Daily Nashville patriot. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1860-1862, 1860-10-24

Z my name had been connected with it th,
I fact would have been stated. No sucl
c thing occurred when he was present III
a is their own witness, and they have pub
e lished his statement to the world. But
5 am not going into defence against these
e charges, got up loosely upon the recoIlec.
= ton of men three years after the event.
: have transpired, and when they are SC
!. much interested in throwing the response
: bility of their own disreputable conduct
l upon others. / appeal to my record-tht
/ record have made before the world in a
I three years. fight-and defy any honest
, man on earth to say have wavered hairs
breadth. Cheers. do not believe there
is an honest man on earth who doubts my
fidelity to principle.
/ viii here state another fact. During
the Lecompton struggle, when the war in
Congress was raging furiousiy, | had one
interview with Gen. Calhoun, and but one.
1t took place in the presence of a gentle
man whose name / will not give without
consulting him. Mr.. Calhoun being dead,
can only refer to this one witness; and
although he is not present, and L have not
inquired of him as to his recollection of
the interview, will undertake to state to
you substantially what occurred on this
point. Mr.. Weir, the United States Dis
trict Attorney in Kansas, holding an Office
under Mr.. Buchanan, came to my house
one night with Gen. Calhoun, the Presi-
dent of the Lecompton Convention. L re-
ceived Mr.. Calhoun courteously and kindly,
as we had been old friends He expressed
his regret at the differences which had
grown up between us on this question; he
assured me upon his honor that he had
done everything in his power to procure
| the submission of the whole Constitution
because he knew that it was my desire,
| and also the wish of all his friends, and
| because he thought it was fair and just.
Having failed in accomplishing it, the
| question arose as to what was the next
| best thing, and that he had agreed to the
| schedule in the form in which it was
adopted, believing it to be so. I told him
I tbougt 1t ,Cas the soorst thing. A voice,
" That s So" He said he regretted 1t that
he had hopes that I eco,sM deem that better than
nothing. Laughter. I told him Meier
| that q fraudulent submission aOos a 1aocke,y,
and that I could not sanction ii, without repu-
| dating all the acts of my life, and doing
| political act that l did not believe was
moral and just. [Cheers.
/ appeal to Mr.. Weir, of Kansas, or
| rather [ refer you to him as to his recol-
| lection of that interview, if you choose to
| consult him. In that conversation with
Calhoun, he never intimated that he had
| any authority from me that / approved
that scheme; he never intimated that he
had received letter from me on that
subject, or any authority, directly or in
directly; but admitted that he knew that
l wanted the whole Constitution submit
ted; that he tried to have it submitted,
and when he failed on his own response
bility, went for the other proposition as
the best he could get and hoped [ would
not be dissatisfied with it; thereupon,
Gen. Calhoun and myself parted; never
saw him afterwards. He is dead-and
far be it from me to utter one word against
his memory. | think he made great and
fearful mistake in his Kansas movements,
and | so said in his presence, and to his
face, and in the Senate of the United
States, in his lifetime; since he is dead,
peace to his ashes; it is not to my taste
to indulge in ordinations. The Abolition
paper in which 1 found this pretended
correspondence contained an editorial ar
ticle in which it charged that had Of
fered Mrs. Calhoun two thousand dollars
to suppress my correspondence with her
husband, while he was Surveyor General
of Kansas. Laughter. In this pretend
ed correspondence, the charge is made
that Mrs. Calhoun had hawked these let
tiers about in the market for sale, and that
two thousand dollars had been offered
for them; and, on that statement the Abo-
lition paper bases its charge, that l or
my friends had made her, that offer. I
shall notice this only to vindicate the
character of that widowed lady. / never
insulted Mrs. Calhoun, or degraded my
self, by offering her or any body else any
money or other compensation for sup
pressing my private correspondence with
Mr.. Calhoun, or any body else on earth.
will tell you all [ know about this
last charge just before left Washing
ton, few months ago, l received a letter
from near relative of the late John CAL
houn, in which he furnished not only the
statement, but the evidence, that one of
Mr.. Buchanan's Federal office-holders in
Nebraska, a man holding land office, and
nearly connected with the worst enemies
have on earth, had gone to Mrs. Calhoun
and asked permission to look ouer her deceased
husbands pirate correspondence acih Judge
Douglas. She refused to permit him, saying
that her husbands correspondence ,oas sacred.
T" Sound" Right etc. Ihe7eupoaa this
Federal 0ffce-holder offered Ms. Calhoun, taCO
thousand dollars if size aUOuld olloao him to look
ouer Gen. Caltoua's pirate papers, and take
ont all the pirate papers that Judge Douglas
had euer lCTitea to her husband. She, like a
hearted woman, who revered the
memory and honor of her husband, in
dignantly rejected the bride. Ind no,o
ma enemies dare charge on me their attempt to
bri6e scIdo1Ced ,UoDlan. % Shame, Shame
on Them" and applause. l
Mrs. Calhoun authorized her relative to |
inform me of these facts, which he did, to-
gether with the tender on her part to sur
render to me all the letters ever wrote to |
her deceased husband. / answered that |
had never written any letter to the late |
General Calhoun that l was ashamed to |
have the whole world see it. That it was |
possible that, in the hurry and freedom of |
private correspondence, that might some
times have expressed myself carelessly or |
indignantly, but there was nothing in my
letters which was afraid to have the pub
lie know. added that appreciated the
noble conduct of Mrs. Calhoun, and that |
she was authorized to forward the letters /
to me, if it was her will. | received a let |
ter from her in reply, in which she stated |
that she had carefully examined all her
husbands private papers, and there was no |
letter to be found written by me to him
since 1852 or SO.
Now, my friends, submit these facts
to you and to the world. What can you
think of body of men who will go around
trying to bride widow women to betray
the private correspondence of their dead
husbands, to be used for political purposes
a voice, They're worse than the Re-
publicans."] What do you think of the
recklessness of partisan papers that dare
charge those attempts at bribery upon me,
who was intended to be their victim. IA
voice, cts like them l dislike to
refer to my own private history, or to de-