Newspaper Page Text
CHRONICLE AND SENTINEL.
r- •'
AUGUSTA. | A
MONDAY MORNING, MAY 111.
Huzza lor Cherokee. •
Yesterday’s mail brought us THiKryfsubscribers
to the Reformer from Cherokeccmnty-, —this is a
fine beginning for that spirited young county.
Haiti more Convention!
From lha Correspondence of the National In
telligencer, we obtain an account o< tljc final pro
ceedings of this vast assemblage of patriotic whigs.
On Tuesday but little was done save ?;he speech
es from various distinguished gent erapn from dif
ferent Slates. Among others who vere<called upon
on the occasion was our talented and jealous dele
gate Dr. F. M. Robertson, a notice o| whose ef
fort we subjoin in the complimentary terms, in
which itjhas been notic-dby the Baltimore Amer
ican. j
Mr. Robf-rtsox of Georgia, a- tru£ Southron,
spoke eloquently of Georgia. 11l is pddress was
brief, and one of the best made! in |he Conven
tion. Georgia, he said, was aw jke u the impor
tance of the coining contest, and it he |ires kindled
within her were of her own irresUlib’e and spon
uneous firing. i
■ : •
i
The Log Cabiii, J
Is the title of a new piper, whj< h rhade its ap
pearance in this city on Saturday, As its irarae
indicates, it wil! support Tlarrisur and Tyler; its
appearance is quite neat, and though small, will no
doubt render good servi e in thelcause of Reform.
It is published tri-weekly by Ijlessi 3 . Bl%wn &
McCafferty, at five dollars per anbumi
Delegates to ths Conyemioa.
< batham. —Benica, Law, Paddleford, Hunter,
r.nd Fleming. *
Glynn.—Nichoan, Lavis. and A. T. King.
Burke —Berr.cn, Eennet, Lawson, Byne.
We understand that meetings haves been held in
(Tcrscn and Greer.e, but bavg cot learned the
i, ,i.es of the delegates.
At the meeting of the Convention of the Pro
testant Episcopal Church in the Didcese of Geor
gia, held at Clarksville, on the 4-th hist., the Rev.
Stephen Eliott, Jr., Professor of bucrcd Literature
and the Evidences of Christianity in the College
at Columbia, C., was unanimously elected
*
Bishop of the Diocese. !
Loco Foco Convention,
The Baltimore Patriot of Tuesday says :
The Loco Foco Convention which pas been hol
ding a session in this city, yssterdav and to-day,
we leirn, have come to the decision to make no
nomination for Vice President, thus, in effect
throwing Col. Johnson, overboard—and have
adopted an address, which, for malignant misrep
resentation, is without a parallel in the political
contests of the country. W e only allude to these
things because they may have som»; interest from
some of our readers, but the ti|ne has passed
when a Convention of Lcxio Fjacos, whether
Slate or National, can say any thinig which could
in the slig! test degree, coni/*1 life public voi ;e,
or slop the current of public opinion, except to
bring down upon themselves add|iioual censure.
\
Correspondence of the Xit ion U Intelligencer.
Baltimore, Tuesday, 3 P. M.
The enthusiasm continues. The members of
Ae People’s Convention are still jhere ; and, in
stead of seeming tired or fatigues, new life and
new impulses animate the gre|il a .d patriotic as
semblage at every hour. T h<| front of t. e Court
house, in Monument Square, as .decorated with
the banner* of the different delegations to-day;
and there the Convention met land .passed several
re-omtions. The whole area ofMoiiument Square,
since 5 o’clock last evening, arid from daylight this
morning until the present moment,, lias been tilled
with ten thousand aid ml and anxious patriots, lis
tening with attention to the hundreds of electrify
ing speeches which have beeiirmade by all the dis
tinguished men in Congress,; and try many of the
most talented young men ia;'he country ; and it
still goes on.
Many speeches were made [during last evening,
in various parts of the city, where the delegates
had assembled. Mr. Webster addressed the Past
ern delegations from near the : KxAiange night,
and was followed by Mr. Cashing and Mr W.
Cost Johnson. In Monument;. 1, quare the speaking
continued until a late hour. Mr. Clay, Mr. Graves,
Mr. Prolfit, Mr. Johnson, Kir. Crittenden, and
many others spoke last night.j
The Whig members of (’onigress had decided to
take no part in the discussio.il—to leave tie speak
ing to the Young Men of the {Convention ; but the
most of these, coming from Iso r any quarters of
the Union, were anxious to l-tar die g.eal men of
the day, and they were forced out;
Mr. Proffit made a capital <;pcei|i to-day.
Mr. Legate, of South Caro.,ina,ian'ived last eve
ning ; he addressed Ue meeting this morning.
While one speaker was ai|drosping a crowd of
some five thousand from the! Court-house, another
speaker was haranguing to| a li--;e number from
another part of the Square. IF ve;V window around
and near was blazing with the beajaty of Baltimore;
and the shouting’s and loud Ijuzz js of the enthusi
astic multitude went up at intervals to the great
Heaven above. There was afrnor.il grandeur in the
scone, which is almost inconceivable but to an eye
wifne*s. j
The Convention will attcrl tb|e funeral, at four
o’clock, of one of the Marshals ‘who was killed
yesterday. \ |
There is a quorum of the jflou le of Representa
tives here, and both sides of* the|iouse have come
on to see their respective friends*
|
From the North Ameficah of the Ath.
