The Athens post. [volume] (Athens, Tenn.) 1848-1917, 1857-12-25
THE PROGRESS OF THE WAR.


Forney has got his back up. On Friday
his paper, the Press, pears ssoadside Of a
column and half into the Administration
organ at Washington, denOuncing its 'inso-
lent and dictatorial articles, its eensures oil
the supporters of Walker, and its attempt
[the italics are Forney's Ownl 10 commit the
Democratic party TO the [3illiman letter. doc
trine Of introducing SLAVERY into al me Jree
States, and of holding il there 10 defiance Of
State laws" Forney pronounces the Unions
argument in support Of the Kansas ConstIIu-
tional Convention "a miserable apology for a
g,s., mo,al fraud" and concludes its declara-
ton of independence with the following,
which sounds something like declaration of
war:
.Our able contemporaries have not forgot
ten that after Governor Walker had exposed
the criminal frauds in Oxford and M'Ghee;
when the fire-eaters and extremists were
hunting him down like felon; when all hon.
est men were applauding him for his courage
and his integrity, the Washington Union had
not word to say In his support. Ii was as
silent as death, and dared not so much rs
raise whisper for the gallant statesman, alb
sent from his family and his friends, fighting
against as graceless a set of trcksters MS ever
lived. The Union waited, like a cautious
politician, till the hour came when it could
take vengeance on those who stood by Gov
ernor Walker in that crisis. Aud we, thank
God! we we're among the first to do so, and
SO receive the first stab!
"But more than this. While Governor
Walker was still absent, and nothing was yet
known of his action on the Calhoun contri-
vance, the Union in an editorial ecsiacy that
would rot have been an inappropriate picture
of the signers of the Declaration Of lndepen-
dence, eulogisrd the minority Convention nj
Lecompton, appIsuded their doings as wise,
and sagacous, and statesmanlike, and then
proceeded to present the Calhoun Constitu-
ton to the Democracy of the free States to
swallow, failing in which, they were to be
handed over to the Abolitionists. A few days
after this most delicate piece of editorial
agility, Governor Walker made his appear
ance, and took exactly opposite ground to the
Unon--the ground, indeed, occupied by the
eHtIo uoul w thc bcnociHCy W tho iNotiIi'
Indignant at this, its most reliable dilemma,
and desperate at the scorniu independence Of
those Democrats who will not be dragooned
by any man into submission to confessed
wrong, much less by so awkward a drill ser.
geant as the Union, ii has lost IFS patience,
and attempts to intimidate with an infantile
vigor truly dismal to behold.
awe have only to say, finally to the Wash.
ington Union, that We despse and reject its
censorship. When it speaks of Abolition
sympathes, il should look closely to its own
household. We defend great principle
We oppose no slave States, fairly made. We
resist wrong and fraud, whether exercised for
or against the South. We stand by the au-
thor of the Nebraska bill. Is he an Adolf
ZIONIST! We stand by the Governor of Kan
sas. Is he disorganizer! We follow the
public opinion that elected James Buchanan.
II was not false in lS56-it is not false now.
Supported by such authorities, we can afford
to look down with ineffa5le contempt upon a
newspaper which, like Tom Thumb before m
audience of full-grown men, magines itself a
king, when it is only the puppet of set OF
grasping spectators"