New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1858-12-22


wrath snd wine said, ~ We're sold :" The Elder''
being in the plot quietly smoked their Habsnas'
and responded. "'1wiil all come hight IN the eau
"Oh Buck is sound"
After much cOgtStOn, a compromise was erect
ed Scbell 10 to beep his pace-and oe1hVe NM
self-a decision not unlike that OF tue Iish Jury on
an Indictment for bgaIny, d" Not guilty, Dut don't
edo il again" RJdsalI /, 10 be reprlinanJrt and
closely watched--the Sachems to oe allowed 70 take
his scalp # he rebels Tammany u 10 be recog-
nized az reeulsr, and sll other organizations de-
nounce0 as beterolox-Wood and his friends 20
Cease swearing At i. and pegIo 70 swear by J..
Ten or twenty Woodltes are to have berfhs in the
Custom. House. fret acknowledging the supremacy
of the Sscbems And, finally. the tOmshawk is b.
he hurled the pipe Lighted, and each and every
OF the Metropolitan Democracy forever more
70 dwell together in unity. To which programme
all men who know anything of said each and every
will respond, Humbug!"
So il seems that Sche has been saved through
bumiiating concessions, and Birdsall spared tenn
porarily and put on his good behavior the scsplng
knife still cleaning before his eyes. Aud this
ser OF mercy dOled out to these veterans
and martyrs Of stick-st-nOthlng Democracy, by
men who have always scohed az pany DEGREES
when convenience ycDgc9nce dictated that
course, and gone after strange gods whenever their
temples furnished ample spolls to wOrshipcrs.
The vitality. the energy, the tact, the dominat-
ing supremacy Of the SOits, are among the rare
political phenomena of our d,y. Though in 4 nu
meTical minority, they rule the party with inexor
able hand. Always boiling, they erect the party
standards, and selectlts nominees. SwiftOtgrn their
backs on their principles, when to longer support
them becomes inconyenieut, they viii face down
fand look out Of cOuntenance veterans whose life
long Democracy has known neither varablcDess nor
shadow of turning More ready O. cOaesce with
hereditary enemies, in irregular skrmshes than
with nominal friends in fighting the regular battles
Of the party, they nevertheless arc the loudcs to
claim, and the first to clutch, the spolls OF It's
victories. If, by chance, Of the opposite faction
gets snug place, they worry him end back
bite him till he resigns in DISGUST or b0lts
for revenge, when they quietly drop
into his berth They have controlled every
Democratic State Convention in New-York,
and dispensed the local patronage of the party for
ten years past They have excrted wide niu-
eIce over the politics Of the nation. They defeated
Cass in lS4S, and glory i'll il to this day. They
bought Pierce in lcJ2, and put Marcy into pos
Session as his keeper. They compelled him to cut
off BrcnsoD's head without notice decapitate Rey-
polds after horrid mangling on the block, and
beep Dickinson's mob in chancery four years At
the Cincinnati Convection, they looked after
Pierces nomination with one eye, and winked at
BuchaBans with the other. They bore Of the
lions share OF his patronage while the Herds-
good old sOuls-slumbered and slept. They let
Cobb thrust Schell and Blrdsall INTO Offices ~ New
York, Just as doomed animals forced INFO an
anscouda's cage. to BE- worried awhile, then terri
fled almost to death aud inally swallowed whole at
the monsters convenience
The SOits proper the bona 6de Softs have
always been minority of the party even in the
State OF New-York. How, then, have they been
able 70 rule it so long! few facts in their his
tory viii illustrate their policy.
Alter yainy struggling two years 20 control
POlks Administration, the BarnbITners (t0 whom
fhe Softs have succeeded) shiycred it on the
Wilmot rock in lSi7 and utterly wrecked Cass
and the party the following year. In lsi9 they
reantered the regular service. They returned from
BuAso not as repentant rebels but with the honors
and airs of yictors. Ard now they displayed their
rare tact Knowing they were in minority, aud
under the ban OF tuspicOn for past ohensts, tney
systematically commenced undermining the hdehiy
OF ambitious IIuukers, and installing them as the
leaders of the reunited party! In nominating
Conventions, where there was 10 De an
equal division of candidates, they contryed to
select the nominees of both factions. II was thus
that Horatio Seymour, OF the " assaSslns of -
las Wright" was designated by the Barnburners
as the Union candidate for Governor IN lco0 In
1851, John T.. Wright, another oi the ssSasSins,
Wss elected Controller. Hardly Lad THIS bunker
of the Hunhers taken his official seat when he be
came n Soft of the meoWest kind. BY the by II
WAS about this time and in this way that the term
Soft was first used, meaning thereby Hunker VINO
was willing to tr0de Offices with BarnburnrrS, e.
"A SOtt-slPIlPU
Form wss applied 10 the whole Antl-llInker wing
of the party, the liunhers assuming 'no o"''"''-
zeal nance of Hards.
The example of Seymour AID Wright was SO
contagious that il became aimost Impossible I" una
Hunker of sufficiently infeXiblc materlm to re-
FIST the molli, inc effect of official ASSOCIATION WIN
Barnburners. Having been enin,ntiy sncccs'iW
In softening many hard subjects, the maGipuator',
in 1852, tried their haI DIS upon Marcy, the h'an
assassin of "Cato" Wright The bargain was
speedily cOnsummstcd. They were Ia MAKE MN
their Presidential ctnd date tshadc oi all the C"t"s
and he was to slaughter Dickinson ana all MS Ioi-
lowers. IL,
b;cb hrone lit the heads of W right Flasg and Bul-
Ter TO the block, were about 10 set III perpetual
niobt Edwin Cros sell, enc # the most pnnsent
of writers and skilliul o taclcanS, eit me cd9ra
chair of The Albany Argus, shout TINS t!me' Tor
steamship agency in New-forS WIN inc exodus
of CIoswen the braus OF liunkerd"in nv 'ne 'aPth
cozed out. and went down the Hudson with the
tide en- ,
With the election aud subiugation Of Pierce, and
th, STATE and National patronage al command, The
Soits grew apace, till. with Marcy ana h'cnilohd
ard StIyker and Church 10 Pian ana oe, h'oG' aDi
Van Buren, and Shepard and COchrane 1" tdlh, ana
Fowler and Caggcr and Jcwett ana CASSIDY IL exc
cute the, have become the most sSilliul, energeuc
successul set of politicians in the Union. lhey
o. .h fre-eaters Of the North, bent on rule Or
rnn--the Mountsin" OF American parties They
are even more determined and domineerlng Than
the famous faction OF the South, with ITS I""mos,
;ts Dsvis and lis Ketts. They are higher and
brosdt than the French Mountain They combine
the civ cunning OF RobespiefTe, the remorseiess
severity of Murat, the reckless danng oil panton,
the winniu 9 sophistry OF Nergnisud. ToPt against
such men a few Old toges and goodies l,he u chh-
son. Bronson. Bouck and Beardsley, win me hope
that tbey will not be- crushed 10 powder at the trst
enconnter. is to defy fate and invoke the AID oil