The Bedford gazette. [volume] (Bedford, Pa.) 1805-current, 1867-08-09
RIP VAN WINKLE AWAKES /,


FIR. Jordan-the Hon. Francis Jor-
dan, Secretary of the Commonwealth
and Chairman of the Radical B. HI.
State Committee-has issuedan address
to the people of Pennsylvania, direct
ing them how to vote at the approach
ing Judicial election. Jordan is the
Rip Van Winkle of Pennsylvania pol
itics. He started out hunting THAT is,
office-hunting) one bright morning
some twenty years ago, with all kinds
ammunition for the rusty old fire.
lock with which he calculated to bring
down Democratic chickens, and fell
asleep on the dunghilI of AbOlitionism
whist waiting to get pop at the old
cock that was wont to crow so Justify
from the GAZETTE office. He has been
asleep ever since and just now awakes
to the fact that every thing is changed
about him. His rusty old gun has fallen
to pieces, his shot-pouch contains some
old ammunition, much spoiled by age
and exposure to the weather, his coat,
turn it as he will, does not keep out
the wind, which, in its Democratic
way-deqto pulSdt pede- strikes all with
equal force. He is wonder stricken,
yet unlike his great prototype, he does
not seek to unravel the mystery which
surrounds him, but ties together the
parts of his crazy fowling- piece, loads
it with his antiquated and weather.
spoiled ammunition, and proceeds with
his hunt of Democratic game. Fizz-
zip-bang! goes the old blunder-buss
and the dogs that slept with him on the
Abolition dunghill, run in to secure the
trophy of the hunters sportsmanship
Ma kltnanl herdlts The ammunition
was too old F.; it had lost its strength the
gun "burnt prime" too long; and chan
ticleer, at whose breast the shot was
aimed, flaps his wings iR triumph, and
crows Justify, Victory! Tic-fO-ry !
Rip Van Wrinkle Jordan, will, doubt +,
less, learn, if he has not learned al
ready, that if he is compelled to go
back thirty four gears to find an Objec-
tion to Judge Sharswood, the people
will conclude that there is no objection
at all to that most excellent jurist. Just |
think of it! Here are Jordan and his |
committee, looking through the whole
record of Judge SharswOOd's life, seam
ming with eager eyes every page of it,
and finding nothing until they have
gone back thirty four years, and then
they find him at States Rights BAN
guet at which toasts were given to John |
C. Calhoun! Isn't it wonderful! Oh, |
yes they find, too, that in a certain
case in Philadelphia, in which a con-
tract had been made (abOut seventy |
years before "greenbacks" were ever
thought of that certain interest was to |
be paid in "Spanish milled dollars" he !
decidedthat the party who had stipu-
lated to pay the "Spanish rnilled dol
lars" must fulfill his contract, and that |
he could not do so by offering to pay in
''greenbacks" instead ofSpanish milled
dollars, and this, because the contract
was a special one and made long before
the passage of the ''greenback" law.
From these two facts, Rip Van Winkle
argues that Sharswood is Secessionist,
traitor, and everything that is naugh-
ty. But he forgets to say that Shars-
wood was Wing until that party was
destroyed by Abolitionism, and, there
fore, must have acted with Webster
and against Calhoun and, what is still
more significant, he fails to notice the
fact that the Republicans" of Phila-
delphia, endorsed the nomination of
Judge Sharswood for President Judge
of the District Court of that city, and
voted for him in body, and this too,
during the midst of the late civil war.
With such facts to rebut the silly
charges of the political antiquary who
presides over the deliberations of the
Radical B. II. State Committee, the
friends of Judge Sharswood can well
afford to rest secure of victory. SELAH
The Baltimore Sun thus dispOses of