Loudon free press. (Loudon, Tenn.) 1852-1855, 1853-05-13

ability, experience and public services--Mr
/ Wesfster-he could not escape the condemna
tloa OF the mtolerant democracy of Tennessee
1t was not enough that by his support of the
! Compromise he bravely barred his bosom to
the envenomed shafts the inveterate hate, sol
the free-soil leaders of the NOrth-a hate that
pursued him to the grave; he had once adS9ea-
ted ifee-sWl doctrine, and that was suticieDt%ta
consign him to the lasting dspleaSure of tile
whole South; nor could the wings of Tennes-
see be pardoned for their support of such a
ftis.ss hrse attacks upon the Whirs OF Ten
nessee, on accdsttf OF iiteir past assoreIrss'
with reesoilers, were PERSISTED IN to the close o
the election which terminated III the elevation
of Gen. Pierce to the Presidency. Yet Cen
Pierce not only appoints distinguished and no
torious freesoiierS to the highest public offices
at home and abroad, but takes some of them
one at tleas, into his cofdence, to be his Cabi-
net counsellor.
The democracy of this State will soon assem-
BILE in Convention, by their delegates in this
CITY, will they pass resolution approving the
administration of Gen. Pierce? Will they
I dare to do so? Yet how can they avoid doing
SO, without renouncing their allegiance to their
party? VIII the delegates dare to emerge from
the hall in which they shall assemble without
taking ground either for or against Gen. Pierce
policy in his appointments to office? Will they
evade the question? We shall see Mr.. B. said
he had before stated, the wings of this State had
their opponents in the caudine Forks. The al
lusion was to a well known incident in Roman
history. The General of the Samnites, a
people Of Italy, who long defended with Obsti-
nate bravery their liberties against the ambi-
tion and domineeing spirit of Rome, in one of
their frequent wars enclosed the Roman army
! in detile of the Appenines, known as the Cau-
dine Forks, which allowed them no alternative
but to submit to the terms of the Samnites, or
be cut to pieces by their swords The consulS
agreed that the Roman army should pass under
the yoke agreeably to the custom of the times.
and entered into treaty with the Samnites, so
mortifying to Roman pride that the Senate re-
fused to ratify and from that day to this, 1t has
become question Of public morals among
writers on public law, whether Rome, upon the
rejection OF the treaty, was not bound to send
back her army, and restore things to the status
QUO, or to the condition in which they were
when the treaty was made. The democratic
journals and speakers of this State by their
incesSant denunciatOn of the Wings, and of
their candidate. up to the close of the late eec-
ton, on the ground that he was supported by
the iree-sOerS ofthe North, made powerful i'm
preston against him everywhere. The reSultwas
to deprive Scott of the vote ofevery Whig State in
the South and South West Kentucky and Tennes-
see, and thus subjecting him and the wings
to an overwhelming defeat. If the democracy
of this State now approve the policy of Gen.
aiei,ee rI-!,r>;-,trc->t "f diatir--saiahed
iree-soilers to the office, it will become ques-
ton of public morals, what reparation they are
bound in Justice and good faith to make to the
Wings for the greivous wrong they will stand
convicted of having done them. 1t would be ust
that they shall restore the Wings to the cOndi-
ton in which they were before the election; but
that measure OF reparaton was forbidden by the
constitution. Gen. Pierce was now President
for the next four years. Could they do less
than recant their errors, and make an open ac-
acknowledgements Of the injustice they had inilic-
ted upon their whig coutrymen.
Mr. B. said he had before adverted to what
was said in the inaugural and which he approx
ed with some slight exceptions. The excep-
tionable passages he thought rather 81 igniticant
but while great deal might be meant by them
but little might come of them. Mr.. B. thought
the inaugural quite significant, and more remark
able for what was ommtte in it than for what
if contained. One would have supposed that
the tariff, or the policy of prOtectiOng the Ia
Dor and capital Of this country against the re-
dundant capital and pauper labor of Europe, so
long the subject of difference between the whig
and the democratic party, wOuld be deemed
worthy of some slight notice in the inaugural
an address in which, from general usage, the
public expect to see shadowed forth the policy of
the new President upon every subject of prom
inent interest to the country; but not word
is to be found in it upon this subject. River
4l,O
Government as advocated by the wings, was an
other subject Of great importance, especially to
the commercial prosperity of the West. The
expediency of this policy had long been the
subject of animated controversy between the
two great parties in the country, and it was
strange that he did not think it worthy Of men
ton in his inaugural address. Mr.. B. regarded
his silence upon this subject as ominOus. A
wear ago many of the democratic members of
the last Congress yielded their opposition, un-
der n sense of the necessity of doing something
for the removal of the Instructions in those
channels of commercial and social intercourse,
with which nature had so bountifully supplied
the valley of the Mississippi, and some two
millions cf dollars &ere appropriated for that
purpose. This was the only appropriation to
st5il objects for the last eight or ten years. 1t
should be remembered that Mr.. Polk vetoed
every measure OF the kind during his admins
traton Would Gen. Pierce follow in his foot
steps. Would he veto any future appropriation
for such benefcient object. This, Mr.. B.
was sorry to say, might Justly be apprehended.
But why would Gen. Pierce suffer the country
to remain in any uncertainty upon so impor-
tant point of public policy?
Another subject of greater Importance, Mr..
B. said, the President had not condescended
to notice The equal and proper disposition OF
the public lands, since the late and vast acqul-
sition of new territory, had become subject
of great and absorbing interest and Importance.
Many millions of acres had OF late been gran
ted to the new States, to enable them to con-
struct railroads to connect them with all the
great channels of communication, both with
the East and the South, and the propriety OF
making similar grants for the benefit of the
old States, Or such as had no public lands
within their limits, had been seriously aoitated
for several years. A bill for that purpose had
actually passed the House of Representatives.
Yet no trace of Gen. Pierce's sentiments
upon the subject was to be found in the inaug,
ural. Was this by accident or design? Did
he consider the subject of minor importance,
or did he hesitate to express his views upon a
question upon which his friends were divided?
his State Rights friends of the South obstinate
" opposing all such measures. Yet In what
part of the constitution would be found any
restriction upon the power OF Congress to make
distribution of the public lands SO just and
reasonable? The Constitution simply requi-