Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1856-10-15
Two Points Fired.

keep fixed in the Southern mind as the day of the
Presidential contest approaches. One of these
is the manifest consciousness which has
at last reached the otherwise blinded partizans
of Mr.. Buchanan that he has wholly failed to re-
alize the personal and political popularity prom
ised for him, and the other is, that the high
minded and conservative men who ut one time
deemed it expedient, in the belief of this prom
Use, to tender him a conditional support, have
already, or are daily becoming undeceived and
retracing their steps. 1t is fortunate that the
intimate relation existing between these two
facts renders the establishment of one of them
equivalent to the settlement of the other, but e.
ven if they were distinct, and could be made ir-
relevant to each other, we have before us two
separate combinations of such authority, from
opposite quarters, and of such peculiar appropri-
ateness, that we cannot resist their claims to be
presented ut a single view. First, of the fact
that Mr.. Buchanan has failed to Justify the hopes
of his personal and political strength. The Sa-
vannah Republican, q journal of acknowledged
soundness upon all Southern interests, has a p-i-
vate letter from On able Buchanan clergyman
of Pennsylvania to a friend in Savannah, dated
Hollidaysburg, Pa, September 18th, in which
the following confessions are frankly made. He
first speaks of the evils to be apprehended from
the election of Fremont, and says:
1.-THE first thing to be done is to avert, if pos
sible, the impending danger. How can it be
done If Mr.. Buchanan can be elected-if there
was a fair and reasonable prospect of it-then |
would say drop Mr.. Fillmore, and all minor diff
ferences, and unite upon Mr.. Buchanan. But
am PROFOUNDLY CONVINCED that this thing CAN
NOT BE DONE" "If Fillmore is not kept in the
field and kept hopefully and bona tide in the
field. Fremont will sweep the entire North and
be elected. | do not think there is a reasona-
BILE hope of Mr.. Buchanan takinga single North
ern State" .,
SIN this State there will be but one electoral
ticket opposed to Buchanan, with the agreement
thatif the American vote outnumbers the Fremont
then Mr.. Fillmore will get the whole college,
and pice rersa. / have no doubt that the A
mericans are still stronger than the Fremont-
ers. and for the sake of keeping the vote from
Mr.. Buchanan the Freesoilers are willing to run
that risk. Not because they love MIR. Fillmore
but because they have an intense hatred to the
Democratic platform. They are opposed to
Mr.. Fillmore's nationalism, as much as 10 Mr..
Buchanan's-but their programme makes 1t a
better calculation to give Pennsylvania to Mr..
Fillmore than to Mr.. Buchanan. Tins renders
it unlikely that Mr.. Buchanan can take a single
northern State. But Mr.. Fillmore has a fair
prospect for Penn. ylvania-is pretty. certain OF
New Jersey, and is sure OF Maryland. hls
friends speak hopefully of New York, and in
Tennessee and Kentucky they seem very conn
dent. Now while personally. tor reasons thai
YOU understand) / prefer Buchanan and .3reck.
inridge, yet, as q conservative man-iooKlhg III
the dangers and the interests OF the whole coun.
try-the safety of the Union, and the glory OF
- - c-vlil 49,, fathor chad his blood
in the revolutionary struggle, | feel inclined to
think that it will be better for the South, and the
conservative North, to unite upon the man who
has never been defeated Mr., Fillmore is o safe
national man. He is q tried man. He has done
we'll, and, what is peculiarly important at the
present ~iuncture of affairs, he could rally to the
support of his administration more powerful,
coneruous and conservative elements, than any
ofthe trio in the field"
The reasoning OF these extacts appears to US
to be just, and is precisely what has been grow
ing more and more apparent to all ont the VIII
fully blind daily for the past three months.
Now. as to those Southern gentleman who,
too high-minded to be misled by interested mo-
tiyes, frankly admitted a compulsory accession
to the support of Mr.. Buchanan in the belief, at
the time, that he alone presented a hope OF de-
featinp the insane sectionalism of the North
OF this class was DR.. Stephen Duncan, of Match
ez, Miss, al able gentleman and one having a
larger interest, perhaps, in the welfare and in
stitutions of the South than any man in that sec
ton of State. In reply to a letter ofinquiry, he
TINS writes from New York, on the 18th OF
September:
81 received your letter, end learn from it, that
some letters addressed by me to friends in Mis-
sissippi, in June last, have created the impress
sion that | now favor the election of Mr.. Buch-
anan. 1t is due to myself, and especially due to
nv old friends, that | should explain my course
in this matter. When I arrived in this city in
Nav last, l found the public mind much disturb
ed, and much feeling excited. | became alarm
ed for the consequences, and when wrote my
friends in the South in the early part OF June
last, l thought the crisis demanded that the hrst
consideration, with conservatives of all parties,
should be the preservation OF the Union ana
for the attainment of this great and good OBJ.
iect, that no sacrifice would be too great. 1
thought this could only be attained by allaylng
the sectional strife, which SO disturbs the whole
country, and which, if continued, must produce
the most calamitous results. L then thought,
and so wrote to my friends in the South, that
for the accomplishment of this end it might be
wise and proper for the Wings to sustain the e.
election of Mr.. Buchanan, and thus make his
majority so triumphant, that he would feel him.
self and be President of a Nation and not Of q
partly t1
81 never commended him to the Wings as o
choice, but only as an alternative-as the least
of two evils; for I then thought the contest
would be between him and Fremont alone
Very soon afterwards, however, my views un,
derwent an entire change. l became satisfied
that the success of Mr.. Buchanan would in no
wise tend to allay sectional strife. On the con-
trary, that his election would most likely aggra-
vate and prolong it, through the violence OF his
opponents,-for it is undeniably true that he Is
as much a Southern sectional as Mr.. Fremont q
Northern sectional, candidate. With Mr.. Bucn-
anan's election the agitation would be continued
with Mr.. Fremont's election the crisis would be
more speedily brought to the eliminating. point
NOT simply by his election, but through the
measures of his adherents.
"Since Mr.. Fillmore's return from Europe, his
prospects have so strengthened and improved,
that | think no true Wing can hesitate in his
choice. He is the only one Of the three suited
to the crisis. He is national in tone and senti
ment. On him, and through him, q National
Party may be built up, strong enough to over
ride all others-and especially all sectional par
ties. His friends may confidently rely on his
obtaining the vote of this State. l entertain the
opinion, that the success of all parties hereto
fore, has depended more on their organizations
than on their principles. II this be so, then
Mr.. Fillmore ought to carry New York, for the
party that supports him is much the best organ
lied of the three"
IMPORTANT PoLIrIcAL MovEMENT.-We are
informed that during the past few days frequent
conferences of national Union men from every
State in the Confederacy, have been held in this
city, the result of which is, that a great Union
movement-a movement calculated to crush out
the spirit of disunion now so extensively ram
pantEhas been projected. The loyal men, the
true patriots in the land, are to be brought and
bopnd fooether anew. DELEGATIONS of citizens