The Lancaster gazette. (Lancaster, Ohio) 1846-1852, 1848-09-01
The two Lives.

adelphia North American, has recently
charged General Cass with knowledge, il
not participation 10 the fraud which was
justly characterized by Mr.. Hannegan as so
utterly villainous, Of issuing two sets Of
lives in positive contradiction with each
other, upon the most vital and absorbing
question ofthe day.
The charge was advanced upon the au-
thority ofa democratic member of Congress
and contradiction was boldly challenged
But, up to the late period of the session at
which Independent writes, Aug. l0,) no
one has dared to deny the statement which
he has 30 repeatedly made, and which so
deeply effects the democratic candidate for
the Presidency.
Such being the case, Independent once
more comes cut and renews the charge, and
expresses his determination to continue it
until the people fully appreciate this base
fraud and the connection of General Cass
with it. He givesthe following particulars
and the name of his informant, Hon. John
Wentworth, prominent supporter of Gen.
Cass.
"The story is told in very few words,
and | present the authority now, when all
witnesses are on the spot, that may vindi-
cate all that | have stated aud am about to
reiteratc should 1t be questioned in any re.
spectacle quarter.
81 mean to say, then, that on the day
that Mr.. Mangum exposed to the notice of
the Senate the deception in the two editions
of the Life of Gen. Cass, that the Hon.
John Wentworth volunteered, in the pres
ence Of one or more Whig Senators,
statement to this effect: that he purchased
at the Office of the Congressionl Globe doc
uments for circulation in his district, and
among others, the Life of Gen Cass, issued
in he month of March. ........
"Upon examining the sketch, he discov-
cred the extract from the Nicholson letter,
with commentary by the biograPher, I'M
favorable to the Wimot Provso. Fearing
the political effect of such a document in
the free States, and being himself Wilmot
Proviso man, he called on Gen. Cass, and
represented to him the dangerous tenden-
cy Of circulating the publication at the North
General Cass informed him that it should
be corrected. Sometime afterwards he
had occasion to visit the Congressional
Globe Office, when he was informed that an
edition Of his life had Just been published
better suited to his district, accompanied by
the voluntary remarks, that the first sketch
had been issued to secure the nomination,
and the other to secure the election.
This is substantially the statement made
by Mr.. Wentworth, aud it furnishes the
most incontestable evidence that the inser-
ton and suppression of the matter relating
to the Wilmot Proviso in the different edi-
tions of the life of Gen. Cass, was wilfnl
and deliberate fraud, concocted for the
purpose of which he was entirely cogniz
ant.
"Thc metropolitan organ has attempted
to treat this conspiracy with indifference,
as if fraud so monstrous, and touching a
question so delicate, was matter for badln-
age. Iapprehend that the honest people
whom itwas designed to deceive will think
otherwise, and push it with the sever
est reprobation. At all events, every man
who respects the obligations of integrity
and honor in politics must rcpudiate CON
nection with party whose candidate, or
responsible leaders, could be guilty of con-
irving and executing a fraudulent scheme
like this" .....