l>le. Rut we are strong in the belief, that
at this time, the introduction of the one
term principle into the Presidential office,
would be wise and salutary. Four years
are long enough for the President of this
Republic to exercise his authority. If he
knows he is not to he re-elected, he can do.
vote all his energies to the good of his
country, and not to the success of his party.
He can then act without fear of giving
offence to party, or hope of buying favor
from the people.”
ABOLITION NOMINATION, IN NEW
YORK.
The Abolition Convention, he I'd at Sy
racuse on Tuesday and Wednesday last, j
denounced both General Harrison und Mr.
Van Buren, and nominated Gcrrit Smith,
of Madison for Governor. Charles O. Shop,
ard of Gencssec for Lieutenant Governor ;
Arthur Tappan of Kings, and Benjamin P.
Johnson of Oneida for Senatorial electors,
with 40 District Electors, pledged to sup
port James G. Birnev for President, and
Thomas Earle for Vice President.— JY. F.
Courier A- Enquirer of the Hth trft.
THE VOICE OF 70.
The Newburg, N. Y. Gazette contains
the following eloquent letter from Benjamin
Eaton, one of the Life Guards of General
Washington.
To the descendants of Revolutionary Sol
diers :
An old soldier of the Continental Army
asks for the last time to speak to his coun
trymen. During the suffering service of
the Revolution I was in sixteen engagements,
and was one of the little band who volun
teered under Sullivan to destroy ‘-the Six
Nations of Indians.” I was one of that
small company selected as the Life Guard
of George Washington —but two of us are
now living. I was at the tough seige of
Yorktown, at Valley Forge, Monmouth,
and thirteen other hard battles, and saw
Cornwallis surrender to our old General.
My service ceased only with the war. Af
ter all this hardship and suffering, in the
street when I go out in my old age to see
the happiness I have helped to give you, I
am pointed at as a British Tor}-—yes, a
British Tory—l have said nothing when I
have been told’ so, hut have silently thought
that my old General would never have
picked out a Tory to form one of his Life
Guard, nor would a Tory have suffered
what I have suffered for you. This abuse
has been shamefully heaped upon one of
your old soldiers because he is what lie was
when the war broke out, and what Wash
ington told us we must always be when he
shook hands with us as we all were going
home. I was a Whig in the Revolution,
have been one ever since and am one now.
Asa V hig I enlisted for the whole, war,
was in favor with the other Whigs of Thom
as Jefferson, went with the party for James
Madison, was in favor of the last war, and
to be consistent in my last vote, must give
it for Gen. Harrison. He is a brave man,
and was never known wherever he has
been to take a penny from his neighbor or
the Government that was not fairly his.—
We have trod over the same ground fight
ing for liberty. His father (he was one of
the Revolution) signed our Independence
roll, and then we all went out together to
fight for it, and we proved it was true.
It really appears to me that this canwot
be the same government that our old sol
diers helped Washington to put up here.—
We fought to have a Government as differ
ent from any in Europe as we could make
it. Well, we done it ; and until lately
things have all gone on smoothly and Eu
rope was beginning to> get ashamed of the
way she made slaves of her subjects by
making them work and toil for seven poor
cents a day with a Standing army over
them to force them to it. But our Presi
dent now tells the people that things have
gone wrong since the Old War, and there
are twenty-three miserable governments in
Europe where the Kings wear crowns, the
rich purple, and the poor people rags, that
we must fashion after them if we want to be
happy and prosperous! We had English
laws here once, and they w ere the best in
Europe, but we conl!d r e stand them and
we put them under our feet- We used to
work for mere nothing, their, and we cannot
do it again. Working for a- few cents a
day may do for slaves, but not for free men
whose liberty cost more blood than liberty
ever cost before ; why, the very first thing
that started the old wan - was the Standing
Army that the King kept’ quartered on us ;
we told him that we w anted no soldiers over
vs in time of pdace, hut lie refused to mind
us and 1 saw Lord Corn wallas surrender
up a part of them to honest Georgs Wash
ington. Our President now proposes to
have a standing fore—wfiat fbr ?—Be
ware ?
