Newspaper Page Text
From the Augusta Chronicle Sentinel.
GEM. HAMILTON AND ANNEXA
TION.
Since the return of Gen. James Hamil
ten, to New Orleans, from Texas, ho has
addressed a letter, through the N. O. “Bul
letin,” to Mr. McDuffie, urging in strong
terms, the project of Annexation. We have
not seen the entire letter, and can only in
fer its contents from the extracts and com
ments contained in the New Orleans pa
pers, of which we subjoin those of the
“Tropic.” It appears to us that conside
rations of delicacy, on the part of General
Hamilton, largely interested, as ho is known
lobe, in the stocks and lands of Texas,
hould have prevented his appearance in
tiie public prints as an advocate of this
measure. For however patriotic may be
the and influences. xVhich operate
to produce his opinions,jhe world will not
hold him a disinterested advocate, and ;
while the administration of Washington
render themselves obnoxious to the charge
of Hpringingpfle question for political ag
grandisement, he will be subjected to the
suspick*h of having been alone influenced
by considerations more sordid. With all
c>dr kind feelings, therefore, for General 11.
we can but regret his course, so far as he
is personally concerned, yet we frankly
confess, the appearance of those who are
deeply identified, pecuniarily, in the for
tunes of Texas upon the arena, is a source
ofgratulation to us. Such a course, on
their part, will open the eyes of the reflec
ting men of all parties to the true cliarac- ;
terofthis negotiation, and the motives and
influences that have operated to bring it a
bout—it will show to the prudent and dis- I
crept the reckless spirit that animates those j
ilesperate speculators, whose fortunes hang
upon the fate of Texas—a spirit which
would sacrifice, not only the harmony of
the Union, but endanger the very existence
of the government itself, at the shrine of
their own sordid lust (or money.
This is no question in which party feel
ins should be permitted to mingle : it is a
question, however, of the gravest impor
tance, ami one which the American people
should meet in that spirit of calm and dis
passionate investigation, that becomes them
as freemen, and the magnitude of the ques
tion, in all its various bearings, demand at
their hands.
That we have been heretofore silent upon j
this measure is no evidence that we were ,
not a deeply interested spectator of passing
events, but rather the result ofour disposi
tion to await the developements of the ac- j
tion of the government, together with the
documentary evidence upon which that ac
tion has been based, and by which it is
sought to he sustained. These we trust
will shortly be before the country, when
the people will be the better able to arrive
at correct conclusions. When this testi
mony is developed, we shall not hesitate to ,
pass in judgement upon it, and to give our
views fully and frankly, and this we shall j
do without expecting or desiring to commit
any man or party.
But we are permitting ourselves to he
led off, when it was our purpose only to in
troduce the comments of tlie “Tropic” upon .
Gen. Hamilton’s letter, which runs thus:
“ The Bulletin of yesterday contained a
pompous comm unication, dated “St. Charles
Hotel,” and signed “J. Hamilton.” This
personage, we take it, must be the same
who commanded an entire brigade ofSouth
Carolina militia—“armed and equipped as
the law directs”—during the nullification
times. His letter is addressed to Mr. Geo.
McDuffie—under the endearing appella
tion of “My Dear Mac” —and forms a very
elegant specimen of nullification rhodo
montade. The subject is the annexation
of Texas. Brig Gen’l Hamilton, of the
South Carolina militia, has just arrived
from Texas, and soon after landing, he
stumbled upon the letter in opposition to
the Texas annexation project, written by
Daniel Webster, whereupon he launches
into a most eloquent rhapsody, surpassed
by nothing, that electrified the world at the
time of the South Carolina rebellion. As
a fair specimen of the letter, we give the
annexed extracts:
“With all possible moderation allow me
to ask, if this is the ground on which Tex
as is to be excluded from the Confederacy,
have we any olher alternative hut AN
NEXATION OR DISUNION? There
are times and occasions in which the best
discretion is to be found in the highest cour
age, and if slaveholders are not fit to be ad
mitted into the Union, we are not fit to he
there. The argument can have no other
extent but this.
