The republic. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1849-1853, 1851-10-11

The peace of the country requires this; the Sc
curiy of the Constitution requires this; and every
consideration of the public good demands this.
If the Administration cannot stand upon the
principles of the message, it does not expect to
stand at all."-DASrEL WEBsTER's Letter 10 The
Union Meeting at Westchesier.
.z=============
Colonel Crittenden and the Public Press.
Ii is with the most painful emotions that we
have read and that we publish the last letter
written by Colonel CRIrTENDEN, and address
ed to his uncle, the Hon. j. j. CRITTENDEN,
the ATTORNEY GENERAL of the United States.
No one can read it without a feeling of ndlg-
nation towards the unprincpled spectators, and
their infamous co-operators in the press, by
whose reckless Vaccinations the followers of
LOPEZ were decoyed to their melancholy fate.
Sincerely do we believe, as the dying words Of
the brave but misguided young man, whose
letter is now before us, attest, that the emo
tives'' of the writer, and of those who persisted
with him, were good" But what shall we
say of the men who, by their insidious counsel,
persuaded these young men that ''good mo-
tives' could be pleaded in the forum of conscience
as an excuse for violating the laws of their coun-
tryl What shall we say of such men as HEN
DERsoN and SIGUR, and of such newspapers as
the Delta of New Orleans, when we know that
it was by their efforts, and by the efforts of
men and journals like them, that Colonel
CRITrENDEN and his followers were duped in
TO their disastrous expedition? And the labors
Of this class of men were near adding new
victims by hundreds TO the list of the impris-
oned and slain. Their lying Geographic de-
spatches, fabricated from the start, with not
even foundation in truth, were almost success
full in stimulating new adventures to the
island TO protect or rescue the expedition OF
LOPEZ, after LOPEZ and his followers had fall
en- into the hands of the CUBAN authorities.
1t was not the fault of the spectators in the
generous sympathies" of humanity, and the
lives of the young, gallant, and inexperie need,
that hundreds of misguided men were not en-
barked from different ports of the United
States, to look after the same prosperous rev.
olution," the report of which brought CRIT
rENpEN and his brave friends to their untimely
end
CRIrTENDEN says in his dying breath-'I
,oas dece,red by LOPEZ. He, as ,ceH as the
public press, assured me that the island ,cas in
state of prosperous reroIution." LOPEZ would
have had the power to deceive no one had it
not been for the cooperation of the public press.
LOPEZ would have been unable to rally cor
poral's guard for the invasion of CUBA, in the
face of the proclamation Of the President, had
it not been that the public press was instilling
into the easy and too credulous ear of its
victims that it would be mertorious move
mentof patriotism" and generous sympathy"
to disregard the warning of the EXECUTIVE,
and the laws of the land, and to join in the
Liberation" of CUBA We have the solemn,
dying declaration of young CRITTENDEN, THAT
his blood is on the head of those infamous men
who fabricated the tales that were sent abroad
of the existence Of prosperous revolution"
in the island whose invasion they had planned,
and whose soil their employers had mortgaged
in advance of its conquest to supply the means
of its subjugation. But we will not longer de-
tain our readers from the letter 10 which we
have above referred
"SHIP OF WAR EsPERANzA, Aug. Is, 1851.
"DEAR UNCLE: In a few moments some
fifty of us will be shot--we came with LOPEZ.
You will do me the justice TO believe that my
motive for coming was good one. | was
deceived by LOPEZ. He as well as the pub
lie press assured me that the island was in
state of prosperous revolution.
81 am commanded to finish writing at once.
"Your nephew, w. l.. CRIrTENDEN
81 will die like a man.
sIJoo Conor,I
United States, Washington city"
The letter is lying before us as we write, in
the firm, bold, steady hand of one who was
prepared to "die like man." and who kept
his word. And his dying assertion is that he
owes his death to the receptions Of the "PUB-
Lie PREssi"
Yes, doubly was he deceived by the public
press-in the first instance by the misrepresen-
tation Of the nature and character of the expedl-
ton in which he was about TO engage, as 1t was
understood by the laws Of the civilized world
Herein was the first and most cruel deception
He was told thatacareer OF glory was before him,
and that his name would live in history on the
same page with that of KoscIUsKo and LAFAY-
ErrE-among the "liberators" of mankind
He was told that in the indulgence Of "gen-
erous sympathy" he might look for "higher
law" than the statutes of his country, which in
the conflict might be meritoriously disobeyed.
This was the first deception.
The second was hardly more criminal-the
manufacture and circulation Of false intelli-
gence. It is true, as CRTTESDEN alleges,
that the public press" told him that CUBA
was in a state of prosperous revolution"
We notO know, from other information than
that of CRIrTENDEN, not only that this state
ment was deceptive" but that there was no