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

Rome in ls49. The free.soilers had among
them John Van Buren, Mr.. Grover and Mr.
Cochrane. An effort was then made to effect
''union and harmony but the traitors had
not yet prepared themselves to abandon their
one principle and lay their banner in the dust
John Van Buren avowed his readiness to har-
monize there, but only because it was Hmuni-
cipal election And there he uttered this me-
lnorabe language: 1T was his duty to make,
on previous occasion, declaration, and if
God spared his life and reason he should act up
to it-that no power on earth should induce
him to support man for the Presidency that
did not believe human slavery to be an unmixed
evil, and was not prepared to use all constitu-
tional means to abolish it." The Prince is not
dead nor insane, and he spoke and labored for
the election Of Pierce. The effort at Romo
failed, but afterwards the trading politicians Of
both divisions of our party, tired Of exclusion
from the spoils, formed unprincipleds and
mean alliance. Prominent in that transaction
was Horatio Seymour, whose reward was the
office Of governor. l have no harsh words for
him. ! look back to the convention of lS47, Of
which he and were both members. / recol.
lect how firm, enthusiastic, and even fierce he
then was in his efforts to destroy the Van Buren,
influence in this State forever 1t was the OBJ
iect nearest to his heart. He has abandoned
his cause, and sought position at the expense
of consistency. He has sealed his political
doom. He will retire from his present position
for private life, falling like Luciter never to
hope again, When the Baltimore convention
again met, and Pierce was nominated, the free
soilers as party, had ceased to exist and all
Of them pretended to approve the platform OF
principles laid down at that convention. Fore
most in this feat of wondrous conversion was
John Van Buren, whose deglutition like his
leisure, must have been greater than it now is;
forthe demands upon his time have been so great,
that he has not yet examined the resolutions Of
his fellow traitors ut Syracuse Iwould like I'd be
present when he examines them, and see how he
rcconciles them withhisrcpeated avowals that he
devoted his life and talents to the cause Of free.
dom, which he has now deserted. History can
find no instances Of total abandonment Of
principle from sordld motives. and for base ends,
similar to that which has stamped the shame
less career of the treesoil party in the State Of
New York. l well remember that the Prince,
in one of his effective speeches, said that he
would be guided in his career by the northern
lights" They faded out when the presidential
sun rose in the east, and men wondered whether
he would turn his face in that direction, or fix
his gaze On the southern cross. l believe, from
the demonstrations made at Syracuse, that his
devotion finally settled upon Mars. But there
is no certainty that new Aurora Borealis will
not restore his looks and his worship to the
point of his first alteration. The free.soilers
profess to have abandoned theirprnciple. What
guaranty have we for their sincerity. What one
of their presses has declared that it approves the
platform which the apostates adopted at Syra-
cuse? The Erenu,g Post, skilled beyond paral.
lei in the expert use of indirect and ambiguous
language, to express one thing while believing
another, found its ingenuity unequal to the task
Of seeming to endorse that platform. No other
journal need therefore attempt prevarication on
this point with the slightest hope of success. /
see no safety for the democratic party but in
adherence III its principles and separation from
and is now injuring us exceedingly. It has
placed the national administration under the
control Of selfish, scheming, and vindictiye
politician, whose Van Buren education has not
been extirpated and who has prostituted high
office to the base purpose Of gratifying private
resentment. Mr.. Marcy, too, is angry because
the people did not make him President. The
audacity of such men is startling. 1t is about
time that the ambitious should learn that no
matter how eminent their merit or abilities,
they have no prescript or other title to the
honors or oticesin the gift Of the people, and that
the people will bestow them on whom they please.
This Is u very plain truth, but our old politicians
obstinately refuse to understand it. One more
lesson will be taught them when the next pre-
sidential nomination is made. We will take
care not to be cheated, and so insure an ad-
ministration capable Of earning honor for itself
while it secures prosperity to the country. We
will not have the treasury of the democracy
expended in appcasing or purchasing Coch-
ranes or Fowlers. We will give practical eyi-
dence of our belief that Presidents and cabi-
nets, the hopes Of the aspiring, and the threats
Of the trcacherous are as dust in the balance
when compared with the-desire and duty ofthe
democratic party to keep its faith unimpaired
and its escutcheon bright. We begin now the
cleansing Of our party from leprous associa-
ton. We submit to the people Of this State
the grave question whether this right of speech
and action are to be controlled by apostates or
Neutrality-suspicious. physical force shall be tho
arbiter in political conventions, and our rights,
as treemen, surrendered to the lawlessness of q
mob And to the people Of this city we leave
to decide whether the rotten corporation Of
Tammany is to keep US in the abject condition
Of vassals and slaves. / have no fear or dis.
trust as to what will be the responses to these
questions. A few words about myself and
will have finished. For the first time in nv
life am the nominee for an elective Office in
the gift Of the people. The nomination is one
which did not seek or. expect and which
would not have accepted if our party, in its full
integrity and power, could rely with certainty
upon the election of its candidates. But in the
cause which we now support, desire the honor
of sharing any defeat which may fall upon the
true democracy. would rather be one Of
three hundred to perish for patriotism in new
Thermopyle, than receive the greatest reward
Of any ignoble triumph. But see no discour.
agcment in the present or the future. If We
be true to ourselves. we, the national demo-
cracy, must and shall control this State, and
the nation. The friends Of the American
Union regard its preservation as the highest
duty ofthe citizen; and whenever and wherever,
and by whatever name they take the field to
discharge that duty, will be Of their number.
So will you; and when our time Of triumph
comes, we will have the glorious satisfaction
Of feeling that our victory has been won with
l. troSt