Anti-slavery bugle. [volume] (New-Lisbon, Ohio) 1845-1861, 1849-12-15
Salem, Ohio, December rs, Is4s
Matters in Washington.

~ AAOAA
tend only to the close of Mondays session, at
which time the House was still unorganizcd.-
If farther intelligence reaches us before we go
to press, it will be given in a postscript. The
Presidents Message must of course await the
election of a Speaker. We may get it in a day
or two, or it may not come in n month. Who
can tclls Meanwhile our readers will be Curl
Gus to learn the state of parties, and to under
stand the workings of the cause which has thus
blocked the wheels of government and baficd
for a time the arts of the political leaders. The
great source of difficulty, as every body knows,
is SLAVERY. A very brief statement is all that
will be necessary to show the relation of the
several parties to this ubiquitous subject, and
to exhibit the policy of the Northern and South
ern portions of those parties respectively.
/. The Wigs. They have the control of the
Executive Department, and desire above all
things to keep themselves in power. The Sla-
very question, however, is to them a source of
the greatest perplcxity. The leaders of the par
ty at the South arc impclled, not less by the
force of their own personal inclinations than by
the pressure of public opinion, to insist that the
Administration shall favor, or at least that it
shall do nothing to prevent, the extension and
pcrpctuity of Slavery. On the other hand, the
Northern members arc forced, by tho strong
current of public sentiment among their con-
stitucnts, to insist that the Government shall ap-
pear to bo on the side of Freedom, or at least that
itshall do nothing openly in favor of Slavery
Slavery, is the centrifugal power which is con-
stantly operating to place these two classes of
Wings in opposition to each other; while on
the other hand they are kept together by the
ccntripetal force of q common desire for the
loavcs and fishes of Office. These two powers
used to balance each other, securing thereby the
harmony of the party but the centrifugal clc-
ment-thanks to the fidelity of Abolitionists-
is now augmented to such a degree that the
wire pullcrs on both sides arc puzzled and con-
founded. Tho love of power is as strong as cv-
or, but how to get it, or to keep it after it is
obtained, is the question. Tho Southern Lead
crs dare not yield to the Northern for fear of
FORGETTING the favor of their constituents, and
the Northern members dare not obey the wish
es of their Southern confederates, lest they
should thereby incur tho fierce displcasuro of
those who WELD the power of the ballot-box.-
The old shans arc worn out, and some new ex'
pc1icnt must be resortcd to, or the party vii
go to pieces.
The Wing members of the House held
caucus on the Saturday night preceding thu
meeting Of Congress, to nominate n candidate
for Speaker. They were no sooner gathered
than Mr.. Toombs of Georgia offered a resolution
plcdging the party to oppose the Wilmot Pro
viso, the Abolition of Slavery in the District, &c
laid upon the table, whereupon six Southern
members, viz: Cabell of Florida, billiard o
Alabama, Morton of Virginia, and Stephens
and Toombs of Georgia, left the caucus. Rob.
ert G. Winthrop, of Boston, a Doughface
though not quito enough SO to satisfy the South
was then nominated for Speaker.
2. The Democrats. The Southern element
in this party is stronger than it is among the
Wings, but the same causes which are producing
confusion and division among the latter arc also
operating powerfully upon the former. The Nor,
thcrn leaders, since their discontinue in the late
NN'ACh OSIii w
Gus efforts to rally the party once more upor
the platform of Non-Intervention in relation
to Slavery; while at the same time the South
ern Democracy have managed to keep the reins
in their hands, in the hope that their Nor
thern associates, by means of the old machinery
of the party, and for the sake of a few crumbs
from the table of their old masters, could be
made to yield to their wishes. The game has
not worked as well as they expected. They
were indeed able to nominate for Speaker a man
after their own heart, (Howcll Cobb of Georgia)
but they did it by a mail vote, and the task of
electing him they did not find SO easy of accom-
plishment.
3. The Free Sellers. This party has nine
members of the House, while there are several
others whose sympathies with it are sufficiently
strong to weaken the force of their attachment
to the old parties. Mr.. Julian of Indiana being
detained at home by sickness, the Free Sellers
proper number only 8 but this is just sufficient
to give them the balance of power between the
old parties. They, too, had their caucus, nomi-
mated Mr.. Wilmot of Pennsylvania for Speaker,
and resolved to stand by their principles and
each other to the last.
The three parties, thus organized, went into
the election. Cobb, on the first ballot, and for
some time thereafter, had the highest number of
votes. Winthrop could not command the full
strength of his party either at the North or the
South. The Free Sellers cast s ballots for VIII
mot. The number of scattering votes on the
first ballot was Ia, of which 6 were cast for Mr..
Gentry of Tennessee by Southern Wings who
would not vote for Winthrop; two by Calhoun
Democrats, who would not vote for Cobb and
the remaining G by Mcssrs. Campbell and Crow
ell, Free Soil Wings, of Ohio, and cleveland
of Connecticut, Doty of Wisconsin, and Peck of
Vcrmont-Free Soil Democrats m m