“Humble an individual as I am, I desire
xny position in relation to this subject not
;to be misunderstood. I have hitherto ta
ken no part in the battery of this question.
To the best ofniy recollection, have neither
written to Mr. Calhoun, yourself, nor a sin
gle member of the South Carolina Delega
tion on the topic. Ido not even know your
-opinion, intimate as our relations have
.been. I have been restrained by conside- 1
rations of peculiar delicacy. I have pecu- -
niary claims on the Government of Texas,
and desired no distrust of my motives. Be
sides, I procured the recognition of Texas
from the first and most powerful nation on
the face of the earth, and from two of the
second rate powers of Europe, and co-op
erated in obtaining that of the King of the
French. After assuring these powers that
Texas desired to be a sovereign and inde
pendent State, it was not for me to take a
prominent part in measures which were to
place herin a subordinate sphere by con
tributing to a reversal of my own measures.
*+** “ * *
“If the South, however, after listening
for one hour (yea, a stated hour) per diem
for the last four years to reproaches and
insult, in an assembly which ought to be
blessed by the spirit of a fraternal concord,
should put up with this indignity, not gen
tly intimated but flung slap in her face, j
why ldo not see, mv dear Mac, that you j
*ind I have any other fate than like the rest
■vo be contented and infamous, and make
cotton and rice as long as our masters will
)>r¥rr,;t ns to do so.
“ But if, on the other hand, the Southern
delegations should rise to a level of the spir
it which once distinguished our fathers, and
they sound the tocsin after Congress shall
have declared its authentic sense, THAT
NO MORE SLAVE STATES ARE TO
BE ADMITTED INTO THIS UNION;
why, then, humble and stricken as I am, I
promise to re-ccho the blast in at least three
States in the Union which 1 touch in sociul
sympathy and contact. 1 think we may
count on ull of them. As to tiiat noble old
Stale to which we both owe, with our loy- i
alty and affection, so much gratitude, as a- i
mong the favored of her sons, shall we
doubt her ? No. “ She knows how to die
but never to surrender.”
Sincerely your friend,
J. HAMILTON.
St. Charles Hole), New Orleans, April 11,
1844.”
I As especially germane to the subject, we
publish in connexion with Brig. Gen. Ham- j
illon’s patriotic epistle, the following let- I
ter, received from one of our humble cor- i
respondents. The writer, we dare say, j
never deserted his native land ; never
■ swore allegiance to Texas; never specu
lated in Texas funds ; has no “ large pe
cuniary claims on the Government of Tex
as ;” never “procured the recognition of
Texas from the most powerful nations on
the face of the earth” or from “ two second
rate powers.” Like Brig. Gen. Hamilton, \
therefore, it is not “ for him to take a promi
-1 tierit part” in securing the consummation
| of Tyler’s schemes for annexation, but he
! has a right to be heard in his own modest
| wav :
j To the Editors of the Tropic.
The Bulletin of yesterday contains a suf
; ficicntly long letter—its tone considered —
from “ J. Hamilton,” on the subject of co
alition with Texas, in which the musty
leaven of nullification is again strongly a- !
gitated by the “ humble individual,” of by- j
gone pretensions, whose rebuke, from the |
whole nation, for former efforts to scatter :
fatal discord among the 13 States (God ;
bless them) is yet reverberating among the j
“ cotton, rice, sugar and tobacco fields” of j
his native State. This individual, with
“large pecuniary claims on the govern
ment of Texas,” may, with propriety, cn
i tertain asperity of feelings towards Mr.
| Webster for his expression of sentiments j
! antagonistic to those of “ J. Hamilton,” but j
, there is no propriety, and not much courte
’ sv, in his imputation of these sentiments to
the whole north, and upon this naked postu.
| late elevating such a very top-heavy su
i perstructure of “southern chivalry.”
