Edgefield advertiser. [volume] (Edgefield, S.C.) 1836-current, 1849-08-01
Letter from MIR. Cass.
DETROIT, July 10, lS4:

~, 'SI~'
DEAR SIR: am much obliged TO you
for The extracts you have sent me, and for
calling my attention 10 The remarks Of
some of the whig papers upon a letter
from the editor of the New York Courier
and Enquirer, published in that journal
short Time since, ard in which an effort is
made by those papers TO convict me Of ln-
sincerity. l am sure you will bear me
witness that have been heretofore pretty
patient under similar attacks, some Of
them as remarkable for their virulence as
for their falsehood remarkable even in
this country, where political investigations
are so prone 10 degenerate into personal
abuse; and had supposed as the motive
had passed away with The occasion, thai |
should be allowed reasonable measure of
justice by our opponents, even II my opin.
ions or course should he deemed worthy
Of examination. But the result shows
that have been deceived; and as no con-
sidera,ious Of propriety connected with my
position now forbid me from defending
my consistency, | choose to do so in The
present instance, not only because The
charge is speciously preferred, but because
il is calculated 10 place Inc in false posi-
!. lion before the public.
80 Iehave delayed writing you for some
days, awaiting the return Of Col. Webb,
s VINO sTSpnvz-ou .--au EXCURSION ru,-fne-
Upper Lakes, as I did not wish 10 refer
10 him thus publicly, without previous
conversation with him but ne has not yet
returned, nor DO / know when be, will;
and as | am unwilling TO be subject 10
such impu,alions, without applying the
sproper corrective, have determined to
DELAY this answer no longer. have known
Col. Webb from bis boyhood, and l:ase
never ceased 10 esteem him. Our perso-
nal relations have always been kind. Di.
vided in politics, we have not ceased to he
friends; aud he will be as much surprised
as was at the dlsingenuous efforts TO
convert his letter into the proof Of my in'
consis,ency-an idea, ] am sure, that
never occurred to him. Nothing state in
this letter will be called in question by
Col. We5b; and | may add, that Mr..
Grcely's remarks are written in no unjust
spirit; and though cannoi command his
care TO ascertain .the truth, | DO not con-
dema The spirit Of his article. Whatever
his brethren Of the ..whis press may do, I
believe lie is disposed to do me justice.
! am accused Of inconsistency, amount
ing TO dishonesty, in my opinions cou-
cerning a protective tariff, internal i'm
provemenls, and the extension of slavery.
The first | shall dismiss very briefly. but
very explicitly. The Baltimore resolutions
contain my sentiments On the subject of
tariff. And neither to Col. Webb nor TO
any other man have uttered word in
consistent with them. l voted for The
tariff of 1916; and though there were some
things I should have becn glad TO see
otherwise, land where are there not in such
complicated questions yet gave it my
hearty support. never exchanged word
with Col. Webb on the subject Of pro-
,ec.ive Tariff in my life. Nor does lie say
did. Why he supposed | favored it l
know not. II is enough 10 say he is in
error, as are all who form similar cou-
cIusion. .
In the course Of conversation between
Col. Webb and myself, l referred to the
last presidential contest. and 10 the palpa-
bic injustice which had been doue me by
the whig press and politicians in holding
up my letter to the Chicago Convention
ms an evidence of my hostility to all i'm
provemenls, however general aud neces'
sary. by Congress, and 10 my letter To Mr.
Nicholson as evidence Of my desire that
slavery should be established in the terri:
tories ccded hy Mexico 10 The Unilcd
States. called these efforts the hulnbugs
OF the day, as they were. aud must now be
confessed by every candid map. In neither
Of these letters is there to he found one
syllable favorable to the constructions thus
pul upon them. The letter to the Chica.
60 Convention makes not The most distant
alusion to the question Of internal i'm
provements. A person NAV he The great
est atitudinarian, or The strclcsl rous'ruc.
zionist. and YET have written thar letter
with perfect consistency, simply because
all it does is to decline being present on
,hat occasion. The letter 20 Mr.. Nichol-
s,u examines and denies the power of
Congress 10 pass the Wilmol proviso, and
endeavors 10 show that that measure
would be inexpedicnt and unnecessary,
even it were constitutional. This is its
extent. There is not iu il. from begin
ming to end one word going 10 show my
opinion was that slavery would be eslab-