Daily American organ. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1856, 1856-07-23

tend, and whose single eye Tor has O1c,t share o
the cargo had on former occasion, when he was
intrusted with the place Of first mate, rendered il
extremely doubtful whether he was not looking
out much sharper for his own private interest:
than for those of his owners. In the last war he
volunteered on board British prvateer, and swore
that Madison was humbug and an imbecile. In
this craft he became infected with Abolition opn'
ions, and on his return to his farm with his prize
money, he volunteered again, under the black flag
of the Free-soilers.
Then he cavorted about " in general way for
some years, and finally, after the fashion of many
other old Federalsts Frustrated himself at the
feet of General jackson. The General, at first,
was disposed to treat him civilly, presuming that
he had repented Of his early sins, but in a few
weeks he betrayed him into the awkward affair
with Henry Clay, known as the bargain and cor
ruption swindle;" and from that day General
Jackson withdrew his confidence from him, and
sent him to Russia to get him out of his sight.
After his return from Russia, he entered the United
States Senate, where, if he had been honest and
patriotic he might have been influential. But one
of his first acts was an attempt to cut down the
wages of the men who navigate the ship Union to
ten cents day. At this proposition the whole
ship was In commotion--the old sea-dogs who had
sailed with Washington and Adams, and Jefferson
and Madison, made tremendous uproar, and sang
out that any man who would insult them with an
offer Of ten cents day was an internal land-lub-
Der, and not fit to command a wood coaster much
less ship-of-the line, like the Union.
II. Al. n. 4 Al
completely aback and beyond few private ope-
rations in the smuggling line, the people heard
nothing of him, until, Gen. Jackson being almost
dead, Mr.. Polk was persuaded by Martin Van Blu
rem, (another land-lubber of Undertook, who ran
the Union ashore in 1910, high and dry,) to give
him the place of first mate. On this voyage, as
already intimated, he looked out so sharp for his
own adventure, which he had slowed for security in
one Of the staterooms contrary to the rules of the
ship, that on several occasions he endangered her
safety and that of all hands on board. He became
SO unpopular in consequence, that when he tried
in ls4s, and again in 1862, to obtain a captains
berth, he was oyerslaughed as incompetent and
dishonest, and placed on the SHELF
And here he remained, until in an evil hour the
New Hampshire Horse Marines, who sent Buohan-
an Minister to England While in this position,
instead Of attending to the business intrusted to
his charge, he went on private cruise to Ostend,
with Sickles Bowery boy, Frenchman by the
name of Soule, and queer fish from the Blue
Licks, by the name of Sanders. AT Ostend they
"bobbed about for some time as merry as pick
,,ooLata opd ohont aa bnnaet- ;naoY,,ucb oa tbav
finally concocted grand scheme of land piracy, or
nothing more nor less than for the United States
to steal the island of Cuba, whenever she thought
it was necessary for her comfort.
Conceiving that he had acquired glory enough
by this piratical project, Buchanan began to think
it was time for him to come home, and apply a
third time for the place Of commander. So home
he came, and Capt Pierce being voted non compos,
and Cass too old, the Democrats, headed by a fell
low named Rynders, in the employ Of Belmont, the
Jew, to whom he had pa*ned his clothes and
watch, at last determined to give him chance
for the head berth on board the Union. So they
put him up and agreed to stand by him-but when
he was fairly underwegh and with tolerably good
breeze on his quarter, more than half of his back
ers deserted and went over to a chap by the name
of Fremont who had never been to sea in his life,
but had spent great deal of the public money in
riding up and down the country on woolley
horse, manufactured by Barnum out of a ackass
and a couple of sheepskins-pretending to be
making great discoveries-none of which were of
any consequence, and all of which had been dis
covered by old travellers before Fremont was
born.
Fremont, being the son of Frenchman, also
receives the support of the Irish and Germans, who
are as great land-lubbers as himself, not one of
them knowing the difference between the flying
jib-boom and the main-yard, and as ignorant of
navigation as Pottawattomie Indian.
Thus stands the matter, then, at present. The
good ship, meanwhile is pitching and tossing with
breakers under her lee, and night is coming on.
The sun has set with fiery eye, and the voice Of
time to be lost, if we would save the ship. Pierce
has surrendered the command in despair, and his
inebriate crew are already plundering the stores
and the cargo. Buchanan, gloomy and disheart-
ened, peers bl0ar-eyed through the storm, and
doubts whether he can manage the helm, unless
Forney, and Sckles, and Slidel, and Sanders will
stand with him on the platform. His eyesight is
not SO good as it was when he was on board the
Royal George privateer, in 1914, and his arm has
lost its former strength.
Fremont fool-hardy and inexperienced, declares
that the storm is nothing to what he witnessed in
the Rocky Mountains, and offers to relieve the
ship in half an hour, if the command be intrusted
to him. But the old sellers who served under
Washington and Madison, Monroe and jackson,
shake their heads. They gather together in
groups upon the forecastle, and cast long and anx-
;oro lnoka 10 windward The ahin oroapa "a ;tb