The Ashland union. [volume] (Ashland, Ashland County, Ohio) 1854-1868, 1856-06-25
ssDROP OF DEMOCRATIc
BLOOD ',..THE LIE NAILED.

ried against the Democracy by lying and
misrepresentation by our political oppo-
nents. 1t is the game invariably resor-
ted to when the Democracy present a
candidate for any high public station,
whose private character they dare not
assail. Acting upon the principle that
a lie well stuck to is as good as the truth,
they have but too often succeeded.
Among the many silly falsehoods against
JAMES BUCHANAN which the fertile
brains of our Abolition opponents have
resurrected since his nomination, and
with which they hope to cheat him
out of some honest votes, is the one that
Mr.. BUCHANAN nee declared-they nei-
Their say when or where" that if he
knew he had drop of Democratic blood
in his veins he would let it out" This
foolish charge was first made against Mr..
BUCHANAN in 1928, when he was trium-
phantly elected to Congress on the JACK
SON ticket. It was a " Federal lie p"
manufactured out of whole cloth. The
charge vasro-vamped in May, 1887. A
member of the Pennsylvania Constitu-
tienal Convention, Mr.. Cox, rose in his
place and made the charge, which was
promptly denied by two of MI. BUcHAN-
ANS friecds-Messrs. PORTER and REG
Armand the proof demanded. Mr..
Cox, to sustain himself, published in the
Pennsylvania Inquirer and Courier the
certificate of one ANTHONY McGL1NN, and
an extract of a letter from a certain
GEORGE FoRD. Upon the appearance of
this testimony, Mr.. BUCHANAN promptly
addressed the following letter to the ed
itor of the Inquirer and Courier, in
which he denies the charge IN toto and
nails the base lie to the counter:
WASHINGTON Cry, Feb. 17,}1s3S.
To the Editor Of the Pennsylvania
Inquirer and Courier.-SrR: L have
this moment perused the letter of J. E.
Cox, published in yesterdays Inquirer.
His late official station, as a member of
the convention, induces me to notice the
stale SANDER which he again repeats, and
which InoU pronounce TO be Htterlyt false,
matter from a05at u it may haze
proceeded, or shall procesd. never did,
upon any occasion, public or private,
at the courthouse in Lancaster,
or elsewhere, declare that, "if 1 knew l
had a drop of Democratic blood in my
veins, I would let it OUT" or any words
to that effect. THIS ridiculous story as
,o,thout a Shadow Of. foundation.
The first version of the story was, that
I had used the expression in an Grafton
which 1 had delivered, at the courthouse
in Lancaster, on the 4th CT July, 1915.
The Grafton itself disproved this asser-
ton, and then, after Mr.. Cox had made
it a subject of debate before the Reform
Convention, in May last, one of the pa
pers at Harrisburg solemnly announced
the expression had been used by me
on the floor of the House of Representa-
in this city, in reply to Governor
Floyd of Virginia, and that it could be
proved by a gentleman who had former
~ been a Democratic Representative in
Congress, from Pennsylvania. The scene
is now again shifted to the courthouse
in Lancaster, and a certain Anthony
McGlinn is the witness. He states that
&c a number of years ago, one evening""
whilst 1 was addressing a political NEE
ting there assembled, he heard me use
the expression already stated, "in an
emphatic manner with my right hand ell
evated above my head" He does not
the year when this expression was
used, nor The nam of any other person
who was present at this public meeting.
It does not seem to have occurred to
Mr.. Cox, that if 1 had uttered such q
statement as that attributed to me in the
courthouse at Lancaster, it would have
been heard by hundreds of people-that
it would Immediately have become the
of universal remark and univer-
sal condemnation, and that it would
have been severely and justly comment
ed upon in the newspapers of the day.
Had it been true, there would have been
occasion for him to resort to Antho-
Dy McGlinn to prove the charge, nor to
a conversation alledged by MIR. Ford to
have been held with Mr.. Peter ShindeI,
who, although a respectable, is an aged
man and from a defect of memory, in
cident to that period of life, must have
COMPOUNDED what may have been stated
to him by others, with what he had heard
himself. But 1 again repeat no matter
who has been or shall be the witness, the
tale is utterly, and absolutely false.
Shortly after the SANDER was made a
of debate by Mr. Cox. in the Re-
form Convention, a number of the oldest
and most respectable citizens of Lancas-
ter, without distinction of party, signed
a certificate d%isproving the charge, so
far as it was possible for a negative to
be proved, which was placed and still re-
mains in the hands of one of my friends.
After what had been said in reply to
Mr.. Cox, by Mr.. Porter and Mr.. Reig-
art, who must either have heard the ex-
preston, had it been used, or heard of
it Immediately after, l deem it wholly
unnecessary then to publish this certif-
cate.
Yours very respectfully,
JAMES BUCHANAN.
The following is the certificate refer
red to in the last paragraph of Mr.. b.
cHANAN's letter:
CERTIFICATE.
Several of the undersigned have known
Mr.. Buchanan ever since he first came