The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1860-03-09
2ittnrunn 4ispatf9.



senator seward.
In recent coIversAuons WIN TWO gentie-
man. residing In different and distant parts Of
New York-oue \ Democrat, the other an
~O,d Lane Whig''-there was singular CO.
incidence of sentiment, and almost Of Ian
suase, In the opinions expressed by them Of
senator SEWARD. Each Of them spoke of him
~ lne scholar, a man Of letters and Of the
lamp. but not . statesman, the ''Old Line
Whig' adding that he was demagogue.
Certainly, that man 10 not statesman
whose grasp Of mind and heart Is not compre-
hensive enough to embrace anything but
section who 10 unable 10 look and labor Tor
the glory Of the whole Confederacy, but whose
whole idea and aim is the elevation OF seiL ~
the risk Of the disruption Of the Union ana
the ruin Of his country. When we th'sk oi
such men ~ JETPxRsoN, WEBsTxR, CLAY.
CALHOUN we think of Statesmen; men OF en-
tnent political abilities, able to hold the helm
of STATE. and to guide the ship, amid all the
fntricacies and perils Of her voyage, to secure
and glorious haven. Every one of these men
was ambitious, but it was noble ambition,
aud they forced their way upward by superior
political ca oacity, and by the powerful manner
in which they grAppled with such great princi-
ples and measures Is those which in former
days divided parties. But SEWARD, on the
contrary. has elevated himself to nOtorety by
riding hobbies and hum6ugs from the first mo-
mont he en- tered political life. He began his ca
reer with ~Anti- Masonry" and has ever since
been on the alert for some ism, some fanatical
or sectional prejudice, to carry him into office
1t is for this purpose that he seizes upon the
popular antipathy to slavery in the free States;
that. finding that antipathy somewhat innoc-
nous, aud by NO means prepared for aggres-
sive measures. he steadily and assiduOusly
fans 1t into fame, and puts the whole govern
msnt in deadly peril for the purpose OF i'm
proving his chances for the Presidency. This
man, who has certainly no true conception OF
the constitution which was framed BY the
founders OF this government, or is determined
to subvert it in order to secure his personal
elevation, has no right to the grand and patri-
otto name Of statesman. He is faction
list aud a demagogue; his heart is full OF
treason. stratagems and spoils. He is, it is
true, man of letters; he can construct Il SEN
tence bat he il better able to destroy than to
construct a constitution. 1t certainly does
not add much to the dignity of his character,
or to his chances for high and enduring fame,
that he is more solicitous to shut out bad
English from his style, than bad principles
from his mind and evil practices from his llfe'
more anxious about rhetoric than right; more
careful to preserve the unity Of figure than
the unity Of his country.
Every great statesman seeks earnestly to de-
velop the resources and consolidate the
strength q the people for whose interests he
legislates. Such a soul as that Of DANIEL
WEBSTER took in the whole United States. 1t
was not Polar sea, inaccessible to the heat Of
the sun, aud destitute of all warmth and vital
ity, but a nature that could respond to the
bracing breeze and glow with the tropic fire;
that made "the whole boundless continent its
own" HENRY CLAY exulted in the stars of
the national flag, as the eagle does in the sun
light. Both these men, though ambitious, went
for their country first, and acted upon the
principle that it was better to be right than be
President. SEWARD would infinitely rather
be President than be right; he cares not what
wrongs are perpetrated SO he can clutch the
sceptre; all that the valor of our fathers
achieved in q seven years war, all that their
wisdom devised and secured in our present
form of government all that the combined en-
ergies and enterprise of America have since
accomplished, WIN. H. SEWARD is at this mo-
ment putting in imminent peril for the pur-
pose of securing his own election to the Pres
idency. Are not our Northern friends righ',
then, in pronouncing him no statesman, but u
demagogue, and q demagogue of the most I'M
principled and dangerous kind 1t is no JUS
LITIGATION to say that, if SEWARD be elected
President, he;will desert the cause which has
carried him into power, kick away the Sec
tional ladder by which he assembled, and prove
a national President Possibly. ii the Presi-
dent were restricted to one term this might
be the case but, if it were, it would only prove
him double traitor, traitor alike to his party
and his country. Who can trust such man !!
Must he not be rotten to the core There is
no proof that he has either the capacity or the
principle to administer the government of the
United States.