Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1856-09-23
SPIRIT - ~HB MORNING PRESS

The Union applies wet blanket to the OK
citations of the New York Fremont organl
over the discovery Of a document which they
pretend to suppose furnishes strong evidence
to relieve their presidential candidate Of one
Of the numerous charges Of official malfes-
sance connected with his govsrno,shtp in
California. The document is a deposition OF
Mr.. Buchanan given in 1852, in case pend
ing in London, in which Col. Fremont was
sued on four drafts, amounting 70 sis''oo'
drawn by him in March, 1S47, as governor
OF California. /" on the Secretary Of State, MIR.
Buchanan,) and by him protested for want Of
,utbor;,v in " Governor Fremont to make
thu drafts. The Union demonstrates con-
o,usivelv from the official records that the
specihc charge against Col. Fremont, in con.
nection with the transaction referred to in
Mr.. Buchanan's deposition, is in no respect
affected by his proof, and that the Tribune
either igrorsntly mistakes the charge, or it
wilfully seeks to escape from the force of the
Official evidence. Quoting from these records
the Union proves:
'That Mr.. Buchanans evidence has not
Colonel Fremont received from the govern
ment SIG 500, which be failed to apply to the
payment Of drafts. The sequel of the matter
shows how much the government suffered in
the transaction. In the suit, judgment was
rendered against Colonel Fremont for nearly
$50, 900, embracing interest, costs, and DANA
Res. Our government, in a spirit of great
Iberaliry, although it had already paid the
amount of the drafts to Colonel Fremont, In
terposed by special act Of Congress, and not
only paid the amount of the judgment, but
also the amount Of Colonel Fremont's personal
expenses, making a sum exceeding $50 600.
To all intents and purposes this was Colonel
Fremont's individual debt, and afterwards,
upon the settlement Of his accounts with the
government, ne refunded the amount of the
drafts leaving him now equitably indebted in
the sum of S35, 900. This result has followed
from his failure to make the application of
funds which it was his duty to make Mr..
Buchanan's deposition leaves Colonel Fremont
to stand upon the official records, which fix
upon him the charge beyond all possibility of
escape"
The InteLitgencer, in undertaking to define
Its political position. seems fully and painfully
aware of the difficulty it labors under in sup
porting a candidate for the Presidency and at
the same time repudiating the platform upon
which that candidate stands. 1t says:
off political prescription and religious in
tolerance are, as is charged, part of the rit-
usl of the order which has placed Mr.. Fillmore
1t its head, the Wing party, in adopting him
as its nominee, can assume no completely with
such an uncharitable and anti-republican po-
litical creed +"
But if Mr. Fillmore is elected will il not be
. triumph of this same political prescription
ard religious intolerance; and by what po-
litical casuistry will the Wing party evads the
charge Of completely" in this triumph? The
IntelIigsnesr expresses the hope that no one
will understand it in anything it has written
- Intending, either directly or by implication,
TO reflect sught Of censure upon those of its
political friends who, in the absence OF Whig
candidate, and before any National Conven.
ton Of the " hig party had been actually held
or wss reg arded by many as even probable,
have already committed themselves to the
support of another candidate than Mr. Fill
more. Itssys:
g 1t is not for US to judge whether the re-
concentrations of the Wing Convention would
have wrought any change in the final deter
mlnation OF such Wings, patriotic as we know
them to be, had they withheld the formation
Of their decision and the expression of their
deliberate opinions until the present moment
But it is not too much to say that to many Of
them it seemed the part of wisdom and patriot
ism to throw their voices and votes for MI
Fillmore's Democratic competitor, not SO much
from any distrust Of Mr. Fillmore himself, or
of his high capacity for the exalted station to
which he aspires, as because bis prospects Of
success were deemed too slender to render him
an available candidate at q time when, &C.
cording to their judgment, the prevalence of
party opposed alike TO Mr.. Fillmore and to
Mr. Buchanan is most of all to be deprecated.
The conclusion at which they arrived is vim
dicsted no less by the purity of their motives
than by the peculiar circumstances of the
time in which they were called to act.'