Daily national Democrat., 1859-08-06
Latham at Nevada.

L
forcibly expressed. 1t will be found well
/ worthy of attention.:
| Milton 5. Latham, the Lecompton candi-
date for Governor it is admitted, stands upon
a most ultra slave code platform He goes
for gogging the people of the Territories
with slavery against their will but we must
not, on that account, deny him the merits
that he unquestionably possesses That dig
nifty, that is due to true eloquence and eleva-
tion of mind-that courtesy of debate which
we are compelled at once to approve and ad
mire, even in an adversary, is his, in an emf
nent degree, of which the following is spe
cimen, from his Nevada speech August 1st,
1859;
"Gentlemen, when Mr. Broderick uttered
that statement to you, he uttered an unquali-
fled, most Infamous damned le." What
though he did attempt to bribe the Clerk of
the Supreme Court; and purloin letter;
and act more treacherously than even Gwin,
the great hero of Lime Point? That should
not prevent us from doing justice to his char
acter an orator, or to his skill and elegance
as a rhetorician.
But this is not the only merit that Mr. La
than possesses His statement of his case is
clear, cogent, and convincing. In order that
this argument may appear in substance and
in breyity, let it assume the form of dia-
logue:
Enter upon the stage Broderick and Latham.
lfr. Broderick-You, sir, induced person
to puroin letter from friend of mine
lr. Latham-I did no such thing, and l
will prove it to you here and now. Page,
call Judge Tilford
Enter Tglford1
Judge Tilford, did ever induce Mr.. Prindle
to puron letter from you?
Iitord-Ahem, no-not exactly that l
know Of You gave me a letter pledging me
that you would support me for the Collie tor
ship, and was unable to find it among my
papers, and am satisfied it was Lot among
them, otherwise | will assure you | should
not have troubled you about the matter nor
would have sought your assistance had
not held it as dear as the apple of my eye.
You at once sent for Mr.. Prindle to help me
find it, and as soon as he commenced looking
over and handling the papers it made its APP
pearance at once; but l don't think he
slipped it in among the papers. Wasn't you
lucky to guess the man that could find it for
me the first time But what did care
you know you offered me a duplicate when
you found l was making fuss about it, and
had told Broderick You know that never
vared the letter more than so much waste
paper. 1t wGs voluntary thing on your
part.
Iaford (aside)-Damn me if haven't made
an ass of myself by representing chat had
gone to both Latham and Broderick with
this matter of the lost letter, as it contained
my whole hope of a fortune, and then stating
tAat it was a matter cared nothing about.
Broderick-How did you know that l had
any reference to Tilford or Prinde stated
no names.
se-because-ahem, be-
cause did And if you state that prom.
iSed the Collectorship to Mr. Lent, or to Mr.
Conness, you state what is untrue
Broderick-I have said nothing of either
of those gentlemen. Why do you anticipate
any such charges?
Ldtham-Because believe You are bad
enough to charge anything that you think
you can prove. And | might as well say that
if you charge that agreed to surrender to
you all the patronage of the Federal Gov
ernment on the Pacific Coast if you would
elect me U. s. Senator you tell what is not
true. If had made such an agreement, l |
should have been worse than any of my enc
mics represent me. | should have been in-
famous, and could look no honest man in the
face But will prove by Mr.. Estell's papers,
which read as follows, that such was not the |
case: "BrodericE demanded that Mr. Latham |
should surrender, in writing, all the patron.
age of the Pacific Coast to Mr. Broderick
and his friends" This refused but | did
tell Mr.. Broderick if he would cause me to
be elected, | would surrender all the patron.
age of the Pacific Coast ercept Tilford for
Collector, Crandall for Surveyor of the port
of San Francisco, and c. L. Scott for Mar
shall. This, think, is as humiliatng a posi-
tion as you ought to place me in"
Broderick-You admit if you had surren-
dered all the patronage, you would have
been guilty of grand infamy.
Lathdn-I do.
Broderick-But as you agreed to surren-
der all but three offices and two of those my
friends, and the other subject to my approval.
was not this grand infamy? or do you law
yers call it petit infamy?
Latham-Mr Broderick, you are rascal
and a shoulder striker or you would not have
attempted to impose upon me or Mr.. Gwin
such humiliating terms to secure your aid to
elect us to office
Broderick-Latham, l will tell you frankly,
| could not defeat you both If | could
| should have endeared myself to the State
The most could do was to tie your hands and
prevent you from introducing one of your
own character into office If l could have
tied Gwin down as he agreed or voluntarily
promised, would have filled the offices with
men of unblemished character and should
have deprived him of much of the power to
do evil which he now possesses. You de-
graded yourselves l was acting for the good
of the State.