As for myself, 1 am too a very “ humble
individual;” nothing hut a dependent up
on tiie “ base profits of traffic ;” a “ damn
ed yankee,” whose grandfather was uncer
emoniously run through the belly by tbg
bayonet of a South Carolina tory, during
i the revolutionary war, and whose father j
; was enrolled among his nation's defenders
j during the last war; yet, with all my hu
mility, my love of country is fully equal to
I that of the intriguer in question, lor it will
not allow me to impute his bombastic no
tions to more than a dozen or two of bis
! own most silly personal friends, and on the
strength of such an unjust imputation, quiz
otize against a much honored class of my
own countrymen.
In truth, Mr. Editor, I am unqualifiedly
in favor of the annexation of Texas, and
hope to soe that country, within five years,
reposing under the shelter of our national
flag ; but I have no bully ism to offer upon
the subject, for 1 firmly believe that there
was as good fighting behind the hay cocks
of Bunker Hill, as there was behind the
cotton bales of New-Orleans.
JEREMIAH DUSENBERRY, Deacon, j
American Eating House, i
New-Orleans, April 13, 1844 \
Those who have not forgotten the lamen
ted comedian, Jemmy Thorne, and who
! knew him in the hey-day of his prosperity
and all the richness of his intellect, can ea
sily recall to mind his personation ofßom
bastes Furioso, and the inimitable tone with
which he exclaimed, when he fastened his \
“ Wellington’s” to the tree :
“Whoever dares these boots displace,
Must meet Bombastes face to face.”
We never listen to the rhapsodies of any
of these South Carolina heroes, upon any
subject whatever, the “ Gen. Bombastes”
of Thorne is is not instantly forced up
on our recollection. “All the chivalry”
of the “ Palmetto State” have taken the
the lead in the matter of declamatory pol
troonery. They can talk more and do less
than any set of creatures known in modern
history. They proclaimed “ war to the
knife”—which means the same as “ death
for the sugar” in 1833, and ignobly threw
down their arms at the gleaming of the first
bayonet. They declare that they will nev
er support Van Buren, or any other nomi
nee of the Locofoco Convention at Baltimore
as now constituted, and yet when the nomi
nation is once made, they will drop their
tails between their legs, and like whipped
’ curs, humbly lick the hand that has spurn
ied them. Such, Heaven sake the mark !
is South Carolina “chivalry.”
As regards the cry of DISUNION—
come from quarter it may, whether from
“ J. Hamilton,” from D. Webster, from the
ragamuffin abolitionists of the North, or
from any other source—it is all the merest
child’s prattle, with which an intelligent
people were ever disgusted. Disunion !
Depend upon it, that no question on which
freedom ofopinion can be brought to oper
ate—which admits calm and open discus
sion from one extremity of the confederacy
to the other—which, in brief, is submitted
to the honest decision of the People —not
the base politicians—of the Republic, can
ever originate the dismemberment of our
twenty-six States. The craven cry issues
only from the throats of political specula
tors and stock-jobbing demagogues, and is
entitled to no more consideration than the
i midnight croakings of the frog, the screech-
I ings of the owl, or the unholy discord of a
Dutch organ-grinder.
The Election in Virginia takes place to-day. !
Look out for another Whig victory.
State’s Evidence. —The Democratic pa
pers havo published, and keep standing se
lections from Whig papers, going to show
their inconsistency in supporting Mr. Clay.
By way of set off, we give the following
choice morceaux. They are the sentiments
ofTroup men, Clark men, Nuliifiers and
Union men, uttered but a few years since,
and who, for diverse reasons, them thoreto
moving, have become Von Buren men.—
Macon Messenger.
opinions or EDWARD j. black.
You are culled upon by those who pre
i tend to be your advisers, to support Martin
Van Buren for the Presidency and R. M.
