The republic. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1849-1853, 1851-06-06


which proicssed TO draw the (Rord and risk
all, to determine an abstrsct question of the
law OF nations, concerning which an opinion diff
ierent from that Of our administration held by
all Europe To decide wHETHEa A MAN CAN Elk
PATRIATE HIMSELF on NOT. In the decision Of this
question our administration pretended to feel, a
deep interest The greater part of those foreign
who would be affected by it had long been their
warmest friends. They had been one of the great
means Of elevating the present ruling party, and ii
would have been ungratcful for that party to have
abandoned them.
Superficial observers may suppose this to have
been the real source Of the war; but whoever will
carefully and impartially examine the history of
country, will find its true origin to have been
far different. II took ais rise from the orsripss,ing
PARTIALLY ioich the Democratic party haze uniformly
stotcn for France, and the consequent hatred ichch
they felt against her adversary, England! To keep
this foreign feeling alive has been the labor of
their leaders for more than twenty years. and well
have they been repaid for their trouble for it has
been one of the principal causes of introducing
| and continuing them in power. immediately be-
fore the war this foreign influence had completely
embodied itself with every political feeling OF
majority OF the people, particularly in the West
Its voice as heard SO loud at the seat of Govern
nent that the President obliged either to yield
w it5 VI IcilTc HOm OAuCc Inc CHOICE III
! this alternative easily made by man who
PREFERRED HIS PRIVATE INTEREST TO THE PUBLIC
GOOD. We were, therefore, hurried into the war
utterly unprcpared.
"What has been its result. Exactly what eve
| ry reasonable man expected at its commence
| ment. We declared intention of conquer
| ing Canada; whether for the purpose Of annex
| ing 1t to the United States of compelling our
enemy to yield the doctrine Of impressmcnt, is
| lmmaterial to the present question. Instead Of
| conquering it, we have ourselves been invaded
| in every quarter, and the best blood of the coun-
| try has streamed in defence of our own soil
The very Capitol of the United States the lofty
| temple Of liberty, which was reared and consecra-
| ted by WAsHINdToN, has been abandoned to its
fate by ms degenerate successor, ,oho ought to haze
shed has last drop Of blood in ats offence.
| "After tho administration had entered upon the
war, instead of coming forward with manly con
fdence and taxing the people for its support, they
6assly shrank from their duty in order to maintain
their popularity, and adopt the ruinous system OF
carrying tho contest by borrowing money.
What were the effects of this policy Does not
every man in the country know, was it even dis
| guised by the administration, that the United
States would in short time have become bank
| rupt had not peace been concluded? Thanks to
| Heaven that WE HAVE OBTAINED PEACE, BAD AND
DIsGRAcEFuL AS 1T is, othercise the beautiful strr,c-
t,Ts Of the Federal Government, supported by the
same feeble hands, might haze sunk, like the Capitol,
into ruins"
| Now, in the face of the above opinions and
expressions, how idle it is for the DEMOCRATIC
journals to seek to amuse Pennsylvania with
the idea that Mr.. BUCHANAN stands the
most renfote chance for the Baltimore nonlina-
ton. 1t is not because he has maligned the
earlier DEMOCRATIC administrations that we
consider the above extracts fatal to his hopes.
1t is not because he has charged the DEMO
CRATIC party with having betrayed its country,
from its overweening Partially to France. 1t
is not that he denounced Mr.. MADISON as hav-
ing "preferred his private interest to the public
good"-and stigmatized him as " degenerate
successor" Of WASHINGTON. All this is bad
enough. Party anmosity and perverted views
and distorted judgment might explain all these
things. They involve nothing Inconsistent
with high personal and political honor, how
ever we may condemn their violence and their
injustice to the great men whom MIR. BUcHAN-
AN has SO ruthlessly assailed. But we submit
that any man who, at any period of his life,
can entertain and give utterance to a sentiment
so ignobe as that with which the above ex-
tracts close, excludes himself peremptorily and
forever from the highest honors of his country
| Mr.. BUCHANAN, it is seen in this Grafton at
Lancaster, desecrates the Fourth of .Jtly-of
all the days of the year! by thanking Heaven
| that ''wE HAVE OBTAINED PEACE--BAD AND
DIsGRAoEFUL AS 1T rs!' Peace is certainly
great blessing. 1t is something TO thank Hea-
ven for. Sir PHILIP FRANCIS remarked to
SHERIDAN Of the peace of 1902, that sit was
peace which every one would be glad of, and
| nobody would be proud OFF, and SHERIDAN
| thought the observation clever enough to au-
thorize him to make speech for the sake of in
| Producing it. We can well conceive of a peace
of this description; but it is beyond our power
| to imagine how any one could be glad and CRATE
full for "a bad and disgraceful peace" Bad
and disgraceful to the country, Mr.. BUcHAN-
AN means, as well to Mr.. MADISON and the
administration and the implication is that any
peace, however "bad" and however I" dis
graceful, was with him something to thank
Heaven for! Now, man who thanks Heaven
graceful peace, might make very good justice
| of the peace, and shine in his sphere; the peo-
| pie would think twice before placing him in
situation where he might be called upon to ne
gotiate peace for the nation. In his partiality
| for "peace," he might give us the second edi-
| ton of one alike 81 bad and dsgraceful," and
call upon US to Join with him in thanking Hea-
ven for it,
| The Conventions OF Nashville and Hartford.
In excusing himself for having taken part in
the Nashville Convention, our contemporary of
the Union alludes to this journal as ''the apol-
ogist for JOHN Quincy ADAMS and his Hart
ford Convention Federalism" We have not