Columbia Democrat and Bloomsburg general advertiser. [volume] (Bloomsburg, Pa.) 1850-1866, 1863-08-22
The Charges against Judge Woodward

The character of Judge Woodward
stands so high, and his record SO clear,
that the malignant ingenuity of Gov. Cur
tins special organ can went but two char
ges against him, both of which are easily
refuted.
The first charge, is that as member
of the Reform Convention of lS37-3S, he
proposed to deprive Foreigners Of the
right of suffrage. The fact of the case is
that he merely resorted to the parliamen-
tary tactics allowable on such occasions,
10 defeat a proposition Of M0t character
made by member of the Convention from
Chester county. On subsequent occas
ion during the long discussion of the
amendment confning the elective franchise
to white freemen, when an Abolition mem
bcr from Philadelphia, named Earle,
charged Judge Woodward with having off
cred and advocated resolution to exclude
foreigners from voting and holding office;
the latter repudiated the idea in following
words, which can be found in vol. l0,page
"a, Of the Debates of the Convention:
"Mr. Woodward explained, that he did
not wish to be slandered by any reporter
or misrepresented by any member on this
floor, and he would not allow any gentle
men to impute measures and sentiments to
him which did not belong to him. ne
SAID he ueUer did propoSe to erc<u,Ie Me
fore ignerS no,o IN the country, Jron' pitt
zeal privileges, nor those acho should al
any time hereafter come 10 TIE cQmfTy.-
He presumed that the gentleman, MIR.
Earle,) alluded to ammedment offered by
him in Convention at Harrisburg, which
proposed nothing more than an inquiry
into the expediency Of preventing iorel gn'
ers, who should arrive in the country alter
ls4l, from voting and holding office. That
was an amendment to the proposition
made by the gentleman from Chester Mr..
Thomas,) suggesting an inquiry into the
expediency OF excluding foreigners alto
gether from our sol, and the amount of it
was to give the proposed inquiry a differ
ent direction from that proposed by the
gentleman from Chester. The proposition
of the gentleman from Chester being with
drawn, Mr., Woodward explained, that he
withdrew his amendment"
That is the whole story. Judge Wood
ward, by common parliamentary man
euvre, defeated a proposition to exclude
foreigners from this Stately an amendment
proposing an inquiry into kindred subject.
His amendment forced the original mover
to withdraw his proposition, and the sub
ject was not again agitated in the Convcn-
ton,
Upon this narrow ground the organ Of
Gov. Curtin has the supreme impudence
to ask citizens Of foreign birth to turn their
backs upon Judge Woodward, the life
long advocate of equal political rights and
privileges, and to vote for Andrew G.
Curtin, who was one of the leaders Of the
bigoted and proscriptivc order Of Know
Nothings. Are Gov. Curtins friends so
foolish as to suppose that the people can
forget that he was an active Know Moth
ing'during the short and inglor.ous life
time of that contemplate organization -
That he was Secretary of the Common
wealth under the administration of Gov.
Pollock That he was candidate for
u. S. Senator before the Know Nothing
caucus at the seseion of 1855, and the
principal rival of Simon Cameron for the
honor Of representing the principles of
Know Nothipgsm in the councils of the
Nation! Surely Gov. Cursin's friends
cannot hope that citizens of foreign birth
have forgotten these recent facts in his
history, or belive that they can be so ut
terly lost to self respect as to vote for a
candidate who assisted in marshaling the
bigoted host that few short years ago
sought their disfranchsemcrt and abase.
ment.
When Governor Curtin was leader in
the Know Nothing organization and a
member of the only Know Nothing admin
istration that ever disgraced our State
Judge Woodward was in the ranks of the
Democracy, combating that odious hercsy.
We need not 60 to the musty records of
the past for this fact 1t is open and pat
ent to every man whose memory rachss
back to the year ls 81. If Judge Wood
ward had been at heart Know Nothing
as his enemies new assert why did he not
embrace the opportunity which this or
ganization afforded OF carrying out his
principles Why, on the contrary did
he oppose this order when Gov. Curtin
favored it, and why contribute to its final
overthrow.
The second charge against Judge Wood