Rensselaer Gazette, Volume 2, Number 23, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 29 September 1858 — Political. [ARTICLE]

Political.

SPEECH OF tV. F9HNEV. Colonel Forney attended a meeting of the people of John B. Haskins’ district, at Tar-ry-town, New York, on the 2d. inst;., and made a speech which has created more sensation than anything that lias occurred in a similar way since the adjournment of Congress. Mr. Forney commenced by referring to I the former intimate and confidential rela- j (tons existing between lomself find Ihe Presi- j dent, and the years of hard work which he, 1 w4th other friends of Mr. Buchanan in Penn- i svlvania, had performed to secure his nomination for the Presidency. From 18 14. to, 1856 they continued to present the name of! their champion to the people, and to battle ! lor him at the National Conventions of the i Democracy, These preliminaries being dis- ! posed 01, Mr. Forney came to the scenes j presented by the. CINCINNATI CONVENTION. We sa,v the time had come when our champion could be presented to the people, j We repaired to Cincinnati. Rivalries— j home rivalries—had been extinguished; bit-i terness grow ing out of the Missouri line and ! the passage of the ICa.nsas-Nebraska bill, had temporarily removed other candidates from the field, (or so we thought,) and Cass men, Dallas men, and Buchanan men in j Pennsylvania, made common cause,.ari l repaired to Cincinnati for the purpose of putting this gentleman in nomination. When tee reached there, it he first indication! that appeared was, that the extreme South had resolved upon Mr. Buchanan’s an nihi I ait ion. They saw in him the light of a modi rate, conservative sentiment. They saw in him, for the first time, a public man who, having been absent from the country, and therefore; unconnected and disconnected from the existing rivalries of the day, would be compelled, from his position, to do justice to the : Northern feeling and to extinguish seee.Lionalimn'. They did not trust biin upon the issue of the day. lie was not a good enough Kansas-Nebraska man lor them: and they fought us, as the history of that Conver tion will show, for five long days with a bitterness and animosity such as political contentions can scarcely rival. But he was the only man to rescue the Democratic party from defeat. He was the j only man to prevent the election of a Republican, and the only man who could carry ; Pennsylvania, for upon the contest of that! State did the ctijire tide of battle tjrn.i From your own State, a similar disposition j was manifested in certain quarters. In this quarter, now, where this disease of Lecomptonism rages the most violently, and where the- affection for the Administration is-in-dulged the most ardently, Mr. Buchanan re-! ceived nothing but coolness arid contempt. But we nominated him and returned to Pennsylvania, lor the first time, joyous in having achieved our long-cherished wish; arid when we returned there, we came with the full and confident, hope that there would he an end to the difficulty in electing a maiywhose nature was believed to be so conservative, whose character was believed to be so pru- j dent, and whose entire record had been national and constitutional. At that time I believe the Republicans themselves abandoned the campaign. They looked upon his nomination as their death-blow. They looked around in vain for a candidate; but events (and there is no necessity for spinning out this detail to a greater length) brought on a series of excitements such as vve have never witnessed in our country, and by the middle of August, 1856, the c< rnpaign was more than doubtful. Why did it become doubtful! Because the public opinion of the North had been stirred to its deepest depths by the excesses of the Pro-slave-! ry minority, backed by Federal power, in the Territory of Kansas. That was the; only question. It was hot the Ostcnd Con-| ference, it was not the Pacific Railroad, it was nothing but the single issue— Shall the | people of Kansas be permitted to dispose of ] their own affairs in their own way! Shall they vote upon their domestic institutions,' unmolested by the bayonets of the Administration on the one hand, and the onslaughts | of foreign hands of marauders on the other!. No man felt more deeply in reference to Kansas than did Mr. Buchanan. No man talked more freely about it. In Ins letter! of! acceptance of the nomination and in ffs | speech he delivered to the Committee upon '

it in his parlor at Lancaster, (at which I happened to be present,) he laid stress upon I the great principle that the majority should I prevail. Why, he said to me a thousand times, “The South must vote for me, and the J North must be secured; and the only way to , secure the North is to convince those gentle- : men that when I get in the Presidential chair I will do right with the people in Kansas. I am now sixty-six years of age.r I have reached that time of life when I cannot have any ambition for a re-election, and if I have, the only way to secure it is to; be strong with my own people at home. I watched this struggle from my retirement in London; I have seen what 1 conceive to be the mistakes of others. lam not responsible for the administration of President Pierce; therefore, I will show to those gentlemen that a Pennsylvania President will stand firm to the pledge of a Pennsvl- ; vania Democrat.” Now, fellow-citizens, in that letter of acceptance, if you will refer i to it—it is not necessary for me to produce ! it here—you will find that he stated distinctly that the people of the Territory of Kani sas should-be protected in the sacred right j of by ony influence whatever, and that the will of the majority should j prevail.