Later Froml China.
BioiCKAnF. of Caxtonl ht|tue English.
The Portuguese of MacVo h|ivk taken part
■with Chixa. — Ihe ship Levant arrived at this
port yesterday from C into|i. She brings dates
tojfhe 15th of January, tei lays liter than th >so
received from England bj the Great Western.
The blockade of Canton ! was. to commence on
the day she sailed. The pHedged cause was the
seizure of an English merchant in a smuggling
boat. Capt. Eliott hud gijven notion that unless
this person was delivered lip in fifteen days, he
would batter down the forjs.
The Portuguese at Mac;i) have sent guns and
men to aid the Chinese in.defending the forts at
the Uogue against the British ships. This pre
sentsa new actin thedranrji, and the consequence
will be, in all probability, a bombardment of Ma
cao by the English fleet.! The American and
oher foreign re fide ills s.re placed in a critical
situation, from the fear ofiany sudden outbreak
on the part oi the Chinese. ;he Commissioner
Lin is represented as very determined in his course
though the people at larjre evince much appre
h nsion at the resul . liri addition to the forts at
the Bogue. the Chinese Ifnve placed a strong raft
well secured by heavy chs-ins; across the st earn.
On this a Urge force of armed men is at present
placed, and vessels are permitted to passthrough
an opening which is made for them by letting one
or more of the rafts swing wub the tide.
The People are Moving.
It is a source of unmingled pleasure to witness
' with whal unanimity the People are moving for
ward in the support of the Patriot Statesmen,
Harrison and Tyler. Old Chatham Glynn
have spoken, and they have been responeded to
by the e'er patriotic Clarke in a language which
shows that her Camak, Billups and Dougherty,
in common with her people, are not idle specta
tors of the great work of reform, and that they
join heart and soul with Berrien and Law of
Chatham, and majority of the people of Gecrgia,
and shoulder to shoulder arc determined to make a
united effort to keep the ball in motion.
The following resolutions wete adopted at the
Meeting in Clark. We have not room for those
in Chatham and Glynn :
Resolved Unanimously , That it is the due
deliberate conviction of ibis meeting, that in the
present posture of public affairs, that the best
interests of the country would be essentially pro
mjted by the election to the Presidency of the
United States of Gen. WILLIAM HENRY
HARRISON, of Ohio.
Resolved further, That in pursuance of this
sentiment our delegates to the ensuing Conven
tion be requested to endeavor to procure the nom
ination of an electoral ticket pledged to the sup
port of Win, H. Harrison, for the Presidency,
and John Tyler, of Virginia, for the Vice Pres
icdency of the United Slates.
The following gentlemen were then unanimous
ly appointed De!ega‘es :
Edward Paine. E<q.
James I’amak, Esq.
Johx Tom, Esq.
Hox. Chas. Douguf.rtt.
Resolved, That the Chairman be authorised
to fill any vacancy which may happen in this
delegation.
Resolved, That the Chairman appoint a Com
mittee in each company district in this County,
for the purpose of procuring subscribers to the
Reformer, a paper published in Augusta, by J.
W. & W. S. Jones,
For the Chronicle ind Sentinel.
Mr. Editor : —Seethe Van Buren meeting in
Charleston —the mountain in motion, Ac. South
Carolina (the Committee fay) has agiin, iu her 1
•‘generous nature, raised her slant nd, and is ad- 1
vancing to the rescue, against the partisans of i
abolition,” the Tariff, Hanks, .kc., consolida : on in i
all its various forms*” and every lover of his j
country is called upon to resist their further ad
vances against the principles of the Democratic i
President! And we are told that all have united, I
save that nameless cohort which gave uncertain j
support to the Administration when it was strong
est, &c. &c. They declare they will support Mr-
Van Buren ; Ist, because he is entirely opposed to
the abolitionists, 1 ecause the Whigs always are
the proposers of abolition movements, and lead us
by insinuations to believe Gen. Harrison is an abo- I
litionist, and even in favor of a tariff to be applied I
to the purpose. Is this Committee so ignorant; do i
they contend that these things“ are established be
yond doubt,” or ca 1 they this :: generous” dealing?
2d Because they always are opposed to a National
Bank, (how iongsince s ) dangerous to the liberty of
the people. I wonder if Charleston or the Dear Peo
ple have suffered as much before the Bank was put
down, as they have since. Answer ye honest mer
chants and mechanics ; pay ye now £or 3 i per I
cent.; and are bills of exchange more in
than local piper. Answer ye planters; knew ye
ever the produce of the country at a lower ebb ,
has fluctuations in value ceased, such as “ caused
by the monster.”