Jefferson never asked for armed men tore
elect him or elevate his successor. Madi
son asked for thi in only in the time of the
late w ar, and warned the people when he
left his office to he careful about keeping
soldiers in time of peace. Our streets are
filled with idle men who w ere active labor
ers once when employment was to be had.
The men ot enterprize who once employed
them have been ruined by the government.
And now - these honest but unemployed la
borers are told by the government that
when they. gf> to work agaria they must do
it fbr a few cents a day—that labor must be
as cheap here as it is among the slaves of
Cuba or the slaves ot Europe. Ambition
and ignorance on the part of Govern
ment have shut up our shops- and stores,
scuttled our ships, filled ou.r streets with
idleness and 1 bankruptcy and given no en
couragement to the tin nier as he looks at
his grain. Are not these things sot? You
know they are, und I have no motive in
saying what may be false—l am too far ad
vanced fbr office or any thing else but death
—it will soon he here. My little pension,
and I thank you for it, will soon stop and I
gp home with the rest of the Life Guards.
There is one remedy only for the safety of
the country I have served. Put other men!
stand at the tiller and round the cables. j
and you will soon be back on the old Con
stitutional track. Gen. Harrison is honest,
he never deceived you and he never lost a
battle, and the People wont let him lose
this. Accept my advice and you all have
my blessing—uiv advice is that all of you
become the Life Guard ofthe country, und
my blessing is that your old ago may have ,
less fears for liberty than mine.
BENJAMIN EATON.
Onr oj the two surviving Life Guards of
George Washington.
Newburgh, N. Y. Ail". 28. 1840.
__ 2 ’
The documents to which we refer, are subject ;
to us many cons!rue'ions and misconstructions as j
the tlliristian’s Bible.— Extra Globe.
Read that, fellow-citizens. The docti- j
inents and speeches here referred to. are ;
General Harrison’s letters and speeches;
explanatory of his political sentiments. !
Amos Kendall says, that those letters and j
speeches are as vague, uncertain, and tin- 1
intelligible as thi: word or God ! !!
Let a nation s curse follow the hoary- |
headed blasphemer to his grave !— Louis- \
ville Journal.
USED UP— I
Ono Robert Price,, who happened to !
he in Buffalo some montlrs since, and
who then and there luipprved. to make ]
what purports to be un affidavit, in which i
he states he saw Gen. Harrison w ith a
black cockade on his hat. It now appears !
by affidavits from some ten of the most re- j
spectable citizens of Trumbul eo. Ohio,
where Price resides, that at the time he
states he saw Gen. Harrison wear the
cockade, he w-as but a boy, working on his
father’s farm in New Jersey—and that
while a resident of Ohio, his character, for
truth and veracity has been more than
once impeached in courts of record. The
records of Court arc given in to substanti- |
ate this fact. So much fbr the Price affi- ;
davit, of which the Van Buren papers made 1
much capital.— Dunkirk (Ohio) Beacon. |
THE ADVANTAGES OF HISTORY, j
THOUGHTS FOR THINKING MEN.
Were it only a barren chronicle of the j
births and deaths ot monarchs, who were i
born, no one know s when, and died, no one i
cares how ; or did it only record the revolt- I
ing details of all the cruelties, and massa
cres,and w ars, by w hich humanity has been
disgraced, and afflicted, in every country
and in every age; no one will dispute that
the time would be idl v occupied, that might
be devoted to the study of history. But it
has far higher ends and purposes than this.
If it tells of trifles not worth know ing, it
also narrates events, and describes charac
ters and actions, which will live forever in
the memory of man, which even now exer
cise their influence over the destiniesof na
tions. Here you may trace the origin,
progress, and decline of empires, and com
prehend the secret, and often insignificant
sources of the mightiest results. Here you
may see how often the fortunes of indivi
duals have been identified with the fate of
nations ; how often ambition has assumed
the garb of patriotism ; an affected devo
tion to the people, covered the deepest and
darkest designs against their rights and li
berties. Here you may see how a free
people are always corrupted before they
are enslaved, and how surely popular cor
ruptions lays the corner-stone of tyranny.
