Rensselaer Gazette, Volume 2, Number 43, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 16 February 1859 — HON. THOMAS CORWIN. [ARTICLE]

HON. THOMAS CORWIN.

[The following article is from the pen of a citizen of this place. We agree'with him in regard the character of tiie “Old Wagon- ■ er Boy,” but find fault with him in ignoring, by comparison, all the leading Republicans in Congress. However, right here, we do not set up our judgment as infallible, and are willing to publish interesting article that we do not individually indorse.] Among the good tokens of the reformation in the’ politics of the country, no one is more satisfactory than the election to the House of Representatives, last October, of the eminent statesman whose name stands at the head of this article. World-wide as is his reputation, as one of the most gifted orators of our age and country, his profound sagacity and wise counsel will not have a less commanding influence in the popular branch of our National Assembly. Removed as he has been from active connection with politics since his retirement from the Secretaryship of the Treasury Department' at tiie expiration of Mr. Fillmore’s term—doubtless with the intention of spending his closing years in the more peaceful walks of private life—his love of country and abnegation of self is strongly shown in now coming forward when the experience of age"and wisdom is so much vvdnted in our National Councils. , - Wbnderfu) as is Mr. Corwin’s eloquence, (and although for many years in Congress ■as Representative and Senator,) he has ipade but. few speeches—unlike most of our Legislators, whose love of talk is proverbial. ! Perhaps no public man has been more vili- , I fied v traduced and sneered at for exercising I : the right of speech than Mr. Corwin; and ' ■certainly no speech has been mote abused. : than his celebrated one on the “Mexican ' War,” delivered in the Senate on February : 11, 4847. For the independent and noble j stand he then took as the free RepresentaI tive of a free people, boldly opposing an i:>i iquitous war, he has been howled down the | ■ wind by political blood-hounds, and burnt in I 1 effigy by brutal and ignorant mobs. Never was honest speech more infamousI iy tortured into wrong meaning than this. ' He has been made to say by the press and ! speakers of the Democratic party— that he. : hoped trie M xLaxs would meet oiir soldiers with ! bloody hands and hospitable graves— he has been held up to the people as a “trailer to ’ his country,” as “giving aid and comfort to the enemy,” <Le. Let any one quietly read this speech, and lie will find how base- ‘ less and Lise these! charges are, as to the I I true meaning and spirit of its author. As , I it may not be in the'possession, dr within I ’ the reach of many, we give an extract,show- ' ; iiig this passage correctly. We quote from i ■ a copy printed by Stevenson, of the Cincin- , ; nati Allas, (now one of Mr. Buchanan’s j ' Territorial Judges, and, therefore, we pre- I some .to be held good authority for its cor-] rectness.) page 12, second paragraph. Mr. Corwin was replying to the arguments of the war Democracy—that we wanted room, and therefore must have Mexican territory—and said; . “Sir, look at this pretence of want of room. With twenty millions of people you have about one thousand millions of land, inviting settlement by every conceivable argument—bringing them down to a quarter of a dollar per acre, and allowing every man to squat where he pleases. “But the Senator from Michigan says we | i will be two hundred millions in a few years, j i and we want room. If I were a Mexican, I ’ ' would tell you,‘Have you not room in your , own, country to bury your dead men! If; you come into mine, we will greet you with bloody hands, and welcome you to hospita-| ble graves.’ ” Wp should like to know in what line dr word of this extract there is the “taint or smell of treason.” Throughout this magnificent sp ?ech there are eloquent tributes of praise to our gallant soldiers of the regular and volunteer regiments and their able officers. They were not to blame. It was against the President and the party in power that Mr. Corwin’s shafts were hurled. His duty as a Senator, to obey the commands of justice and the dictates of conscience, was as sacred as that of the soldier (whose blood he sought to save) to obey the orders of the Commander-in-Chief. If there be treason in this speech, so was there in the speeches of Chatham, Barre, Pownt’.ll and Fox, in thejlritish Parliament, ; when they thundered forth their opposition to the -(American War.” Yet to thes> speeches\we turn with enthusiasm, as the grand embodiment of true patriotism and manly independence, far-reaching sagacity and profound ability ; and our “ Mother Land” boast these as the noblest of her noble men. Thus will it be, when this generation shall have passed away, and the mists of prejudice dissipated by the light of reason. History will portray Mr. Corwin as a statesman who, unmoved by popular clamor, impelled only by a true heart and stern integrity, did what he deemed right. We hope to hear again his voice resounding through the balls of Congress, advocating there the true interests of bur country. ; Aye. we hope again to see him in the Senate i brimber, side by side with Crittenden and B 11, whilom the noble leaders of the old \\ hig party—and, wherever he may be, we leel that there his country has no purer Offend. i A man has been seutem eil to bO’hung i for burglary at Charleston, S. C.