3d, Because they desire the establishment of a
constitutional currency —(called in Georgia the
Sub-Treasury.) which they say has been prevented
by the array of influence, interest and prejudice of
the partisans and debtors of nine hundred Banks,
with the United Stales Bank at their head, (this
suou d bed Unite States Rank of Pennsylvania—
“ all things that are alike are not the same,”) and
that those institutions, and their friends, have
caused ail the trouble, &c. fcc. But that the sober
second thoughts of the peop’c will—will do what
31 r. Editor—will prevent its passage ever I pre
same. See the Virginia elections. Pause, gentle
men, til! Georgia speaks, she will dare oppose even
the Democratic constitutional currency.
4th, The opposition of the Administration to in
ternal improvement, claim their support. Wonder
if they mean the last vote in the Senate upon the
Cumberland Road?
And sth, Because the Administration are op
posed to a Tariff of protection. Wonder how long
since Mr. Van Buren has been—and also, bow long
before it will be revived and increased, under
the p’ca of an increased revenue being requisite ?
We in Georgia understand things as they aie—
and we will act as Southern men wiih Southern
princip'es. A Charlestonian by bißlth.
Fremthe St. Augustine Herald Ist inst.
From Florida*
Cap'. Holmes, at some place west of St.
Johns River, struck a trail, and after following
it up some distance, and not finding the Indians,
suspected the Indians might lie following him;
he accordingly laid four men in ambush, and pro- 1
ceeded on with the rest ol his company ; short
ly afterward, two Indians came up, am. were fired
on by the men in concealment—killing one, and
so badly wounding the other, that he was taken. I
We did not learn the date of the occurrence, '
though it happened very recently.
Indians.
Ex f ract (fa letter to the Editor, dated.
Fort Lauderdale, (E. F.) April 24.—A
most provoking and unexpected incident occur- i
red about hair a mile from this post to day.
The water in New River becoming rather 1
brackish at limes, opposite the post, it has been j
necessary to ascend the river a short distance in
order to procure fresh. Whilst a party of five
men were pci forming tins duty, in a small boat, j
they were fired upon by some Indians, who wore
concealed in a mangrove scrub, the marshy and
usually inundated nalu-c of which, has always
induced the belief that no human being would
ever undertake lo enter it. Three of the men
were wounded, the oilier two escaping unhurt.
Sergt. Hollen, a man whose exemplary bearing i
as a soldier, has always enlisted the most exalted
approbation of all under whom he ever served, l
is thought to be mortally wounded, two balls 1
having penetrated his body near the liver. The
Indians were not seen ly any of the soldiers,
hut, from the number of balls which took effect,
there must have been at least half a dozen.
A party of fifteen or twenty men, under Capt.
Davidson, who commands this post, resorted
with the utmost promptness to the scrub in which
they were concealed, but were unable, with all
the unbounded zeal which such a deed could in
spire, to overtake the sly and murderous rascals,
they having yelled and retreated so soon a> their
bloody design was accomplished.
Petticoat Editor. —The factory girls in
Nashua. N. H., recently presented the editor of
the Nashua Gazette with a petticoat for aligmati- i
zing them as slaves. Spunky girls those about I
Nashua, and always were. 1
From the Richmond B hig.
The .False Prophet.
Just after the elections for the last two years,
when the Administration party was badly beaten
in the State, the Editor of the Enqurer has rais
ed the consoling cry, “ wait till next spring—then
we will repair the accidental disasters of the pre- j
sent \ ear—then we will sweep the Whigs to the
clay, and scarcely leave one to tell the fate of
their comrades.”
Such was his language in the spring of 1838
in regard to the contest of 1839. Thirty-nine
came, and with it, defeat and discomfiture. The
braggart and his parly were only saved from the
consuming indignation of the people by a major
ity obtained in former years in the check-mating
department, But no whit abashed by the falsifi
cation of his prophecies, he repeated them for
1840. When that great dav should arrive, the
Wh gs would certainly he demolished—cut up
hy the roots Ike green gourds. Those bragging
assurances he continued to give until the very
eve of the election. Caroline, he said wouid
elect the Federal candidate by at least 75, Nelson
by a hundred. Amherst bv a!>out the same ma
jority ; Norfolk County, Princess Anne, Nanse
mond, Cumberland and various other staunch
W hig Counties, were dead certain for the Admin
istration. Among other bluffing bulletins which
he put forth semi-weekly, we extract the follow
ing of the 3J of April, by which it would appear
that he is our debtor for the “ best beaver or any
other hat in Virginia.”
From the Enquirer of the 3d April IS4O.
Virginia.
Every thing is cheering in this glorious old
Commonwealth. All the accounts from the va- j
rious counties show that Mr. Van Burcn will
carry the Stale hy an overwhelming majority.
The correspondence that we publish this mor
ning, is an earnest that the Republicans are arous
ed, anc* mean to do their duty. Let the Madiso
nian publish its silly letters from Norfolk—Let
the Baltimore Patriot publish its ridiculous let
ters from Petersburg]!, claiming as “ the opinion,
there, that the old hard cider candidates will cer
tainly take the purse this time.— Let the reckless |
Richmond Whig affect to congratulate its friends
on the cheering prospects ahead , (yes, certainly
not behind it) —Let it put forth as the confident
estimate of •• some shrewd calculators, that thev
will have, on joint ballot, a majority of between
”5 and 30,” and that “ the most timid say it can
not possibly be less than 10"—Let W. C. Rives
and H. Wise accept a public dinner at Winches
ter on the 15th April, for the cunning purpose
of operaMig against Opie, Byrd and Woods. In
spite of all these bravadoes and all these tricks,
we are most grossly deceived by others, if we do
not carry the State this spring. We stake the
best beaver or any oilier hat in Virginia on this
result, with the Whig or any of its believers.
