The daily Madisonian. [volume] (Washington City [i.e. Washington, D.C.]) 1841-1845, 1842-02-19


utter these dsunion sentiments and over again
The first time w lliamsburg during the first
year Of Mr. Van Burens Adminstration-perhap
the second for he does not mean 10 be precise in
gard TO dates" And YET, although he had no memo
ry for dates he undertakes 10 give from memory alone
only the general tenor anu effect Of my remarks
but syllabus Of my iohoie argumeAH Mr. Harrison
knows the tate of a witness who proves too much. II
this was private conversation, shame to him for hay
ing used fla public one, how does happen that
no other man can be found who heard 1T
But when did this occurl lie is sure il occurred
in The spring OF the year preceding the conversation
board the steamboat, and he thinks in the first
or second year Of Mr.. Van Buren's Admin. stration"
Now that conversation is said 10 have occurred while
Judge Barbour on his way TO hold a court in Nor
folk he was then the District Judge of Eastern Vr-
ginia Judge Barbour was appointed to the Bench Of
the Supreme Court in March, 1886, SO that the con-
versaon alluded to- if held at all, must have been
held in the fall Of 1885. Mr.. Van Buren, inau-
gurated in March 1887 and consequently the
vssalon could not have been held either in the first
or second year Of his Administration. This fact
proves either that such conversation was held
at all, or that Mr.. Harrison, whose memory cannot
within two or three years OF the right date, In
period of little more than six is not 10 be relied on
when he undertakes to give from memory alone, the
syllabus ola long argument SIX months more remote
in date
As to the harangue the banks of James river, it
is ridiculous for commentary The young gentle
men educated at William and Mary College will
pond to this charge in all parts of Virginia See the
statements of Messrs. Crump, Jones, w Peachy, and
Speed.
There yet remains the conversation "in some pri-
vate conveyance" between York and Williamsburg
Has Mr. Harrison forgotten that this some private
conveyance was carriage, sent by Col McCandlish
to York for my use, and that understanding that Mr.
Harrison there, without conveyance, and anx-
ious go To Williamsburg, sought him and in
vited him to take seat with me. This is the fact as
he well knows, lie eds emphaticaily my guest No
such conversation he mentions tcas held during that
ride but whatever the conversation was, what are
TO think of the hch, unasked and without any
fair pretence, he volunteered to make Of il Mr.
Bolts, in his first card in the Integencer says that
'iflt can be established by even plausible evidence"
that is "a retailer OF private conversations" he
is ready to "admt that it is Just cause for his excom-
munication from the society of gentlemen" Mr..
Harrison is the witness against himself and upon his
own evidence hand him over to Mr.. Bolts for judg-
ment.
The next witness is Mr. Garter NJ Braxton He
into this business unnvited and he could
sonably complain if he should receive an intruder .
treatment However, prefer to submit any question
of this sort, in which he and concerned, TO the
gentlemen. of Lower Virginia, where we are both
pery ioeH knOlnn. His testimony is quite too ndef-
mite, to time place, and circumstances rise to the
dignity Of evidence and indeed ii TO have been
thrown in only as make-welght. AS he charges me
with having proc aimed in the streets of populous
town, a doctrine and opinions startling to all who
heard Them am surprised that other witnesses besides
himself have not been found TO say what they were
Let his statement 60 for what 1t is worth.
The remaining witness is Mr.. Edward w. John
ston cannot repIess my establishment at the state
ment he has given. No man living has less night than
himself to speak Of my political opinions. With him,
at least, have had intercourse MOI correspond
ence IRON which he could derive the least information
upon the subject As to his statement that was not
selected as writer for the Southern Review because
it rumored' among my close friends in South
Carolina that went beyond nullIfcation and had de-
termined 10 devote my future life to the Of dis
union he to have been the only person who ever
heard such rumor 1t could not, imagine, have
been generally credited since actually selected
merely a writer, but the sole editor of that
very Review Those who feel any curiosity upon
the subject may see the prospectus, with my name to it,
by applying to any connected with the late firm OF
VIM. w. Moore & Co of this city. In regard to
my g CLOSE friends and my connexion with the null-
ers Of South Carolina and all that he has built upon
that supposiiion it is without the shadow of founda-
ton Some of those nulHfers, leaders and prominent
actors in the scene, are now here IN the two Houses
of Congress- and they all concur in affirming thai
Mr. Johnston has been quite too hasly (to say nothing
worse of ~ in all hat he has stated touching my sup
posed conneYIon with them. had no close friends"
among them and never had the least communication
with any of them As it is this part of Mr.. Bolts
publication which gives it all its real Importance |
shall leave Mr. Johnston to be disposed of by the hon
orable men whom he has assailed in order to reach
particularly invite attention to the correspondence
{ !,
Preston, w. Thompson, now Minister TO Mexico,
Rhett, Caldwell, w. Butler, S. Ii Butler,. Pickt MS
Holmes, and Sumter, and to the letter Of the Hon.
r. M. Saunder. touching the matter | per-
ceive that Mr. Johnston has found it necessary to ex-
plain his testimony In the Independent of the
| 9TH utmo he says
| " He never said that he always knew Mr.. Upshur
10 be open and aboveboard in his advocacy of disco
luton of the Union. He believed him to be in favor
of dssouton but that belief was stated in the letter
| ha 4, Ia
| inference from facts which are there detailed
Indeed Then my political principles are to be de-
termined by the "opinioaS and differences of Mr. Edw
| w. Johnston And the beauty of the thing is, that
| the facts upon which these 'opiuions and infer
enc, 81 are founded, turn out to be no facts at all
| am next assailed upon what are supposed to be
the corrupt and disorganizing doctrines Of certain
says, under the title of Revolution in Disguise. -
| As Mr. Edmund Rutiin of Petersburg has publicly
claimed the authorship of those essays, leave to him
the task of defending them This is one proof among
many, of the rashness of Mr. Boris in making grave
charges upon too slight inquiry into the truth of the
supposed facts on which he rests them
Such are the proofs in this case | was called on
to answer the charge of having avowed dsunon SEN
timents in conversation with Mr. Boris at parti-
cuar time and the only witness who pretends TO
prove 1t is my personal enemy, with embtered pre-
| JUDGES against me and my opinions, and who acknow-
lodges that he did not hear oue-haf that passed
This ground not adhered to and other witnesses as
sail me upon all the passages of my past life Every
unweighed expression, every hasty and unguarded
word caught up at random, and without the conte xt
| which would explain it, has been hunted up; and
how much has it shown; | have been condemned
upon the writings of another man, while my own,
acknowledged and known to be mine, and in which
my opinions have been published and again
have been left unnoticed. cannot but regard IT as
wonderful, that, considering the peculiar nature of
my principles, which exposes them to misc onstruc
ton considering the freedom with which tley have
been always expressed, nay, the hot zeal with which
am charged with having obtruded them out Of sea
son, upon unwilling hearers, they have yet been so
distinctly laid down on all occasions that among the
thousands who have heard them fully explained,
Mr.. Harrison alone has been able to misunderstood
| them
In life of itly-two years, half Of which has been
cd with nohics nj This dny