Juliet signal. [volume] (Juliet [i.e. Joliet], Ill.) 1844-1???, 1848-10-03

uOoHuOn cdnuluaie LOT PRESIDENT. Now
what would like to know is, by what
system oflegerdemain that name has been
hauled down and that of Martin Van
Buren, run up in its place? And here we
are reminded that the Buffalo convention
has adopted new platform and by its
committee OF conferees--by the pledges
of Mr.. Benjamin F. Butler that Mr.. Van
Buren, would adopt their platform, the
magic wand has been applied to John P.
Hale-he has been nosed out of his place,
and the man who has always been styled
such en- arch magician has been able
quietly to take his place. But the '.Buffa.
10 Platform" they tell us has enchant.
ment about it. And what is it. To Law
the foundation of a national party, it
should grasp at subjects commensurate
with the territory, and objects proposed
to be effected. Is this the character of
the Buffalo platform. Suppose you in
quire OF them their opinions upon a ma
tional bank, the reply is 81 am in favor
OF free SoiL' What do you think the best
plan of raising revenue to administer
the government? free soil by all means.'
What do you say of the assumption of
debts by the national government! "Free
soil forever" How about the exercise
of The veto powerl "F'ree soil of course"
Doyou think the proceeds of the public
lands sho'd be distributed among theStates?
''FTee soil is our motto" Would YOU 90
for moderate revenue tariff or a high
protective tariff or for free tradel "Free
SOtL and the extension Of the ordinance
Otl767, to the territories of California
and New Mexico. Now, my friends sup.
pose The event of your success, could you
administer the government in this way?
must you not have some principles? Then
what is that great Buffalo Platform" of
which we have heard so much! To Dor.
row an apt idea | cannot find any thing
that looks so much like it, as to suppose
Martin Van Buren, is the platform, and
that Is erected upon four incongruous
legs. One of these may be said to be
Joshua X. Giddjngs, the boiling wing
leg-another Joshua Leavitt, the simon
pure abolition leg-anoiher John Van
Buren-the legOf the rowdies, and the
last though perhaps not the least, the
gentleman who attended the Buffalo con.
vention as one of the orators, who we
have been told by my friend here, once
presented a petition in favor of universal
suffrage, to Gen. Cass who refused to
sign 1.-THE amiabe odoriferous Mr..
BibO, and this is the woolly headed leg.
This makes up the platform. But my
friends let me advise you not TO try to
stand on it. 1t is so slippery you could
not keep your feet under you for a mo-
ment unless you had spikes in your heels.
No one ever yet fried to stand on it that
did not slip off and bump himself most
Justify, and if you try il now, you will
meet with the same fate.
Ny friends, have cndeavored to an.
swer some ofthe particular objections you
make 10 Gen. Cass, and my desire has
been 10 do so in the utmost spirit of can.
dor and truth. l lay no claim TO infalli-
bility--I claim nothing of the kind for
Gen. Cass. He may be mistaken in his
views upon this particular question of con.
stitutional power-l may be mistaken in
mine. But in the expression of such
sentiment, Gen. Cass certainly has the
honor Of keeping very respectable com.
pany. Mr. Madison. in the 36th number
of the Federalist says: Congress have
undertaken to do more they have pro
ceeded 10 form new States to erect tenn.
porary gDvernpents to appoint officers
for them and TO prescribe the conditions
on which such states shall be admit.
ted into the conlederacy. All this has
been done, and done arifhout the 7east color
Unconstitutional authority" In his letter
to Mr.. Holmes, speaking of the attempt
to exclude slavery from Missouri on its
admission into The Union Mr.. Jefferson
says. San abstinence too from this act
OF power would remove the jealousy ex.
cited by the undertaking of Congress to
regulate the condition of the different
descriptions ofnen composing the state"
"This certainly is the ercluSiUe right of
every state, which nothing in the constitu
ton has taken from them and given TO the
general government" Now / do not
claim such men as Madison and Jeffer-
son to be the equals of some of the mod.
ern geniuses who in their brilliancy OF
intellect, are appealing to your sectional
pFejudices, hut they are appropriate CON-
pany for old fashioned men like General
Cass.
But if it should even be in your unbi-
ased opinions, that Gen Cass is mistaken
in his views upon constitutional power,
does this afford any reason for the excited
hostile array that is attempted to be pro.
duced between north and south? Will
you allow me for one moment to reverse
this question. We have already seen
there was but one free state at the organ.
ization of the Union. Now, suppose
when New York, alter the adoption Of the
constitution, was legislating for the abo.
lition of slavery within her limits, that