Here you may see that the forms of free
dom-are often retained after the spirit has
departed ; and that the “ unreal mockery”
of popular institutions may still be exhibit
ed, like a “ whitened sepulchre, full ofdead
men’s bones,” after the people themselves
have been deprived of all actual participa
tion in the administration of affairs. And
here you may learn the prodigious influ
ence of moral causes upon the destiny of
nations.
History ft* full of instruction upon this
important subject. The same physical
cause still exists in Rome, that did exist in
the period of her greatest glory and pros
perity. The sky of Italy is as beautiful as it
was w’hen the people seceded to the Sacred
Mount; Tiber still rolls his stream - as in
the days of the Scipios, and tire Seven
Hills retain their places as firmly and im
movably as when the dignity anff virtue
ofthe Roman Senate appeared as firm - and
imperishable as themselves ; but a modem
Italian can neither conceive the elevated
principles and heroic spirit that formed the
characters, and fired the bosoms of the an
cient Romans, nor even realize his own des
cent from sueft a noble ancestry. The
same physical causes stilt exist in Greece,
that were in existence there, wlieffl the Per
sians were repulsed at the straits of Ther
mopylae, or when Miltiades achieved the
memorable victory of Marathon, but Gre
cian glory lias long been buried in the
grave ;’ and the brutal Turk- as he treads
in disdain upon the tomb of Phociony knows
no classic sympathy for the departed gran
deur of the great ntotlicr-country of Re
publics—the honored parent of freedom,
and science, and l the arts - .-
It is evident, then; tliat physical causes
cannot perpetuate national power oi* pros
perity. They may supply the means’ of
preserving liberty, where the spirit of liberty
burns; hut they cannot supply its place,
where the spirit is extinct. No ! As
surely as effects result from causes, popu
lar degeneracy is the invariable precursor
of political enslavement. As the ancient
republics fell, in the height of their magni
ficence, an# from the very rottenness of
luxury, such mnst inevitably he the fate of
ours, whenever the enn-kev of corruption
shall have infected the Vitalik of the body ;
politic. Vain, then, will be the physical
advantages- that nature Was conferred, or
that ingenuity can devise.- In van) may
we boast of our extendeif empire, or of our
great and growing population, or of the va
riety of our soil and'products, or of our utv
hounded commerce and flourishing manu
factures, or of any other element that en
ters into the composition of national wealth
i and strength ! It will lx- in vain. No
justness of territory or of numbers—no
agriculture or manufactures—no arts or
elegance and luxury—no railroads or ca
nals—no marble statues or monumental
columns, can preserve Republican Insti
tutions in purity und vigor, whenever the
people shall he ignorant or careless of the
rights they were intended to secure, or shall
I become so thoroughly debased as to care
less ulxmt their loss, than the trouble or
danger of preserving them.
! PUNISHMENT OF A SLANDERER.
When Gan. Harrison was Governor of
i thi* Indiana Territory and Indian Commis
i sioncr, ho was accused of official malver
sation and corruption by a land speeula
j tor. whose piratical machinations and gam
: bling in the Indian lands he exposed and
i defeated. Gen. Harrison forthwith insti
■ tilted an action against his accuser for
1 slander, and the jury to whom was referred
the decision of the issue, promptly, and
j without quitting the jury box, returned a
verdict for Gen. Harrison, with heavy dam
ages. lie approached the defendant, and
! declared his intention not to receive one
: dollar of the damages, saying, that after
! all legal charges were paid, the balance
remainiugsliould he apportioned among the
i widows and orphans of Tippecanoe battle
1 field. Instructions were given, and the
j money distributed in conformity with the
; General’s declaration, among widows and j
, orphans of his gallant companions in arms,
i who fell, battling for the honor of their
I country, on the field of glory. If all the j
! slanderers of the General were served in ■
I the same way methinks the widows of the ;
soldiers that fell at Tippecanoe would bo
richly dowered.
A SLIGHT DEVIATION FROM THE i
FOOTSTEPS.
