Washington sentinel. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1853-1855, 1853-10-04

our political difficulties are traceable to single
cause.-the disappointment and vindictiveness
Of an obsolete statesman, the late Martin Van
Burcn. | don't know when the spirit Of the
enthusiastic antiquarian was more strikingly
exhibited than on the 18th Of July, 1852, when
the Tammany Society after search in the
lebyis of political doings, presented, as curious
fossils to'an admiring world, the names Of Van
Buen and an old acquaintance, Churchill G.
Cambrcleng, who had for some years been
enjoying sylvan quiet in the obscurity so well
adapted to his merit, and SO much required for
the public good. Martin Van Burcn observed
that the "sober second thought of the people
is alwavs right" He should not have com
planned when the truth Of the apothegm was
illustrated by conSigning him to the "prvate
station" after the State of which he was satiri.
cally called the lavolite' had refused to give
him its electoral vote, which it subsequently
bestowed on Mr.. Polk. The politicians Of the
Van Buren school had been so long accustomed
to control political affairs that they thought the
offices belonged to them rather than to the peo-
pie and when the people rcbelled against the
dictator, he did not graciously or dutifully sub
nit, but determined to unfold at suitable
period the standard Of treason. The opportu-
nifty arose in lsl7. Discovering that they did
not own the nation, the Van Buren dynasty
insisted that they would claim at least the fee
Of the State. They proposed to do this by de
manding certain nominations in the Syracuse
convention, the mastery of which body they
vainly strove to obtain. When they were de-
feated in that effort, and not till them they com
missioncd our portly friend, Preston KING, to
act a reasonable part in the convention, and
he performed it in these words: Il will throw
into this convention the frcbrand Of freedom"
The brand feel extinguished and harmless. Ii
Il
the ticket the conspicuous malcontents of the
convention entered on their mission to rule or
ruin. Amongst them was IoHN VAS BuREN,
PRESTON KING, GEORGE RATHBrN, Of Cayuga,
MARTIN GROVER, and others of equal note.--
The CocHRANES, FowLERS and PrRsERs ap.
pcared in later stage of tho drama. They
held convention ON the 10th October lSi7.
at Herkimer, at which the WILMoT presided
His free-soil speech was fully endorsed III the
address and resolutions prepared Iy a commit
tee, Of which JOHN VAN BrRES was one. II
was there that the Prince called the members
Of the convention his "iellow-traitors," and told
them he would not vote our ticket. What he
and his coadjutors called the great principle
of freedom was their only mMto; and it was
under the miserable prctcnce Of advocating that
principle they made their treason effective
The charge Of acting with the wings that had
been made against him is now preferred
against us by certain prints, with facility in
llnruth almost equal to that Of the false and
taithess ErcniHy Post, the conduit for stale
anecdotes and fresh misrepresentation. ]
never think of the editors of that print but
fancy what would be their most suitable en-
ployment--the junior busy in ping faggots
about some victim inundated because he dared
to question their iniallibility, and the senior,
with grim and unmoving face, chanting new
Thanotopsis, while the flames ascended in the
work Of destruction. What said the Prince
"He could not consent to abandon q position
he knew to be just, because wings saw fit to
flock to the same standard, any more than he
would fy from the face of the Mexicans be-.
cause he saw whig reinforcement wheeling
into line His subsequent proceedings proved
that he cared very little who his associates were
if he could but defeat the democratic ticket
He and his tree-soil followers lost us the State
on that occasion. The next movement of the
traitors was their Utica convention Of ls4s,
when they sent delegates to the Baltimore con.
vention Of that year. Amongst these delegates
were VAN BrRES, RATHRrS. and GROVER
The trce-soil doctrine was again declared Cass
was nominated, and the traitors to use their
word. "boltcd" again. Now. came the mo.
ment for MARTIN VAN BuREN's revenge. He
had nutured the thirst for it with the constancy
of Darius, who. because the Athenians had
thwarted him, was awakened every morning
with the I'M junction "To remember the Athe
mans.
On the 18th of July, ls4s, the avengers met
where we meet now. Robert Kelley, their can.
didatc for comptroller now was one of the vice
presidents The yielding and adaptative Dix
sent an approving letter to that assemblage
John Cochranc offered the resolutions, one Of
which was to the effect that he and his fellow.
traitors denounced lin advance all projected
compromises or surrenders of the vital princi.
pie OF freedom, regardless of their origin, their
object, or their extent" and pledging them.
selves to labor increasingly" for the repeal Of
any law for the extension of slavery. The
traitors next appeared at the Buffalo gathering
and agamated with the abolitionists, incu
ding the renowned Frederick Douglass, who
should not have compromised himself by such
an association, because, as he is struggling for
the meioration Of his race, can Justly ac.
credit him with sincerity which his white con-
fedcrates never felt. Then the names of Mar
tin Van Buren and Charles Francis Adams,
whiy, were put on the same ticket. At another
convention in Utica, in September. lsis. that
ticket was adopted. and Dix was nominated for
governor. He was much more decided then
in his inclination to reside at Albany than he
now is to visit France. The candidate for
lieutenant governor. Seth NJ. Gates, an aboli-
ton refugee from the whg party, was nomina-
ted bv Cochranc. On that occasion appeared
another Of the frec-sol managers, who spoke
the other night ut Tammany against time and
the wishes Of his auditory-Mr. Samuel J. Til
den. The chairman Of the committee which call
ed the late Tammany meeting, our old acquaint.
ancc Lorenzo b. Shepard, had not. at the date
last referred to, fallen among the freesoilcrs,
though his feats in balancing, and the prob
lem as to the place of his ultimate deposit were
eliciting the admiration of all who felt an in.
,crest in political gymnastics. Up to this
time, the traitors, with the single idea Of free
soil as their rallying cry. had succeeded in de-
feating our ticket at three elections. Some of
their hungry followers now began to clamor for
place, and it was thought judicious to attempt
a conciliaton with the democracy. Their