The Madisonian. [volume] (Washington City [i.e. Washington, D.C.]) 1837-1845, 1843-08-17
From the Harrisburg Enqui er & Signal.
MON FOR THE SAKE OF PIIJNDER. -

they go for principle in proportion to interest If any
proof were wanting to sustain this ass ron we
would refer the reader to the fact that some of the
"Union" men despatched a messenger to Coy. Por-
ter in April last, with authority to negotiate treaty
OF peace on the following terms That if the Gov
ernor would veto the bill passed by the Legislature,
giving the printing to the lowest bidder Mckinley u
Lescure, then of the Keystone, would retract all
they had previously said aga INST him, and support his
administration with all the zeal they could command.
Tnis proposition rejected with scorn, as it de-
served to be. Men who would thus Offer to
Themselves are capable Of any imaginable dishonesty
And yet they would palm themselves Oft as publishers
of THE organ Of the WHOLE Democratic party of
Pennsylvania J, Was such impertinence ever heard
of belore'
The Union spoken Of above, is the paper so
much quoted by the Globe, which states thai
Gov. Porter has transferred the Democracy to
Mr.. Tyler, like a flock of sheep.
The Boston Post furnishes capital satire
Pennsylvania:
THE TUB PLOT.
We have alluded to the leagues, conspracies and
plots with which the press has of late been filled
We have hunted up some details of an old federal
revelation Of pretended democratic plot especially
for the benefit of those who seem determined that
there shall be plot and that democrats shall believe
it. 1t is the called the Tub Plot 1t was detect.
ed in 1899, about the time much was said about
g illuminate the French Jacobins, the Wild
Irishmen," "Robnson's Proofs Of Conspiracy"
" Barreul's Revelations of the Horrors of Jacobin-
ism, "" DR.. Morse's ocean massacre sermon and tx
position of French Intrigue Harper's Clues to
Conspiracies,' and other terrible things which JEFF
fyrson mentions in his memoirs. The great point of
alarm to make the people believe that French
cOnspraors to destroy the lib rites of America;
the great federal merit consisted in the detection Of
their various schemes TO effect this object.
In February, 1899, Timothy Pickering then Secre-
tary of State of the United States advised Governor
Rutledge of South Carolina, that four persons had
sailed from Hamburg for Charleston, who were in
the employment Of the French Government and that
they bore about them dispatches Of reasonable
ture. Mr.. Pickering also sent minute description
Of the vessel and the individuals, with the further in
formation that these papere were to be concealed in
t,co false botton,ed tubs" He requested that both
persons and papers might be secured. On the 2lst
of February this vessel the Minerva, Capt. Cramp,
arrived at Charleston, ll9 days from Hamburg She
was forthwith boarded by Maj. Simmons, the colec-
tor Of the port Mr.. William Crafts, U. s. agent for
the naval and war department, with proper asss-
tance"-the usual posse commtatus. The vessel and
passengers were searched, aud the obnoxious indi
vduals Identified and seized The papers were found
as described the letter Of the Secretary of Stale
Says Charleston journal-federa-of Feb. 90:
The tubs were broken open and the papers taken
out the horrors of guilt were depicted strongly on
the countenancss Of the guilty wretches and their
bodies shook with fear and trembling"
There four men-three mulattoes and one
white man-and one woman, "who," continues the
narration, was evidently concerned in the copspira-
cy and endeavored 10 take of the tubs under her
arm" They all confined in Fort Pinckney.
The papers were, In due form, delivered TO Major
General Pinckney, who carefully transmitted them
to Colonel Pickering. These were announced as TO
reign agents, employed by those who were engaged
in a conspiracy against the citizens of the United
States the soul Of which was the famous Talley-
land. Their part of the business was represented 10
be to effect the conhJgrstlon OF the city of Charles
ton and the Insurrection Of the negroes"
The account Of this detected conspiracy flew
like wildhre over the country Then the public mind
lnhamed TO the right pitch TO enable the story TO
gain credit 1t was proclaimed in flaming capitals,
in hand bills and in the newspapers. The frt RI
NOR Of this " plot" received 10 New York, was on
Sunday morning. by vessel from Charleston. The
editor Of the Mercantile Advertiser thought the news
interesting TO the country" to require the Ut
most despatch. Accordingly he issued an extra
sheet We extract the following paragraph from ii
from the Boston Centine of March 9, 1893, into
which 1t was copied:
"ANTIClPATED NEWS.
Mr. King, who arrived yesterday from New York
since mail politely handed MS copies of the subse-
quent handful, published 10 New York Oh Sunday
last -
Office Of the Mercantile Advertiser, March 3, 1899
Sunday morning.
The editor is indebted to a gentleman Of this city,
WHO politely handed him the Charleston Stale Ga
1ette Of the 22d ult, received by a vessel arrived
this morning from Charleston. It's contents are Of
interesting to our country that we cannot
delay moment in laying them before our patrons
and the public We have therefore issued an extra
sheet; and we hope the magnitude Of the subject
will as an apology for this breach Of the fourth
commandment
The hand bill is too long 10 copy as il makes
a column Of matter. Ii goes most infinitely into the
history Of this awful plot, and is duly ornamented
with capitals. The story is fully credit by the fed
eraists and as fully ridicued by the democrats
They seized upon its weak points and characterized
the whole as a federal trick To meet this storm Of
ridicue, the Centnel, Ma oh o. printed the follow
ing which at this day does not seem 10 mend the mat
ter much -
"THE DETECTED CONSPIRACY
at Charleston, is confirmed from all quarters. The
agents are in prison. and their papers sent TO the Sc
eTetay1 of State The confagratiun Of the city Of
Charleston and instruction of the negroes Of the
South are two of the itens Of the coDspiraton. The
early discovery of the plot establishes the pre-eml-
nent vigilance Of our Executive; and 1t is wholly
owing TO the false decacy Of the paragraphists of
Charleston who first narrated the event. that ridicu-
lous levIty has been attached to very serious aiIir
Instead OF tubs the utensils in which the papers
we're cunningly concealed, were those Of goddess,
to whom the French pay their depoirs with an unri-
vailed nonchalancen
This =" detected conspiracy" which was so serious
as to be announced in hand-bs on Sunday, turned
out TO be nothing less than the arrival OF
French courtezan at Charleston. The papers" so
formally transmitted TO the Secretary of State were
| a parcel OF love letters; and two or three sma J
trunks, containing her wearing apparel constituting
her whole property, were magnhed into tubs Of sed
,f
among he slaves in the Southern states
| SO much for the humbug tub plot. Its details were
exposed during the operation of the alien and sedon
| laws when the Federasts represented that the coun-
try was as full of internal traitors" as some of our
Democratic friends would have us believe the ranks