The republic. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1849-1853, 1852-10-04
The Certified Candidate.


that his character was blank sheet Of paper.
on which the party could record whatever in
scription suited them best. His recommends
ton to the country was, that nothing bad could
be said against him. 1t was not pretended that
he had ever said or done any thing worth re-
membering.
A little inquiry showed, too late, that both
calculations were erroneous. His political
character, instead of being the spotless thing it
was supposed to be, was found to be disfgured
with bots SO wide and deep that they defed
all attempts at erasure. Still he remained the
Negative Candidate. He was not a hero. He
was not an orator. He was not friend of in
ternal improvements. He was not consistent or
satisfactory on the slavery question, or the
Catholic test question. He was not friend of
the old Indian warriors or their widows or
children. He was not generous or just toward
the widow of General HARRISON. And, finally,
he was not distinguished for single quality of
craftsmanship while in either branch of Con-
gress He was, therefore, fitting type Of
what CARLYLE calls the everlasting No.
General PIERCE now wears another charac
ter. He is the Candidate of Certifcates-the
Certified Candidate His friends have exerted
themselves 10 procure certificates from tavern
keepers and clearinghouse keepers as to his
moral character needless, and, to our minds,
a most unseemly proceeding. They got up Ger
tifcates Of soundness from Messrs. FORSYTH
and SouLE. They produced Freesoil certifi
Gates of his friendliness to the South. They pro
duced a Concord certificate on the Catholic
question. Some Of these led to certificates of
an opposite character. Thus there were mass
of certificates to prove that he did utter Free
soil sentiments at New Boston. There were
certificates Of several hundreds of New Hamp-
shire Catholics to prove that he never had been
their friend, and that his party always had been
satisfy the most tender conscience. They were
sufficient, certainly to establish his reputation
as the Certified Candidate.
The Catholic certificates are the only ones
Just now under discussion. The moral certif-
Gates appear weekly, to order, but with them
we do not NEEDLE, except to deplore their pro-
duction as the poorest compliment that can be
paid to General PIERCE. With the Catholic
statements the case is otherwise. They per-
tain to a great public question, and though not
, necessary to strengthen the record as published,
they are too important to be passed over with
GU, notice, more especially in view Of the course
which the Democratic press has pursued in re-
ference to them.
Democr.+;. - ue remembered, was O
lures. OF these one nsa I. bore thirty six sigma
to be a forgery; two others are doubtful. Coun
acknowledgements General PIERsE-fol
lowed with two hundred and forty signatures
and this morning we add another with one hun
dreI and enc names attached. 10 destroy the
effect of this overwhelming testimony against
the Democratic candidate, his friends are assail.
ing the manner in which the signatures are al
legged to have been procured; but, so far, with
out any thing like conclusiveness or effect. The
accusations against the promoters of the most nu-
merously signed certificates are, in fact, only
echoes Of charges advanced and established
against the promoters of the Democratic Ger
tifcate. We quote the statements of two New
Hampshire papers upon this subject. First,
from the Concord Statssn,an of the I'd Instant
"These are days of certificates, and this number
Of the Statesman contains one signed by 10l Irish
men, Of Concord and vicinity, who hold that Gen
Pierce has not manifested any such peculiar desire
for the abolition Of the religious test to entitle
him to the regard of good Catholics. There is an
essential difference between this certificate and
that signed in Gen. Pierce's behalf by the thirty
six Irishmen a few weeks ago. The men who
signed this paper did it Of their own free will
while Of the thirty. six, nearly or quite three.
fourths of them are employed upon the Concord
railroad, and therefore signed under a degree of
constraint which essentially abrdges the effect the
document might have, wherever the fact is known
that it was signed mainly by men who work for
the Concord road, the officers of which are strong
friends of Gen. Pierce.
1T is hoped the Wing press in the Middle and
Western States will do all in their power to crcu-
late this document as widely a possible. The
Pierce and King party in Concord regarded the
certificates signed by thirty six Irishmen as their
best electioneering document Of the campaign.
We are informed that orders were transmitted
hence to various portions Of the country, directing
that suf6ciency Of copies be printed in handbils,
to post at the corner Of every street, and put into
the hands Of every Irshmen. They boosted here
that that certificate would be the means of electpe
General Pierce.
"Give this certificate of the one hundred and
one Irishmen an equally broadcast distribution,
friends Of ScoTT and GRAHAM; and it will complete
ly neutraEe the certificate of the thirty six. Thisis
the free-will testimony of one hundred and one
Irishmen-that the constrained certificate Of ope
ratves on public corporation in this town"
The next is from the Manchester american
of the same date:
1.-THE Union Democrat lie in very bad temper at
the denunciations of the Irishmen Of Manchester
and although it presents not fact to controvert
them. INDUCES in vague and rambling iDsinua-
tions and charges Its balderdash Is prefaced
more fraud and SO far as it means any thing, it
charges that the document was obtained by mpo
stion upon the Irish The following, aside from
being entirely false, discovers 1--WE regret TO say)
very respectable accomplishments in Billingsgate:
".He General Pierce) has labored ai,oays 10 re-
the illiberal disabilities imposed upon Catho-
lies by our constitution, and for motive under
heaven but to promote the right and remove the
wrong; yet these very men, at the instigaion of