Washington sentinel. [volume] (City of Washington [D.C.]) 1853-1856, 1856-05-13


the few days we we're together there, were of
the most cordial and frank character.
We come now to the reasons of our change
from the support Of Mr.. HUNTER to that of Mr.
BUCHANAN, which our friend has forced upon
us.
Mr.. Irving knows that at the time we were
so jealous for Mr.. Hunter for the Presidency
we had no reason to suspect his abiliation Nth
the present administration. He knows fur
thermore, our incorporating hostility to it.
In which we think he was himself, at least, a
I" synpathiser." We had denounced the Pres
dent and all those about him, because we knew
and know even better now that they were un-
worthy the continued support of generous
party. We do not profess to lack the sensi
bilities of a rhinosceros, and hence do not mean
to assert that we were not most deeply wounded
nay at the time, indignant, at what we be,
lieved most unfriendly course upon the part
of Mr. Hunter towards us, who, for Seventeen
gears, had been his devoted and ardent friend |!
This we thought was manifested in his vote in
the election Of Senate Printer to the present
Congress. We should have been more than
human not to have felt this blow. Mr.. Hunter
did more than almost any other man to mould
our political opinions, and in years long passed
was our political counsellor and friend We
endeavored to repay it by services which it may
not be mmodest to say he appreciated and was
grateful for The paper which we have edited,
wei had Cd,
sentiment upon any political question that he
did not fully approve and endorse. Even
when his whole delegation, we believe with
but one exception, separated from him on his
land BILL we stood firmly to him, undaunted by
the wide spread popular sentiment against it.
We do not know whether our friend united in
his defence upon this subject or not. Opposed
to the principle ourself, we still believed the
measure proposed by Mr.. Hunter was one ne
cessary to prevent the passage of far more
odlous bill, to wit the Homestead bill. We
knew, furthermore, that Mr.. Hunter had fire.
quently expressed to US his fullest disapproba-
ton of the course of the Washington Union
1t could not indeed, have been otherwise, be-
~.
would have been here, there, and everywhere,
upon every public question before the country
We knew the hostility Of his State to one of the
then editors Of the Washington Union, whom
the support of by any senator or member from
Virginia, was certain political death. We
knew his oft-repeated declarations, that under
no circumstances could he be induced to vote
Tor him, or for any man with whom he had con-
nection. We knew that he had refused to 90
into caucus, because of the association of this
individuals name with the public printing We
knew that the Washington Union had maligned
him, and that the Sentinel had supported and
defended him. We knew that the proprietors
of the Washington Union were his enemies,
and that the Editor of the Washington Sentinel
was his firm and devoted friend. We knew
that he had no reason to place any confidence
in the word of General Pierce, because he had
too often been deceived by himi We knew
that he owed his present elevated position be-
fore the country to the breaking down, through
his friends, of the tyranny and despotic rule of
cdacusi We knew that the Calhoun wing of
the Democratic party in Virginia was bitter in
Its opposition to the caucus system; and hence,
in our humble way, we joined in the crusade
against it, The effort succeeded, and Mr..
Hunter was elected. We knew that the Senate
caucus was created for our destruction, because
there we're no candidates but Mr. Nicholson
and ourself before it and hence no danger of
or o,1y1oeiJioo s1r,,fe- helm, eIeoynJ
Mr.. Hunter voted for us in caucus but that he
knew our defeat was foregone conclusion
before he went into it. Mr.. Irving asserts that
Mr.. Hunter has done nothing to forfeit our
friendship but refuse to ally himself with Free
soiers to elect Mr. Tucker printer to the Sem
ate" Now, it is a fact that we received but
one out of the thirteen Freesoil votes in the
Senate while, when Mr.. Hunter voted for us
before, zoe obtained their entire potei Further
more, at the time of our election in 1853, we
were in as decided antagonism to Mr.. Pierce
and his Administration as we have ever been
since; and yet we received the votes Of Mr..
Hunter and ten other leading Democratic |
Senators All these things we knew. When,
however, without the shadow of a charge of
our leading opponents of iu6delity in our Office,
we were a candidate for reelection, Mr.. Hunter
voted against US, and for those who we're not
only his but our worst enemies.
He does not pretend to justify his desertion
Of us upon any other ground than party oJliga-
tions Party obligations we're not imperious
enough to hold him in the caucus when Mr. |
Forney's name was before it, but they were
sufficiently strong to sacrifice US, personal |
and political friend, under the insoent fat Of
Franklin Pierce.
The work Of handful Of generous and gal
liant friends, who, with the ,ohole Whig oppo-
position, broke the bands Of caucus in lS47 |
and placed Mr.. Hunter in the Senate Of the |
United States from Virginia scanned IN bava