General Jackson, in the “ Inaugural
Address,” delivered on being sworn into
office, March 4th, 1829, used the follow.
■ ing language:
“ Considering standing armies as dangerous i
to free governments, in time of peace, 1 shall
not. seels to enlarge our present establishment,
nor disregard that, salutary lesson of political ex
perience, which teaches that the military should
be held subordinate to the civil power.”
This “ Inaugural” has been engraven
in copper-plate, surmounted by the “ Old
Hero s” portrait, for the special benefit, wc j
suppose, ofthe “Locos.”— Mobile Ad err.
From the Cincinnati Republican.
COLONEL JOHNSON AT CHILI.
We expressed the other day our strong
convictions that Col. Johnson could not
have been correctly reported in the speech
at Chilicothe, which was contained in the!
Chilicothe Advertiser, of the 9th inst.’ and
in proof of our having just grounds for this
belief, we are gratified in the opportunity
of spreading the following correspondence
before our readers.
It is well known in Kentucky, as well
as in this State, that Maj. Carneal is prob
ably on terms of greater intimacy with both
Gen. Harrison and Col. Johnson than any
individual in the West. His conduct in
the following correspondence adds to the
claims which his services as a Quarter
Master under Gen. Harrison in 1812, and
as a Senator of Kentucky, gives him to
public respect :
Cincinnati, 24th August, 1840.
Dear Sir, —It is my object, if practica
ble, in addressing the enclosed letter to
Col. Johnson, to prevent any unpleasant
feelings between two gallant officers ofthe
late war, who from my personal knowl
edge, entertained a high respect for each
other. lam more than gratified to find I
have not been unsuccessful in the attempt.
Without communicating with either of these
gentlemen, I take upon myselfthe respon
sibility of authorizing you to publish the
correspondence, and am, yours, respect
fully. T. D. CARNEAL. !
Col. C. S. Todd.
Cincinnati, August 24th, 1840’.
Gen. W. H. Harrison :
Dear Sir, —I immediately after reading
the substance of a speech, said to be made
by Col. R. M. Johnson, at Chilicothe, I
addressed a letter to him, a copy of which
is furnished. On yesterday I received his
answer, which with pleasure I enclose to
you.
I view it as putting to rest now and forev
er the foul slanders that have been and
now are circulating against you as regards
your conduct in the decisive and glorious
battle of the Thames, and in my judge
ment leaves no good grounds for controver
sy or unpleasant feelings between two brave
officers of that gallant army.
Truly vour friend,
T. D. CARNEAL.
Cincinnati, August 24, 1840.
Sir, —1 have read the correspondence
between yourself and Col. Johnson, relative
to him at Chilicothe. From the perusal of
Col. Johnson’s letter I am satisfied that he
intended me no injustice in the speech re
ferred to, and that his opinions and senti
ments must have been misrepresented.
Thanking you for the interest you have
manifested in this matter—l return the cor
respomlence. W. H. HARR-ISON.
T. D- Carneal.
CINCINNATI, August I Sr, 1840'.
My dear Colonel, —-1 enclose your speech
as published in the Chilicothe Advertiser.
The reporter of your speech so far as you
speak of Gen. Harrison, has surely mis.
conceived you. I not only so think, but
have so said. An inference may be fairly
drawn, that you are not only in doubt as
: regarded his courage, but that you had
hut little respect for him as a commanding
! General. My personal regard for you,
induces me alone to call your attention to
the subject und furnish you an opportunity
of correcting what I - conceive to - be an er
roneous and garbled report of What you did
say in Chilicothe on the 9th inst.
From, the; enclosed remarks of Col. C. S.
Todd you will at once discover that you
take issue and widely differ. If consistent
with your feelings furnish me with your
views on this subject. They will be pub
lished or not as you may desire. Truly
your friend, T. D. CARNEAL.
Col. Richard M. Johnson, V. P. Mans
field, Ohio.
Mansfield, August 18th, 1840.
