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-25=3
THE FIYE PEEDATOEY
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Theprimary cause of the insurrectionary move-
ment which is manifesting itself in nearly all the
states of the Union, and which has ripened into open
hostility in the state of New York, is the apprehen-
sion that the administration, as at present organized,
is under the control of influences unfriendly to pecu-
lation, to jobbing legislation, and to a latitudinarian
construction of the constitution. There is, in every
state in the Union, a party, sometimes small and
’ sometimes large—largest always during and at the
close of a whig administration—which looks upon
government as a contrivance for collecting money
from the many who are not politicians, to be spent
upon the few who are. They embark in poli-
tics as a profession, and look upon the contents
of the treasury as a fund held in trust for the benefit
of the first who can reach them. But when the power
happens to fall into the hands of men who entertain
a more exalted notion of the function of government
—who think the revenues of the country should be
administered for the good of all who contribute to
them—the party whose principle of action we de-
scribe is always to be found leading the opposition.
They can no more tolerate an honest administration
than the workers in brass, eighteen centuries ago,
could tolerate the teachings of the apostle who de-
nounced the worship of graven images; and their
hostility springs from reasons equally selfish and
more corrupt.
Whoever will take the trouble to watch this class
of politicians, will be sure to find them all at work
somewhere, secretly or openly, to unsettle any policy
or any government which aims to secure the greatest
hgoed .of the greatest number. This is a source of
dissension which a party in power always has to con-
tend with, more or less, and it prevails to a consider-
able extent in every state of the Union at the present
-... v .	LY.
time. In each state, however, the elembtifs' dffffsfedrd
are differently combined with local ititer&Sts akd’ttna-
troversies, having only the single priifc^le of sef^h-
ness in common, as we sometimes	itmba
contents of a foul gutter in winter, haMri^ ndfthifig’in
common but the cold by which
together.	^	*•
In the state of New York, this
more decided ground than in any
openly avowed their hostility to the state &ud!,')fi$ti®n-
al administrations, and have organi2^ tft’^^y^as
auxiliaries to the whigs, for the defelt’M ^dfei&So-
cratic party at the coming election* The &fttf&^for
reconciliation between them and	dPu&e
party is passed, and nothing short of	battle
and a decided victory can restore fher#hhie#t?ju^ty
and strength of the New York dei^ei^h^HltPview
of this state of things, we propose-a^lMef
analysis of the rebel forces, for the{^ur]p*oStflof>Shtfw-
ing of what its strength consists, and' What-Mnd(Yjt a
warfare it is which the democratic party!&kdW ifriag?l4ig
in the state of New York.	!	sfcneiil
The renegades from the dento^fe ^p&rty^in
this state may be divided into five distinct pre&afcjfry
tribes, within one or the other off whieh,;;W!^is^6ge
that every man who votes against die’ re'gfiik^Nl^ifio
cratic ticket this fall, may be fotifeidi They consist
of:	mwi *idi ui sz&mb
First—The adherents of DanielIHcMneohp4)nd
those who share his delusion abodfc the'presidehbj^ •
Second—The steamboat and jbbhifag -:interest* 5 at
Washington.
1 bird—The contractors’ interestWt AlbSn^and-^on
the line of the canals.	3 .ooaff'jfoiG -iM
Fourth—The disappointed candidates^fd^:^flScein
Fifth—Professing democrats wb*>^ krk‘iutbifcste& in
the success of the whig party. yYi-B ^ qwqf
2
Of these we have a word to say in their order, be-
ginning with the faction of least numerical as well as
political importance.
THE ADHERENTS OP DICKINSON.
Mr. Dickinson, with a fatuity which it Is difficult
to reconcile with entire soundness of mind, con-
eeived the notion, a year or two since, that it wa3 of
such stuff as he is made of, that the country was to
be indebted for its next President. There were de-
signing men enough in and out of this state, to foster
this delusion, as the readiest means of defeating the
pretensions of Mr. Marcy, and tne consequence was,
that Mr. Dickinson went into the Baltimore conven-
tion with about ten delegates, including himself, pro-
fessing to be friendly to his nomination. The friends
of Mr. Marcy, however, embracing three-fourths of
the delegation, did not entertain as lively a sense of
his fitness for that position as he did, and of course
refused to vote for him. This Mr. Dickinson has
not been able to forgive ; he thought it was wicked
to lose such an opportunity of having a President from
New York, it appearing never to have occurred to
him, that the delegation might have been united upon
a New York candidate with less trouble if he and his
friends had joined the majority in support of Mr.
