Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1875-10-07
Old Bill Allen.
'ircleville Herald and Union.

IHt SptetiSS nlaue by lne party
mountebank, who rejoices in The
above name, and reported in the Gin
clnnati Commercial, by their manner
and matter, are disgusting every de.
cent man wno reads them.
/ Fifty years ago, Allen was drunken
sOt, reeling about the streets; and the
great feat Of his life has been to rise sI.
perior 10 his guZzling propensitieS. Al
that time he was cultivating the habits
of an unprincipled, lOw-flung Gema.
gogue; prOfane, sIanderous reprobate.
and his habits in this respect have only
been confirmed by age. a retirement,
enforced by his own party, with oprOr-
tunity to reflect upon his sins, and cul-
ii rate the amenities of Il gentleman,
seems only to have inflamed his egot-
ism and confirmed the vicious habits
remaining as the Debris of his former
intemperance.
Forty years ago, council of the lead
ing Whig citizens of Chillicothe met 10
confront base slander wiIich Mr.
Alien had promulgated against their
wives and mothers, and their delibera-
tons we're brought to an issue by one
OF them volunteering to publish Allen
as a liar and scoundrel, for asserting
the ladies of ChillicOthe once offered to
present W. FL. Harrison with petit
coat. This summary denial stopped
the Slander, and its utterer never re-
peated it,.
Having been elected, afterWard, to
the United States Senate, in the palrDy
days Of the prO-slavery Democracy,
Allen was put upon the Committee on
Foreign Relations, and the question of
settling the Oregon and British Pos
Session line came up. Allen, in the
committee and on the floor of the Sen
ate, swelled, strrtted and clustered
around like gObbler in a barr-yard,
protesting that he would never agree
10 Il line below latitude u degrees and
40 minutes. No! he would die first
"Eitty-four forty or tightn' was his ul-
timatum. But, 10! the committee, On
recOnsidering the question, came down
TO 1890, where the line remains to this
day, aud always will. Aliens disgust
ing resumption, braggadocio and blust-
er,U on this memorable occasion, brought
upon him the sharpest ridicule, and the
late Senator Crittenden admin stored
the victim as a reckless braggart, and
made the decent portion OF his own
party so ashamed of him, that he was
retired as soon as possible to private
life.
AS the proprietor of the old Near
thur estate, life-inteFest in which fell
into his hands by his marriage with
the widow CooDs, the old Generals
eldest daughter. Allen learned that u
spade is a SPADE and aspired to the
dignity of Granger. In some parts
OF the State, the honest old farmers
have been made to believe that the old
is really Il sun-browned |
farmer, whereas he works by an over |
seer like the old Shareholders, and !
knows far better how 10 eat "a pOne of |
bread as he calls it, than to raise corn. |
In fact, soon after getting possession of |
them, he turned the old Macarthur hills |
into grazing lots, sort of farming |
which requires the least labor and skill. |
Since Crittenden's terrible tongue
lashing sent him into retiracy, Allen
has tried to be elected to the United |
State Senate several times, but some |
more acceptable partisan was preferred
before him. When the civil war broke
put, he started off right, to drum up
recruits against the rebels; but he was
soon admonished that that course
would not do for "a Democrat and was
found advocating Vallandig-
nam for Governor, and in full COM
nunion with the Northern Democrats
who were giving aid and comfort to the
southern traitors.
fuIt 10 |
he man whose person and principles
hey had been abusing and traducing
III his public life (Horace Greeley,
President, the old fOgies of the party,
hungry for office, were constrained to
Old Bill for Governor, trust
ng to the crusade fever and the lassi-
ude of the Republicans, for success
They were gratified by a plurality vote
If about 800, by which their typical
5tateman' was successful. And, in the
irst flush of his new position, he con-
eived he might safely tell the truth
or once, and appear magnanimous, by
certifying to the honesty of the Re-
publican administrations and states
nen of Ohio, which he did in the most
borough AMI conclusive manner. In
act, as well as we know the man, we
we're fOndly led, by this act of Allen,
o trust that age had blunted his party
and near approach to
he brave had inclined him magnani-
nously to accord "a just tribute to the
fiicial integrity of his political oppo- !
ents.
But Aliens dirty and disgraceful ,,
diatribes within the last ,
Wo weeks prove that he is the same :
lashing, vulgar, prOfane blatherskite ,
nd demagogue he was thirty, forty J..
nd fifty years ago, with all those dis :,
racetul and disgusting qualities in
by long indulgence and an
tier want of moral principle. He pre- ,
ents, in his loud-mOuthed and men +
aciou5 TRADES against truth and COM :
ION sense, the painful picture of ,
oary old detamer, outraging the amen = !
les of lie, the truths Of history, his
wn previous utterances, and the con- i
deration due to intelligent listen ers, I
y reckless stream of falsehOod, pro- =
nifty and bilingsgate, which, it is but =
lst to his upholders and prompters to
~, proceeds from his own turgid i'm -
in which exist the hideous g
pparitions of a perturbed fancy; as the f
" hlui IetFluutlNe treasure U. long | {
nd worse than useless life, spent in
npatriOtic, selfish and desperate Il
themes for his own temporary ad- n
ancement, over his duped and delud-
| followers. +,
His speeches now consist of whole {
lie falsehoOd, slander and abuse, ut z
red against the most economical and n
enefcent party the country has ever p
gagged in the management of public n
fairs, and the purest statesmen who {,
i've devoted their energies in her SER II
ice. Never before was there an era n
our history, which imposed such Il
responsibilities upon ihe :,
Hing party; and never Vas public II Fl
lty, in omparison with its impor- n n
nee, more faithfully performed, than ct
7 the great Republican party since q
81. After stultitying himself by y