HOW PENNSYLVANIA WAS CARRIED.

i We went into the canvass. It fell to my lot to be at the bead of the State Democratic Committee of Pennsylvania; * * * * and above all others in that campaign was the great principle of popular sovereignty. [Applause.] That was the standard which marshaled the way. That was the shibboleth—that wias the war-cry. From Lake Erie-to the Delaware river—from Pittsburg to Philadelphia—in every village sand town in the State—everywhere that I {could- in- | tluce a pen to write or a tongue to speak, i that was the theme upon which these pens | j wrote and those tongues spoke. Why, : gentlemen, Mr. Buchanan had no confidence \or reserve upon this subject. lie was pub- : lie, he was open, he was unreserved to i everybody. lie sent to’the traduced John Hickman, in an adjoining county. He told - him through his friends and agents: “You, j Mr. Hickman, occupy a peculiar relation; you voted for the Topeka Constitution; you I denounced the Kansas-Nebraska hill; you j were opposed to the repeal_pf the Missouri ! Compromise line; the Democratic party <>f j your district have nominated you; the Republicans like you; they believe in you. Now, I want you to take the stump, and go , before your people, and pledge me, James I Buchanan, that I intend standing by, and if ! necessary, dying by this principle of popular ! sovereignty.” . For myself, it I could descend to the baseness of republishing private letters, 1 might fill a volume with similar pledges from similar authority. Why, ! gentlemen, when the distinguished Secretary of State, Mr. Cobb, who, from having been a superfine Union man, has been converted into a fire-eater, equal to Mr. Chaubert himself—when Mr. Cobb came into Pennsylvania, and traversed our State from end to end, and from county to county, talking to delighted audiences all the time, What was the burden of his theme! Why-i-popular sovereignty. I would take the Army and the Navy, I] would use every power of the Federal Gov- : eminent, I would surround the Territory, hut what the people pf Kansas should vote, and by their vote the destinies of the future Slate should be decided. Whenever a Southern orator came into Pennsylvania and called upon me, I said to him: “Now, fir, I have but one thing to say' to you: we have hut one thing before the people; every day is making the campaign more and more ! doubtful; every day is making the popular i feeling more and more intense; Mr. Buchan- | an himself feels that everything depends , upon the prudence, the sagacity, and the | spirit of conciliation by which this campaign is conducted, and for- God’s sake take care ! what you say about Kar.sas; leave your violent Southern feelings at home; you must not come to threaten; you, Governor Johnston, and you, Mr. Scott, of Richmond, and you, Mr. Extra Billy .Smith, and you, Mr. Secretary Floyd, all of you, rntist remember that if you lose this battle here, you lose it altogether; it will be your loss, and therefore you must allow us to manage it in our own way;” and they did accede to that policy, without any protestation, and gladly. There was no deception in that fight, at least so far as I was concerned. 1 sowed the State with private letters and private pledges upon this question. There is not a county in Pennsylvania in which my letters may not be found, almost by hundreds, pledging Mr. Buchanan, in his n-atne, and by his authority, to the full, complete and practical recognition of the people of Kansas to decide upon their own affairs. [Applause.] THE PRESIDENT AFTER HIS ELECTION PLEDGES TO GOVERNOR WALKER. As if for the purpose of accumulating pledge upon pledge, as if for the purpose of piling up a pyramid of promises upon this question, What did he do next! He looked around to see whom he should get to go to Kansas for the purpose of settling the vexed question which had rendered Kansas, what, it has been graphicly termed, “the graveyard of Governors.” lie sought no interior man; he would not be tempted to take an ordinary man. lie selected a gentleman, a stut.esI man, who had been presented l>y a large portion of the leading and prominent men of the South for a scat in his Cabinet, who had for years represented his State in the eouni oils of the nation. He selected Robert J. Walker; and when he called upon Walker, , and asked him to proceed to the Territory, Mr. Walker said to him: ““Why, Mr. Buchanan, that would finish me forever; it lias ruined every man who has gone there—it j will ruin me. I have reached that time of life ! when I cannot afford to risk oil my pros-