Marcy. He was weak enough to suppose that there
was a disposition in the convention to give him the
nomination if he could only get the united vote of
his own delegation, and the arrangements made for
a shower of flowers from the galleries during his
speech, returning thanks to the Virginia delegation
for their vote, is generally received as evidence of his
conviction that he would receive the nomination even
without the votes of the New York delegates as soon
as he resumed his seat. He was destined to learn,
however, on the following ballot, that it was not with
such flowers that the rod of Aaron blossomed, and
that the hot-houses of Baltimore did not presage his
political advancement.
He still clings, however, to the delusion that he is
to be President, a delusion which is shared, we be-
lieve, by no one but Mr. Schell, who is descended
"from a stock that could never take a joke, and who
really believes to this day, that Croswell and his
friends were serious in bringing Dickinson forward
as a candidate for the Presidency. He would pro-
bably accuse any one of profanity who should say that
Dickinson’s name was used in this state merely as a
stumbling block for Mr. Marcy, and to prevent the
selection of an entire delegation opposed to the candi-
dates in the interest of the steamboat contractors, and
that it is to secure an entire delegation in the next
Baltimore convention that Mr. Dickinson has con-
jured up the spurious organization at Syracuse, under
the auspices of Messrs Story and Mather. But there
are not many innocents in the state like Mr. Schell.
Mr. Dickinson and his confederates are aware that
no ticket, nominated as theirs was, could succeed in
the state of New York, but it answered their chief
purpose; it gave them an organization which he
can control, and under which they can go through
the farce of choosing delegates to the National Con-
vention of 1856, who will take their chances of getting
admitted, as the delegates, chosen under similar cir-'
cumstances, did in 1848, by the votes of the delega-
tions from other states. If they gain admission, he
hopes for a nomination himself, or failing in this,
that he will, at least, have it in his power to secure
the nomination to some one else. And, on the other
hand, if his delegates should be excluded, as any
man of ordinary sagacity and not blinded by conceit
can see that they must be, he, doubtless, has
vague expectations that somebody will bo alarmed,
and that favorable terms may be offered for his sup*
port by the successful candidate.
It is to these results that Mr. Dickinson and his
friends wbre looking when they took the desperate
step of secession from the democratic party at Syra-
cuse in September, and formed a separate political
organization. They began thus early, because it is
their aim to weaken Mr. Marcy’s position in the cabi-
net—to remove him if possible—in order that his in-
fluence in the state may be diminished or destroyed,
before he has had time to acquire additional strength
from his official relations. Others, who are partici-
pating in the secession movement and in the intrigues
against Mr. Marcy, have more immediate and prac-
ticable ends to serve than those we have ascribed to
Mr. Dickinson. Of them we shall speak presently,
THE STEAMBOAT AND JOBBING INTEREST AT WASHINGTON.
The second tribe of this predatory faction em-
braces the steamboat and jobbing interest at Wash-
ington. That interest is represented in this state
mainly by Edwin Croswell, George Law, Minor C.
Story, Oliver Charlick, Marshall O. Roberts, and
their collective and individual dependents. The first
year after Congress gave the bonus of $680,000 per
annum for ten years to the California Steamship
Company, of which these men are the principal
beneficiaries, the first division occurred in the organi-
zation of the democratic party; a spurious delega-
tion, with Daniel S. Dickinson at its head, and
Daniel E. Sickles at its tail, went to Baltimore and
claimed to represent the state in national conven-
tion, on the ground that the delegates regularly
elected were in favor of applying the Jeffersonian
proviso to the free territories of Oregon, California
and New Mexico, and therefore were not democrats.
Since that time the division to which the national
democratic party was then for the first time made
a party, has been perpetuated mainly through the
instrumentality of this steamboat interest, for the pur-
pose of securing the support of the whigs to their
lawless projects in Congress. It has been uniformly
by whig votes that they have carried their appropria-
tions; it has been by whig support that theyJ^SMM»- -1
caped the penalties due to the crimes by which sever-
al of their number obtained what portion of the capi-
tal they contributed towards the construction of theirs
steamers ;* and it has been through'the connivance of
whig officials they have so long escaped the penalties
to which they have exposed themselves, for an un-
faithful execution of their contracts. From the
wages thus received for their services in keeping
the democratic party in confusion, they have derived
all their present means of mischief. The money
thus robbed from the national treasury, and from the
Canal Bank, has for many years been the only reli-
ance of the Albany Argus, the regular resources of
that print having been notoriously unequal to its ex-
penses.