Let the Whig say yes, any we think we shall
wear a cap at its expense. In a word, we con
scientiously believe we shall carry the State in
the Springy We have no doubt of it in tho
fall.
W e saw three Democrats from Spottsy I vania
on Wednesday ; they ask but a fair field and a
bright sky on the 23J to carry Haliaday. In j
this (Henrico) county, the Republicans are in j
hopes of redeeming the county Irorn the Influ
ence of Richmond and of carrying the Republi
can Reins. Heads up, and all will be well!
Well, the 23d has come and passed, and the
Feds are soundly drubbed throughout the Com
monwealth. But the incorrigibleV)Kl gentleman
renew s his cuckoo note, “ wait till next fall!”
He says:
“ As at present advised, we have no hesitation
in giving it as our opinion that the Whigs have
carried a majority of the Legislature. That the
Van Buren party will carry it this fall, vve do
not entertain a doubt.”
It is somewhere written, and in a good hook
too, that certain characters are not to be believed
under any circumstances. We think that the
positive assurances of success which the Enquir
er has given for three successive years, place' it
in the category of those who are not to be be
lieved ; or at any rate, make its statements to be
received with many grains of allowance. It
map carry the Stale in the fall, but its say-so is
no evidence of the fact. It lias shown itself a
false prophet too often already to command the
confidence of any.
But we say in conclusion, as Rasselas says in
the beginning:
“Ye who listen with credulity to the whis
pers of fancy, and pursue, with eagerness the
phantoms of hope—who expect that age will
perform the promises of youth, and that the defi
ciencies of the present day will be supplied bv
the morrow, attend to the saying of Thomas
Ritchie, Editor of the Enquirer.”
From the Baltimore American.
1 he Cuirency.
Ii is a favorite course of the Administration
party to complain loudly of the present disordered
state of the currency, and while they seek to
throw the odium of all financial disasters upon
the Whigs, they refer t > existing evils as ;;j
many reasons why the sub-treasury system .should
be introduced. We hear continually of “expan
sions,” “contractions,” “irredeemable paper mon
ey,” the delusive “credit system,” and such hke
phrases—yet the fact is apt to be lost sight of
that every derangement which has taken place !
in the currency—every disaster in the way of j
undue expansion or contraction—every thing in i
short which has tended to make paper money ir
redeemable, within the last seven years—mav be
traced directly or indirectly to the attacks made
by the Administration upon a system of currency
which, before such attacks were made, was sound,
regular, substantial, and in all respects one of the
best ever enjoyed by this country or any other.
The Government has w aged war upon the trade,
commerce and general business of the Union ;
its measures have resulted in unsettling business
relations ; in producing disorder in all the estab
lished modes of conducting commercial operations;
1 and in causing uncertainty want of confidence, I
[ and, ofcourse great anxiety, distress and suffering. j
The Whigs, who did their utmost to resist these i
measures, one by one, as they were successnely
j brought forward, arc now reproached as the au
-1 thors of the very evils which they sought to avert,
j The disasters of the times are charged uocn them
iin connection with the credit system. Who made
the credit system what it is? Who destroyed its
efficiency—paralyzed its operations? The very
I party which now complains of it. When the
i Whigs advocate the credit system it is not in
i view of such a system as the one now existing, !
I which has been crippled and prostrated and made
to be but the shadow of a system,—Give us that
winch Washington introduced, or one like it;
I or that which Madison sanctioned ;—or restore
i to thecountry that excellent currency which ilen
joyed hetore the hoslnc measures ol Government
i were directed against it—a currency which no one
I found fault with, which was equal and sound in
all parts of the United States, and which had a
substantial specie basis to icst upon.
It is time that all delusion on this subject was
dissipated. The industry and enterprise of the
count y have been shackled long enough in sub
serviency to political designs; reproachful terms
used without meaning and applied without rea
son, are beginning to lose their force with men of
sense, who can sec through pretexts, and who. as
men of bus: ness, perceive that every pretended re
form of the party io power has only made things
worse, after having destroyed what was good.
Bui our purpose in making these remarks was
not so much to discuss the subject as to introduce
the following extract from the able speech of Mr.
Daviso! Massachusetts, in reply to Mr. Buchanan, 1
in the U. S. Senate. It contains a fair statement
[ of facts as they are known to have existed in refer-
•
ence to the financial history ©f the last seven years,
shows cl. a ly how? the ruinous results which have
been so severely Fell, year after year, during that
period, have followed naturally from the measures
of the Administration —so naturally that it is
; difficult to see how such causes could have pro
| duced any other consequences. We ask for the
extract an attentive perusal on the part of all can
did men without regard to political distinctions:
Before the late President (Jack-on) seized the
public money and took it into his own custody,
in 1833, there was no complaint about the curren
cy ; ail the people know this; for all, even the
President himself, in one of bis messages, united
in declaring, in substance, it was sound, and
j equal to that of any nation on earth. There
was no complaint, no inconvenience, no embar
rassment, from this source, in doing business ;
I but contentment and satisfaction every where.