pects, and probably the peace and happiness of my' family;” and he said further, as if 1 gifted by a knowledge of the future, “I can--1 not run the riisk ol' being most probably be- ■ trayed and deserted by the Administration i that uppointis me.” Mr. Buchanan said: “Mr. Walken, if you will go there, you will settle this question in a few weeks. Everything is reucy; here are your instructions. I pledge you my word that everything you desire, you si all have.” Mr. Walken, as if inspired’by. a sublime suspicion, said: “Mr. Buchanan, I will not go to Kansas until you ; allow me to i leet your Cabinet face to face, ! and ascertain from that Cabinet, in person, whether they will agree that I shall go there and carry ou the pledges of the campaign of 1856.” Accordingly, a meeting of the Cabinet of Mr. Buchanan Was culled. At the lffeeting every member of the Cabinet was present. 3lr. Buchanan and Mr. Walker were present —Mr. Bucjhanan in the chair. Governor Walker said: “I have de'srf’cd Ibis meeting because I ha vie determined not to go to Kansas unless I luave full instructions to carry . out those pledges' and those principles; if there is any opposing voice I will not go; I do not want to go; it is by no means an enviable positjion, but if I have the permission and consent of you, gentlemen, l'or.this I have ysked, jl will go.” The Cabinet was polled; but orie member of the Cabinet objected to the programme laid down by Governor Walkejv I need not. mention his ifjmie. Goverjnor Walker said: “That settles tlie question, gentlemen; I do not wish to go; a singli negative is sufficient, and I will retire liottn the field.” But they took that member ujf the Cabinet into an adjoining room, and there they convinced him that Governor Wijlker was right. They returned and gave Walker his instructions, I He went to Kin,sas with liis instructions in ! his pocket, and accompanied by a man well known to the country, Mr. Stanton, who went out with--similar pledges. Now, after this plain statement of the tacts, 1 will come down to my own part of this campaign. .UK. FORNEY ONi HIS PERSONAL EXPERIENCE CONVERSATIONS AND DISAGREEMENT WITH j THE PRESIDENT ASTOUNDING ILF.VELOF- ; ME NTS. My ambition! was to assist and build up my good old Stkite, to push forward her great interests, and Assist in the development of her,itidustry—tio do 1 that which we must all do, at least if vve desire success—for the older you grow you should be stronger at home—to build yourselves up in your own j counties and own State, and when you do I that you will hit respected and strong at the ! seat of Federal power. Therefore, it was that, in the yeas 1557, I started the newspaper which now bears my name at its masthead. 1 did thijs for the purpose of advocating' Mr. Buchanan’s policy throughout. I ; had abundant pledges as to his course; but before.publishing that paper, I took care to write to Mr. Buiihnnan’s Cabinet and to himself and told them on what ground I in- ! tended to stand ion this question of Kansas. They were as good as to send me sufficient i written testimony strengthening me in the position I had assumed. J I went on vvith , Walker and fcStajuton, until the Oxford* and j McGee frauds took place,! when there was a I burst of execrutiion throughout the country. | The whole Democratic press had argued constantly the policy of the Administration ; up to that time; but when Governor Walk- | er rejected these frauds, there was silence, j A pall tell over tjhe columns of’ the Washington Union. Nothing was said upon the subject of Oxford arjd McGee frauds. No voice was heard in Washington against it; but I j supposed some malign influences for the moment, had surrounded that journal; that it had had an attiack of some peculiar insanity, which had lately become chronic with it, and I allowed it. to pass,by. But-when the. dark, damning dbed of Lecompton was. perpetrated, then 1 saw, for the first time, that those .gallant*mein in the Territory, Walker and Stanton, ujhd those who acted with them, had been dleserted. I saw that Democratic principles! had been carried out by them, and vve ware now called upon to turn our backs upon sour pledges and betray our manhood. [Applause.] - Gentlemen, there j .was something tio mu -h of this; and when the cup was presented to my lips I refused it. fCheers.] Administrations may change, Presidents may ithange, hut 1 had be.-a too fully committed on this subject to go back to Pennsylvania and turn fny back upon j pledges which I hud both spoken and writ- ! ten to thousands jof men. 1 did not for a moment believe that the Administration had concluded to abandon tlie principles thmt. put them into power; that i they were resolved to make their policy a | test; so when 1 went to Washington and culled upon my old friend, I said to h'ni:! ‘•Mr. Buchanan, Tor the lirst time in our j lives we are at variance; I find myself I standing by one principle, having* followed | your lead, end you have deserted it.” j “Wei!,” said lie, “can’t you change too? i [Laughter.] If bean afford to change, why ! can’t you afford to change? [Renewed laughter.] If you and Douglas and Walker. | will -unite in support of my policy, there ( will not lie a whisper of this thing; it will pass-hy like a summer breeze.” I told him that it was very well with an Administra- I tion surrounded by office-holders, and living 1 till the time in the atmosphere of flattery, that w as followed by thousands of gentle- 1 men who expected place, that they could say: “You are ri lit, Mr. Buchanan; vve are down on our belliies; please to walk over us —please train pH; upon us and vve vvTll he happy and cmitcijt, and. hope you will Hi;; j your policy is tight.” . “Rut I tell you,(’ said I,“ther6 is a still; small voice in the people that instinctively! rejects frauds, and! this is not only a fraud,! but a dishonor. Ido not claim, to be more

