Richmond enquirer. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1815-1867, 1858-02-05
THE ADMINISTRATION AND THE ULTRA

THE ADMINISTRATION AND THE ULTRA
ISTS.
No higher compliment, NO more truthful tribute
can be paid to the policy of the Administration, than
that with which il 10 daily bonored in the denuncia
tions of the ultrasts, North and South. That Mr..
Buchanan should be opposed and denounced at the
came time and for the came measures, by the abol-
tonists on the one hand, and the dsunoniss on the
other. at once attest, his impartial patriotism bis In
flexible adherence to the Constitution his devotion 10
the Union and his honest representation Of the opn
ions and principles upon which ha elected TO the
Presidency. The contest of 1856 was not a war Of
extremes. It was net between the ultra Southern
men and the ultra Northern men. 1t was not be-
tween the sbolitionists and the dsunlonists. But it
was struggle for the rsius Of government, between
the imbtered enemies of slavery on the part and
the defenders Of the constitutional rights of the South
the other. The ant-slavery party srrayed against
us. was, OF course, an extreme. And so was the
dsunon flank Of the Southern Democracy another
extreme. But still the contest was not between two
extremes. The followers Of Fremont were not met
by the great National Democratic party with the
same weapons which they welded against the insli.
tutonslof the South. They made war upon the Con-
stitu:ion and the Union. We nerposed the Const
tuition to save the Union. They assailed slavery re-
gardless Of the rights OF the Staes of liberty and of
law. we defended it, and used in that defence the
sacred sovereignty of the several States the compact
of oonfsderaoy between them, the rights of property
the spirit fths Government and the letter OF the Con-
sti,uton. On the one side there fansticsn, rad
icsiism and treason. On the other, conservatism,
moderation and regard for the laws Of the land The
followers of Fremont contended for the doctrine that
might makes right" The National Democracy
maintained that ri9Ai makes might. The one was
the party aiming at overthrow of the Constitution.
The other was the party defending and sustaining it.
Mr.. Buchanan was nominated and elected as a na-
tsonai man, whose history pointed him out states
man above trickery, and patriot above prejudice.
He was not the candidate of either the North or tho
South, but of the Democratic party Of the conservs.
tive men OF both sections, of the supporters of the
Constitution and protectors of tho Union. It 10 true,
he was also sustained by the utraists-by ultrasts,
We mean the disunionists Of the South. But their
support was matter of necessity, not OF choice
And now that he is installed in Office, pursuing the
policy with reference to which he was elsot eds
policy that recognizes no sectional pr.judces or pre-
ly of the States, the urasts of the slave States
sssailing him az savagey as the urasts of the free
States. In illustration Of their amiable amin msdver.
sons, we will make extract OF two from elabo-
rate article in the New Orleans Delta Of the 9th
ul;ino:
The Administration has gone Northward for sue.
and support and il has obtained it, The lethargy
OF Southern statesmen, and the treachery of such
whom champions as Wise and Douglas, will only
tend to fatten the insoence OF the Freesoers and
Aboitonists. The Federal ship is on a cruise in the
Northern seas-there lot it sink. The day that its
oaksn knees crack and break, when it's ses.rbs lay
piled among the icsbergs, aud it's rotten panks go
down in the whirling waters on that day will the Cot
and give three cheers The people will be found TO
be sound, if the politicians fe,,er with corruption.
The truth is, the Administration has oct the nerve,
even If it had the WILL to foater Southern interess
and extend Southern territory, by vigorous, manly
and enlarged foreign policy and we are firmly con.
vincsd it has neither.
The "Dslta" 10 evidently exercised TO dangerous
degree on the subject of the "Cotton Ststes," and
their relations to the Union. There is something in
that frightful Ggure about the Fedsrsl ship in the
Northern seas," that repiuds US at once Of DR..
Kanes Arctic expedition, polar bears, waruses and
sslsmanders, and-these lines of Campbell's "Plea
sures of Hope" when
"wraps IN Are the realms Of ether glow,
And Heavens last thunder shakes the world below" &c
THERE'S nothing in "Falconeru shipvre4k" to exec!
that graphic porraturs when Its "oaken knees crack
and it's ribs lay piled among the North
ern ioebsrgs, and its rotten panks 90 down in the
whirng waters!!!" How terrible! How tragic!-
And, oh how vivid the picture For our cotsnpo.
rary of the "Dsta" t talk about icebergs and North
tion of walruses and salsmandsrs. But all evity
aside such vrulent dsnunciatons these clearly be-
tray the fact that the dsunOnists oppose the Admins
tration account of the very virtues that carried it
into power and which still command for it the cor
dial confidence and unfaltesing support Of the
vstive men Of the country.
The "Delta" charges Governor Wise and Judge
Douglas, With trsaehery. To Whist, 20 whom, haa
either Of them been tresahsrousf Ts the South, the
"nelta" Tolld, doubtless, say. But the Ssuthers
people would sooner doubt the "Deltas" sanity than
the fidelity Of Wise. And Douglas may still be
proudly and confidently claimed as our friend. Let
the Union be sundered tomorrow, and we bel;eva
Henry A. Wise would be tho rsn to wnon the
nation. Let the war be made again In contest for
the Presidency between the enemies and defenders Of
slavery, and We believe Stephen A. Douglas would
still be found fighting in the front rank for the Cons,i
tuition and the Union and the Sovereignty of the
States.
The batteries Of the Evening Post" and Tribune
may p5ur hot shot into the Administrston and Its
friends from the North and the "Delta may continue
Its cannonade from the South But the "oaken
knees' of the Federal ship will not "crsck and
break" Her "sea.ribs" will not be "piled among the
iceberes" Her "rotten panks" will not be
up in the "whirling waters" Shile James buchanan
i, at tie hels And consequently the "Cot,on States
need not stand with hat in hand to give the three
cheers the "Delts promises They must wait awhile.
Meantime let them cool of, or there may be spon.
taneous combustion among them. Cotton 10 easily
ignited.
RICHMOND AND NORFOLK STEAMERS.
It isiststed that the swift steamer Curtis Peck will
soon resume her route James river. The hne boat
Gleucove has been running regularly aimee she came
on the line last summer. She is a fast and pleasant
steamer, and commanded by the gallant and popular
Capt. Davis, she is compelled to "go shead daily
line between Richmond and Norfolk 10 necessary for
the accommodation of the travelling public; and We
are pleased to learn that the "Peck" will be out
again.
MR.. EvERErT'S "wASHINGTON" GRAFTON.
We extract the following opinion Of Mr.. Evsrett's
great ora,iop, recently repeated at the New York
Academy of Music from private letter written by
elooutionist. an Englishman by birth,
but an American by adoption:
Il did hear Mr.. Everett-and richer intellectual
banquet never remember to have enjoyed.
He kept me transaxsd for two hours. In common
with an immense audience, BY bis finished classical
oratorv and bis even more finished and chisseled Ian.
eusgs His language seems to me to be the most per-
feet specimen of Ciceronian eequence ever listened
to-and I have beard Canning. Brougham Webster,
~, = N u.-k. .nd Chsnn-anob .nd ali ~