About this ihcre can be no mistake, nor will any
j one here attempt to refute the well-known facts.
But from that act of the President, which was
the first movement to reform the currency, to this
j day. there his been what the Senator is pleased
to call ‘expansion, contraction, and explosion,’
in rapid and fearful sucession ; crisis upon crisis,
pressure upon pressure, panic upon panic, have
succeeded, till w-o have reached a stale of sus
picion and alarm that has deranged and almost
suspended business. The storm in its fury has
swept over the country, once and again, uproot
ing the stateliest and firmest trees, and leaving
lin its track a dreary and desolate waste. Its
! marks are too deeply engraven, too distinct, too
well defined to leave any thing uncertain —any
thing unequivocal.— It fell upon us with such
withering energy, as to leave no doubt when,
! where, and how it began.
Gentlemen may tax their ingenuity, they may
task their inventions, to discover other causes of
distress—they may belabor and hold up to scorn
and execration the banks as long as they please,
they cannot change the facts, for they cannot ob
literate history. Things were well, and every
body knows it, till 1833. Then began the bank
| reform by the removal of the dep isites—and then
I began this rapid series of-expansion, contraction
! and explosion’—then followed crisis after crisis
then came tho derangement of exchanges, and
{ then the embarrassments which have ovei whelm
; ed the country —then came, too, the nine hundred
j banks of which the Senator speaks, though he has
probably swelled the number beyond historical
truth.
The Senator admits, what cannot be denied,
that the Administration proposed and carried in
-Ito effect the State bank deposite system. It was
| in this [dace and by them that Slate banks were
taken into favor, petted, and boastingly held out
to the country as affording a better and safer cur
rency. Into them was tbc revenue put in enor
mous sums, and they were directed to loan freely
upon it by the President for the accommodation
of the people, and it was his pride and pleasure to
mike known to us that the public money was
thus employed, instead of being locked up; a slri
; king commentary upon the present plans of vaults
! and safes. Mr. P esident.
The Senator admits that this was the policy
I of the Administration, and that the disastrous
j consequences predicted by the opposition have
| been verified. He rnitfht have gone further; for
; it is truth equally undeniable, that this policy
| sowed the seed of nearly or quite one-half of the
whole number of banks—between eight and nine
i hundred—and of more than one half of thff capi
tal; that it was the parent of the paper, ‘expan
sion, contraction, and explosion.’ of which he
has spoken in terms of just severity; that it is
alike the parent of the bloated credit system
which lie affirms has made us all e-amblers; and
that the mad speculation which raged over the
country,and has furnished the theme for declam
ation and denunciation in these halls for three
years past, was begotten hy it. Such are the
taels, and on the projectors of this policy, let the
responsibility rest. We had had ‘no expansions
contractions,or explosions,’ for a long period that
did not fairly belong to the vibrations of trade;
none that excited alarm or seriously disturbed
public confidence, til; vve came to this reforming
policy; hut since then tho public mind hasscaice-
Iv been tranquil,zed. In 1834 came the first fell
swoop, which overturned and bankrupted thous
ands; and it originated here.
In ’35-*G came the great era of bank making
and trading upon the public money, then accu
mulated to sixty or seventy millions, as nearly as
I remember, which threw the country into a fe
verish excitement, and even firm, well balanced
minds out of their adjustment. There was a
rage for fortune-making and fortune-hunting such
as had never been witnessed, and which nothing
but this policy was capable of generating. The
Senator might and ought to have limited the
bloated credit system that made us all, as he affirms
gamblers, to this period, and left the offspring to
stand beside its parent as a proof of the disasters
of this policy, and of the fulfilment of the predic
tions of the Opposition; for go together they
must, and live together they will in history; and
no sophistry, no ingenuity can ever separate
them. While the Senator admits this policy to
belong exclusively to the Administration, and to
have been strenuously opposed by us, and its
melancholy consequences predicted, he now re
pudiates it as erroneous, and \vc must allow to
him and his friends whatever credit belongs to an
abandonment of it after it had literally exploded,
| and the mischief was accomplished. But, sir.
j he and they must be reminded that I could. if I
j would, read from the messages of the President,
j and from the successive reports of the Secretary
I of the Treasury, language of exultation, triurn
phmg tn the entire success of the policy, boasting
that the currency was on a better footing than
that the exchanges were greatly improved
and that, too, at the very moment when the bloat
ed credit was most expanded, and speculation
was the most ri e and rank. Such was the delu
sion th it the madness which had seized multi
i tudes w'as trumpeted forth as evidence of success
j and general prosperity. Thf Senator clearly rea
{ suns from false premises when he makes the
| banks the origin of our embarrassments, for they
| were only instruments in the hands of those who
j projected the measures that have made them what
; they arc.
/ ro/n the Albany Evening Journal.
Martin Van Boren and the Bast War.
From the Albany Argus.