Besides the contract for the California mails, of
which we speak, and which has already cost the gen-
eral government over $4,000,000, Law, and others
interested in it, have been connected with many
other jobs of a similar character, in some of which—
the Illinois Central Railroad, for example—he has
been successful, and in others, as in the musket
speculation and the Ebony Steamship Line, he has
been thus far unsuccessful.t But only in part unsuc-
cessful, for ail these schemes served to multiply
and enlarge the predatory tribe of politicians through-
out the United States, and to organize them into an
active national party, ready to resist any reform
by which his or their interest in existing abuses
might be threatened. There were some ten
or twelve applications for ocean mail contracts
before the fast Congress, few or none of which
had any chance of success; but they were all en-
couraged by the central organization in this city, as
the most efficacious mode of interesting people in
every quarter of the Union to defend the vicious and
profligate policy in which the New York company
had its origin, and from which it is deriving its mon-
strous profits. It is from one of this class of speculat-
ors—Mr. Burke, of New Hampshire—who was, and we
presume still continues to be, one of their salaried lob-
by agents at the seat of government, that the first note
of hostility to the present administration was heard.
It was echoed in New York at once by Mr. Croswell
in the Albany Argus, and since then a party has been
organized in the state, under the auspices of Minor
C. Story, one of Law’s agents, and Croswell, one of
his partners, the avowed object of which is to defeat
the friends of the administration in this state at the
next election. The motive for this desperate proceed-
ing we have already glanced at. Unless Mr. Marcy can
be driven from the cabinet, and a more serviceable
man put in his place, there is no hope of securing
any considerable portion of the patronage of the na-
tional administration to the support of the predatory
faction. Should the whigs, however, through their
instrumentality, carry the state this fall, they hope
that fear, if nothing else, may induce the
President to take them to his bosom, and at
the same time to banish from it and from
his councils the notions of honesty and economy
which he has always professed, and by which
his administration is supposed to be guided.
* Law and Croswell’s Mail Contract was granted in the Spring of 1847. The Canal Bank of Albany failed
in July, 1884. Croswell’s liabilities to it amounted to $183,926 69. Of this sum
6,600 was borrowed in 1844
5,743	“	“	1845
7,320	“	“	1846
112,733	“	“	1847
24,048	“	“	1848
Croswell testified before a Committee of the Legislature, in reference to his indebtedness to the Bank, as
follows:
•- I have paid money to the steam line on my interest; but have no knowledge that the Bank has advanced or loaned money to
it. My impression is, that I have paid into the line from $32,000 to $40,000, a large portion of which was furnished me by the
Banh•”
The Committee of the Legislature, in their report, commenting upon this testimony, say“ This money
“ was taken without security, and without the knowledge of the Directors, Mr. Croswell being insolvent, ana*
“ owing the Bank seventy or eighty thousand dollars.”
Prosper M. Wetmore, who was also one of the debtors of the Canal Bank, and one of the partners of Law &
Croswell in the Steamship Contract, failed in his business within a year or so after the contract was granted.
He was Navy Agent at the time ; and upon settling up his accounts with the Government, was found to have
appropriated to his own use from 80 to $100,000, part, or ail, of which is still unpaid. It is to be presumed
that the Canal Bank, his business creditors, and the national treasury, each had to contribute towards his
capital in the Steamship Company.
t While Prosper M. Wetmore was Navy Agent, an order was obtained from the War Department to sell a
quantity of flint lock muskets. They were advertised and a portion of them sold for about $2 40 a piece.
The sale was then stopped for some unexplained reason, and shortly after the balance were sold for $2 00.
George Law bought—
64,399 at $2 40,.................. 154,557 60.
\	79,954 at 2 00,.................... 159,902 00.
----------- $314,459 60
As there were plenty of buyers at the auction for these guns at $2 40, the presumption is that the sale was
stopped because they were bringing too high a price.
These muskets were all Dew, had never been out of the box in which they were conveyed from the govern*
ment manufactory, and cost from $8 to $10 each. These muskets yrere not paid for, a year ago, and probably
are unpaid for yet. They were bought as a speculation based upon the continuance of the revolution in
Europe, the unexpected termination of which destroyed the anticipated market for them.4
It was for that reason that the convention over which
S^r^fH&fcided, refused to adopt any resolution ap-
p*6Vfl*|pbfi the administration; they wished to offer a
itokW^jdignity to the Secretary of State, whose
c’Sflfpfl&'te? identification with the Union democracy of
NgWdMk upon all questions of public economy and
fi&to@S,qhas made him, as the party whose prinei-
p4wfe«ir»presents has ever been, the special object of
thfeii hostility.