My Dear Sir, —Vour favor bus been re- 1
ceived, in which you observe, that by my
reported speech, an inference may be
drawn that 1 am not only in doubt as re
gards the courage of Gen. Harrison, but !
that I had but little respect for him as a
commanding General. lam hapqoj to have ,
this opportunity to inform you that during my
service with Gen. Harrison, I had no cause
to doubt his courage, but consider him a brave
man, and 1 have always expressed myself to
that effect —Nor hare I ever disapproved or
censured any of his measures as commanding
General in the pursuit of Proctor, or in the
battle ofthe Thames—every thing 1 saw met
my entire approbation, and I have never spo
ken of it in any other terms. In speaking of
the Battle of the Thames, and the part ae- \
ted by my regiment, I did not intend to in- :
crease the merit of that regiment, or to di- |
minish the merit claimed by others, much
less did I intend to imply that Gen. Harri- i
son, or Gov. Shelby, or any officer attach
ed to the army, avoided duty or danger.!
Each had his part to act, and I should feel
myself much degraded to supjio.se that they
I did not perform their duty (earless of dan
ger,—nor have I ever doubted, that these
j gallant officers were precisely where duty
called them. I regret that in such a battle
whereourcountry was victorious, that there !
! should he a controversy about the merit
due to the actors in that battle. I claim
nothing above the most humble soldier who
! performed his duty on that occasion, nor
! shall any earthly consideration ever induce
me knowingly to do injustice to the com
manding officer, Gov. Shelby, or any other
officer in that army. I have thus confined
myself to general remarks, not knowing in
what particular fact, injustice is supposed
,to have been done to General Harrison. 1
should be glad to know what particular is
sue is made as to the fact stated in the re
ported Speech, respecting which I had no
agency, I shall feel no difficulty to state
facts as far as rny own personal knowledge
extends, and what 1 understood from oth
j ors, and not to censure or criminate, but to j
state the truth as far as I know or believe j
the facts. 1 expect to he in your City on
Sunday, the 23d, on my way home, and I
shall be happv to see you.
R. M. JOHNSON.
Maj. Tho. D. Carneal.
|
VAN BUREN DURING THE WAR.
An occasional recurrence to some of the
principal events in the careers of the can
didates for the Presidency,is instructive,and
entertaining. It is instructive, because they
have both been long in public life, and the
history of one is the history of the whole
western country. It is amusing, because
it removes the veil by which Mr. Van Bu
ren would now conceal himself, and expo
ses the many little tricks of which he has
been guilty. It is difficult to conceive a
ny thing more fantastic than Martin Van
Buren as presented to us by impartial his
tory ! He is the harlequin of politics.—
His life has been one unbroken series of
petty, not unfrequently ridiculous, strata
gems, having as their uniform object the
advancement of some selfish end. The
following paragraph taken from the New
York Times, may be regarded as a chap
ter of his biography:
What was Mr. Van Buren doing while
Gen. Harrison was fighting the battles of
his country in the late war ?
Mr. Van Buren was enjoying “tho spoils”
of office of Attorney General ofthe state of
New York and the pay ofa Senator of the
state at the same time. He was a judge of
I the Court of errors ; but instead ofdischar
j ging the high judicial duties of that station,
he had the indelicacy—to eall it by no
worse name—to act as counsel on one side
of every cause that came before the eourt
white no was a member of it. Suitors nat- !
urally suppose that a fee to a judge of the
j court to act as counsel, was money better
laid out than it would be in employing an
abler man who was not a member of that
body. If a cause was ever argued in the
court of Errors, while Mr. Van Buren was
a judge thereof, in which he was not em
ployed as counsel, we should be pleased to
have the Argus point it out and tell us
where the opinion of Senator Van Buren
cart be found.
On the same days that he earned his fee
by arguing a cause before the Court of Er
rors he received his per diem allowance as
a judge of the same eourt!
In’ addition to his salary as attorney gen
eral, his per diem pay as a judge of the
court of Errors, and his council fees in the
same court, he was employed by govern
ment to aet with the Advocate in the
many court martial trials that, grew out of
the war ; and he received for this last ser
vice enormous fees. In the trial of Gen.
