young great favorite, Miss Mary. You are not worthy to have such a daughter. Tell to Sumner that I regret not to have seen him, but that does not interfere with my hearty friendship. Good-by. Stand firm, but believe that the going out of the slave or cotton States will not ruin the country or the principles. Quite the contrary. After one or two years of confusion, unavoidable in every transition, the Free States will take a new start, and more grand and brilliant than was the past. A body, politic or animal, to be healthy, to function normally, must throw out the deleterious poison from its vitals. 1860] MM. SEWARD LOSES THE NOMINATION. 515 This is my deliberate conclusion and creed, based on much philosophiz- ing within myself, and looking from all points of view on the thus called secession. Truth, mankind, liberty, civilization, and manhood will be great winners by secession. Yours, Gurowski. [From Count Gurowski.] 21 West 22d Street, May 12, 1860. My Dear Yankee : I am sorry not to be able to adopt your advice. I prefer not to publish it at all, as to do it by the help of Greeley and of the Tribune. I have my own personal feeling about it. I am sorry to hear that you are so unwell as to be disabled to go to Chicago. What is the matter ? You ought to have told me. Good-by. The world will not be a bit better if I do not publish my book. After all, if it would be a Helper, help would have been found. Mes amities a Madame. Yours, Gurowski. MK. SEWARD S DEFEAT. [From the New York Tribune.'] Washington, May 20, 1860. The excitements of the week over the presidential nomination have been very great at the capital. The members of Congress generally, though feeling an interest in the result never surpassed on any former occasion, have mostly remained at their post of duty, carefully abstaining from active participation in the doings of the Convention. Almost universally the great concern and thought has been for success. This desire has overtopped every other, and quite overshadowed all personal considerations. While Mr. Seward's ability and services have been cheerfully recognized, there was a prevailing sentiment, almost universal among the members of both houses, that it would be impossible to elect him. This conviction, reluctantly reached after long consideration, was most conscientiously entertained, and greatly deepened the feeling and anxiety with which the doings of the Convention were watched. Mr. Seward was known to be strong, not only by virtue of his position as a leading expounder 516 REGRETS FOR HIS DISAPPOINTMENT. [May of the principles of the Republican organization, but also as the representative of powerful material interests centering in New- York, and as the focus of extensively ramified political combina- tions. His own ardent desires and confident expectations, which all were sorry to see thwarted, formed another extraneous source of strength that it was felt would have great weight in a Convention of sympathizing friends. Altogether I may say the feeling among the Republicans of Congress, with few exceptions, was rather that of apprehension of his nomination than any other. The least whisper of the proceedings at Chicago, as the time of nomination approached, was listened to with eager interest and the most painful anxiety. Not a breath of intelligence, real or fabricated, but was scanned with keen eye and subjected to searching analysis, with a view as well to discover what was as what would be. And at last, when the time came, and it was announced that a telegraph had been received, saying Mr. Lin- coln had been nominated by two majority over Mr. Seward, there was a feeling of relief experienced, and an expression of general satisfaction that seemed to be unanimous. But in no quarter was it mingled with one particle of exultation, but every- where with a sentiment of regret at the necessity which impelled the result. For it was known how deeply the heart of Mr. Sew- ard was set upon the nomination, and how utterly confident he was of receiving it. He had left the city but a few days before, announcing to his friends that his senatorial duties were ended, and that he left the Senate in his capacity of senator for the last time. Such, too, had been his bearing throughout the session. He had a thousand times declared his aims and expectations of being the Republican candidate, and had settled into the fixed habit of regarding his nomination as an absolute certainty. He had entertained largely, and everybody had partaken pleasantly at his hospitable receptions. Kindly and genial, with no more than a natural assumption consequent upon his confidently anticipated honors, Mr. Seward had certainly no jjersonal enemies among the Republicans of Congress. It may be easily conceived, therefore, with what personal regrets the political satisfactions of Mr. Lin- coln's nomination were received. It could not in the nature of things be otherwise ; for no man desired, per se, that Mr. Seward should be disappointed. 1860] OBJECTIONS TO HIS NOMINATION. 