Nashville daily patriot. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1855-1857, 1856-02-11
MONDAY, FEBRUARY IL, 1866.

There is no particular necessity in criticisiDg
Mr.. Richardson's position Union aud Anaeri
can.
Ay, but there is a necessity. Richard
son was put at the head Of the column of
Pierce administration democrats at the ope-
ming of Congress, as the exemplar and TT
test representative of their claims to ma
tionaiity If.hs unsoundness can be prov
ed, it viii go far to throw a doubt upon
the soundnesS of those who selected him as
their champion and choice for one of the
most responsible stations in the govern
ment If his real sentiments on the slave
~ question can be reached, and they are
found not to accord with the professions Of
his party, it will serve to convict them of
an attempt to impose upon the country,
and especially upon the South, a man who
has held sentiments directly at war with
the dearest rights of the latter, and though
forced to swallow them in the presence of
the Nations representatives, still avOwed
doctrines which no southern man can ac-
cept, and which should have instantly driv-
en- every one of them from his support.
Five years ago, Mr. Richardson held,
that the institution of slavery was the crea-
ture of local or municipal law, and that a
southern man who carried his slaves to new
territory, where such provision for the
right to hold such property did not exist,
the instant their feet touched the soil they
were manumitted This effect upon the
southern mans property, was the inevitable
consequence of his doctrine. When this
record was read in his face by Gen. Zolli-
Golfer, he deliberately chewed it up and
gulped it down without a grimace or a
shrug What for a? Mr.. Richardson, a
statesman, sought to be honored for his
abilities by his party associates, who had
studied upon, spoke upon and voted upon
the slavery question, in all its aspects, sud
denly, in the twinkling Of an eye, with no
new lights to his mental vision, and no new
aids to his powers of investigation recon-
siders his recorded opinions. What for ?
Is there a man so dull as to require this
question to be answered He was at the
head of a cohort of partizans hot in the
chase for Office He knew if he dared to
reiterate his opinions of 1850, that the lus-
cious bait for which his palate hungered,
would wither into Dead Sea fruits. He
knew that his southern supporters would
desert him. Like a true time-Server, he
modified his views to suit the occasion. But
even with his modification, portion of the
South Carolina delegation, with General
Quitman of Mississippi, refused longer to
vote for him. They saw the "rottenness"
which our friend of the Union and Ameri-
can affects not to see. A caucus was call
ed. Mr.. Orr, of South Carolina, delivered
himself Of a speech most supplicatingly elO-
quent to the recusant dissenterS He de-
clared it would never do to desert Mr..
Richardson. u ooOuH be the death Of the
party. They were implored in the name
and for the sake of the party, to suffer the
harness, calling, though it was, to be ad-
justed to their backs. They consented, and
, it was given out, that being satisfied, they
would return to the support of Mr.. Rich
ardson. The thumb-screw is most pow
/ erful persuader Its augmentation is ire
sistible.
! No man with sufficient independence to
reject the dicta of party leaders, can look
at Richardson's remarks as extorted from
him by Gen Zollicof'er, without seeing the
/ 'rottenness" which we attributed to them.
He asserts his belief in the constitutional
/ ty of the WilmOt Proyiso, and the power
| of the Territorial Legislature, to fix, for
/ all time, the character of the domestic in
situations of the territory over which its
power extends. And yet, the Pierce de-
mocracy, continued to support and defend
him, and, at last, reluctantly yielded him
up as their candidate, when he himself saw
that the exposure of his views had irretriev-
ably ruined his PROSPECTS And this is the
party which has the impudence to offer ar
guments to the southern people to prove
itself the peculiar champion of their rights.