“ A month since the Evening Journal delibcr
, ateiy gave to the public a “ a political slander,”
j charging Mr. Van Buren with offering at a meel
| ing in Columbia county in 1812, resolutions de-
I daring the war “ impolitic and disastrous,” and
1 the employment of the militia in an offensive war,
“ unconstitutional.’’
A month since we “deliberately gave to the
public” the following statement which is literal
ly true.
From the Evening Journal <f March 31.
“ Marlin Van Buren in 1812 labored,intrigued
and voted to defeat tbe re-election of James Mad
ison, to the Presidency and elect the “ Peace
Party” Candidate.”
The practice of the Argus to change an issue
that it cannot meet, by slyly instituting another
i in its place, is so notorious and inveterate that
i any animadversion even upon the flagrant at
tempt before us would be entirely thrown away.
But the Argus, emboldened, perhaps, by our
silence and made de perate by its reverses in Vir
ginia, hazard a declaration that every man couver
. sant with the history of our war or the course of
i our politics knowns to be false. It says “ that
i Mr. Van Buren gave to 'he war, r non the fihst
j -to the last all the support of his talents , his
! siat on and his h it energies."
War with Great Brita n was declared in June
| 1812. Ihe Legislature convened at the Capitol
the begiaiug of November. Martin Van Buren
took his scat in tire Senate of this State for the
first time on the 3d November 1812. For more
than fifteen months preceding this period, the ag
gressions of Great Britain upon our commerce
had beeij uninterruped. Its emissaries had been
at work among the Indians on the Wabash early
in 1811, ami its secret agents engaged in foment
ing disalfection and t’cison even in Massachu
setts in the begining of IS! 2. The country, to
use the language of Mr. Madison in a confiden
tial Message to Congress, had long exhibited ‘-on
the side of Great Britain, a stale of war against
the United Slates, astute of peace towards Great
Britain.”
During this whole period an active* and acri
monious PrestJen ial Canvass had been carried
on. The friends and advocates of the National
honor and the war—the republican party of 1811
and ’l9—zealously supported Mr. Madison for
re-election. The peace party comprising a great
portion of the federalists, were anxious to elevate
Mr. Clinton, then Lieutenant Governor of this
State, to the Presidency in opposition to Mr.
Madison and the war parly. The legislature as
we have said, met on the 3d day of November
1812. Their first act wis to select twenty-nine
Electors of President and Vice President. Mr.
Van Buren introduced into the Senate a concur
rent resolution to proceed to the choice of tiic.-e
! Electors on the 6th of November. It was p»st
| poned however, until tiie 9th.
Now let us sec whether Mr. Van Buren gave
the support of “ his station, his talents and his
: best energies” to the war. If" from Ihe first In
I the last,” as the Argus asserts, he was a zealous
1 and untiring advocate of the war, it would follow
as a natural consequence that we should find him
j improving the occasion before him at this period,
i in defence of Mr. Madison, the great champion
: of the war, and of course voting for Electors
| friendly to the re-election of Mr. Madison.
Instead of assuming this proud position. Mr.
Van Buren gave the support of “his station” to
the politics’ enemies of Mr, Madison and ope nit/
nominated in his place in the Senate twenty
nine electors friendly to Mr. Clinton and tie
peace party —Gen. Root and othei true Republi
cans voting against him. For proof that wc do
not rnisrep esent the conduct of Mr. Van Buren,
the A r gus may consult the Senate and Assembly
Journal, volume 30, page 24, &c. His vote will
he there found recorded as we stated, an everlast
ing testimony of the hollowness and hypocrisy of
the claim interposed by his friends, that he was
“ from first to last” the political friend and advo
cate of President Madison, and the last war!—
| lo wer branch of the Legislature, which
i the Argus has recently end repeatedly stigmatis
| ed as the federal branch, concurred in the nomin
ation of the Presidential Electors made by Van
Burenistn and Federalism.^!)
Throughout tiie summer and autumn of 1812,
Mr. Van Huron with bis usual art and assiduity
was laboring, intriguing and coquetting to bring
about the result thus consumatcd in November.
He expected to profit by the elevation of Mr.
Clinton and the overthrow of Madison. Tiiat
he did not appear at a political meeting in Colum
bia co ii.lv and upenly move a re->o!utmn denounc
ing the war as “ impolitic and disastrous” is pro
bable. That duty we believe was allotted to his
political fri'Tid James Vanderpoel. The “ mous
ing propensities” of Mr. Van Buren at thatcariy
period ol Ids political career were strikingly ex
hibited and give abundant promise of the perfect
system of finesse and non-committalism which he
afterwards practiced, until Amos Kendall and
John C. Calhoun finally found means (ne'er dis
covered by his party friends in this State) to
“ call him out.”
We have conclusively shown that Mr. Van
■ Burch d;d not give his support to the war “ from
j first to last.” We have shown that he opposed
! the war by opposing Mr. Madison at a most im
portant and difficult crisis. Nearly five months
; a ter the open declaration of the war by Congress
| and at least a year afier actual hostilities had
i commenced, and we find Mr. Van Buren. ar the
; very first opportunity afforded him of exhibiting
his political principles under the solemn sanction
! of his senatorial engagements, striving to put
1 down a Republican President and elevate the
I “ Peace party candidate.”
