Orleans independent standard. [volume] (Irasburgh, Vt.) 1856-1871, 1862-08-15

pointed Minister to England. At that
time he thought not Of The Presidency.
He held the Secretariate until April II,
r 1881, when he voluntarily gave up the
office, that the President might make a
new Cabinet. TIE affair made pro-
dgIous sensation, and Mr.. Van Buren,
was accused Of having done all the mis-
chief, his object being the destruction of
Mr.. Calhoun, with whom the President
had quarrelled. In fact Mr.. Van Buren,
had had nothing to do with the matter,
and at that period cherished no Presi-
dental aspirations, while Mr. Calhoun
was considered in the light of successor
to President jackson. He procured the
appointment Of Minister to England, and
went to that country few months after
loving the Cabinet. His stay there was
brief as in few months more the senate
refused TO confirm his appointment, Mr..
Calhoun giving the casting vote against
him, when the Senate was tied. As this
blow was struck by union of all branch
es of the opposition, headed by Mr. Clay,
Mr.. Calhoun, and Mr.. Webster, Mr. Van
Buren was instantly proclaimed a martyr
by his party, and his political fortune was
made. He was nominated for the Vice
Presidency, and was elected by the same
States that voted for Gen. jackson, in
1882, save that Pennsylvania withheld
her 80 electoral woes, Viii h were
given for Mr.. wilkins. 1t was while he
was Vice President of the Senate that
the democratic party assumed that SER
vile position on the slavery question
which was to have so grave results. The
nullifiers had failed 10 dissolve the Union
on the protection question, and they re-
newed the contest on the question of
slavery, to which the early action OF the
abolitionists had assigned an unexpected
prominence, aided by the abolition of
slavery throughout the British Empire.
Mr.. Calhoun delighted to get Mr.. Van
Buren into places in which he had to
decide one way or the other, because the
Vice President was regarded as aspiring
ITO be Pre- ide Jackson's success
sor, and it was supposed that he
would find it difficult to please both the
North and the South: but he never
hjnched, always voting in the interest of
slavery. He was nominated for the
Presidency in 1885, and elected the fol-
lowing year, by vote of 10 to 124
thrown for all the candidates of his op-
ponents. The state of canvass showed
that he owed his election to the favors of
fortune rather than to his own deserts,
to the folies Of his foes more than to the
strength of his friends. His popular
maiorities were but small in several
States, and his aggregate popular major
iy was insignificant. Tie opposition,
instead of concentrating their forces on
some one man, divided them in support
of Gen Harrison, Judge White, Mr..
Webster, ana Mr.. Mangum. The jack
son party had broken up, partially, and
own State, Tennessee had be-
come, and remained, one of the most
determined members of the arti-demo-
cratic party. Intelligent observers saw
in this state Of things, coupled as it was
with the circumstances that Mr.. Van Bu-
ren's majority in Pennsylvania was hard
Iy respectable enough to convince them
hat the President elect had no chance
)f a reelection. The current began to
yet against him from various directions,
md from the day of his Inauguration he
seldom knew an hour of good fortune.
Having declared, in his inaugural address
his intention of making war on the aboli-
ionists.even when their labors should be
lirectc, to the constitutional objects, he
incurred the enemity of some Of his best
Northern supporters. At that time there
vas in the democratic partymore than the
lsual number Of factions that 90 to the
making up of great party, and OF these
actions the ablest was that of the eX-
rene left, the radicals, or locoiocos.-
This faction had the larger portion ot
he talent of the democracy, and among
IS members were such men as Leggeli,
3rownson, O'Sulivan, Sedgwick, and
,thers, all possessed of high order OF
alenf, and all, with the exception of Mr..
}rownson, opposed to slavery, and to
Southern influences. The locofocos, who
ave now disappeared from our politics
; completely as the dodo has disappear
d from the earth, bore considerable
to the liberals of continental
Europe. those Reds whose very name
as been a world Of terror TO the Whites
nd of dread to the Blues. 1t was i'm
ossible to offend them without incurring
danger, particularly as at
he same time it became necessary to
ffsnd the extreme right Of the party, the