The weekly Ottumwa courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1857-1872, 1861-02-20
A yyorta to Conservatives.

:.
on tic OH inst, provokes an attempt to
transcribe what secmed written thereon. =
Having with characteristic self respect, Sc.
Icctet as your chairman. gentleman dis
tinguiShed for the unwavcring character OF
his life long d rnocracy, you seemed little
annoyed at being ha: angued rs to your duties
by enc whose democracy is no yet ten years
Old When he dlatcd on the achievements
oe the Democracy in past years, a curious
cxpr .ssion stole over your faces, very much
such all enc as we suppose would hive been
sen in crowd Of Gen. Jackson's oil | sold.
IRIS, if British officer were addressing
them al to the glorious things which "We'
did nj New Orleans True, sfse old dcno-
cratic ship was in the habit of sail;n. most
CALAMITY, till sh, was swampel by an ava
lanche OF recruits Ike Robert Toubs, Judah
p Benjamin., ex dis-tingui she'd United States
Senator'S from Georgia and Louisiana, re-
spectively, AMI Caleb Gushing, who held in
his hand the III llor when she went to pieces
on TIE rocks at Charleston, with host of
their co,npecrs and subaltsrns, who had been
LADDERS in the oil Wing party till they led it
to the Lrink Of perdition You are shrewd
enough when you hear the voice of these
men to appear a little Ike old Isaac, when
he said "thc voice is Jacobs voice, but the
hands are the hands of E<au"
They admit that the oil ship has actually
gone down, and for fear that som, of their
comrades who are trying to escape with por-
ton offer cargo as booty, may be ARE sted
j., the act, they forsooth are going to take
the lead in organizing great Union Party
Of Conservative men. Exactly, that is in
deed. a fine idea, brt it has struck them a
little to late Conservative men thought of
this several years ago. Solid conservatives
have memory capable ofrunning back ten
years at least. You recollect that not so
long ago as that, there existed two great
National Parties, embracing not less than
nine.tenths of all the votes in the country
and that both their platforms laid down the
compromise measures oflS50as a "Finali;y."
This settlement you endorsed whether you
voted for Pierce or Scot When the result
Of the election had been declared, you quiet
ly returned to your usual avocations, sup
posing the Union Safe. You probably failed
to note as a matter of any moment, the fact,
that President Pierce selected as his Secre-
tary ofw:r, Senator from Mississippi, who
had most v:rulcntly opposed the compromise
measures at every step, while his colleague
from the same State, man of sufficient
standing among the Democracy to hold the
position of chairman of their National Com
mittee, had been the mover of the resolution
under which the compromise committee had
been raised, had supported them with equal
zeal had carried the war with his colleague
home to the State which they bothrepresent
ed, and was triumphantly placed in the Office
of Governor, on this very issue. Surely, if
Cabinet officer was to be taken from Mis-
sissippi on the compromise basis, he and not
his opponent should have been the man -
But he was not. No, gentlemen, you were
to be sold, sold as sheep, as slaves, as dogs
and you were sold, and it took but two years
to reveal the fact to the world, however un-
pleasant it may be for you to admit it. 1t is
worse than idle, it is insulting to tell you
that you adopted the repeal Of the Missouri
Compromise two years before it took place,
by endorsing the measures of so. Had
those who said this in "a, dared to say it on
the stump in the Presidential canvass of'52,
Pierce could not probably have obtained a
single electoral vote in free State, nor twen-
ty in the Union, AMI they knew it. The
plan of thes, politicians has b,ea to present
one set ofprinciples to you for your adoption
and to act on another and very different set
when they obtain power, and the only rea-
son that they are trying to create trouble in
the country now is, because they have been
detected in this game, and can no longer win
at il.
You have recorded your decision on
question that has agitatcd the country for
the las. six years, and these gentlemen OBJ
ject to what you have done Perhaps you
did not vote for the successful candidate
What then You voted knowing who the
candidates were and what were the platforms
on which they stood, and what the method
by which the result would be attained under
the Constitution.
In voting, therefore, You virtually adopted
the Constitutional result whatever it might
be- and in honor are bounI to sustain that
re ult, if need be, by the force of arms
And it is this kin 4 Of honor, this chivarous
political integrity which uplrolds tire rcgu-
larly constituted the Constitutional author
tiles of our Government, that has rendered
us the proud, happy, isvineiJle people that
we are.
But perhaps you do not object so much to
the candidates elected as to the platform on
which they stand. Let US then give little
attention TO this matter Of platforms.
The Popular Sovereignty platform at this
hour, covers every acre of our territory,
most neatly carpcted by the bred Scott de-
cision. Will Mr.. Lincoln tear it up? Can
he do it? At the time Of his election his
party were in minority in both houses of
Congress, and must have remained so uu.iI
after another popular election, had not some
so-calied democratic States been silly enough