Ashtabula telegraph. (Ashtabula, Ohio) 1874-1880, 1874-12-05

the water and Was drowned. The par
ticulars connected with the finding of hi
body you have BEEN made familiar will
by the daily papers.
Thus ends the career of Captain John
s. Journeycake, man who has been ev
erything in his time and whose name
will stand forever on the pages of oul
countrys history as terror of the people
OF the far west. j. C.
How the War Might Have Been
Avoided.
The subjoined account, by Mr.. Chase.
of the action of the convention which
nominated Pierce for the presidency, is
from "Warden's Life of Chase"
"Immediately after the election, the
northern Democracy, which had support
ed Gen. Cass, claiming that under the
doctrines maintained by him, slavery,
though not prohibited by law, could find
no ingress into the Territories, passed by
an easy transition into the profession of
the doctrines entertained by the Indepen-
dent Democracy which had supported Mr.
Van Buren. Everywhere indications be-
came visible of u disposition 10 unite up
on the platform of slavery prohibition.
| Resolutions were adopted in many of the
States, both by the old line and Indepen.
dent Democrats uniting the two organi-
cations, and in others, where actual union
did not take place, there was more or less
concert of action. In Ohio, l was elected
TO the Senate by the united votes of the
| old line and Independent Democrats, and
took my seat in that body in March, 1849.
! l was not, however, satisfied that the un-
| ion between the two organizations could
be perfect or permanent until, IN a ma
tional convention, the old line Democra-
| cy of the free States should either succeed
in obtaining the adoption of national
latform, declaring the party Independent
of slaVehOlding dicIatlOn, or by breaking
the bond of adhesion to the slave interest
| by open separation.
81, therefore, declined to 90 into the
Democratic caucus of the Senate, or COM
nit myself to the organization otherwise
than by supporting its candidates in Ohio
so long as the party in that State should
maintain an anti-slavery position. The
eve Mt justified my apprehensions 1t
soon became evident that the leaders of
the Democratic party were not prepared
to surrender the supposed advantages of
their slaveholding alliance. In 1850, the
compromise measures including the fugi
tive slave act, were supported by almost
the entire party in Congress, though op-
posed by a majority of the Ohio Repre-
sentatives They were almost universally
denounced by the Democratic press in
Ohio, and for time it seemed possible |
that they might be repudiated by the |
northern Democracy
"When the convention met at Balti- |
more, however, it soon became apparent |
that no such hope was to be realized. |
Resolutions were adopted approving the |
compromise measures ard denouncing |
all agitation of the slavery question, by |
which was understood all resistance to |
the pretensiOns of shareholders. General |
Pierce was nominated for President, and |
Mr.. King, ofAlabama, for Vice President. |
The Wing Convention nominated Gen. |
Scott for President, and Mr.. Graham, of |
North Carolina, for Vice-President. Its |
platform was almost identical in spirit |
and substance with that of the Democrat |
ic Convention. After these nominations |
and declarations, did not hesitate what |
course 10 take. l addressed at once
letter to Mr.. Butler, of New York, declar-
ing my own determination to adhere to |
principles announced at Buffalo, and to |
act with the only party faithful to them
that is 10 say, with the Independent De- |
mocracy which had maintained its organ
iaztion. and had called a convention to
meet at Pittsburgh. earnestly urged him
and the Democrats who had acted with |
him at Buffalo, to maintain the ground |
they had there taken.
Il shall ever lament that this appeal |
was not needed. The party of freedom |
had given, while unorganized, in 1910, |
one vote in every $50 of all the votes cast
in the United States, for its candidates.
In 1874 it had gwen one vote in forty
four, and in 1848 it had given one vote in
ten, and almost one in nine This, it must
be remembered, was the proportion in the
free States of the whole vote of the Uni
ted States. The proportion in the free
States considered by themselves, must, OF
course, have been much larger. 1t Can
not be doubted, l think, that had the
New York Democracy adhered to the
principles aVOwed in 1S4S, and refused to
support the Baltimore nominations upon
q platform repugnant 10 the sentiments
and convictions Of large majority of the
Northern people, a vote would have been
given for the nominees of the Independent
Democracy, which, if not sufficient to
elect its candidates, would have insured
the election of General Scott, and, conse-
quently, the union of nearly the whole
Democratic party, in the course OF the
following year, upon the principles of the
Independent Democracy. The DemOc-
Tacy of the Union, united upon these prin.
ciples, would have been inYIncibIe, and
slavery, excluded from the national Ter
ritories, would have been ameliOrated, dl- I
minished, and, finally, abolished IN the !
States by State action. The Rebellion, IN
all probability, would have been avoided,
and the Union would have been preserved
not for slavery. but for freedom. L took
great pains 10 explain these views TO
many. and a good deal of apprehension
was manifested by certain slave o'ale
Senators lest they should be adopted.
"The New York Democrats, however,
eau tb, matter otherwise than l. They
yant over, almost unanimously, TO the ,
snnnort of Mr.. Pierce, who was, of course,
cIpcted. Their detection, and that of
those influenced by their example, in
other States, reduced the vote Of the In
dependent Democracy from 29l ,678 in
IS4S. TO I57, ,296 in 1852. The whole num-
Der given was 1926, and the Indepen
dent Democratic vote was one IN twenty.
Near three fOurths of the whole detection /
was in New York. ,
"The agreement Of the two old parties
upon substantially the same platform,
and the election of General Pierce, de- (
volved upon the Democratic party the
whole responsibility of that platform.
The reorganization of parties became in
evitable, and, as the platform of the Inde-
pendent Democracy alone represented
antagonism to the Compromise DemOc-
racy, II was also evident that the prinoi.
Piles of that party must form "A basis of
opposition TO the administration, which
must inevitably be driven into new con-
cessions to the slave power.
ut was not long before this logic OF
events exhibited It's natural consequences,
in the Introduction of the Nebraska bill
into the Senate, with It's clauses repeating
the Missouri prohibition AT first there
was great uncertainty among Whig Sen
ators and Representatives as to the course
which ought to be pursued. The entire
body of Southern Wings in Congress
went over to the administration upon this
r ~ - L