The Evansville journal. (Evansville, Ind.) 1834-184?, 1844-06-27

DOiS ~@Aho AAO &4OStiOA W iIO4 opOdhNt II
Chair was more a subservient oblation to
the spite which Old Hickory then cher
ishedagainst John Bell-who had previous
ly beaten Col. P. for the same station, and
was the leader of the movement in favor of
Judge Whites election TO the Presidency
than a tribute to the merit or qualifications
Of the individual who by such means and
such ends gained the woolsack, which he
so VIGOROUSLY disgraced by his appointment
of ''size ties" committees, his decisions in
the New jersey case, and his disgusting
partially in awarding the floor on all occa-
stems to his co-laboring tools in partizan SER
Witty.
But Col. Polk, as a stump speaker in Ten
~nessee, was a much greater man than Col.
Polk the member of Congress from Tennes-
see. Until beaten by James C. Jones, or
s4Lean Jimmy," as the Wings called him, by
way of offsett TO the tile of "Little Jimmy"
which Col. Polk dubbed himself with, and
delighted in wearing, he was claimed by his
friends, and acknowledged by his opponents,
TO be the NAPOLEON of stump speakers.-
He could grin and grimace harder, ''cut up
more monkey Shines" tell more anecdotes,
compliment more ladies, kiss more children,
ride further and talk longer than any other
man in the State. But ''BosToN''' was beaten
al last land then beaten again! And so waslCol
P.i J. g. Jones, young man fresh fom the
plough-handles with only four months legisla-
tiveexpeEience in his liie,met the boastful Ma
poleon who had never been beaten, in 1871,
face to face, travelled with him through ey--
cry county in the State, and measured aims,
anecdotes, grins and grimaces with him be-
fore the glorious Teunesseans, and beat him
at his game, and with his own weapons
The fallen Napoleon, not satisfied with the
result, attributingi it to the effects Of the Har-
rison campaign of the year previous, declar-
himself a candidate for another race last
year, and took the field with renewed vigOr.
Gov. Jones met him again, face TO face,
before the people, and beat him by a hand
somely Increased majority,in the largest vote
ever caqtin the State!
I am disposed TO do Col. Polk Justice. As
a private citizen he is amiable, courteous
and kind, and is as honest and upright, no
doubt, in all his social relations, as it is pos
sible for suchan %unsrupulous demagogue i'll
politics, as he has ever been, to be.
In '38, at a Barbecue in Murlreesborough,
Col. Polk made a speech and declared him
selfa candidate for Governor against Gov.
Cannon, at the ensuing election in August,
1880. He made a few speeches that fall,
and re opened the campaign in earnest in
the spring following. He could have been re-
elected TO Congress-, but he had a proper
presentimentfrom the tone ofthe COMPRESSION
II zIaa4sl,- ,rh,,b IoJ .Hox t,l-o. 81. IL.
he could no more fill the Speakers Chair.
In his campaign with Gov. Cannon he pro-
duced many old documents to prove, as he
exultingly proclaimed, the Inconsistency of
John Bell, Bale Peyton, Judge White and
others. On these occasions he would say
sold documents are dangerous thingsm! and
then contrast the course of those be was ira
ducing with his own course. He, he said,
was where he always had been-he never
changed-never found it convenient to
change! Well, he beat Gov. Cannon $500
votes. But when he next run for the same
Office, he found his competitor, "Lean Jim
N.Y." opening a bunch of papers and pro
claiming TO the people, in Col. Folks OWL
thunder, that sold documents were danger
Gus ~things!n He there saw and heard reac
f an old circular, which he issued, under hi.
own name, when first a candidate for Con
f gress, in 1925, in which circular he boldly
advocated the constitutlonality of the Gen
!. eral Governments making internal improve
. ments inthe States, if | recollect Alright, for
\ have seen and read the circular more thai
!. once, and maintained that a branch of thu
National Road ought TO be extended through
Memphis to New Orleans! He there say
e too, his speeches in 1915 against the Sub
e Treasury and in favor of the BInks, contrast
S ed with his subsequ ent speeches for the Sub
Treasury and against the Banks! He foun'
e himself exhibited, also, as having voted il
> 1888 to levy a tax ON Tea and Coffee, whel
there was no tax on those articles, and sub
sequently ridiculing and denouncing an,
slandering a Wing Congress for taxing Te
and Coffee, when in fact no tax of the kin,
had been levied! And at The conclusion G
all this, and much-more like 1t, the peopl'
were called upon to remember Col. Polk
oft-repeaied boast, that he never had change
n never found it convenient to change, buI
II was where he always had been! "Old docu
J. menis are dangerous things!n
i. After Wise Missed that burning denuncia
ton in Col. Folks ear, in the lobby, as b
was leaving the House for the Speaker
y room,-"You are the id petty tool OF ~
rant mean that as an insult; pocket IT,"
D letter from this city-describing the scene
% and saying Gen. Jackson was so much vexe
RS because Col. Polk did not resent the gros
of insult in some way, by throwing his bundl
IS ofpapers at wise, if nothing else, that h
D. would not fulfil his intention of making til
20 submissive Colonel his Secretary of War
ot was published in the Nashville papers. b;
IN lie Peufnn also cnnmenInd unnn the sam