Johnson for the Vice Presidency*. : Your
Convention at Milledgeville have put them
[ both in regular party nomination, for those
i highest offices in the gift of the people. Do
you, can you, remembering your former
• and present professions sanction and sup
- port such a nomination? Will you tole
rate in Martin Van Buren his written and
| avowed belief that Congress has the right
| to abolish Slavery in District of Columbia,
j when but twelve months ago, from the seats
you now occupy, you peremptorily stopped
a regular debate unanimously, with us, to
condemn the same opinion, which had been
only incidentally adverted to in the discus
sion? Can you consent to throw the vast
and still increasing patronage of this gov
ernment into the hands of a man, who,
1 while a member of the New York Legisla
ture, voted for the right of Free Negro suf
frage, and openly advocated the startling
proposition that the negro shall have power,
at the polls, to control the destinies of gov
ernment equally with yourselves? It is
said, he is at this moment making large
sums of money by speculating in the public
lands. He was opposed to the last war at
the most critical period of the contest —he
is, and ever was, a high tariff man : and
I to prove his devotion to the American Sys
tem, he assured his friends at the North,
that he had just then appropriated $20,000
to the purchase of sheep ! He was a Mis
; souri restriclionist. But what boots it
to multiply charges, 1 could go on for three
1 hours to enumerate, for I hold in my hand
a catalogue of his political crimes; but 1
! forbear ; for what does itsignify, that other
j wise he may be as pure as the fabulous
! icicle which hung from Dian’s temple, if
; upon the one vital, all important subject
j ofslavery, he is rotton to the core, and
pledged against the South ?”
Opinion of the Macon Telegraph in 1832.
Marlin Van Buren. —To every unpreju
diced mind it must be a matter of astonish
ment, that the individual should in Geor
gia be brought forward as a candidate for
the Vice Presidency by the Gilmer party
since they cannot deny that it was mainly
through his influence and instrumentality
that the unequal and onerous tariff of 1828
was saddled on thenaiion.
Opinions of Martin Van Buren, as pub
lished in the Federal Union in 1832:
We have preferences for other candidates
whom we believe more pure, more disinter
ested, more patriotic than Van Buren—pre
ferences which we cannot relinquish at the
, dictation of tiiesc constituted delegates ; we
1 have an objection to this selfish dissembler,
which they cannot constrain us to forget.”
When did Martin Van Buren exhibit any
powerful talent, any patriotic zeal in the
cause ofhis country ? Thoroughly versed
in all the cunning arts of that selfish, sordid
policy, by which men of various and oppo
sing interests, sentiments, and principles,
are united in the pursuit of office; in the
field of open and honorable exertion, lie
rises but little above mediocrity.
And who believes that, in fact, Van Bu
ren is the friend of Jackson ? As long as it
was possible to defeat Jackson, Van Buren
was leagued with his bitterest enemies.—
At the eleventh hour, when success was
certain, Van Buren came over to the suc
cessful banner, just in time to appropriate
a large share of the spoils of victory. The
military services and ardent patriotism of
Andrew Jackson, failed to win his approba
tion and command his support, but he be
i came a willing and zealous proselyte to
i the successful fortunes of the President.—
| Jackson with a generous and confiding
friendship, has assumed a vast responsibili
ty, in ordei to defend and to promote this
■ man ; while he selfishly seeks his own ad
! vancement, at the hazard of the Presidents
! popularity. He is a selfish calculator, a
fawning courtier, a flattering sycophant,
■ utterly unworthy the name of friend.
Asa Statesman he is destitute of princi
i pie. He knew, and acknowledged that the
taritF was unjust and oppressive ; and yet
ii to gain popularity in New York, he sup
| ported this odious measure. Shall the
1 South be so infatuated as to lend its aid in
1 clothing tliis man with power ? VVc can
have no safe hold on his affections—we can
repose no confidence in his integrity.
1 OPINIONS OF WALTER T. COLQUITT IN 1836.
Acting upon this conviction, I am op
posed to the election of Martin Var. Buren
to the Presidency since circumstances war
rant me in the conclusion, that iiis feelings
upon this question are opposed to mine, and
that he differs with us, as regards the con
stitutional powers of Congress to abolish
slavery in the District of Columbia. In
asmuch as Mr. Van Buren was an advo
cate for the restriction of Missouri, upon
the subject of slave population ; the fact of
his having voted in the Convention of New
York for a provision, giving to free negroes
the political right of white men ; the fact
that almost the-entire strength of the abo
litionists is exercised for his promotion;
and for the reason that he himself acknowl
edges, that he is not prepared to say that
Congress has not the Constitutional power
to abolish slavery in the District of Colum
bia—these circumstances are indications
too strongly expressive of his real feeling,
to permit me to aid his election.
