Indiana American. [volume] (Brookville, Ind.) 1833-1861, 1857-06-05
A SCRAP OF PoIrrIcAL HIsroRY.

from the Hamilton [.ol Telegraph,
will be read with interest;
Eds. Telegraph; / find among my
old papers, the following letter writ
ten by Gen. Harrison himself. II
may not, at one time, have been in
tended for the public eye, but that
time has passed away, and the distin-
guished men mentioned in the letter
are dead. Both the men and scenes
Of that day, are now part of the his
tory of the country. At the date Of
the lctter, from its tenor, it will be
seen that the aspirants for the Presi-
doncy in the campaign Of 1886, were
arranging tho preliminaries for tho
battle. The war cry was raised: the
combat was deepening. The result
Of that election was, as will be rem
embered, the nomination and defeat
of Harrison who, four years later, was
elected with an avalanche Of public
appreciation. @. X. s.
CINCINNATI, June 25, 1885
DEAR SIR; think l promised that 1
would write TO you on my return from
Indiana, to inform you what were
my prospects in that State. But it is
unnecessary for me 10 do so you
have seen tho manner of my recep-
tion at Vincennes, Charlottesville,
Lafayette, indianapolis, Nashville,
and Brookville. l only repeat what
| was told by those who pretended to
know the opinions of their neighbors
when say to you that in some of
those places did not loave single
Van Buren man except the Office hold
ers, and / personally know that this
exception does not apply to one of
them. f tasi
Twas invited TO many other places,
but the Court of this county, of which
/ have the honor to be Clerk, being
about to commence its session, was
obliged to decline accepting them.--
With the exception of that ut Brook
vile, at none of the public dinners,
was the subject Of the Presidency al
luded to, and / requested that it might
not be done at that place also, but /
was over-ruled.
Upon the whole, you may relyupon
it, that in the event Of my being the
candidate, I might If it were allowa-
BILE carry surplus vote of twenty or
thirty thousand votes to the other
States. The Vincennes Gazette, the
Charlottesville Record, Rushvilie He
raid, Lafayette Free Press, and the
Brookville American will Immediate
ly hoist my standard. Their editors
only wished to give me little law
as the fox hunters say, before they
do so. The indianapolis Journal is
timorous, but its Judgement and feel
ings are entirely with me. 1t has its
eye upon your Journal or the Gazette
at this place. Why, will you ask,
does not the latter move? Twill ans
wer that there is no accounting for
the whims Of Hammond. Iarrived
here last Tuesday, and the next day he
told me that he was convinced that
the time had arrived for him to de-
clare himself, and that he was going
to do so. 1t is not yet done, and tho
/ have seen him daily since, he has
made no explanation of his delay
lie is decidedly of the opinion that
Mr.. Webster can get none ofthe Wes-
tern States. We have, however, a man
who affects to differ from every body
else, and WHO'S, / believe, in the hab-
it of feeding Webster's hopes with an
assurance of success. allude to Mr..
Conover, who with, believe, a desire
to do right, is about as often wrong
as it was his desire to do so. Confine-
ed in his conversation and acquaint-
ance exclusively to professional men,
to use vulgar Western phrase, has
not begun to know anything of the
character of the Western people
Because he meets with intelligent and
liberal men who. contemplating the
splendor ofMr. Webster's talents and
the recent services he has rendered
the country by his defence of the Con-
stitution, forget his early errors, and
particularly those in relation to the
late war, persuades himself that such
is the general feeling towards him.
Nothing however is more erroneous.
There were, from first to last, from
the States of Kentucky, Ohio and In
diana, not less than thirty thousand
men in the field. Most Of them are
now alive and the greater part of
those who are dead have children and
all Of them relations, who have heard
the stories of their services and suffer-
ings [real or imaginary repeated q
thousand times. ..tsS S
Now if we were to take the county
of ---,in the State Of Kentucky,
which, / believe, furnished the great
or portion Of the militia and volunteers
in the late war, and bring the whole
population together, and let II. Clay
mount the stump, and describe Web
ster such as he deserves to be and as
he now is, whatever impression he
might make upon them, IL would all
be rendered unavailing, if one were
TO read tho people the list Of votes
given by Mr.. w. against the measures
for the prosecution of the late war,
such as they appeared in late Car
Isle PA. paper, If, at the conclu-
sion, they did not raise the hurrah
for the killer of Tecumseh, l will then
agree that l know nothing of the char
acter of tho Western people.
At the same time that / acknowl-
edge the superiority Of Mr.. Webster's s
talents, will not admit that he could
conduct the government better than
| could make this remark with
referance to two particulars only, but
which are important, and in which
/ would have the decided advantage.
1st. there are several of the first
men in the Union, who, as believe,
would not servo in Mr.. Webster's Cab
met, that would in mine, solely on the