The republic. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1849-1853, 1851-05-19

moustratc the necessity of further legislation to
guard against evasion or abuse That opinion, 90
Ia az know, remains entirely unchanged, and
will be acted upon steadily and decsivey. The
peace of the country requires this; the security OF
sthe Constitution requires this; and every conside
ration Of the public good demands this. II the
Administration cannot stand upon the principles
ofthe message, it does not expect to stand at ALL
fDArrsL wEssrER's Letter to the Union Meeting
ct Westchssfer.
Mr.. stanton, OF Tennessee, and Democratic
Discords.
The Richmond dynasty and Mr.. RHETT
find it very difficult to whip in even the south
ern Democracy to their views on the River and
Harbor question If those views are predi-
Gated on the resolutions of 49," and the
..civil revolution Of lS00," it is clear enough
that thew are both at discount with the De-
mocracy. 1t is not the residents on the Mis-
sissippi and the big lakes alone who are chatting
under the doctrines Of the Abstractonists on
this subject, but the Democrats Of Texas and
of Tennessee are up in arms against them.
We published the other day letter from Mr..
Howard, the Democratic representative from
Texas, in which he took the boldest ground I'm
favor of the River and Harbor bill of the last
session-the bill that was defeated in the Sen
ate by the active opposition of SoULE, GLEN
EMS, and HousToN, and the equally fatal,
though covert and indirect, hostility of Senators
CAss and DOUGLAS. That bill, Mr.. Howard
said, did not go in principle beyond the
bills that were signed by General JACKSON
of hio odu ctr Ho
was not only in favor Of the bill as it stood,
but he was decidedly in favor Of sugmenting
its total by additional appropriations for the
Trinity, Brazos, Guadalupe, Colorado, Rio
Grande and Red rivers But Mr., Howard
was consistent He did not consider, like Mr.
CAss, that there were no local objects in his
own State, and promise to go for 'Black river"
at all events; but he went for the whole bill,
and defends it on principle in all its provisions
On this question he occupies different ground
from that of Senators RusK and HoUsroS, and
that of the central organ of the Democratic
party.
But Mr.. Howard is not the only southern
Democrat who has abjured the anti-improve
ment doctrines Of the Virginia school. We
observe that MIR. STANTON, one of the Demo
cratic representatives from Tennessee, has
come out pretty strongly on the subject in
recent speech at Memphis. In this speech he
took ground against General TRoUspALE,
the Democratic candidate for the guberna-
torial office, in regard to the Compromise
bills. He alluded, with much humor. to
the charges that had been made against him Of
keeping bad company, and of being found
alongside Of CLAY, WEBSTER, and FILLMORE,
upon the conduct of all of whom he passed a
warm eulogium. He then passed to the dis
cusson of his votes on the Rirer and Hdrbor
bill. which he defended as entirely constitu-
tional. Here he took broad ground. twas no
more breach of the Constitution to improve
the navigation Of the Mississippi than to build
lighthouses to improve navigation on the At
lantic seaboard. In brief, Mr.. STANTON main
tanned not only the constitutionality, but the
Justice and expediency Of the system Of internal
improvements by the General Government, as
embodied in the late bill. He said he had
given the votes objected to because he was i'm
PEELED to that course by the convictions Of his
own judgment and conscience. While he would
be proud to merit the approval of his constitu-
ents, and his party especially, he would never
consent to be either the tool or the slave of a
party. If they wanted such they should norni-
nate another candidate, for he would never de-
grade himself to such standard.
Now, it seems to us that here are somewhat
formidable indications that the anti-improve-
ment doctrines of the old Richmond dynasty
are falling into pretty general contempt When
we see such thorough-going DExocRArs as
Mr.. HowARD and Mr.. STANTON setting up for
themselves on the subject, and going full
length with Mr.. FILLMORE and Mr.. CLAY,
il looks very much as if il would prove
losing game for the DEMocRArIc leaders
10 press this point very strongly against
the popular sentiment. And yet it was made
the topic of Senatorial Democratic caucus, at
which it was deliberately resolved that this
bill should be defeated, for the express purpose
Of rallying the Democracy upon one of the old
fashioned DEMocRATIc issues. This was a
day or two after Mr.. RHErr had denounced his
DEMocRATIc associates for going over to Mr..
CLAY and his friends. In order to show that
this was not the case; to meet the views Of
RHErr, SouLE, Mason, and men of like politi-
cal crotchets and to harmonic upon some COM
,n,,n ground of opposition, the River and Harbor
hin Vas sacrifced but il was sacrificed with
out procitiating the concurrence at which it
aimed The northwestern Senators who
copnived at its defeat have been called to a
pertty severe reckoning by their constituents;
and we find DEMO CRATIC representatives from
the extreme South taking open ground in favor
of the measure, which is denounced by the
central organ of the Democracy as the grossest
possible violation Of the true DEMOCRATIC
faith.
We are inclined to believe shat the DDso"