OPINIONS OF MR. M'DUFFIE.
Before that God to whom lam responsi
ble for what I say here, I do believe that
| the annals of human idolatry and delusion
cannot furnish an example of more impu
; dent, audacious, and monstrous imposition,
’ than that which the Administration is at-
I tempting, and I fear with too much success,
Ito palm upon tbo people of the United
I Suites under the flimsy and delusive guise
j of returning to tbo primitive simplicity of
Ia bard money government. Nothing that
i ! I have read, among all the superstitions of
tho.world, transcends its monstrous audaei
ity. f-:'.
’ OPINIONS OF HENRY 0. LAMAR —JOEL BRAN
HAM AND OTHERS.
Mr. Van Buren—A man having no kin-
I dred feeling for the South, or its peculiar
institutions. A stranger alike to our ha
j bits—our feelings and our interests. Dis
tinguished for no extraordinary public vir
tue, or public services, unknown as a
Statesman, and unconnected with any of
the great events of our National history,
save only when found in the ranks of those
who were hauling against us. If we ad.
vert to the political history of this man, we
shall find nothing to approve, but every
thing to condemn.
WIIY THE WOMEN ARE WHIGS!
1 Tbo question is answered in the follow,
j ing passage from an address lately deliv
ered before the Whigs of NewYork, by Dr.
Bacon.
“Itisalmost universally conceded that
for some reason the vast majority of the i
American women are Whigs. The reason
may never have been given ; but it is wor
thy seeking and easily found. It is in
the very nature of women. They act from
feeling, impulse, and sentiment, where men
attempt to act from calculation, reason and
argument ; and on all moral subjects—all
questions of principles, their feelings and
perceptions of what is true and pure and
noble and beautiful are more just and cer
tain, as they are more prompt than the am
bitious reasoning of men. The God of Na
ture has thus endowed them above us, for
the holiest of purposes. The mother waits
not to reason of her duties. Her high in
stinct is divine wisdom, most wisely given.
Women too have a strong natural taste for
the heroic in principle, for the noble, the
hold and gallant, and an equally natural
distaste for the mean, the crafty, the cold
and calculating. We owe much of that
. female influence, no doubt, to the personal
qualities of our leader. 11 is high toned
feeling, his fervor, frankness and courage
are the fruits they most seek and admire in
men. Still, it is to our principles and ac
tion also that their preferences are ren
dered. Sowas it withthe mothers and wives
j and daughters of the Revolution. So must
it be witli those of our time. We welcome
them then with all our hearts. We honor
their high perception of the moral sublime
in our cause. We give them praise. Our
enterprise would not he complete in its
beauty or success without their aid, their
gentle winning influences here, and in their
dominion of the home and the fireside, just
as our proud choral anthems would lack
perfect harmony without the softening mel
ody of their \ oices.
And therefore—wives and mothers and
daughters ofenlightened freemen ! we re
joice in your presence as an evidence of
your appreciation of ‘whatsoever thingsare
honest, pure and ofgood report,’ as a touch
ing manifestation of that moral sense divin
er than cold reason, bv which you look to
the hopes and joys of that coming age which
is committed to your care. That holy ma
ternal love, which bears the object of its
creation in such a continual anxious
watchfulness, and will not leave it when
’ its infancy ceases, hut cling to it unchan
i ging through life, and to death and beyond
j death—follows it over the Earth and up to
| Heaven, and hears it near to God—that
! same love instinctively abhors the public
evils of the age, and instinctively promotes
: the influences which will avert those evils
! from that offspring. Although the father
| may forget this duty the mother will not;
I and she may make the father remember it.
Therefore lovely and true and faithful !
we are glad in the light of your counte
i nances ; and from all full hearts we send
1 j you our shouts of welcome.”
Locojoco Songster. —Notwithstanding the
j Globe says that Mr. Van Buren would
; 1 scorn to be sung into the Presidency, and
notwithstanding the Locofoco papers uni
- versaliy express a great deal of horror at
■ the immorality of song singing, yet a vol
■ ume, has been published containing sixty
I “songs” dedicated to the service of Mr.