honest than any other man. I have done as jail other politicians have—some things ’ which will not square exactly with the rules of religion and. right, and which, if I have; I regret them; but this thing will riot do. | [Loud cheers.J. I have reached the stature and years'of manhood, and I cannot go back to Pennsylvania to eat mv own words and j become the slave of power. [Renewed cheers.] I cannot. But then Mr. Buchanan, you must tolerate this difference of j opinion. General Jackson tolerated differ- ; dices of opinion in his friends. Colonel iPolk tolerated difl ercnces of epinion, and; - you differed with him in his views on the : tariff', and yet you remained in his Cabinet. Mr. Pierce tolerated differences of opinion, i But herb you are. Men who put you where you are—-who ask nothing at your hands—who have refused your favors—have tram- j pled all the patronage that has been offered j them under feet; here they are, asking to I be tolerated in the indulgence of an honest; (opinion.” The reply to that was, “Sir, Ij intend to make my Kansas policy a test.” “Well, Sir,” said I, “I regret it; but if you make it a test with your officers, vve will make it a test at the builul box.” [Loud! cheers. J ; Repeated efforts- wore made to heal the difference.. But it seems to me, gentlemen J that when the Presidency is conferred up-i !on a poor mortal, it transforms him into a god, in his own estimation, or a lunatic. ! [Laughter.] Nobody is permitted to ap/ j proach power to tell the truth. Power never hears file thunder Voice of the people, sitting as it does in its cushioned chairs, ; between its marble vvalls. The. independent man, loud and bold, with a clear eve," who comes to tell the truth, is "waived from j the. Presidential presence as a .-rude irftru-i , (ier. Then we went home. As I said, j ; repeated. efforts wore made,-and made j i vain, to heal the differences. Tlie conferring of the Presidential patronage—of vast millions—more than the monarch of Great Britain enjoys, and* nearly as much as the French Despot wields—this patronage induced Mr. Buchanan to believe (but he could j make his test successful. I low was it ! made! Gentlemen, when the chapter which | shall detail the manner in which tlie Adj ministration lias used its patronage is written, it will ba a black one.- When our [children and our children’s children coSie'to ; read it, they will not believe that an Amer-I ican citizen, elevated to the Presidential j chair, in the face of such a people, covered | with sucli an armor of pledges, would have j gone into that chair to have used his army—- ] ay, his army and tlie treasure—your money ! and mine—your officers and mine—for the i purpose of putting down ,a gallant band of men for standing by the plain God’s truth; and I wish that when the historian conies to write, he would not be compelled to j tliat that President was born in Penn-sy-ivania. [Applause,]

