Southport telegraph. [volume] (Southport, W.T. [i.e. Kenosha, Wis.]) 1840-1850, 1848-09-29
Webster's NEarsEsfiesd Speech anu
lnr. VAN HssagcEa.

WebStGr'S MGTSkafies0 speech slEas
Nsr. VAN BsareEa.
The great man of the Norrh approaches the sub
iect of the Free Territory movement asthouSh ne
had taken it for granted that but the gteenest
and the most dishonest could ever be drawn into
such movement q Know he says, that the
enthusiasm of new formed party, the populari-
ty of a new formed name, not commemorative oil
any new formed idea, may lead men TO think that
the sky is to fall anu that the larks are suddenly to
be taken. ] entertain no such idea. speak with
out dsrespect of the Free Soil party. | have read
their platform, and thought think there are some
rotten places in ii, | stand on it pretty WE'LL
But see nothing in it which is new andsvaluable
What is valuable is old and what is new is not
valuable"
Now without intending any disrespect for the
renowned Senator there were many hundreds In
the Buffalo convention whose character ior lntelil-
gence, whose knowledge of public affairs, whose
honesty, and whose soundness OF judgement, were
equal to his, howe, inferior to him they might
be in power OF oratory. And none OF them could
say of the Taylor platform what he says of the one
GOT mn At Buffalo None of them " could stand on
the platform " of the Philadelphia convention. 1t
had no rotten places even 1t was not large enough
to be the pedestal of one simple principle good,
bad or Indifferent 1t had no rotten place IN 1t, Tor
it was without locality substance, shape or name
There was nothing in it to be either sound or rot
ten. new or old And furthermore, Mr.. W knows,
and the whole nation knows, that, with the exceP-
ton OF the Liberty party platform, none has ever
before existed having for its object either IN whole
or in part the restriction of slavery or the separa-
ton OF the federal government from all participa
ton in its maintenance and extension. He may
pronounce these issues worthless, if he chooses,
and see whether he can get the nation to consent 10
that doctrine But that they not ne'0 issues, as
the basis for the organization Off political party
what can Justly be called by no very commensurate
epithet,
No grea. party before the one organized at Bof-
alo has had hostility to slavery as its grand prn-
ciple, or even one among the principles on which
its organization and policy were based II such
party has ever existed when was it, or where p
Refer US to its platform. Read to us the pledges
of its candidates. Furnish 70: our instruction
few items at least, of its history in opposition to
the progress of the slave power. Adams, Morris,
Giddings, Slade, &c were men who stood out from
their party, unsupported and unencouraged' and
opposed and prosecuted by their party; fighting
alone in the great cause of freedom.
But as TO Mr.. Van Buren,, =" That should
be found on the same platform with him would be
ludicrous if not contemplate" II never" says
Mr. W proposed any thing in my lie of gener-
al and public nature which Mr.. Van Buren did not
oppose" What a testimony to his stability of
character and consistency of action! But what
wi :ked things he has done ! The casting vote in
the Senate on the law TO authorize the plumber of
the mails. Mr. Webster knew tha such law ne
yer was enacted, and that Mr. Van Buren's casting
vote was solely in favor of the bill going to third
reading in order to its having fair and full dis.
CUSTOM But Mr. w. observes in relation to this
very bill {" do not say that there not the con-
sti tutor al rover in Congress TO pass that Law
And then proceeds to state the circumstances iu
which he supposes such law might become nee
essary In this, the NIarshfeld orator exonerates
Mr.. Van Buren, even of any attempt TO aid in the
enactment ofany unconstitutional. aw,and leaves us
to infer that circumstances might be such that
Mr.. Webster himself would feel bound to vote IN
its favor So much for that wicked thing which
Mr. Van Buren, never did, and so far any one
knows, never attempted to do.
But Mr. Van Buren, managed a matter of di-
plomacy in a manner highly acceptable to Great
Britain Well, did not Mr.. Webster do the like,
and to ten fold greater extent, in the matter of the
Ashburton treaty? Did Mr. Van Buren, erer give
away husdred thousand square miles of territory
to Great Britain. And that with many thousands
of American citizens living it at the time 3
"Glass houses = Mr.. Clay, Mr.. Adams, Mr.
Webster, and many other distinguished statesmen
have, at various times, negotiated treaties highly
acceptable to Great Britain. But none have ever
been more of yielding character than that nego-
tiated bv Mr. Webster himself except the late one
about the contested Oregon territory.
But Mr. Van Buren, annexed Texas. All the
world knows that he failed TO obtain the nomina-
tioa for the presidency for opposing annex alton
MIR. w. charges the sin of annexng Texas first. up
on the friends of Mr. Van Buren,: secondly,upon the
south, who considered him unfit 10 be trusted in
that matter; thirdly TO the Liberty party, acting
in support of Mr.. Birney; fourlhly, to southern
men, and ffthly, to New England votes. He might
have added, sixthly, to the almost Unanimous vote
of the south, aided by enough support from the
north to carry it triumphanty through and to
make the war which il occasioned more general !
popular than any war in which our people ha's I
beeu engaged since that OF the Revolution North
ern wings were, all through, prompt and forward