Hull he received a fee from government of
$•">,000, and wc think, a like sum in the
case of Gen. Wilkinson. Such’ were his
“spoils” gleaned from the war in’ which
Harrison 1 did - the fighting.— Phil. Stand.
We Understand, (says'the Columbus En
quirer, jthat at Meriwether, last Week, Ma
jor Cooper was asked, whether or rtof f.e in
tended tosupport the entire Union-Coalition-
Democratrc-Repuhliean Congressional tic
ket, and that he replied'that such was his in
tention. This we take to be the intention
also of Messrs. Black and Colquitt. And
yet these are the inert who are moving
heaven and earth* to induce State Rights
men to vote for them-—“ because they are
Nullifiers!” Oh', oh! D. C. Campbell,
Joe Patterson, Alfred Iverson, Martin Van
Buren, Peter Parley, Wilson Lumpkin, and
Colquit, Cooper, and'Black, all Nullifiers !
You doiVt say so! Well, it may be ; but
it’s a’ terrible mixture of pure and imptrre-“
of honesty and duplicity ; and 1 , as the fel
low said of his beef, “I’ll be’ swam’d if
there’s salt enough in that heap ro keep it
from spilin’.”
COMMUNICATIONS.
No. 11.
I will take occasion to state in this, what was
omitted in my first communicatiop, that the
! claims of General Harrison to the Presidency are
! not sustained by a single abolition press in the
| United States.
The deluded and bigotted class of our citizens,
} whose views are represented by that incendiary
j portion of the public press, have put forth can
j didates of their own for both the Presidency and
Vice Presidency; for the first, James Birnev, of
New York, and for the latter, Thomas Marie, of
Pennsylvania, “an active Van Buren partisan.”
It is not a little remarkable that the aboil ion
ists should overlook the superior claims of Gene- j
ral Harrison for the Presidency, especially as his 1
prospects for success are so very flattering, if he i
is one of them, to run a man unknown and mi- !
heard of out of the immediate circle of his ac
[ quaintances ; and who has not the most remote
j prospect of obtaining a single vote ofthe electoral
j college.
The opponents of General Harrison seek to
make it appear that he is a Federalist, principally
upon the following grounds :
That he received appointments from the elder
and younger Adams;
That he is favorable to internal improvements
by the General Government;
That he is favorable to the tariff’; and that he
would give his sanction to the chartering of a
United States Bank.
Ist, That he received appointments from the
two Adams. If his appointment to office by the
elder Adams, made him a Federalist, General
Washington, and other distinguished patriots and
republicans, were made Federalists by a similar
process, for they also were appointed to office by
him. But General Harrison happens to receive j
three appointments from Mr. Jefferson, and a si
mi ar number from Mr. Madison. If receiving ;
one or two from Mr. Adams, made him a Federal- !
ist; lie must, certainly, have been made much !
more a Republican by six appointments from Mr. j
Jefferson and Mr. Madison. But lie also re
ceived office from the younger Adams. This, 1
suppose, changed him back to a Federalist.
But Mr. Poinsett, now Secretary of War, and j
Mr. Paulding, Secretary of the Navy, and other j
distinguished members of the Van Buren party,
also received office from the younger Adams, j
Are they Federalists! Oh, no!—they belong!
to the Republican Party ; they are Van Buren
men—Democrats, good and true —real hard
money, silver dollar Locotocos ! Weil, really
the rule is a magical one, that makes a Federal
ist of one who receives office from another, while a
different person may receive office from the same
source, and still be a Democrat!! The truth
is this, General Harrison possessed the confid
ence, as an honest and capable man, of all onr
first Presidents, who repudiating the base and
partisan sentiment—“ That to the victors belong
the spoils,” appointed to office opponents as well
as friends. Besides the services of General
Harrison were called into requisition by a uni
versality of desire and feeling, rarely happening
in any state or nation.
I will pursue this pitiful branch of the charge
no further; for, doubtless, the reader is as dis
gusted with its shallow worthlessness as myself.
