The Ottawa free trader. [volume] (Ottawa, Ill.) 1843-1916, 1858-04-10
WAsnINGTnv. Anil 8.

The new schisn in Tamnany hall has 4
deeper signiticarcy than the - skirm'shes Of
kites and Crows" which usually disturb the
harmony Of the party. Mayor Wood and
his foTesterS have fled to their Medina in 70
temporary exile. iienceforth Mercer Hall
will be classical ground-thc headquarters
of a rebellion which is destined to exercise
great and perhaps fatal Influence upon the
fortunes of the Democratic party. The dis
affection OF last fall, which gave so much
uncasiness to the faithful everywhere, W as
purely local, and impaired the strength OF
the party very little fiat all.
But the plot Of which the ex-,nayor is the
soul and centre, has extensive ramtica.ions.
Ii is charged by the personal adherents Of
the administration, that it was formed at
Richmond early last winter, in 4 conference
between Mr.. Wood and Gov Wise, and had
| its origin IN considerations partly personal
and partly political. 1t is alleged by the
| Buchanan delegation in Congress from the
city, that Mr. Collector Schell belongs TO the
league, that lie las sought to ''make up a
State" for Custom House appointments in
inical to the Administration, and unfrieEdly
to the denomination Of Mr. buchanan, and
to the succession of Mr. Cobb or any other
member of the present Government. This,
they affirm, was the real cause Of the rej.c-
ion by the Secretary of the Treasury of Mr..
Schels thirty two inspectors in February
last
The motives OF Mr. Wood are easily
enough discerned. His power as a mere ci-
ty politician departed last December. He
sought TO pcrpctuate it by transferring his
talents for management TO broader field
Gov. Wise has nobIer objects of action. lie
- C -. % ar
Democratic organization upon question
which will agitate Virginia and all the South
ern States for the next twenty years with
an intensity approaching the violence Of the
solutions of ancient Rome. Ii is the slave
" question. Gov. Wise is preparing him
sell for the great controversy of cInancipa-
ton. That l. the real basis of his hostility
TO the imposition Of slavery upon Kansas
under the Lecomp;en Constitution. lie sees
that Kansas can never become = market for
the slaves Of Virginia, while 10 force a
pro-slavery government upon her, would
give additional s;rcng,h TO the sn,i-cmanci-
patton party in Virginia and at Washing
ton.
This great social question has been pr
cipitated upon Virginia by the same means
as IN Missouri. IL is the fruit Of the inter-
nal Improvement system and the immigra-
ton of whites Of the middle class. These
two influences are so rapidly increasing the
price of lands as to render them too valua-
bile for the occupation of col0red laborers.-
Governor Wise is statesman enough to per
ceive tina, these tendencies Of the times can
not be resisted. The movement NAV be gui-
ded and the results tempered. He has the
courage to govern his conduct by the re-
Juirements ofthe future, rather than the ne
cessites OF his present position. He, there
fore. openly supports Eli Thayer's schemes
Of white colonization, and all the projects
for canals and railroads which are running
Virginia so heavily in debt, and may not
imprObably make her the greatest State IN
the Union, in population, wealth and politi-
/ cal power.
By what political alchemy it has happened
cannot describe, but the immediate perso-
mai friends oil the President and hangers-on
oil the court, declare that Gov. Wise has
sought to prepare himself against the COM
ing storm by coalition with the hard shell
faction Of New York, hitherto excessively
I pro-slsvery, with Mr. Wood and the Democ-
! 'scy of the Northwest under Mr. DOUGLAS
/ The singularity OF this combination is obvi.
Gus in many respects. particularly in this,
that the three heads Of the ub-divisons thus
united for defence and agrsssions are recog-
nized candidates for the Presidency, whose
pretensions have been hitherto supposed al.
together conflicting. This may explain why
! the living hard shells have come to regard
Mr. DickersoD as an indurated fossil, whose
venerable warnings for the White House,
ought not to be permitted to derange mod
| ern calculations