Nashville patriot. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1858-1860, 1859-04-01


they plead guilty. It would be therefore
superhuous towaste time in adducing further
proof, that here as el~where the Democracy
have falsified their pledges.
Now, sir, If there is anything left of the
Cincinnati Platform, / can afford 10 let
1t stand. There certainly is not enough to
support the weight of boy of ten years of
age, and if in the general wreck any devoted
Democrat can find single plank to bear him
up amid the waves of popular Indignation
that war around him. it would be inhumanity
to snatch from him that last support
Having said SO much of the Platform, il
Will be expected of me to say something of
the candidate who was elected upon it. l
shall accord 10 him the same charity have
extended to his party generally. and confine
my remarks to the same period. Previous to
his election had occasion to speak of him in
terms such as | thought he deserved shall
not repeat the language now. He has done
enough since that time to make public honor
a matter of doubt. and the continuance of
republican freedom a question Of difficult
solution. In his letter of acceptance be said
that the Cincinnati platform was broad
enough, and explicit enough, and he should
therefore make no additional pledges and
write no letters for publication during the
canvass. Yet he did write letter to a gem
tleman in Caliafornia, calculated and in
which, with characteristic cunning, he so
timed that it was impossible for it to return
to become generally known on this side of
the Rocky Mountains prior to the election
His friends may say that this is a small mat
ter, but bad faith is never a small matter.
and nothing is more certain than that the
man who has deceived you once will do it
again if an opportunity offers.
Nor are other instances wanting which
n IL.
ficient Importance to justify public comment
He sent Robert j. Walker to Kansas. as Gov
ernor of the Territory, with express instruc-
lions to have the whole Constitution submit
ted to vote of the people. In following the
exact line of his instructions Gov. Walker in
CURED the odium of the whole South, which
Mr.. Buchanan no sooner perceived than he
ignored his own Instructions adopted the
action of the COnventiOn-urged Congress to
ratify it, and left Robert J. Walker and
Frederick Z. Stanton to bear the odum of
having deserted aud betrayed the section to
which both were indebted for all the honor-
they had ever worn. l will not ask if this
was manly, tor no one ever suspected him of
manliness. | will not ask if this was just
for sense of justice is not among the num-
Der of virtues for which he has been distin-
guished. But ask to what lower depth of
nfamy a Chief Magistrate could descend.
than that of permitting his subOrdinates to b.
crushed by popular Indignation for no other
sin than that of obeying his instructions too
well.
There is another case which comes more di-
rectly home to the people of Tennessee. When
in his warfare upon Douglas the President de-
termined to remove all the Office-hOlders who
favored his election. Gov. Brown refused to
become party to such an attack upon the
rights of a State. Mr.. Buchanan made the
himself but kept his own agency in
the matter secret, and Gov. Brown carried
with him to his grave not merely the reprOach
of having been party to petty persecution.
but the grave suspicion of having made an
attack upon the sovereignty
of Illinois.
These are grave charges. but serious as
they are, they sink into utter insignficance
when compared with the giant strides which
the President has taken towards converting
this Republic into a consolidated despotism |
Duplicity NAV only prove individual mean
ness, aud infiict individual wrong. 1t may
therefore be sometimes permitted to pass un-
punished without detriment TO the pub
tic interests. But an attack upon the |
sovereign rights of a State-ihe exer-
ion of the whole power and influence of
the Government to convert q Senator into a |
plant tool of Executive power is another
matter. and calls for more decided condemna-
ton. Mr.. Douglas placed upon the Kansas
bill precisely the same construction which Mr.. |
Buchanan had all along maintained and which |
ne had instructed Robert J. Walker to enforce. |
But when the LecomptOn Constitution came
before Congress Mr.. Buchanan had changed |
MS opinion. and he demanded that the Illinois |
Senator should do likewise. Looking TO his |
own constituents rather than to the Execu- |
i've. Mr.. Douglas refused obedience to the |
mandate To have Ostracised him from the |
party under such circumstances would not, |
have been without precedent, |
md however much we might have lamentcd I
he Injustice of the act, no one would have pre- |
ended that il amounted to national wrong. |
dr Buchanan was not content with this Gus
Omary mode of Furnishing a refractory MEM
,er. He followed him into Illinois. He I'M
lertook to dictate to the people who they
hould elect He said to them. in effect. YOU
must send to Washington an Executive tool
he may be nominally the representative of
'our sovereignty, but be must be in reality
ny slave.
1t is my will that Stephen A. Douglas
hall he defeated. and If you look for Exccu-
i've favours see to il that am obeyed. Slch
vas the plain meaning Of his conduct. and
uch would have been his language if he had
Jared to utter il. When LOuis XIV gave
-ent to the naughty exclamation II am the
State, he uttered no more destestable senti-
nent, and if this usurpatiOn is permitted TO
,ass unpublished if the party who sustain
nd endorse the President who has been
tuilty if it. are still retained in power, all
history is false if other usurpations do not
ollow in its footsteps, until we are reduced
o state of servitude to which the despotSm
f Louis XIV would be comparative freedom
Already kindred Outrages have grown fami-
lar to the Executive mind. and excite no in-
in no of f,ll 1
demand that Congress should
onfer upon him the war making power, and
i've him the absolute control of the army and
ANY, must be included in the list of Ten
lessee endorsements. Not satisfied with even
hese dictatorial powers. he makes a further
emand for $4,000 600 ostensibly for the
purpose of purchasing Cuba, but the sum is
o inadequate to the object contemplated
bat it requires extraordinary credulity to
elieve that the Administration really in
ended TO use it for territorial acquisition. In |
ny honest opinion the intention was to use
as corruption fund to secure the nomina.
ion and election of John Slidell as President
{ these United States. There is nothing in !
he past history OF either James Bachanan
r John Slidell 10 place them above suspi-
ion. Give them $4,000, 900 to be used in
nying Spanish Officials, aud unless some
lch miracle occurs as that of the Leopard
nhuSiuR nv Spots, part Oh tue sum VIII TIE
mployed in buying the Charleston Convcn-
on, aud the remainder in purchasing the
otes necessary to insure the election of its
ominee. --. 49,
In this view of the case Mr.. Slidelfs
ropositiOn is his Improvement upon the
tanner of selling the Roman people by the
retorian cohorts. They required the pur-
base TO pay the stipulated price from his
WI resources. Mr.. Slidell takes the money
the people to cOrrupt.thcir representatives.
nd buys up their liberties with the means
ley have themselves supplied. A little re-
sction upon the circumstances and upon the
laracters OF the two principal actors leaves
D room to doubt thai the $50 600 600 was
eeded for domestic. aud not for foreign
,rruption. Mr.. Slidell is notoriously a