But it is urged, that the late John Randolph, of
Virginia, said, that General Harrison was a Fe
deralist ; the latter denied the charge to his face,
and disproved it, the former was convicted, and
silenced. Mr. Randolph said, speaking of Gen
eral Harrison :—“ We differ fundamentally and
totally ; we never can agree about measures or
about men.” Well, I am willing to test the j
General by the contrast. Why was it that the
Legislature of this State, in 1812, changed the
name of one of our counties from Randolph to
Jasper! Let the preamble to the Act tell :
“ That the conduct ofthe said John Randolph
in his official capacity, as a member of Congress,
has evinced such a manifest desertion of correct
principles, - and such a decided attachment to
the enemies of the United States, as to render
bis name odious to every republican citizen in
this State,'and in the United States.”
Mr. Randolph used to boast:
“ That he - held his landed estate by a royal j
grant; and-that be thanked God for it.”
°
It was a favorite remark of his, and expressive i
of his real feelings, tliat
ir He looked across the - Atlantic, to England, as
an lonian Greek looked to Attica.”
Whatever may have been the virtues of Mr.
Randolph,- for he certainly had virtues—what
ever may have been bis talents and eloquence,
tor he possessed both in a high’ degree—he was,
certainly, air aristocrat at heart; and had, per
haps, - less regard 1 for the “ Democracy” than al
most any American statesman of his day.
I am’ willing, then,- that the enemies of Gene
ral Harrison should make all they fairly can out
of the assertion of Mr. Randolph, that he and the
General differed “ furtddirteiff ally and totally.”
Judge’ Burnett, of Ohio, and General Solomon
Van Reiisellaer, who have long and well known
the General personally, - testify that he was an op
ponent 6 f the Alien and Sedition Laws, and a
warm - supporter of Mr. Jefferson in hits contest
with the elder Adams. Had he been n black-cock
ade'Federalist,-as is imputed, how happens it, tliat
among all the living characters who knew him
well in those exciting times, only two or
three persons can be produced to prove it—and
they superannuated by age, besotted with drunk
enness, or convicted of falsehood !
If actions, votes, und speeches, are proper cri
teriouK by which tc judge of the principles of
men, let the following contrast of the opinions
and acts of Mr. Van Buren and General Harri
son,- show which is most justly changeable with
Federalism
Mr. Van Buren “ voted and argued against ex
tending universal suffrage to white citizens ofthe
State of Ne w York.”
“ He voted against electing justices of the
peace, remarking, - the further power was removed
from the people, the better.”
“He voted and argued against electing she
riff?;/’
He ImsmiifoAnily sought to concentrate in the
Chief e.xecrttrte, powers uot authorised by .the
Constitution, by contending for executive unity—
that the executive is a component part of thele-1
gislative authority—by seeking the control, in
directly, of the public money; and disgracefully
canvassing personally among the people, to per
petuate his power.
Not one of these misdeeds, or high-toned fede
ral acts, can be charged against General llairi
son ; on the contrary, he is opposed to every
principle and doctrine which they advance and
contain. While Mr. Van Buren, bewildered
! with the jxissession of power, and the illusive
i dreams of more, seeks to throw around himself
the gaudy trappings of office, and to concentrate
! in his person, powers and prerogatives not con
! ceded to, or claimed by some of the constitutional
j monarchs ofthe Old World.
General llarrison, simple, plain, and republi
can, goes tor the naked Constitution, as it is nn
| (ringed and undecorated with any of the insignia
i ot regal [xjmp, and for a Chief Magistrate, under’
i tliat Constitution, unclothed with the habiliments
’ of regn 1 ]x over.
Mr. Van Buren, on one occasion, voted for
I Rutus King, one of the most ultra and influential
ot the old Federalists, to represent the State of
New York, in the Senate of the United States,
lie was opposed to the late war, at one time, in
1812, and voted for De Witt Clinton, the peace
candidate, who was supported by the Federalists,
in opposition to Mr. Madison, the republican can
didate.