517 Notwithstanding the result, Mr. Seward was at once the choice of the politicians and the people. The great body of ardent Republicans all over the country desired to elevate to the Presidency the man who had begun so early and had labored so long in behalf of their cardinal doctrines. This was unquestion- ably their earnest wish. But along with this feeling there was another quite as strong among them. This was to win the presi- dential battle. They thought much of Mr. Seward, but they thought more of the cause of which he had been so largely a spokesman. They were, for the most part, ready and willing, and even desirous to go for the man for President who was most likely to succeed, whoever it might be. It was otherwise with the politicians who had attached themselves to Mr. Seward's for- tunes. They had their own personal ends to serve, and they preferred a poor chance with him to a good one with another candidate with whom they had no politico-personal affiliations. It was this class of men who, to a very great extent, insisted at Chicago upon Mr. Seward's nomination, against the wise and unselfish convictions of a decided majority of the body, that he would not be the strongest nominee. If it had not been for this class of men, the popular preference for Mr. Seward as a candi- date would have been yielded, certainly with regret, but as surely almost without a struggle. Not that Csesar was loved less, but Pome more. The objections to Mr. Seward as a candidate (I speak of Washington) were twofold. In the first place, there was that leading objection, familiar to all the country, that he held the most advanced position on the slavery question, and, whether justly or unjustly, is no matter, is associated in the public mind with the idea of extreme radicalism on that subject. Then it was known that he held a more clearly defined position of antag- onism to the various elements of which the opposition is com- posed, outside of Republicanism pure and simple, than almost any other man in the party. He had, for example, fought the American or Know-nothing element with great explicitness. That portion of the opposition in such States as Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and New York was believed to be irrevocably op- posed to him. In addition to this the South and the Northern pro-slavery journals, had charged him with being the great 518 MR. SEWARD A NEW YORKER. [May offender against the peace and harmony of the country, the most radical and dangerous of all men ; and in this way had filled the public mind, and especially the commercial and conservative cir- cles, with all manner of unfounded suspicions and prejudices in regard to him. These were things which all the world knew and recognized, and had their weight even in the most remote rural districts. But there was another class of objections that weighed even more heavily among those more familiar with public affairs which are not widely known, and which have never been publicly commented on, from prudential considerations. These objec- tions refer to Mr. Seward's principles and practices in regard to the public administration of affairs. He is a New Yorker and belongs to the New York school. If he does not by natural in- stinct, he does by position and association. He is a believer in the adage, that it is money makes the mare go. At least he acts on the belief, and always has done so since he has been in Con- gress. There have been many complaints of Mr. Seward for his uniform votes for lavish expenditure, general and particular, but never any for being too prudent or fastidious. Mr. Seward has acquired great strength among a powerful and influential class by his uniform liberal voting upon all money questions. And this is a source of influence of a commanding character at all po- litical conventions, while it is a source of unquestionable weak- ness in a popular canvass. It has been felt, therefore, that, in the approaching election, the Republicans, with Mr. Seward for their candidate, would lose an immense advantage which the venality and extravagance and corruptions of this Administration have put into their hands. It was also felt that Republican suc- cess, with a prospect, or at least the fear of a continuance of a similar style of administration, would be too dearly purchased. The future and its malign results were deeply apprehended by those who felt profoundly the absolute and inexorable necessity of inaugurating a Republican Administration which should be not only pure but unsuspected at this already-signalized era of political prodigality and corruption. The opposition to Mr. Seward's nomination has thus, to a very considerable extent, been in the interest of purity and integrity of administration, as well as to secure an immediate triumph. Not that anybody would 1860] THURLOW WEED. 519 pretend that Mr. Seward was in the remotest degree to be sup- posed a man of venal or corrupt instincts or purposes, but only that his circumstances would be his master. Such is a candid statement of fact, which it is but just should now be made. J. S. P. [From the Albany Evening Journal, Thurlow Weed, Editor.] We do not, of course, deny Mr. Greeley's " right " to do as he pleases. But standing as he does, at the helm of an overshad- owing public journal, and exercising vast power in shaping and guiding popular opinion, we are inquiring whether it was like Mr. Greeley, or worthy of the Tribune, to lay so long in am- bush ? We knew that the associate editors of the Tribune (Messrs. Dana and Pike) were early, actively, and personally opposed to Mr. Seward. "We knew that Mr. Greeley, even before he went to California, expressed the opinion that that gentleman could not be elected. But we did not then know, or even believe, that with him ' ' the wish was father to the thought. ' ' Accustomed for more than twenty years to rely implicitly upon the ' ' sincerity and