• ! Van Buren and Locofocoism generally.—
! | The following is a rich specimen of these
t j songs:
“I wish I had some of your cider,
! ‘ At least a barrel or two,
ii I’d drink it and huzza for Martin
i j In preference to Tippecanoe !”
i | The Locos tried to tune their voices in
! 1840, and failed. They will fail in 1844,
! for music and Locofocoism have no affini
ties for each other. A genuine Locofoco
has no “music in his soul,” and is fit only
1 for “spoils.” His grumblings and curses
j cannot be set to music. Even if he could
| i sing, he has nothing to sing about. A Sub-
I Treasury song could be arranged to no
tune but the “rogue’s march.” The truth
is, the Locos have neither hearts, ears, nor
voices for music. In this respect, at least,
they resemble jackasses. We should as
. soon look for smiles on a death’s head, as
listen for blasts of melody from a pair of
Locofoco lungs.— Louisville Journal.
A friend of ours, who came down the riv
er the other day with Col. Benton, says that
the Colonel was very free in the expression
ofhis opinions about the annexation scheme.
The great Loco-foco denounced the project
as got up by Tyler and Calhoun for the
promotion of their own absurd and ambi
tious purposes. Louisville Journal.
Judicial Dignity. —Judge Grier, of Pitts
burg, has prosecuted the Aurora of that
city for calling him an ass. The defend
: ant stands in a critical position, for if Judge
i Grier should be an ass, the defendant will
-be sure to be convicted, according to the
, law maxim, that the greater the truth the
• > greater the libel.
HENRY CLAY AND MARTIN VAN I
BUREN.
Martin Van Buren and Henry Clay are
the living oraclesoftwo faiths. The diver
sity of their characters establishes the dif
ference of relation between the two parties
and can demonstrate the greater or less do
greeofuvil to be apprehended from the per
manent establishment of either.
The want of fixed principal that dislin
tinguishes, more than any other man, Mar
tin Van Buren, is with him rather a taste
than necessity. He might have jieen hon
est and fortunate; sincere and successful ;
respected truth and prospered. By inclina
tion, he has dissembled ; from disposition,
deceived ; and broken faith, from love of
political treachery.
He has acknowledged no motive but in
terest ; owned no criterion of talent, but
success; has never performed a laudable
action with an honest motive; nor omitted
a disgraceful one from honorable repug
nance.
Self has been the solo deity of his wor
ship; to this, he has sacrificed faith and
friends—the one without shame, the other
without remorse. Tortuous and treacher
ous, he has sought by circuitous routes, the j
power to destroy liis allies ; gaining mrati
ends by meaner arts. Fawning upon pow
er when he needed its exercise; abusing
friendship, when he no longer required its
disinterestedness ; disposing of pledges, of
promises, of principles and party, as if they
were but the cast away counters of his J
game.
Believing in no creed, but the pursuit of
ambition ; tolerating no principle, but the
gratification of power; harboring no thought
but self-aggrandizement; capable of every
thing but a disinterested action—he lias
surmounted the ascent of life, without acqui
ring or deserving a friend.
The features ofhis character—cold, soul
less, dark and mysterious, resemble the an
tique mummies of Egyptian shores; endued
with the lineaments, without participating
in the feelings ofhumanity.
His tergiversations have been not more
numerous than lucrative, nor more hasty
than opportune. He has always awaited
the profitable moment for treachery, with
out indecent anxiety ; and availed himself
of it, without uiiamiable reluctance. Re
pudiating Madison, and espousing Clinton ;
deserting Clinton, and eulogising King :
coquetting, at one and the same time, with
Crawford, with Adams and with Jackson;
betraying all, and serving seif!
For in every change of principle or of
party ; in all his various intrigues, under
minings and strategy ; in success, and tem
porary defeat ; in every variety ofcircum
stance, and every shade of belief—he has
been consistent to the sole idea of bis life.