General Harrison, as a Major Genera! ofthe
Army, in tliat war, forsook the safety, comfort,
ami quiet of his home, for the clashing of arms,
and the red field of battle, lie encountered a
relentless and savage foe, led on by Tecuinseh—
brave, wily, and treacherous—to drive them to
their morasses, and force them to peace, by the
severity of his chastisements. He met the
brave regulars of haughty England, to bring
1 them captive to our arms, and subject her terrific
i Lion to the subdued attitude of unwilling submis
i sion, at the feet of the Republican Eagle. Green
j are the gldries which lie won for our land and
himself; and long will they be remembered by
his grateful countrymen. His fame is now inti—
: mutely connected with the glory and renown of
the Republic, and will endure as long as the
i monuments by which they will be transmitted to
succeeding generations.
MADISON.
Washington, Wilkes County, Ga. *
September 14, 1840.
To the Public.
I noticed in the last Independent Press,
a communication from T. F. Kendrick,
with an array of Certificates, to affix upon
me the charge, urul substantiate the report
which ho circulated sometime previously,
relative to an expression of mine against
! Gen. Harrison, to wit: That I had public
ly declared that 1 should he pleased to hear
of ll.’s death, soon after his election, to
which I gave the unqualified lie. - I do not
pretend to assert that Mr. K. has reported
this without authority. But tosay the least
of it, I would advise him in future, if he
is one ofthe deputed agents of his party to
circulate reports for political effect, that
he he exceedingly cautious, to satisfy his
own mind, that such reports had not been
garbled, or entirely metamorphosed.
The first certificate which is introduced,
is from the pen of W. A. Quigly—and in
justice to him, I must state, that so far as
he has gone with his certificate, ho has tes
tified to facts. I know it is almost impos
sible in ordinary street conversation, for
any one to recollect the identical phrase
ology which is used ; and at the time I had
the conversation with this gentleman, Gen.
j Harrison was not the candidate of the State
Rights Party of Georgia. According to
his (Quigly’s) own confessions, it took
place prior to tho June Convention.
The second is from Robert Moon. The
certificate which has been procured from
this volunteer to establish tho correctness of
Mr. K.’s report, is unqualifiedly false.—
There was a gentleman present who heard
the conversation, and will certify to what
was said.
j “I do hereby certify, that I heard J. N.
Wingfield in a conversation upon the Pre
j sidential question, at which time Moon said!
j that Gen. H. was so old, he would die be
! lore his term expired ; to which Dr. W.
! replied, that, if he (Harrison) should die
two days after the election, he would be
perfectly satisfied with Tyler, at the head 1
of the government —or any man in prefer
ence to Van Buren. Mr. Moon lias mis
represented the expression entirely.
“ E. S. LENNARD.”
“ Sept. 10, 1840.”
The next is from A. L. Boren. It is
strange that this gentleman’s memory is so
treacherous as not to recollect more of the
conversation; if I mistake not, he was
present when I had tho conversation with;
Mr. Quigly. He has suppressed a part of
my conversation, so as to change the sense
ofthe expression. This took place prior to
the nomination of Gen. Harrison to the Pre
sidency by the State Rights Party.
The next is from Mr. John Kendrick,
the purport of which, represents me as be
ing a warm’ supporter of Tyler, which f
am proud- to 1 acknowledge. The last cer
tificate is from Wm. H. Moon, who certi
fies that he heard me state that I wisl/Ted
Gen. Harrison- would die immediately after
he took his seat,- so that Tyler might ho
President. Which certificate I say is false,
ThisgeiMfewtfn should be certain of the cor
rectness of what he certifies to—-forOs
rrvust recollect he was once honored with a
birth iii the Penitentiary, and if he should
contract a habit of this nature, lie may be
again introduced to tho same cell. All
who have given certificates, have labored
hard to impress tho public with the idea,
that 1’ was a devoted supporter of John Ty
ler of Virginia. To which I will respond
—if there is a man living, whose name’
cannot be too highly appreciated, as a man
of correct political principles, and integri
ty of purppse, and one too who merits the
unqualified esteem of every honest man, is
is Tyler. Not one of the corrupt, admini
stration organs in this state or elsewhere,
has dared to stain his character, either pri-