good faith" of Mr. Greeley, we did not doubt that his views in relation to Governor Seward's availability, like the views of others, would conform to the popular sentiment of his party ; and when, two months ago, that sentiment became general ; when State after State, with unanimity and emphisis, declared for Governor Seward ; and when a politician of Mr. Greeley's experience and knowledge was scarcely at liberty to doubt the result, we did not expect to encounter his obstinate opposition. [From Horace Greeley.] New York, May 21, 1861. Pike : Your Maine delegation was a poor affair ; I thought you had been at work preparing it for the great struggle ; yet I suspect you left all the work for me, as everybody seems to do. Massachusetts also was right in Weed's hands, contrary to all reasonable expectation. I cannot understand this. It was all we could do to hold Vermont by the most desperate exertions ; and I at some times despaired of it. The rest of 520 LETTERS FROM HORACE GREELEY. [June New England was pretty sound, but part of New Jersey was somehow inclined to sin against light and knowledge. If you had seen the Penn- sylvania delegation, and known how much money Weed had in hand, you would not have believed we could do so well as we did. Give Curtin thanks for that. Ohio looked very bad, yet turned out well, and Virginia had been regularly sold out ; but the seller couldn't deliver. We had to rain red-hot bolts on them, however, to keep the majority from going for Seward, who got eight votes here as it was. Indiana was our right bower, and Missouri above praise. It was a fearful week, such as I hope and trust I shall never see repeated. I think your absence lost us several votes. But the deed is done, and the country breathes more freely. We shall beat the enemy fifty thousand in this State — can't take off a single man. New England stands like a rock, and the North-west is all ablaze. Pennsylvania and New Jersey are our pieces de resistance, but we shall carry them. I am almost worn out. Yours, Horace Greeley. James S. Pike, Esq., Somewhere. [From Horace Greeley.] New York, May 25, 1860. Pike, My Friend : Do you see how the heathen rage ? How the whole weight of their wrath is poured out on my head ? Will you tell me why Maine behaved so much worse at Chicago than any New-Eng- land State but Massachusetts ? What meant that infernal vote from Massachusetts against us ? I thought some of you Eastern folks would look to this. Just write me one letter to let me know what all this means. Yours, Horace Greeley. J. S. Pike, Esq. LAST NIGHT OF THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY. Prose by Witness— I say, Bill, I have got agin' a snag. Poetry by Mr. CJwate— On that fatal Friday night, in a flood of tears, his hopes went out like a candle. Baltimore, Saturday, June 23, 1860. The fatal Friday night to the Democratic party has come and gone. The culminating point of all its throes was reached last evening at seven o'clock. On the reassembling of the Convention I860] EXPLOSION OF DEMOCRATIC CONVENTION. 521 at that hour it proceeded to determine whether it would recon- sider its action by which it admitted the Douglas delegates from Alabama and Louisiana. New York had hesitated at the morn- ing session about adhering ; but the evening found the delegates firm, and this settled the question. On the commencement of the vote by which the Convention refused to reconsider their former vote, several gentlemen sprang to the floor and great con- fusion reigned for several minutes. All the while the tall, spare, dark form of Mr. Russell, of Virginia, stood immovable midway in the Convention, occasionally saying, ' ' Mr. President. ' ' Others talked and the presiding officer ruled and explained, and various gentlemen objected, but still Mr. Russell stood. Little by little the confusion dwindled till at length it seemed Mr. Russell would not be allayed without utterance, and the Con- vention relapsed into silence to listen to what he had to say. In a few grave and measured words he proceeded to announce that a large majority of the Virginia delegation had instructed him to announce that they should no longer participate in the proceed- ings of the Convention, and bade him express their respectful adieu to that body. This was the long-expected and anxiously-awaited turning- point in the fate of the Convention, and the announcement was received in perfect silence. The stillness was, however, but momentary. The ice was broken and it was now known what was to follow. Virginia was merely the advance-guard of the body of the Seceders. Mr. Russell stated that of thirty dele- gates from his State twenty-five would now retire. Mr. Ander- son, of North Carolina, followed, and after deploring the circum- stances that ruptured the Democratic party and wrecked its fu- ture hopes, gave notice that sixteen out of twenty delegates on the floor of the Convention felt themselves constrained to with- draw. Mr. Ewing, of Tennessee, succeeded him, and in brief and moderate terms deprecating and lamenting the crisis which the Convention had reached, proceeded to say that the delega- tion from his State would retire to consult on the great issue before them, but he could give no assurance and felt no hope that a majority could longer remain. He subsequently an- nounced that the result of their deliberations was the withdrawal of nineteen out of the twenty- four delegates from that State. 