Nashville daily patriot. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1855-1857, 1856-05-31
ASHVILIE:



Mai. DoxELsoN with still being Van Bu-
rem Democrat, and one that seeks to revive
the contest which once marked the strug-
giles between the Administration Of Gen.
jackson and his Wing opponents. Under
this signature it is asked: "Zf aid Clay
Wigs, for the gratifoatiOn Of old unlind-
ness against the Democratic party should
ttrOu Themselves into the embraces of Major
, Donaldson, sohO boasts that he IS still a Van
Buren, DemOcrat-that he left the Democratic
party because II had abandoned It's former
principles, and that he still enteytains all has
old feelings Of arersiOn to the old Wing par
ty" Now, we venture to say that there
is no politician, of intelligence in our coun-
try who will not detect in all this profes-
. sion of tender regard for the Wing party,
a real design to help toward the coalition
which constitutes the latter-day Democ-
racy.
In the first place, we assert that it is not
true that Maj. DoNELsoN, either now or at
any time, ever boosted of being a Van
Buren, Democrat or any other sort of a
Democrat. He refused to follow Mr.. Van
Buren, into bis Freesolism, in the same
manner that be did Mr.. Calhoun into his
doctrines of notification and secession. He
refused to acknowledge the doctrines pro-
claimed by the Nashville Southern Con-
vention, in the same manner that he did
those of the Syracuse Convention, which
met soon after, each declaring, in substance,
that the true theory Of State rights placed
the maintenance of the Union and the
Constitution at the mercy Of any one of the
States composing our confederacy.
Maj. DoNELsoN stood in good faith by
his party until he found it engaged at the
North in building up such men as Gushing,
Sumner, Chase and Rantoul; and at the
South doing the same thing for such men
Cheves, Rhett, Davis and Soule. Does
this look like Boosting that he is still Van
Buren, Democrat? Is this the conduct
which can excite the ire of real, genuine
old Clay Wing? We think not. 1t looks
to US that, in doing these things, Maj. Don
elson can have offended none but those
who are engaged in the great juggle by
which the present Administration of Mr..
Pierce cheated the people and came into
power, and expects to continue his dynasty.
1t is in the recollection of many of the
citizens of Davidson county, that Maj Don
elson, in speech delivered just after the
adjournment of the Southern Convention,
eulogised Mr.. Clay for the prompt and de-
csive part he took in the passage of the
compromise Of 1850 In that speech he
said if Gen. Jackson were alive, he could
not do otherwise, as a consistent politician,
than join Mr.. Clay in his efforts to put out
the frebrand which had been kindled by
the ultraistS who had arrayed one section
of the Union against the other. 1t is also
notorious to all the country that Maj. Don
elson carried these sentiments with him
into the Washington Union, and that it was
because he did SO that he was denounced
by the men who now have possession of
the Federal Government, in the name of
Democracy. In the presence of such facts,
we must be allowed to express our surprise
that any individual claiming to be an old
Clay Wing should be found engaged in the
miserable work of bolstering up the pre-
tensions of the present coalition of nullif-
ers and abolitionists.
Just before the nomination of Gen. Scott,
the Hon. JAMES G. JONES, of Tennessee, in
a public speech at New York, was unbound
ed in his praise of Mr. CLAY as the great
friend of the Missouri Compromise, and of
all the leading measures which had saved
the country from the Vaccinations of its
domestic enemies. In that speech Mr..
JONES went even further than ever Mdjor
DoNELsON did in invoking the indignation
Of the public against those politicians who
had eSpOused the cause of notification and
Must this Hon. Senator take back these
sentiments, in order that he may be quail
lied to take the stump against Fillmore and
Donelson, and help such men as SOule, of
Louisiana, Rhett, of South Carolina, and
Stevens and Toombs, of Georgia? This is
about the sum and substance of all that the
Union and AmerioaH's correspondent de-
mands under the signature of ian old Clay
Wig"
If the old issues between the Wings and
Democrats were still pending, about the
expediency Of bank, or a high or low
tariff, there might be some foundation for
.he assertion that the old line Wings could
not consistently support the nominations Of
the American party. But in the present
state of the country the assertion that true
Wings can only be consistent by voting for
The worst features in tne creed of their old
is triaing with the name of party
What is there in the platform of the Nation
Al American party that is offensive to pa
riot and statesman, no matter how he may
nave stood in other days as true Wing
'r true Democrat. Instead Of lighting
low about bank or a tariff, we are con-
lending for the existence Of the Union.
Instead Of enlisting as partizans Of Clay,
or Jackson, we are trying to main