Rensselaer Gazette, Volume 2, Number 9, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 30 June 1858 — The Sword Drawn in Illinois. [ARTICLE]

The Sword Drawn in Illinois.

[Frofe the Philadelphia Presa.

The intelligence from Illinois disposes of I all doubt as to the future policy of the Dem- ■ ocratic opponents of the Cincinnati platform in that State, and per consequence, in every other State in the Union The coni vention of office-holders, held at Springfield on the 9th of June, has placed in nominai tion a full ticket against the regular nominations of the Democratic party, has re-af-firmed the Lecomptpn heresy, and has* accompanied this double-treachery by the most ■ violent assaults upon Senator Douglas and ' the" masses of Democrats who follow his noble lead. As showing the character of ! the men who control and stimulate this ! I - I movement, we need only mention that the : leading spirit is a Doctor Charles Leih, well known in Pennsylvania, and particularly in Lancaster and Schuylkill counties. This , notorious person, always regarded as an ob- I ject of contempt, is in fact the chief of the I opposition arrayed against lhe Democracy of.lllinois! He has passed through all parties,"taking the hue and name of each in turn, having begun his career as the brawlI ;mg personal foe of Mr. Buchanan. These facts are well known in Pennsylvania. Leib is assisted by a man called Carpenter, ; and by Cook, the Postmaster of Chicago, who was confirmed for that office by the United States Senate, with the most dishoni olring charges hanging over his head. Leib | is an agent of the Postoffice Department. - 1 and Carpenter of the Treasury. ■ We have heatff, from many sources, that the most proscriptive member of Mr. Bui chanan's Cabinet is Hon. Howell Cobb; but I we have always doubted it until the facts and the proofs have become irresistible. It 1 seemed to us that a decent regard for those ! gentlemen in Pennsylvania who so urgently and enthusiastically advocated his claims for a plkce in the Cabinet of Mr. Buchanan, should have counseled moderation on the part of Mr. Cobb. Respect, too, for his o-wn abundant pledges to our people in 1856, beginning in Chester county, which he canvassed in company with Hon. John Hickman, and with hinj openly advocated ’ the very doctrine which he now rejects, and remembrance also of his own public letters in support of Governor Walker’s course, written as late as August or September of 1857, should jtave made him the defender, instead of the prosecutor, of the Democrats who refused to go for the surrender of the ! principles which elected* James Buchanan President of the United States. Howell Cobb should have stood forth for these men at the hazard of his life, throwing office and aspirations to the winds, doing what h'e did in 1851 in Georgia, wherf, rather than submit to an outrage, far, far inferior to that which aroused the indignant protest of millions of men in the matter of Congress, he j tvent out of his party and joined hands with \ the opposition, and elected himself Governor of his State. That would hrfVe been a deed worthy of his Union-loving record, and in glorious consistency with his ten thousand declarations against sectionalism. He knew the men, in the free States, who refused to swallow the poison presented to them in the Lecompton Constitution. He knew that they,had been devoted,, heart and soul, to Mr. Buc innan, and that they differed from him with reluctance and regret. They—at least those from Pennsylvania—had no grie s *.o avenge by opposing his policy, but were animated by the“"hob!est and the most thorough patriotism. No man knew all this better than Howell Cobb. And how have the just expectations of these I men been met! How has his os'entatioms pledge to our people, less than two years ago, been fulfilled? How has he carried out his declarations of devotion to the Union j and to the national Democracy ? By standing silently in the Cabinet,when many of

the noble spirits in the Democratic party were assailed, and by permitting them to be traduced in their absence. By joining hands with the extreme fire-eaters of the South, who deemed that faith should be broken with Walker while he was doing his duty like a| hero in Kansas, with the President's written instructions in his hands. By aiding a cabal at the seat of the Federal Government to hunt down Judge Douglas because he would not disgrace his manhood by deserting his solemnly plighted faith. Nor is this all. Partisans like Carpenter and Leib, scattered all over the Urfion, are paid enormous salaries out of the public treasury to divide the Democratic party on the Lecompton principle; to act as spies upon independent Democrats; to break down regular nominations: to calumniate distinguished champions of our creed: in a word, to give up all their public duties to the gratification of a malignity on the part of their masters, as measureless as it is incomprehensible and insane. We have seen these mercenaries turned into piafre by Mr. Cobb and his associates, while others have been turned out bv the sane infiuehces who excelled in all the qualities cf Democrats and of men, and who fell under the ban of a remorseless despotism because they could not swear by Lecompton. Such is the answer of Howell Cobb to the confiding hosts who so readily believed his professions, and who so generously assisted him to power over the heads of the mercHess enemies at his own home in Georgia. His transformation is complete. The Unionloving Cobb has changed into the envenomed fire-eater; the orator who pleaded so melodiously for fair play in Kansas in 1856, has become the truculent foe of all who would not agree to the reve'rse in 1858. The champion of the Union in 1851 gives his heartiest support to sectionalism in 1858. As to Illinois, the hand of the Treasury is openly displayed in the flagrant disorganization at Springfield, on the 9th of June. There is no excusing or evading the responsibility. Every opportunity was given Mr. Cobb to advise another course. There was abundance of time left him to call off his dogs. He has seen his subordinate, Carpenter, since the regular Democratic Convention assembled and adjourned. If he did not advise his disorganization and his calumnies, and his. assaults upon Judge Douglas and his friends, at that meeting, he did not object to them. The inference is irresistible that the movement against the regular Democratic ticket in Illinois, and the Lecompton test set up in that State, meet the solemn sanction of Mr. Cobb„_and are intended to be followed out as to other States. We do not speak of these things with pleasure. They are not agreeable to our. feelings. But we have a duty to perform to a greiat cause, and we ’shall not fail t(o discharge that duty. A monstrous attempt is making to crush the Democratic party to the earth. Revolting doctrines are put forth, and made a test. In this State ■ these doctrines are commended to us bv: what is called the regular organizatior. of the Democratic party. In Illinois thev are forced upon the Democracy over the heads : of the regular organization. In the one case our support is demanded for these doc-' trines because they have been adopted by the regular organization. In Illinois, this support has been exacted in defiance of all regular nominations. Here we are out of the party if we do not go for the regular nominations; there we are out of the party if we do not oppose them! And, to make this inconsistency acceptable, the public money is squandered like water, and the most profligate scoundrels put in office to execute vengeance upon some of the purest and most upright citizens in the Union. It needed the achievement of the office-holders in Illinois to crown the column of inconsistency, proscription and tyranny, which has grown out of these events of the last nine months. What will the Democracy of Pennsylvania say to the new demand which is made upon their forbearance and fidelty I A Comparison.—A lively dispute h""s been running on of late as to what is the happiest comparison in the language. After spending a good deal of fancy and attention on the su ject, the Louisville Journal declares in favor of the lollowing: “The trade man who does not; advertise liberally has been appropriately compared to the man who has a luintern, but is too s ingy to buy a candle.” G.ige, in a speech to the recent Feminine Conven ion, told the story of a worn in who, h iving secured a. second husband who “nursed the -baby,” &c.. very accommodatingly averred that “a husband was the next best thing about the house to a cooking-stove ”