Ashtabula weekly telegraph. [volume] (Ashtabula, Ohio) 1853-1873, 1859-02-05
WEEKLY TELEGRAPH.
BY JAMES RIVED.
AshtabuIa, Ohio, Feb. 8, 1859.

TEK STAR or "rHE LrTTLH GfANr," says an
intelligent writer from the eaeral capitol, has
reached its caumniating point, and from hence
forth he descends. lie has lost the golden op-
pOrtunity OF bis lifetime, and from hencerorth
must plod YEARLY with the common mass OF as
pirants after public honor and power. Too
much Of the pOliticiaa, and not enough Of the
man or statesman, has been bis ruin. When
he swung loose from the villaUous schemes Of
the slave propaguDdists, and threw himself
manfully into the fight Of the people, and a.
gainst the Lecompton villainy hurling thun-
derbolis against President, Cabinet and corrupt
Oougressmen alike, the eyes Of an anxious and
sppreeiative people we're upon him. Had he
been true TO principle then, he would have be-
come the popular idol. Ability he did not
lack, but he did lack heart commensurate
with it. Temporary success or defeat in that
hot conflict, when he stood foot to foot in de-
fance with "the powers that be-" would not
have been q feathers weight in the popular
scale. Providence handed him the great occa-
sion which generally comes in such mems lives
Snntorship for six years. or hoped.for Presi-
deDcy through the Shiny avenues Of intrigue
and corruption, marked the boundary of his
vision. Alas for such craftsmanship The
''little giant" has sunk to pigmy. Friends
pressed him-nay, urged importunately--but
unwashed Democracy, reveling in its slavery
rottenness of ilibustery, Dred Scott decisions,
and hatred Of all free labor and free institutions
like wizard charmed him, and no importuni-
ties could lift him higher than the level of his
own moral nature. He deifed the slave-driv-
ing Democracy, and has not ceased for mo-
nieht 10 worship at that shrine. Condemned
by the popular voice OF bis own state after a
severe canvass, in which he poured out abuse,
like water from filthy pool, upon his comrades
10 the battle Of Lecompton, insulting men who
desire only their country's glory, the advance
ment OF freedom and the death Of tyranny, he
nevertheless won the parchment bauble certify
ing his election, by lavish expenditure OF his
wealth. by an importation of alien voters-ii
reports are true-and by an unjust apportion-
ment of the representative districts of his state
That accomplished be visited the great center
Of slavery 6libustering, and hob-a-nobbed with
its leading spirits, touched and tarried period
at Cuba, which he is now so anxious to wrest
from the crown of Spain, and amid weak aud
uncertain applause from mere handsful of Gu
riosity-huntiDg spectators 10 New York, Phila-
d ,lphia, and Baltimore, was set down at its own
dor in the federal metropolis 10 the light of six
b1rning tar-barrels, surrounded by crowd OF
noisy boys.
Alas how far different from the triumphal
march Of conqueror which it might have
been The Democracy of the Senate chamber
met him with the warmth and geniality of huge
iee-blocks. They have dethFoned him from his
chairmanshiROf the Territorial committee, and
the stigma Of the act was intended to be .ffit
Would he come 10 ike the lion or the spaniel ?
that was a question in all mouths. Was it war
upon the Admnstration-aigh noble, and
statesmanlike Or was it tame subservieucy
to the slave-driving Democracy, which in honest
language would mean, "Lei me court your favor
for the nominating scramble which is to take
place in Charleston in 1867? He took his place
in the ranks. That sentence tells the whole
story. In the Pro-slavery caucus he was foremost
for placing the thirty million pieces of silver in
the hand of James BOebanan, the honest, pat
riotic, freedom-oving Lecomptonite-Jam
Buchanan for the pHrchase or subduing oI
Cuba, by FIRE and sword. The "little giant
sunk as he rose; bis highest level was selGshDess
ii we judge history impartialIy. The Ameri.
can people have weighed him, pronounced him
wanting, and they have sent him to the grave
of the inefficient From hcnceforth he will live
with the vast mass Of political hopers. Requies.
cat in pace. So let him pass.