Now, gentlemen, there lias not been an element, lacking to relieve this unredeemed : infamy —not one, There lias not Ifu ’a single circumstance lacking. They have ; gone on step by step, with a tread of fate and destiny, trying to crush out the brave I anil gallant spirits who have stood forth asking for nothing but to be allowed to do ■ right. Look at the South, in whose name ! this deed, Lecomptonisrn, has been perpetrated, after its representatives in the Senate | and the House have assisted in hounding i down Stephen A. Douglas, and David C. i Broderick and their gallant compatriots in the House,-the South begins to sav r ns thev ! see the Administration hell-hounds pursuing and attacking Douglas and his friends in j Illinois: “This is too much. We are willing to accept; Lecorrtpton as gilded poison which, has been extended to ns, and which is to help us. though the only thing it lias done has been to corami t our Representativ ?s ■to a gross wrong toward the North. Hut we, cannot bear tins porsectHibh.” Read tiic letter published the other day in ihe New York papers from Reverdy Jolinson of Maryland. Rend the stat “merit iof Alex. 11. Stephens and Henry A. Wise, j They are clamorous against these attacks ion Mr. I) uiglas. Public men in this coun- ! try forget, in their truckling to the South j that Southern people are Americans as we are. They'have their slavery. They have their peculiar institutions. 15ut they reject a wrong—they reject mi reject unfairness just as readiiy as we do. They will not submit to this tyranny of the Ad- ! | ministration upon Mr. Douglas; and so it | will he when the-Administration begins liy j i courting the' South—by declaring that the ionly thing the President should di is to yield to the South, that Administration will j end by the South turning upon it. What i then? Tt will lie Tylerised. [Laughter.-] i The Administration of James Buchanan Tylerised—supported by a set of office-holders [and expectants only, with all the great j parties, and the one that put. it in power, inI elusive standing from it. and shunning it like a contagion* “lirtperi*l Oa*ar, dead and turned to clay. Must stop a hole to Keep the wiiitfc away.” 1 [ Laughter.] 1 am aware that T am talking to a mixed i audience—tjtere are here present Americans, Kepuhlieansj and Democrats. •A Voice—No duulit o’ that. Mr. Forney (continuing)—"New, gentlemen we \yho act with Mr. llaskin, we who follow the flag borne by those great heroes ol the day—those immortal chieftains, Henry A. Wise and Stephen A. Douglas—are constantly twitted with combining with what are politely called Black Republicans. [Laughter.] But have you Americans who are present, witnessed the e.‘forts of the Administration to make a union with you! The Administration can combine with ! the Americans, (I believe you are called j Know -Nothings sometimes) and’that is till j right. Or if a Black Republican comes out' i

j for Lecompton, lie is immediately washed j clean and wiped. [Laughter.] Why, genI tiernen, tiip principles that we fought for in ! 1856 are now reduced to—Lecompton. We I may be as true as tlie north pole upon every principle, but if we don't go for Lecvmpton Iwe are d--d indeed. [Laughter.] But if j the Republican or the American becomes Lecomptonized, he is not only speedily fori given, but lie is elevated to the highest seat ; in tin synagogue, and he is pointed at as a brand rescued from the burning. [Laughter.] The Administration is pledged, recollect, to a platform of hostility to secret political societies. Ho is pledged in its platform to •those'who speak vvitii a rich Irish brogue or sweet German accent. But, gentlemen, you Americans and you foreigners and adopted [ citizens are not to recollect when an Amerj ican becomes Lecomptonized; only those are | infamous who unite with Republicans and j Americans to vindicate a principle. [Apj pluuse.] Then you are out of the party and are excluded from decent society, and liencej tort', and forever you are never to be lor-. ! giv n unless at tlie last moment you come I forward and say: “Praise unto thee, John i Calhoun and Lecompton.” [Laughter.] I j have been toiling in the Democratic party | since 1 was a boy, and I am not now quits ! forty-one year4.of age. I neveryoted any but a straight Democratic ticket. My excellent friend, Samuel J. Randall, who was a very good American, and who was elected to tlie Senate of our State, Sain said to me: “I am freshly in the party, and you ara freshly out of. it.” Thus I find myself turned out of the Democratic party if I will ; consent to it, and because I will not consent to leave Democratic principles. [Laughter-] j 40,000 AGAINST LECOMPTON IN PENNSYLVANIA IN OCTODER. This is an age of newspapers and graphs on the land* and through the sea; [Cheers.] and when these tilings transpire, there would be no God in Heaven if the ballot-box did not damn sueh a party in October next; [Cheers.] and you in New York, who think tlie Democratic party sold, body and breeches to this official despotism, take care lest when-November, courts you do not find that tlie Democrats think a good deal more of their principles than they do of their organization. For my part, speaking for Pennsylvania, on the 12th of October, when you open the New York Tribune , Herald and Times, you will see under tlie telegraphic head figures something like this: “IO’OOO majority against tlie Lecompton candidate.” [Cheers.] That is tlie way we will; make our mark there—yes, we will do more; we will stand by John Hickman—we will stand by .Montgomery, and whenever a Leconiptonite is trotted out, we will try to defeat him, regularly nominated of not I nth not to be terrified by this Chinese thunder of organization. [Laughter.] lam willing to combine with any good man, no matt.*r what is his name, who cotqbines with me to rescue the unme from this odium, end this disgrace. Why, gentlemen, in 1856, not to go back to that hut for an instant,' wo would never have got the Republican vote we did for Mr. Bfichynan if we had not pledged ourselves over head and heels for this doctrine.