Now let the Argus bring forward evidence
equally indisputable to prove, if it can, that Mr.
Van Buren at any time prior to the 9th Novem
ber, ISI2, “ gave to the war the support of his
talents, his station and his best cnergis.”—
| Surely those who concoct its paragraph and set k
: to plaster over the political tergiversations of iheir
1 chief, must he sufficiently conversant with the
j course of politics to know whcie such evidence
; is to he found if it really exists. Assertion proves
j nothing, however, bold and audacious it may be.
We admit, and have nev r denied, that Mr.
Van Buren pretended grea zeal in the support of
! Mr. Madison and the war, after it was ascertained
| that Mr. Clinton could not be made President
I and that Ike war had become popular with th
| notion. The celerity with which he abandoned
that gentleman and hrs supporters shows that
unlike Falstaff, he had no “alacrity at sinking.”
; Mr. Van Buren has uniformly preferred to swim
; w th hisenemh s than to go down with his friends,
i He attained his present elevation by attaching
j t° the skirls ot rising men, and seasonably trim
i ming his opinions to any pattern that promised
to become popular. Happy would it have been
for the country if he had adhered to this policy
after he became President. He would then ha'e
been remarkable in history as another example
of successful demagoguism. He must now des
cend to posterity with that deeper infamy that be
longs to one wh i rose to p nver by tiie arts of
intiigue, bet ruled by those of the worst and
darkest species of corruption.
Steamboat Su.vk and Seteuai. Lives
Lost.— The St. Louis Republican of ‘he 27th
ult. stales that as the steamboat Bedford was de-
I scending the Missouri river, on the 25th, about
| six o’clock, between one and two miles above the
j mouth, she struck a -nag which knocked a large
hole in her bottom, and she commenced filling
immediately. The passengers had just raised
from supper. So great was the injury that in
about two minutes she sunk within a few in
ches of the hurricane deck. As soon as she
commenced sinking, the yaw l was filled with as
many as it could contain and sent ashore. Those
who remained and could do so, escaped to the
hurricane deck. Five or six, it is believed were
unable to get there in time.
An old man, a Revolvtionary soldier of the
name of Moore from (Jile county, is named a
j mong the lost. A negro woman and her three
children are reported as drowned. It is also stated
that a German woman on hoard lost her child.
A vote was taken in the cabin and dock a short
i time previous, in relation to the President, when
fifty-two votes were counted. We presume there
| must have been this number exclusive of the
1 women. A dreadful storm of rain and wind
I was raging at the time.
The boat and cargo are a total 1 ss. It is sup
! P os ed there was not much cor<ro on hoard. She
was owned we believe in Louisville.
Lamisli i)e.— We regret to learn, that oA night
before last the hanks of the river, on the opposite
s : de from the city, caved in for some distance.—
Pile point where the 1 mdslide is, is below the
Willow House, immediately above the lower fer
ry. Fortunately, the village was protected bv a
double levee. The old levee sunk, and several
buildings with it. The space l»elwecn the old
and new levee, which is near fifty yards in width,
and four hundred in length, is overflown with
water from live to six feet deep. The buildings
that disappeared were three frame houses, between
the ofd brick powder-house and the river. The
inmates, at about 10 o’clock at night, were a
wakened by a crash, and the rush of water into
their rooms. They haltima barely t 0
with Ihrir lives, losing all of their goods s
that, the west gable of the powder boos ‘k* *
caved in. and there are indications that t‘.„ ’
dermining of the bank continues to an alar U °
extent. The dam ige to the Willow Grove fT" 5
we understand is serious, the lower apj-t •
being covered five feet deep in water, as W-U
the yard and garden. Hopes are entert.it. ju"
the landslide will uotextend to the new levee
event that must drown the whole city of \ '~' 3n
The inhabitants for their own protection ' ,er ''
do well to raise another levee, in the '
one that now constitutes the only hirrier I •
the encroachments of the river.—]V. (J B
Tuoup County, I7th April,
Gentlemen.—Below I scud y.i u a copy 0 r
loiter received to-day from the lion. J. (j ! ;,/ a
which you will please give a place m v OUf
per. • ur l’ a '
Your ob’t serv't.
l. a. bond.
to «• «th April. 1840 *
Dear Sir.—l received your letter 0 r U, e 2 0. k
March, this morning. I was not apprise o f, k
contemplated meeting of curfrien.-L f or ', 18
pose of sending delegates to the Con vent
1 nominate candidates for President, Vice'pr
! dent aml candidates for Congress, until I receive
your letter as above stated. I assure you sir I
was much rejoiced to hear of the probability’
such a meeting, and I hope that the p ou ,;. n .
old Troup will do themselves the justice to c* .
out and as men interested in the
hlicai questions of the day. This is noting ft
j men to sleep over their rights. I am qrutifiH
to find by your letter that your opposition to iu !s
| corrupt Administration increases in proportion
| to the constantly increasing abuse of legitimate
■ powers confided to its care! powers necessary
to carry on the government, and which must be
confided to whoever holds the reins of coven
ment fir the time. Add to this the alarmiir
unwarrantable assumption of powers not granted
by the Constitution, made of late by President
Van Buren, and vve have abundant cause of both
opposition and alarm. ’Fake for proof his claim
in his bite Message that the Executive is a com
ponent part of lire Legislature of the Union, and
his fearful increase of that new claim of p JWer
in rejecting the lawful members of New Jersev
against proof and law, and his introducing into
Congress men (not elected or returned) without
law of evidence, and we are constrained to know
that ail political power is consolidated in his
hands, ami that he is exercising this power thus
i obtained in a manner destructive to liberty.