In all vicissitudes of fortune ; in all bis rap
id evolutions ; in bis heartless abandonment
ofhis friends ; in his unblushing embrace
of enemies; he has ever been ti ue to himself!
With an eye that never slept, a purpose that
never tired ; he has steadily advanced to
to the summit of his fortunes, and the mor
al depth ofhis degredation.
Ever craving for place; ever cringing
to position; and ever crushing in power;
lie has shown the stealthy properties of the
cat, and the cowardly ferocity of the tiger.
A friend without faith ; an enemy with
out honor; his smile is more fatal than his
frown. He caresses without sympathy,
and abandons without pity ; and means
treachery, when he professes kindness.
To gain his ends, howevei dishonest, he
has advocated measures, however disrepu
table. The principles he has assumed with
out repugnance ; and when no longer use
ful, they are no longer required.
With a leader of such desperate ambition
and abandoned principles, how much may
be feared from a party, how little be hoped !
These estimates refer toMr. Van Buren’s
political character entirely.
Turn from this portrait to the gallant
leader of the Whigs.
The mind of Clay is bold, independent,
decisive; liis action energetic and deter,
mined. He rushes to the goal of his
thought, like the immortal steeds of Achil
les. He fears no danger ;he hesitates at
no obstacles; he listens to no timorous
suggestions. Deed follows determination,
as the thunderbolt the flash. His courage
waits upon his will. Too careless of con
sequences to weigh well their nature, too
indifferent to report to heed much its sur
mises, he urges a measure to its results,
with a will despotic in its dictates, and a
moral energy almost terrific.
A Hannibal in courage and daring reso
lution, he gains the field at Cannse, and
rushes upon Rome and empire. He loiters
not, like the Carthegenian, upon the battle
plain, to gather the spoils of conquest.—
Leaving these to his followers, he outstrips
the voice of victory, and heralds his own
triumph to the very thresholds ofthe aston
ished foe.
Wi:h a mind and purpose indomitable,
he aims at command, and avows his deter
mination. He enters upon his career un
daunted ; with a heart no obstacle can ter
rify ; and a resolution no opposition can
shake. As the eagle, rousing her mighty
strength, and kindling her undazzled eye
at the full mid day orb, he boldly surveys
the quarry, pursues it in full career, and
from his towering position, dashes upon
victory.
With a perseverance, that bears the air
of romance, he overcomes the niggardly
provisions of fortune, and the hostile inten
tions of man. Nature has no difficulties
he cannot surmount, and human power no
energy he cannot control. liis mind is an
impregnable fortress; entrenched therein
like another Utica, he defies Caesar and his
fortunes.
Born in poverty, lie hus conquered its en
thralments ; reared in indigence, lie has
made penury the stepping stone to his
greatness. With no parent to direct, and
no friend to assist, he has carved from the
quarry ofhis mind the statue of liis fame.
Ho has his faults of character. Its
vices are virtues overstrained. If the en.
ergy of his mind is indomitable, his deter- ■
I munition is unalterable. His intense cour
] age sometimes becomes uncontrollable au
dacity ; his firmness degenerates into oh
stinacy ; and the very mngnunimity of his
character, in its srlf.forgetfulness, leads to
excessive display.
But he never turned his back upon
friend or foe The hand that lie pledges
in his friendship, or raises in enmity, is
warmed withthe blood ofhis heart. And
the promise that lie gives, equally with the
threat tilth he makes, is sacredly observed.
With all hi moral affinity to what is
good in idea, great in conception, and glo
rious in performance, ho hates a meanness
worse than a crime, and fears dishonor
more than death.
Such minds und spell characters alone
can give to morality consistency, order, to
’ politics, or stability to principles. For the
mind is the type of the idea, and the char
acter, its dcvelopement and sole security.
He thinks with the justness of sentiment,
as lie speaks with the authority of truth.—
And his eloquence always moves; for his
language, while it occupies the mind,
warms the heart. He has governed mul
titudes with the power of his thoughts, and
charmed them with the beauty of liis tones ;
and with a versatility of talent, as admira
ble as rare, has enraptured Senates and
animated armies. At the head of his bat
tle, Boliver read his speeches to give cour
age to his soldiers and victory to his stan
dards. ,
Such are the portraits of the leaders of
the two parties. Under whose guidance,
our country would be most safe, it is for
the people to judge. To their wisdom, let
the reference be made.— Boston Courier.
