Hannibal journal. (Hannibal, Mo.) 1853-1853, 1853-03-23
Letter Of Messrs. Phelps and Lamb {
Az Col Benton
WASHINGTON, March 10, 1853

| Congress 10 confer OH Indtt0lS VI HiPOte
ance touching the interests Of their constit--
uencv. In obedience to that custom, and
in compliance with your request, we had
the honor to call upon you on the 9th insti
but by mutual agreement tina, consultation
has been postponed until to-day. On the
morning Of the 7th inst, copy Of st.
Louis newspaper, dated March LIST, was re-
ceived, containing copy OF an address
signed by James Lindsay, John ID. Steven
venson, and b. G. Brown, who style them
selves committee of the Democratic MEM
bers of the Seventeenth General Assembly
of Missouri. The reception OF this address,
especially as it contains copious extract
from letter purporting to have been writ
ten by yourself, taken in connection with
your speech at Jackson late last tall; the
resolutions adopted at the last Sth OF Janu-
AIRY meeting OF your friends in st. Louis;
the resolutions adopted by your friends upon
the motion oil COL J. Epes Cowan, in Jetfer-
son county, on the 22d of January last, and
the union ofyour friends in the Legislature
with your approvaD with the Wings, caus-
ing nearly every office in the State, elective
by the Legislature, to DO filled with Wings.
compel US to pause and consider VIVA.
course it is right and becoming for US to
pursue.
We not only believe tho doctrines laid down
| by Jefferson and Jackson are right and true, and
ought to he upheld, but we also believe that the
Baltimore Platform is fair, honest and true
declaration of the principles which will govern
the administration, judging fTom the admirable
exposition contained in the inaugural address Of
IA, "A, ,,,I
advantageously 10 carry ont those doctrines, wa
believe the old Democratic usages, and the old
Democratic organization, the best possible; at
any rate the best attainable during the present
state Of human society. Hence no new party,
no new platform, at variance with the platform
of the Democratic party, cali be embraced by us.
Pray, respected sir, do not mistake us. We
too well recollect that you as well as ourselves,
have been stigmatisod, most falsely, as "Frce
ISoiLers," and no disclaimer, however solemn,
would be received as sufficient by our enemies.
We see, among the actors Of the Jefferson county
meeting, at the st. Louis meeting, in the Legis-
lative coalition formed to transfer the State Of
fees into Wing hands, some of the Identical
"Free Soilers," whose sins We were uniusiy
made to bear.
II is, therefore, with the more confidence we frankly
state 10 you the doubts under which we labor az 10
the course Oh acuon contemplated. 10 preserve haT-
mony and concert feel that it is best candidly and
fully to state those difficulties. We know that, as
Democrat you would never hold party consultation
with wings; and we know your good sense and your
personal friendship will always justify us in frankly
applying to You to resolve any doubts which any pub
lie action necessarily creates For it is only in this
way misapprehensions and wrong nferences are rem
dered impossible.
It would be uncandid 10 conceal the fact that the
reading OF the following sentences, far as relates to
party organization, in your late speech at Jackson,
hlled us with pain and caused some inisgivngs: -.
"IhOre is another branch Of abuse which requires at
tention-that OF the usurpaon Of elections by eau
cuses and conventions, which has also grown up asa
new power and now controls nearly all elections from
President Of the United States down to the most in
considerable county officer, and generally without re-
gard to the popular will and with an eye to their own
advantage lcannot explore this abuse, which strikes
at the foundation Of all elective governments nor trace
through in the States and the countess" .. ,...
"Who knows, except the initiated, that the Iastiem
ocratlc convention elongated ITSELF by appointing a
committee to sit till 1852 yet they did made a COM
. mittee OF their own body-thrty-ona in number-one
ior each State-to sit four yearsther duties sghtup-
on The Fec:Fd-!Feati. the performance" -
"The remedy for the usurpation of tho
elective franchise, is, for the people to tako
n the election into their hands-repudiat
Y caucuSes and conventions, and follow the
: constitution OF the United States as it now
stands, until amended. by giving a direct
votetO the people, and second election be-
tween the two highest, when no one receiv.
ed majority of the whole in the first one,
Better obey the Constitution and let the Levitt.
innate authority decide responsibility batwsen