This is not all. Nut content wi’h depriving
the people of their constitutional right of electing
their own Representatives in their own lawful t
way, the established institutions of the country, W
and as constantly proposing new and untried
experiments until he has changed prosperity in
1 adversity, made the rich poor and the poor des
perate, insomuch that the American people are
now seriously threatened with abject poverty ab
solute slavery and ineffable cisgrace.
Give him Ins Sub-Treasury with its specie
clause, our currency for his government and none
for the people, as is now well nigh the case, then
his hoped for re-election, with power to nominal*
bis successor, and all is lost. Still sir. this is not
ha'f. The elective franchise gone, the power of
the purse added to the sword, the Slate Rights
man might hope that if the president had deter
term died to accumulate all power belonging to
i the | cople under the federal government in his
own hands, still there would he some chance left
for freedom in the sovereignty of the Slates them
selves, but as it hit di'y had doomed us to certain
and eternal ruin, he makes war in advance on the
credit of the St ales, and deprives us of all chance
of relief from the exercise of our original or re
served rights, by an utter annihilation of the cred
it oi the Slates. So sir, we must depend upon
the mercy of a tyrant or make one more vigorous
effort through the ballot lux to relieve ourselves
of his hateful opp esslon ; and break if possible
this odious succession of elective monarchy.
Shall we make the effort or suffer the sacrifice I
W e of the South, shall vve fold our arms and see
aii that vve are, or have, or hope to he, pass into
the hands of Martin v an Buren and his appoint
ed successor ? as he was himself appointed to
1 succeed bis 1 -;’ Hastriouspredecessor” —this “‘black
lettered bst,” of rulers for years to come, perhaps,
for all time. What say you ! what vv ill Geor
gians-say ' may I nut say for my country-men, 4
that they will never fail to struggle against that
man who is not as much to he feared because his
friends arc abolitionists, as hecau>e he is one him
self? 'Flic man who voted to procure the aboli
tion of slavery in Missouri, in Florida, and the
enfranchisement of free negro suffrage in New
\o k. and who now holds it constitutional to
abolish slavery in this district. It would seem
that no southern m m would dare to risk the fate
of his country, or his children in the hand of this
proven abolitionist. But alas for the South, there
are someAvho for the sike ot the hope of power •
in the future, some who were recently his mist
biller enemies and loudest in their denunciations
of his corrupt and corrupting principles, who arc
now found seduced by the magic powers of his
pretended protection into silence, and courted bv
his smiles ot patronage into a fata! insanity of
admiration of this ‘ Northern man with Southern
! principles.”
So much in answer to that part of your letter
w hich relates to the Presidential question as it
j regards that part of it that inquires of me fur the
tiuth of the report you say you find in circulation.”
through the state of my refusal to accept in the
event lam chosen “by the convention as a can
didate for re-election to Congress,” a? wellasthe
“assurance that you give me that I still retain the
confidence of my old friends and that they desire
my renorninalion.”
I have to say in all candour that I feci grateful
to my Finds for their confidence, but at the same
time justice t > myself requires me to say also, that
I have repeatedly expressed to many of our
friends the existence of a necessity which wouM
force me to retire at the expiration of the term of
time I am now elected to serve in Congress.
It is right that one so favored by his friends i
above his merit, should when he asks to be eicus- |
ed from their service, tell them the truth, and ill
know myself I am incapable of the affectation of
a reason to retire, and in confessing that! must
do so, yield a reluctant assent to positive necessi
ty- Your friend,
JULIUS C. ALFORD.
Du. L. A. Boxn,
The movements of the Indians on our
j tern ami North-\\ estern border are giving rise W
much apprehension. The lowms an d Otoes were
continuing their depredations, and the report ws>
that they would be joined by the Sacs. H*
i union of the three tribes will bring a stout and for
midable force into the field, numbering about
; twelve hundred warriors. Accounts say that the
I preparation for defence along the whole frontier
are very defective. The military posts were f
weak, and poorly supplied with garrisons. I
knowledge of this fact will be sure to stimuli* 1 *
the ferocity of the savages.— A. 0. Bulletin’
Suave Tuexi!—We learn from a late nun’U r
of the Glasgow Herald, that it was the practice
in that ci v a few years since to shave the head*
of all persons, who were carried drunk to
Police office—a practice which was attended * ll
the most marked benefit to the rnorylity of t c
city. The edior says:
“Well do vve remember the effects produced
this un tpie punishment—and how
were those who had been “dressed’ the preceding
night, when they appeared before the MagisUtf