Mr. Van Buren s Opinions of the People.
—Mr. Van Buren, in his inaugural ad
dress, delivered on the 4th of March, 1837,
said :
“I should not dare to enter upon mv path
of duty, did I not look for the generous aid
of those who will be associated with me in
the various and coordinate branches of the
government; did I not repose with unwa
vering reliance on the patriotism, the in
telligence, and the kindness of a people who
never yet deserted a public servant honestly
laboring in their cause ; and above all, did
I not permit myself humbly to hope for the
sustaining support of an ever watchful and
beneficent providence.”
Well, the people deserted him on the
very first opportunity, and, according tohis
own deliberate testimony, they proved by
this act, that he was not “a public servant”
who honestly labored “in their cause.”—
He now calls upon them to reverse the ver
dict they pronounced against him in 1840.
He endeavors to get out of the dilemma in
which he was placed by his overwhelming
defeat, by saying that the people were so
drunk in 1840, that they could not properly
decide upon his sublime merits. Well,
they will have a chance of repudiating this
slander, and of rebuking their calumniator
this year, and we have no doubt they will
do it so effectually that neither he nor those
who echo his slanders will ever again dare
to appeal to them for their suffrages. Mr.
Van Buren, in asking the people to vote
for him this year, and in telling them they
were a poor drunken set of fools for voting
against him in 1840, manifests a degree of
impudence, which, if it were not atrocious,
would be sublime. The people would be
the fools he calls them, were they this year
to revoke the sentence they passed on him
four years ago..— Lour. jour.
Who can vote for Henry Clay ? —The
Old Democrats, of 1812, can vote for him,
for he was the great Champion of the Dem
ocratic party, on the floor of Congress, and
silenced the batteries of the Essex Junto,
by his all powerful eloquence, and rebuked
such men as Martin Van Buren, who
sought by an alliance with the Hartford
Convention Federalists, to defeat the elec
tion of that pure patriot, James Madison.
The Friends of Liberty, every where,
can vote for him, for it was his voice that
was heard in the Halls of Congress, in fa.
vor ofSouth America and Grecian Inde
pendence.
The honest, patient Germans can vote
for him, for he is the advocate of their best
interests, and the eulogist of their frugal
habits, their peaceful quietude, and their
love of liberty, law and order.
The Friends of Ireland can vote for him,
for he has ever been the advocate of Irish
men, likening them in his fervid eloquence
tohis own warm-hearted Kentuckians.
The friends of sound currency will vote
for him, for he it was that perfected the
soundest currency on earth, and withstood
the clamor of demagogues to preserve it.
The friends of home industry will sup.
port him, for it is his glory to give indus
try its ample reward, by removing from it
foreign pauper competition.
The mechanic will vote for him, for it is
the policy of Henry Clay to give full em
ployment to every hand, and every lever,
and every screw, and every wheel in the
land, by creating full employment and
good pay, in good money.
The farmer will support him, for it is his
policy that will create a Home Market, and
thereby increase the profits of his labor and
the value ofhis lands.
Laborers ofall kinds will support him,
for he it is that will protect them from the
pauper labor of Europe, and enable them
to support themselves and families with*’
care and independence.
Finally, the People of every condition of
life will support him, as best, truest and firm
est friends, and they will elect him too bv a
majority exceeding that which passed sen
terice of condemnation upon Marlin Van
Buren in 1840. The banner of the peo
ple is already unfurled to the breeze, and
upon it is inscribed in leiters of light, ‘the
Victory for Clay in 184 4, shall and will be
greater than that for Harrison in 1840.
Hurrah for Harry Clay !! —nVaterlandsf
Waechtcr. C-*
Columbus, Ohio, elected Charter Officers
on the 2d—a Whig Mayor by 81 majority,
Council 8 Whig to 4 Loco.