National Republican., 1880-10-02

uSurpaUon. Had 10 been submitted 10 Dy tue
body, the mastery of itself, and in a sense OF
tho country, in the gravest political crisis
IN the history of tho nation, would
have been the unrcstraincd will of an
elective officer chosen by previous
body, who, for convenience, had become the
enrolling officer OF this. Comment cannot
add to the transparent absurdity Of this prop
osition. II is simple folly to tosupposc that such
an anomaly could have occurred in "A land Of
law. Its home could only be in Que Of those
blightcd regions which know no law but an
over-changing will. The action then takcn,
of which you bitterly complain, is, with con-
hdcucc, left to tho calm judgment Of history
as resting upon impregnablo foundations as
sustained by principles which are sacred, aud
by usagos only less sacred than principles
both Of which have become part of our pub
lie law and beyond your power to disproyc or
destroy.
| might rest here but the oficnsiveness of
your allusion calls attention to yourself You
charge that when In Office | was partisan" in
the sense of being unfathful; that l took
orders" from "leadors," rather than counsel
from my Judgment; that | acted under duress
rather than from sense of right There Is a
class of men to whom such imputations APP
PEAR trivial. believe your career for forty
years has given evidence that you belong to it.
But to mo they are substantive, and take
the liberty Of saying tn you that repel them
with the scorn which they inspire. ! have
answered them sufficiently. But by what
title do you assume to judge OF the "parti
sauship' Of olGialsP You have been, more or
less, politician for forty years, and during that
time you hayc had, more or less, the confidence
of the various parties to which you have be-
lougcd In the many years Of fierce strife
between the whig aud democratic parties,
when you were in executive or legislative
office, did you ever have partisan" impulse
4 d ,.l
for il? Ii not, how dare you arraigu others
for like cSuse7 When in congress did you
never attend "caucus," or carry out u policy
so detcrmiued7 II you did. how much bet.
ter were you than the men whom you now
denounce, even suppOsiug your imputations
to be truthful? To be precise, were you, as
an aggressive member Of tho Fillmore admin.
istratiou, not privy to the action taken by the
whig representative caucus OF December, 1851,
in which adherence to tho principle and sub
stance Of the compromise measure of 1897
was made an absolute test Of party fealty2
That action gave intensity to the causes which
within three years disrupted that orgauiZl-
tion. You were then a "whig" leader, and you
helped rend that party. know your excuse
for this trcachery You were willing to de-
sirOy tho party which you protessed to scrve
unless it could be continued to be perverted
to the purposes of the slave power. To its dark
spirit you always bent 70 IL your fidelity
was unchanging. To it you surrendered both
your "partisauship" aud your patriotism for
in its interest, in 1850, you betrayed the whg
| organization, and, in its interest, also,
you, ten years later, turned your back upon
your country.
You never did partisan" act, indeed
Yet you consented TO be, aud were, one
| of Il crafty committee sent by the soces-
sion convention of Virginia in 1861, in
the most momentous crisis of the war period,
| TO ontrup President Lincoln, theurecently in-
auguratcd aud at that moment harasIed by
the rapidly developing treasOus of your cou.
fcdcratos. You sought then to inveigle him
Githor into n premature declaration of his
purposes or under threat of your states dis.
| pleasure and secession, to force him to the
abandonment of constitutional duty. You
selected an unfortunate day, for while your
cunning suggestions and smooth words were
falling upon the ears OF that long-sutiering and
| thoroughly faithful man the guns Of Beaure
gard, demoishing Fort Sumter, were ringing
| throughout the union. You eau never forget
| Lincoln's words in reply Oh that memorable
| April l3, 1861. Your mission failed, aud you
turned to Virginia to strip of the disguises
you wore when strutting through the streets
or in which you maSqueradcd through tia,
Salons of Washington. You recall, with well
assumed horror, an imaginary republican eau
Gus in December, 1865, and are shocked at tn,
thought OF u party's machinery thus con
trolled, but you conveniently forget how
in the late congress the democratic party, L
which you now belong In fact and Of which
you were, most of your life, practical ally
surrendered itself more abjGctly aud publicly
to the control OF the Caucus" syatem than wa,
ever before known in all political history.
have no pleasure in recalling these, you
political inielicitics, but the arrogance OF You
assumptions requires, in the interest OF truth
that the picture b. drawn. l trust that
though it may not have the effect of sweoten
ing your temper OF adding TO the comfor
with which you review your career and ii
fruits, it may yet teach you the wisdom 0
Christening your pen when discussing TIL
public acts OF others. AT least the iuciden
may show you that self-consttutcd censor
should uot have short memories or tortuou
records. Very respectfully, yours,
EDwD. MCPHERSON.
Hon. ALEXANDER IL. III. SrUARr Slaun
ton, Va.