522 SPEECHES IN DETAIL. [June After Mr. Ewing, Mr. Caldwell, of Kentucky, rose and lamented the desperate condition of the Democratic party, and remarked that the delegation from that State, fully appreciating the solemn circumstances of their position, would consult further before de- termining upon what course to pursue. Mr. Johnson, of Mary- land, followed in funereal strain, and stated that " a portion" of the Maryland delegation would follow the footsteps and the fortunes, and share the fate of the Sunny South, not remarking that at this particular moment the aspect of things in that quarter was particularly cloudy. The Convention listened patiently to all these proceedings, though there was an occasional growl at their being wholly out of order. But the cry was, " Hear what they have to say." "Let's have it all out," and the like, and so the Convention gave a tacit consent to the irregularity, with only occasional bursts of impatience. Following Mr. Johnson came Mr. "Watts, of Tennessee, who, in animated terms, announced his own purpose, and the purpose of several of his colleagues, to remain in the Convention. A colleague, Mr. Jones, concurred, and declared he did not believe he had any authority from his constituents to go out, or do any thing else toward breaking up the Democratic party. California now came forward, in the person of Mr. Smith, who had either been dining or is constitutionally loose, wordy, and pugnacious, and observed that his State viewed the present sacrifice and destruction of the Democratic party with a bleeding and a broken heart, and, as it was his habit to call things by their right names, he denounced and execrated the assassins who now stood grinning before him at the ruin they had accomplished. Smith grew so voluble and impertinent that great confusion arose, and after being repeatedly interrupted and called to order, he was finally very unwillingly forced to take his seat. Smith being squelched, Governor Stevens, the delegate in Congress from Washington Territory and a representative of Oregon, arose to speak for that youngest member of our Confederacy. The Governor enlarged upon the melancholy duty he had to per- form, and thought it very ominous that our Western empire was here broken away from old connections, and that it denoted fearful results for the future. He then said good-by for Oregon. 1860] AN EXUBERANT SLAVE-TRADER 523 Mr. Moffat, of Virginia, now rose, after several previous gettings and surrenderings of the floor, to speak for the remnant of the Old Dominion, who stuck by the wreck. He declared the vast solemnity of the crisis, but thought on the whole he would stop. Missouri, through Mr. Clark, of Helper book no- toriety, asked time for that State to consult. But some one of his eager colleagues afterward rose and declared he intended to stay anyhow, and wanted no time to consider. "Whereat Mr. Clark said, as that intimation might put him in a false position, he de- sired to remark, that he wanted no time for himself, for he had made up his mind to hold on, too. Here Mr. Gaulding, of Georgia, got the floor, and after say- ing that he did not belong to either of the houses of York or Lancaster in his State, proceeded to announce his purpose to stay in the Convention, and to advertise himself as being a "nigger man," and said lie gloried in the term. He avowed himself the owner and raiser and breeder of " niggers," and de- clared it to be the most honorable, humane, and praiseworthy business a man could follow. He praised Virginia and blessed her for being a ■ ' slave-breeding' ' State. Upon this a Virginia del- egate fired up and called Mr. Gaulding to order in sharp tones. Mr. Gaulding said he meant no offence, and would withdraw the term and apply it to himself and his own State. He said he was a " nigger-breeder, " and Georgia was a "nigger-breeding" State," and he gloried in the business. For himself he was perfectly satisfied with the position of the Douglas Democracy on slavery. It gave the slave-holders all they needed and all they desired. He spoke by authority, for no man in all Georgia owned more " niggers" than he did. He then avowed himself in favor of reopening the African slave-trade, and said the busi- ness was thriving, and he had a lot of fresh native Africans on his plantation and wanted more. It is to be hoped that Douglas men will circulate a large edition of Gaulding's speech in the coming campaign. After Gaulding Mr. "Whitney, of Massachusetts, rose and said that, in view of the melancholy state of affairs, sixteen of the delegates from that State, out of twenty-six, desired to retire from the Convention for consultation. Claiborne, of Missouri, fol- lowed in a spread-eagle speech for Douglas, when the Conven- 524 END OF THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY. [Aug. tion, having become wearied by long excitement, adjourned at eleven o'clock p.m. And thus ended the Democratic party ! J. S. P. [From Count Gurowski.] Friday, July 13, 1860. My Dear Yankee : My book is nearly finished, but, as of old, the Tribune played me false. My self-respect makes it imperative to avoid any contact with the Tribune, and certainly I shall not ask any favor, any notice. Mercantile speculation was scarcely a secondary view in my labor, and, poor as I am, I shall try if a conscientious and (T can say it without conceit, such as few would have done) intellectual production cannot reach the people without the to-be-begged support of an arrogant