Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1855-01-10


iiLetter from John W. Forney, Clerk Of the
House Of Representatives, read before the
Tammany association Of New York, on
the 9th Of January.
GENTLEMEN: have the honor to acknowl-
EIDE the receipt Of your kind invitation to the
celebration Of the coming Anniversary Of the
Battle Of New Orleans. + regret that it will
not be in my power to join you on 30 interest
| ing an occasion. particularly when the cere-
monies Of the day are to be conducted under
| the auspices of the far famed Tamany Society
There are many points Of view from which
the character Of Andrew Jacson NAV be stu.
died. Leaving his military achievements to
pen Of the impartial historian, let us, for mo.
mont, contemplate him the Champion of great
principles, and as the Foe Of all eombin atoms.
secret or otherwise, looking to the overthrow
equality among the Sovereign States of the
Union. At moment when for the first time
in our annals, the lead.r rs of federalism exult
at the prospect Of being able to mislead whole
nation by oath bound pledges and confeder-
ated secret orders, the Democrats who remem-
Der or who sustained Andrew Jackson, cannot
take his great example too closely to their
hearts
Never, in the whole range of American Dol
assailed by conspiIacies of ambitious poll.
ticians and revengeful capitalists The vast
interests Of corporate wealth, formidably en-
listed in one grand crusade against the rights
of labor, aspired also to overthrow the Govern
ment of the United States, and to drive the
hero-President from the position he had taken
against their daring usurpations The Bank
of the United States had become gigantic
secret political Institution. Within its lux
III 1a4 20
with their honor and their self-respeot, in or
der to obtain discounts for their business
Around its council board, band of bold and
unprincipled brokers, day after day, and night
after night, struck down all who would rot
yield to their commands, and unite in the
warfare upon the beloved chieftain at the
head Of the Federal Government. This mon
Magistrate of the United States, but refused
to open its books to the just and legal investi-
CATION of its affairs by a Congressional COM
mittee. Who, then, was the defender of the
Rights of Labor? Certainly not vast bank
ing institution which prescribed all mechanics
who would not exchange their independence
for its loans Certainly not corrupt newspaper
editors who bartered themselves in day for
the gold of the tempter.
Then, as now, tho man and the men who
supported and protested these rights, by
~
not upon expediency, but upon principle, were
the President chosen by the Democratic party,
and the long tried statesmen who adorn and
strengthen the Democratic cause. But this
colossal secret inc uisitiOn based as it was upon
the hopes of hundreds of dependent banks,
leach in itself secret society," extending all
over the country, had also united in one kim
dred of interests and hatreds, the adversariss
Of the Democratic party, and had concentrated
in its behalf the fears of hundreds of helpless
depositors and note holders this colossal in
QUESTION, with all its sworn adherents and &C.
cret lies, was not strong enough permanently
to defeat the Democratic party. The catas-
trophe which closed its guilty and its high
handed career, leaving to posterity warning
against all secret combinations for political
purposes, was fastened by the reckessnes s of
it's assaults upon the Democratic party and
by the indomitable fxedness and sternness with
which Andrew jackson met the assaults and
hurled baok into one mass of ruin the infu-
rated legions of the money power.
"Well may we ask Of each other at such
time as this, whether the Democratic party of
the country, when new onset Ia making upon
guaranteed rights, sacred immunities, and
voluntary pledges and promises to the op.
pressed of other lands, and all this in the
name of another secret political society
whether we can long be Frustrated by fanati-
cism and intolerance? Let our answer be,
by recalling and reviving the spirit of the
days of jackson. Let us be worthy of his ex-
ample, and We cannot fail to be equal to more
than existing emergencies Let US BIO firm in
the midst Of detection, firm as he was when
the timid fed and the treacherous betraye rcd
let US glory in the issue which intolerance has
given to us-let us nobly prefer minority, de.
feat, and disaster, to i noble victory pur-
chased by reasonable compliances and by
craven acquiescenee in the offers and demands
of insane and wicked leaders. "Now is the
DAY and now is tho hour" Ours Is the only
national party left to oppose and confront
these combinations. Immortal fame or i'm
mortal shame awaits US, accordingly as VIC
stand fast by the truth or fly before the clam
orous waves of error. But haye extended
this letter to an unusual length.
Fitz Greene Halleck, in mis- odo to Burns,
unconsoiously portrays the character of An
drew Jackson, and, with your permission, I
will adopt his inspiring language on the pres
ent occasion:
"StrOng sense, deep feeling, passions strong,
A hate of tyrant and of knave,
A love of right, scorn of wrong
Of coward and of slave.
"a kind true heart, a spirit high,
That could not fear and would not bow,
Were written in his manly eye,
And Oh his manly brow"
Believe me, gentlemen, very truly your
friend, j. w. FORNEY.