Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1856-07-31
Can Old-line Wings Vote for James
Buchanan?
Ia the Editor nf the Relrnonf Chron,ele


furnished such fund of amusement, as Il
willy and incessant efforts made to indut
Old-Line Wings to wheel into the Dem
cratic Ranks. We are reminded very stron!
ly of the tactics of the Party in "A, whe
the "Old liberty Guard" were piled from II
same quarters with seemingly earnest argu
ment and honied persuasion that the VIII
Party and its gallant leader were unworth
their support, and entirely unsafe, and tha
(since they would not cooperate directl
with the Democracy, a position of "mastel
y inactivty," and of seeming neutrality
would be most safe and consistent.
The success of their tactics in Al, an
the mischievous results of that success, are
felt and deplored by none more deeply thar
BY many or most of those who yielded to
creduous ear to their selfish and dema goGi
appeals then. What is there in the presen
position Of the Party TO render it a safer o
more honest counsellor noW? party whicn
nh eritipg the name but fortunately not nea
all the better spirits of the old Democratic
Party, has progressed so rapidly in a certain
direction that one who, in 1874, was amonl
its most earnest, able, and brave defenders
speaks of it now only as the Bucanierins
Party, a title every way appropriate as in
dicating the name of its chosen leader and
the nature Of its foreign and domestic policy
What is there in the men or measures O
such party to win for it either the respec
or sympathy of men who have ever beer
Whig from association or conviction!
Can late important political act of its
Candidate for the Presidency be mentioned,
which taken in all its connections, woulc
commend itself to the Judgment and intel.
ligence of Whig as an act he could con.
s'stenlly endorse!
Where among the prominent men Of the
Parry is one who has been more emphatic
ally party man, or more proscriptve!-
What man of the same standing has shown
less sympathy and respect for Whig men
and measures, or less fairness in dealing
with either! 1t is needless to particularize
here. ny one who is moderately posted
il the Political History of the last 80 years
must realize the truth and feel the force of
the declaration, that taken in any possible
way, JAAEs BUCHANAN is among the last
men whom, if du e -egard was paid to a
decent, modest consistency, old-line Wings
would be asked to support.
For illustration We may refer to his rela-
tions with HENRY CLAY. Up to 1874 Mr..
CLAY was, to greater extent perhaps than
any other man, the "great embodiment" of
Wing Principles and Policy. Yet HENRY
CLAY, proverbially generous as he was, was
pursued by Mr.. B. with treacherous hos
tility, from the early connection of the lat
ter with the Democratic Party until Mr.. C.'s
defeat in IA, which has no parallel in the
political history of the time, and this too,
when but for Mr.. CLAY's generous forbear-
ance, he might nave ruined Mr.. B. political
ly forever, and when it was in Mr.. BIS pow
er, and the most common instincts, and i'm
pulses Of the man of nice honor would have
impelled him, to do HENRY CLAY q simple
and obvious act of justice, in relieving his
from a slanderous and but too
fatal charge, of which Mr.. BUCHANAN more
than all other men was the author and per-
petuater. HENRY CLAY, unfortunately for
Mr.. B. has left on record irrefutable evil
dence of this fact. Al your readers are
familiar with this evidence, / will merely
refer N this connection to letter written
by Mr.. C. in 1851, which exhibits, to
degree, his estimate of Mr.. B, though his
characteristic generosity leads him to speak
much more mildly, than the magnitude OF
the wrong perpetrated by Mr.. B. would
warrant. In writing to friend with refer
ence TO the approaching Pre- esidenta Canvass
he says Of CAss, "he has quite as much
ability. quite as much firmness, and l think,
m uch more honesty and sincerity than Mr..
BUCHANAN" CLAY's Private Correspon-
dence p. 6l7-62o.
With all the evidence before him which
Mr.. c.. has left, how Wings can so far prove
false or recreant to their early convictions
or their present regard for the memory of
HENRY CLAY, as to endorse Mr.. B. by as
ssIing to elevate him TO an vffice to which they
once tried, not 10 elevate, TOR he .oas far aboue
it, but to elect. HENRY CLAY, is one of
those curious enigmas which one who puts
a high estimate on human nature, will find
it uery difficult to solve.
But were there nothing personally objec-
tionabe in Mr.. BUCHANAN, the present
"status" of his party and of himself as the
Representative of its policy, are 80 entirely
at war not only with the domestic policy Of
the late Wing Party, but with that just and
honorable conservatism, that sensitive and
generous regard for the rights of others in
its ADMINISTRATION of foreign affairs, which
"hallows the name OF Whig," that the
Wing who supports it not only falsifes his
former professions, but ..does deep dishonor
to the memory of The noble party of which
he was once a member.
If in framing its Platform, the Cincinnati
Convention had intended to do special dis
honor to the old Whig Party and infict
wanton contempt on it, and to gre express
sion 10 sentiments in direct antagonism,
every way-to Us spirit and policy, it could
not have succeeded more completely
than in presenting the Platform which has
gone forth to the world as the Programme
of our next National Administration, should
our government again be entrusted to the
Party which in the last three years has over
thrown 4 conservative compact which for
many years it had professed to regard as
something too wise and sacred to be even
questioned; whose unprincipled and bung-
ling diplomacy has disgraced our good name
abroad; and whose administration of
home affairs has engendered civil war in a
recently organized Territory, insurrecticn in
a distant state, and Indian War on our
Frontiers, as well as depth and extent and
bitterness of sectional agitation never be-
fore known in the history of the Country.
We may analyze briefly the Cincinnati
Platform. What first strikes US as show
ing a want of hcn"c;t:o- ~