The Jackson standard. [volume] (Jackson C.H., Ohio) 1847-1888, 1855-10-11
Dispatches from Major Downing,
To the Government

| FE, 1000.
DEAR GENERAL JACKSON: (There, wha
an awful mistake I've made / mean
dear GINERAL PIERCE; but my poor ole
brains has been runnin' a good deal to
day on that old and true friend of mine
Gineral Jackson, and | spose that mad'
the word slip off my pen before though
of it.)
The truth is, Gineral Pierce, don
feel satisfied with my treatment, to b.
left here alone all summer, to bear thu
whole brunt of this fllibuster war, saiin
about in these hot climates, where WI
light our pipes by the sun without match
es, and exposin' our lives all the time
and two out Of our men has died with the
waller fever, and not soul s.nt out tc
back me up and help me take Cuba-noj
single war vessel, nor a steamer. mr. a
private fllibuster, nor even so much as
I Bill johnson on pne log with foNlin
piece.
What did you expect me to do! Was
| to pitch into the Moro Castle alone
The whole English fl ct, the greatest
fleet in the world, was afraid to pitch into
Cronstadt, up there in the Baltic. Tht
Two Pollies is brave and sure fire, but
don'tthink it hardly reasonable to match
her alone agin the Moro. though I've
sometimes almost swore | would do it
hit or miss, getting so out of patience
wa;tin' all summer for reinforcements
And sometimes Id have real time
thinkin' of Gineral Jackson, end saying
to myself, if Old Hickory was only at the
helm don mean the helm of the Two
Pollies, but the h, I'm of Government
guess things wouldn't go on at this rate
There wouIdn t be no backin' and film
then; it would be plain saiin' straigh
ahead, and every b,dy would know where
they was goin' to fetch up. fold Hick
ory put his foot down on fifty-four forty
it would be there, and you needn't lool
for it on fory nine. fthe Spanish folk
had took the Black Warrior steamer III
der his Administration, and he had de
manded three hundred thousand dollar
to pay the damages and wipe out the in
sui, the money would have to be planke'
right down on the nail, or the hair woulo
fly some where. And if he had fairl,
made up his mind, as our Congress di
at Ostend and Ax-la-Shappe, that Cub
was as necessary to our Government a
any one of the States, and that we could
mt get along without it, and therefore
"by every law human and divine, we ha
the right to take it if we possessed th
power" the whole business would bee
done in three weeks, and Cuba marke,
down on the map of the United States
But a backin' and fillin' and wrigglir
policy never will fetch any thing abou
and don't rally believe we are so nea
having Cuba as we was six months agC
If Mr.. Buchanan had only been s
home, know he wouldn't have left tn
whole business on my hands alone s
long, without sending the help; but 70
have kept his hands tied all this time
London, so he couldn't do nOthin'. An
poor Mr.. Mason, he's been sick at Pari
and he couldn't do nothin'. And M
Souey has had so many other fish
fry. he wouldn't do nothin'. And as ft
I, , Sanders and Sickles, hear they haV
gone off to Russia, to see about settin
E UP new Democrat C Republic there.
Gle annexing Russia to the United State
They say there is no reason in the worl
, why Russia shouldn't belong to u.s. the'
is such a good chance to run telegraF
I wire across Behring'S Straits So thel
t wasn't nobody left to back me up in til
Cuba business but you and the tabinc
And how have you and they done i
Yes, Mr.. President, how have you doI
it? must speak plain, for | have ha
my feelings a good many times bad
= : worked up. hope there hasn't bee
any treachery in your Cabinet. and
n pullin the rope over the roof of the hou
a at both ends, But things has locke
very dark and foggy to me sometime
You haint sent me no dispatches, ar
= I've had to keep the run of things by Il
It newspapers that picked up here ar
there, from vessels goin back and fort
And when see Commodore Nc CaulC
5 was coming out with "force" sufficieI
is to blow every Spanish cruiser to thunde
and knock the Moro into a cooked ha
!, we had a jolly time aboard the Two Pc
% lies, I tell ye. We threw up our hats al
hoorah'd about an hour right out stra
y Wal, arter week Or two, when we
!" tired of waitin', the fleet come along.