Saint Paul weekly Minnesotian. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1858-1859, 1858-09-25
The Policy Of the Federal Omce-h"id-
or. of minnesota.

.r. of MinucsOta.
At the time of HENRY NJ RlcEs eiecuon
e. ,hs Tinted States Senate last winter, it is
well known he was an uproarlous Douglaslte
and the whole Democratic party of Mime
sofa. with few exceptions, were of the same
way of thinking
But after our Senator got to Washington
and the nternacne warfare between the Pres
dent anu DOUGLAS waxed hot and fierce, our
Indian Trading Senator discovered, that to
keep his friends, who were also DOUGLAS
friends, in the federal Offices Of Minnesota, it was
necessary in appearance at least, TO pi'ch
DovGLas overheard AMI go with the freSl-
dental dispenser of offices !
His o,ca interests. involved i'll various ]ooS
recurring favorable consideration in the De-
partmeniS for success, likewise demanded ms
subserviencv to the Executive fountain OF
power!
Some men would have hesitated doing this
on the score of principle, or for the sake OF a
good name before the community, but HENRY
NJ. RICE had been too long in the Indian
trade 10 let such considerations intiut nee him
when the preservation of his power at home
and the replenishing of his purse there, were
both involved in his publicly disregarding
alike principle and good name; and so he
wrote his Slip-of- State Letter, giving in his
adhesion to Mr. BucHANAN's Interpretation
N. Nf 70
Mr.. DOUGLAS interpretation of the same ar
ticle
There were two results which followed
this act. One was that CHARLES l.. FINER
SON. Mr. RucEs principle fugieman and DouG-
LAS fastest friend in Minnesota, was immedi-
ately confirmed in his important and iniiuen-
tia office, as U. S. Surveyor General of Min
nesota: that in two of the Indian agencies,
tools Of RICE and friends Of DOUGLAS took
the places of men not so faithful to either ;
and that generally, the tribe Of federal office
holders already in possession, who were APP
pointed originally as Douglas men, aoere pre-
serred in possession, the only absolute fealty
required vi lnc!n ptluS " WI AsiSHI Will
liberty, so far as he was concerned, 70 sustain
d JUGLAs or BUCHANAN, provided they did no
overt act to compromise the Senator or them
selves with the Administration! The other
result to which we alluded, was temporary
break-otf Of the close friendship existing be-
tween DOUGLAS and RICE, the former in the
first feeling at RICE's detection going so far
as to openly pronounce him "a id scoun-
drel, who had been bought :"
In little while, however, through the in
reference of mutual friends, DOUGLAS was
made to comprehend that RICE was only
Buchanan nan from = the lips outward" and
that though he was then "quartering upon
the enemy" his friends and the federal office
hollerS in Minnesota would do Douglas no
LUa; but would pursue that course Of policy
which would preserce tie Douglas asceadency
IL The party IN Minnesota, and prevent the
President from forming any rartg there at
ell!
We have it from a sure source that this IN
tlceea DouQlas and Rice, though the Little
Giant must be more than ever convinced by
the ntlmation, that his idea of RIcE's innate
id scoundrelism" was one so correct that
it could be sustained by any amount Of proof.
But politicians like DOUGLas do not quarrel
with " the means to an end,' however des-
picable they may hold the means to be
The only question that might at all dis
turb his mind in the premises would be as to
the amount Of .f1Hh to be reposed in the rep
resentations of such man, who might cheat
hiia also just as he claimed to be fooling Blu =
CHANAN, to the top of his heart y
And Mr.. Douglas would be perfectly cor
rect in his suspicious; for it is not to be sup
posed from the known holloy and unprinci-
pied char .cter Of RICE and of his minions
here, that they would be for DOUGLAS mo-
ment longer than they thought it for their
pecuniary interest to side with him! But they
d. think their interests lie with him at present.
They are here not backward in avowing their
belief that Mr. DOUGLAS is bound to continue
il the party the great leader of the North
Western Democracy; and that either under his
own or other mems Presidencies, he will long
will WELD in this quarter the federal power
and patronage-wi2ldi it long after BUCH ANAN
is in his grave and the workings of STEPHENS
of Georgia, and JONES of Tennessee, and
Ill oH
of DOUGLAS in the Illinois contest, convinces
them also that the great Southern wing of
the party are anxious to receive him back
into its bosom. and that he will enjoy even
greater power in the party and with future
Democratic administrations than ever.
1t is because these men thus believe,-be-
lieve he is the Man of Power in the Future
that Mr. DOUGLAS may depend upon the pol
icy Mr.. RICE has caused to be foreshadO w ed
to him, as that of his friends and the office
holders of Minnesota, being carried out to
the letter
Ever since last winter, as we can testify,
this policy of 'doiag Douglas NO HARM; and
of precenting the .jormatioa Of any party for
the President at all in Minnesota" has been
persistently adhered to; and thus far it has
been attended to with signal success.
Mr.. BUCHANAN has been emphatically be-
trayed by his own household. With the
power in their hands to have crushed out
Douglasism as the controlling element in the
Democratic party Of Minnesota, the Federal
office-holders in this State have fostered, en-
Outraged and protected its growth. The
mode of operation adopted by them to at
tam this end, we must however defer tie ex-
position of to a future day.
The IS POOdle,' Barketh at the s. Lugu-