The national era. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1847-1860, 1859-12-08


sylvania, and all the New England States, an
equal representation from every Congressional
district, except Colfax's district in Indiana,
which, with the basis / propose, will be entitled
TO three delegates-Tthe rest of the districts in
that State, and all the States named, will have
two delegates each. 40 9sasah "a .oa4eS p
You further object to the proposed plan, be.
cause you say 's5t,fs cenQlieatsd.Y Here
think you are greatly in error, for, so far from
this plan being a complicated one, i think 1T SO
simple and easily understood that do not
hesitate TO- say that any scholar of ordinary in
teligence,, can, ia less than tsoenty minutes, by
the aid of Greeley's Almanac, correctly appor-
ton the number of delegates each district In
the several States will be entitled to under
the basis propose. And it is not very prob
able that the members of the National Com
mittee win End much difficulty, after agreeing
upon basis" in apportioning the number OF
delegates to which each district will be entitled
In the several States. / am inclined to the
opinion that the member of the National Com
mittee from Massachusetts would without much
trouble figure up twenty-five Congressional
delegates, instead of eleven, as the Lowell
Courier and other papers have it.
You say yo~ are going In to scin.' Win
how? by abandoning our organization, and
going into a fusion with all the dlscordant
elements of the opposition? 1t so, do not
want to win that way. desire success IN the
contest of 1860 as earnestly and will labor as
zealously as you or any man in the organlza-
ton to accomplish it, but / am free to confess
that prefer defeat thousand times to vic
tory obtained by an abandonment of our prin-
ciples and organization.
] am as anxious as you can be for union
Of all the elements of the Opposition who are
in favor of " free Territories, free Homes, and
a National Administration favorable to National
Freedom" but ] am not in favor of uniting
with any and all the Pro-Slavery factions of
the country; merely because they are professed-
ly hostile to this Administration. l would not
do it, because it cannot be done without lower
ing our AnIi-Slavery standard, which will never
consent to do, even to secure the complete con-
troll of the National Government.
A union that shall recognise the fundamental
principles of the Republican party as set forth
at Philadelphia in 1856 is very desirable. Any
other union, in my judgment will, and l be-
lieve it ought to bring disaster and defeat.
1t will be we'll if in our anxiety for success
we do not deceive ourselves, and lose sight of
the principles which brought our organization
into existence; and, in addition, it may be of
some advantage to remember the causes which
disbanded and destroyed the old Wing party.
If we are true to the principles of Freedom, we
shall be successful if we prove false to our
trust, as the old Wing organization did, we
shall share its fate-and deservedly.
had supposed that in Massachusetts there
was but one opinion on this subject, and that,
with all true men in the Republican organiza-
ton, you were in earnest about this matter. i
can assure you that three-fourths of those who
make up the Republican party in the West will
never yield to the schemes of few desperate
men in the large Eastern Cities who are enabled
by their wealth and influence to secure the CO.
operation of many of the metropolitan press,
and to send men all over the country to further
the designs of such men as have made up their
minds TO disband and destroy the Republican
party Efforts to this end are now being made
in a variety Of ways, one of which will proba-
bly, be to call one or more Conventions, at such
points in the country as may be drought best
to promote the object in view. Men will be put
forward whom the people do not know; speeches
will be put into their mouths, and platforms
prepared for the endorsement of the Conven-
tons, which in due time, with the proceedings,
will be spread before the country through the
press, heralded as q spontaneous Western move
ment, favorable to some recently -discovered
great man for the Presidency-a man whom,
we will be assured by these selfconstituted
| President manufacturers, =" IS all right" on the
question of Freedom.
A large number of those who favor the disor
ganization of the Republican, party, and a fusion
of all the elements of the Opposition-on any
| issue, old or new, so the question of Freedom
is ignored-are to-day in Just such a move
ment as | have described, and in due time,
if | mistake not, their labors will be visible in
the shape of State Convention in one of the
Western States. distinguished man will
then and there be dug up and put forward as
the, representative of the great body of the
Opposition "a man upon whom it can be
chimed all can unite, and he will deliver himself
of speech with which he will have been
previously stuffed for the occasion. The Con-
vention will then adopt the platform prepared,
! and then will commence another so-called
spontaneous movement through all the news
papers in every State, where they have one in
the movement pushing this distinguished citi-
zen, who has been kindly manufactured for the
peoples use, as a candidate for the Presidency,
by this very disinterested combination of pa
triots. The man selected will be one who is
untrammeled by that which is sometimes very
troublesome to Presidential aspirants-"a polit-
ical record" aH 3f
That a plot of this kind is on foot is now
pretty generally understood and it is not saying
too much to characterize it as the scheme of the
spoilsmen, the place-hunters the camp follow
ers, those who go into any political movement
without regard to principle, if it promises sue
cess and plumber. No true man In the Repub
lican ranks, who understands what is to be the
result of such movement, will be found giving
it his aid, for the Republican party is not one
of mere spoils or expedients, but a party Of
principle and a political triumph, with a can
didate for the Presidency who does not repre-
sent those principles would be a virtual dis
banding of the party. Ifthese men fail in one
scheme, another one will be tried; and if from
| any cause, such, for instance, as a fear on the
part of the prime movers in this patriotic enter
| prise to intrust Convention, even in the slave
| State of Missouri, with the ratification and
public endorsement of their scheme for making
a patent Presidential candidate, they will aban
| don it, and try the lctterwriting dodge, which
| was so successful with General Taylor.
In any event. some new, unknown, and un
tried man is to be put forward by the combina
ton of which have spoken, and able and tru,
statesmen, such as Seward, Chase, Banks, Hale
Lincoln, Clay, Cameron, and all who by
| lifelong service in the cause of truth and Jus
tice have become endeared to the friends o
Freedom everywhere, are to be put aside, a
unfit TO be intrusted with the office of Chic
Magistrate.
There is nothing apocryphal in the statement
The men who are in the movement are active
energetic, untiring. They are, so far as
know, the same class of pretended Republican,
who, for the sake of becoming leaders and en-
joying the spoils of Office, entered into a move
ment last year to dsorganize and destroy tn,
Republican party, and bring Douglas forward
as candidate for the Presidency in 1860
and in order the more effectually to put hin
forward, they did not hesitate openly to aid il
his reelection to the u s. Senate from Illinois
in preference to that trustworthy and nobl
friend of Freedom. Abram Lincoln