press. Yours, Gurowski. [From Horace Greeley.] New York, August 13, 1860. Friend Pike : I very cheerfully contribute this $20 toward the Maine election fund, providing that you will see it honestly expended. I don't trust the average run of Maine politicians, who are thievish (even the priests) and beggarly (even the leading editors). They are a poor lot, and will swallow all the funds they can get hold of. I did not know nor suspect what Dana's opinion was on the point in dispute, but I consider him a better judge than Old Buck or dishing. I shall be greatly disappointed as well as grieved if you lose your district. Think of Frank Blair, and be ashamed of your doubts and quickened in your works. Yours, Horace Greeley. James S. Pike, Esq., Calais, Maine. [From Count Gurowski.] Morrisania, August 31, 1860. My Dear, Dear Yankee : I got your letter. How can you be so tendei -hearted and take seriously my silly abusing you ? It was only to tease. Know it once for all, that you are among the few whom I never doubt. I hope ardently, too, that you will succeed for your brother. Good-by, good-by. Gurowski. If you make speeches, put me in as Sumner did ; will be a capital advertisement. I begin to be Yankee. Gur. 1860] LETTERS FROM MR. FESSENDEN. 525 [From Senator Fessenden.] Portland, September 2, 1860. My Dear Pike : I have been absent all the week, and on my return find your letter of the 29th. My opinions coincide somewhat with yours, though I can hardly believe ... so much of a scoundrel as to wish your district lost. The State Committee have not, I am informed, sent one dollar to this district. They offered us Burlingame for one evening, and the chairman of our District Committee says we shall have to pay him. When B. was here on his way to Belfast, he said that he had no engagements after that week, and agreed to speak at several places in this vicinity the week following. I urged him to do so, at the request of committees. Soon after, Stevens and Blaine loaded me down with letters and telegrams, complaining that he was taken out of their hands, and that he was needed in your district, say- ing, moreover, that you and Fred complained of neglect, and that the district was in danger. This was the first intimation I had of any danger in the First, or that it had not been taken care of, and I im- mediately wrote and telegraphed my willingness and advice that he should go to you at once, as we could get along without him. He is with you, and, I hope, is doing good service. We are having a terrible fight here, and until Blaine wrote me about Burlingame, I supposed, as did we all, that our district was the battle- ground, and that yours was all right. My brother Sam writes that the Third is safe beyond a peradventure. He has fought his own battle, with the exception of a few speeches from outsiders. Yours always truly, W. P. Fessenden. J. S. Pike, Esq. [From William Pitt Fessenden.] Portland, September 12, 1860. My Dear Sir : All yours received. We are covered all over with glory. I congratulate you and Fred, and everybody else in general and particular. I was anxious about Fred's election on many accounts. The intel- ligence I received was not flattering, particularly from Hancock. His nomination was said to be not satisfactory in Bucksport and vicinity, on account of some local feeling, and as they pressed me very strongly to come down and see if I could allay it, I took boat Friday nigbt, and spoke there on Saturday, doing what I could outside by coaxing and swearing. Tuck writes me to-day, giving the vote, and says that I did ^ 52G LETTER FROM FITZ-HENRY WARREN. [Dec, 1860 tlicm good service in various ways. At any rate, the vote is satisfac- tory. Fred leads, I see, instead of falling behind. I went to Bangor on Sunday, was taken sick, and had to send for a doctor, but got home on Monday in season to vote, and then went to bed, where I lay until this morning. I am up to-day, and hope to be out again to-morrow, if the weather will allow. The truth is, I was not in a condition to take any part in the cam- paign, but nobody would believe it. Our great success must cure me, however, if there is a spark of vitality left. Now, let other States do their duty, and the rascals are wiped out. Yours, as always, W. P. Fessenden. J. S. Pike, Esq. [From Fitz-Henry Warren.] Burlington, Iowa, December 16, 1860. James Pike : I am fructified in spirit to see "J. S. P." again at the foot of a Washington letter. How are you, and where have you been ? I should have written to you a long time ago, but I have been busy all the season " crying in the wilderness," and to some purpose, too, for we have done a large business in Iowa as well as in the " inductive" State of Maine. Being at a safe distance from South Carolina and Georgia, I look on very calmly. Several gentlemen are to be killed before my turn comes. Oh for an hour of Old Hickory or Old Zach ! Are we to have turbulent times ? I do not exactly see the end, for I am ignorant what the new Administration is to be. Let Abraham put in Corwin for Sec- retary of Treasury ; Pennington, Secretary of the Interior ; and Colfax, Postmaster-General, and we shall have a lovely time. That committee, with C. for chairman, will have an illustrious labor and parturiate a generation of mice. Give me a letter occasionally, with a history of the green-room rehearsals and other items. Who is to be senator from Maine ? Very truly, your friend, Fitz-Henry Warren. James S. Pike, Esq.