The weekly Mississippian. [volume] (Jackson, Miss.) 1859-1864, 1859-09-28
A Foolish "0rgan. !"


The Constitution newspaper to the extent
Of its capacity to do mischief (which fortu
nately is not great) viii bring the Administra
t;on into ridicule and contempt in this State
If it does not put a bride on its bolish tongue
IT is delighted at the remarkable epistolary
/ exnlo;t of Mr.. William G. Smedes, and We
doubt if that worthy gentleman has known
himself since he received so genteel coating
Of wnite. wash and so nice . dose Of soft saw.
der from its hands At all events he has been
taught by its extravagant laadaton of his
sletter to the Memphis Committee = contrasted
with the coldness of its reception at home,
that a prophet is not without honor save in his
own country.
The Constitution rejoices beIond measure
| to find a coincidence Of sentimelt between the
! Administration, Mr.. Smedes ana the Consti-
/ tution-that they are jogging along CO.
silly together on "the safe middle ground p
! and it springs forth to greet the emanation of
the newly found prophet as an indication of
sound opinion" in this benighted region of i'm
practicables and extremists !" It turns dis
dainty from the platform Of the Mississippi
Democracy-it ignores the speeches of Sena-
tors Davis and Brown-it does not listen to
the opinions of the Democrats who are run
ming almost unopposed for Congress-it heeds
not the repeated declarations of the Demo-
cratic press-but to discover something wor-
thy Of its endorsement-an indication of
sound opinion"-its eyes have rested hopeful
ly upon the oracular deliverances of Mr.. Viii
liam C. Smedes through the columns of the
Vicksburg Wing!
Ii the Constitution will only contain itself
until the October election, it will then behold
an indication" worth all the letters which the
prolific pen of Mr. Smedes can produce from
now until the crack of doom. 1t will then
discover that its congratulations have all been
vainly expended; that its signs have all
failed; and that the small faction with which
Mr. Smedes is identified will have been over
whelmned by larger popular majority
than has ever been cast in the State-a major
ity which will "indicate'' how firmly her peo-
pie are welded to the platform whose exis-
tence it has ignored and the doctrines of the
statesmen whom it has overlooked in its ad-
miration for the wise saws and Dog Latin of
Mr.. Smedes
The Constitution finds additional cause for
its congratulation over this production, be-
cause it ''emanates from the great State
Mississippi, to which one of the most distin-
guished members Of the Cabinet belongs
statesman, too. s0fo has uniformly occupied and
defended the safe middle ground HERE delinea-
ted," dc. We will not do Mr.. Thompson the
injustice to suppose that this use of his name
against the creed Of the Democracy of his
own State, is made by his consent. But if
we are in error and he chooses to sanction it,
we are bound in justification of them to show
the "safe ground" he once occupied. In 1851,
he issued an address to his constituents con-
tanning the following explicit declaration
"On the subject of slavery, it was supposed
there was a general unity of sentiment and
feeling with both parties We all held that
the States were equal in rights and privileges,
and were entitled to an equal protection in
their enjoyment /; that the Constitution recog-
nized property in slaves; that the territory
was the cannon property of all the States;
md the citizens Of each he'd right of settle
nent in any common territory Nth has proper
y; and that at acas the duty of the General
Government to protect him in the possessson of
has property"