&fikVct£ii the mystery of iniquity in which the steam-
stitpjau6(^jijobbing interest are now united in opposi-
tltittttdttlft democratic party. It is difficult to esti-
mate! itfifinumerical strength, but it is a source of
gifcftiffcateon to know, that they are far less powerful
tham^he^ were, and are growing weaker every day.
T^^oftlRACTORS7 INTEREST AT ALB ANT AND ON THE
sdS }A	CANALS.
^heithlird of the predatory tribes in this state
against the principles and organiza-
ttWfiswP* the democratic party, is the contractors"
at Albany and on the line of the
csfti&tei' 'This faction embraces the less scrupulous
pQVtiahs'r of the party who favored Governor
SewaTdte scheme of creating a vast public debt
UdgteH-^he pretext of making public improve-
mdhts^wno opposed the “People’s resolutions”
limiiiog the power of the legislature to contract
debt#; Who opposed the call of a constitutional eon-
yentiotr- in 1846, and denied the constitutionality
ofoidhe constitution reported by that conven-
tibab after it had received the approbation of the
people; who insisted upon the constitutionality
of the Nine Million Loan bill of 1851, which the
Appeals, by an almost unanimous vote, has
pronounced unconstitutional, and who participated,
directly or indirectly, in the fraudulent contracts
made under that bill, also pronounced invalid by our
highest judicial tribunals.
It so happens that an officer of the federal govern-
this city, who is now dispensing the largest
political patronage enjoyed by any person in any
the Union, furnishes a conspicuous illus-
. tration, from among the leaders of the predatory
Jn this state, of a man who has publicly op-
posed the democratic party and policy in every one of
;$h&LdiR8es we have mentioned. Mr. Bronson was in
ftVc^of Seward’s debt projects; he was opposed to
l^'^eopie’s resolutions and to any constitutional
Jjflnjt$t|>ions upon the power of the legislature to con-
tract debts; be was opposed to a constitutional con-
jVep&on ; as Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, he
«ndiqjudge Beardsley, then his colleague upon
^he bench and now his colleague in the work
of disorganizing and demoralizing the democratic
party, gave the legislature a written opinion,
that the people had no power to amend the constitu-
tififi in convention, but that that function was perpe-
tually ves ed in the legislature by the convention of
he opposed the adoption of the constitution af-
ter it>was reported, and he held it to be unconstitu-
tional after it was adopted. Immediately after his
retirement frond the bench, he fufnished a profession-
al opinion to parties interested that the Nine Million
Loan bill was constitutional, and now, by support-
ing the re-election of John C. Mather, as Canal
Commissioner, he virtually justifies all the frauds per-
petrated by him, and through his connivance, in the
letting of contracts under the Loan bill of 1851, of
which we shall speak presently.
The last legislature authorized another loan of
several millions for the enlargement of the canals,
provided it received the constitutional assent of
another legislature and the people. Confident that
such assent will be made, and that there will be
more gigantic contracts to be let, from which, with a
corrupt board of state officers, immense profits may
be realized, this predatory faction, whose political
genealogy has been noted, are laying their plans for
the defeat of the regularly-nominated democratic
ticket, which consists of men not at all suited to their
purposes; and for the election of the whig ticket,
which was selected and packed with special reference
to this exigency by the very men who shared with
their democratic allies in the fraudulent contracts
under the law of 1851. Evidence of these facts will
not be required by those who have watched the
course of the Albany Argus and Albany Evening
Journal, the organs of these two tactions in the whig
and democratic parties since the project of a Nine Mil-
lion Loan was first broached. Both tho3e prints acted
together in defence of that iniquity, at every stage of
its progress, until it was wiped from the statute book
by a judicial decree. They have since co-operated
together, at every stage, in the progress of the com-
bination now making to restore to the Canal Board
the same moral, or rather immoral, influences which
controlled it when the previous contracts were let.
To realize the perfect understanding which exists
between these people, it may be well to recall some
of the extraordinary incidents of the canal lettings of
1851, which may have passed from the memory of
our readers.
The most iavored bidder before the Canal Board then
was George Law, the partner of Mr. Croswell, editor
of the Argus. His contract amounted to $847,495.
There were forty-eight bidders for the same ccntract
lower than Law, and among them N. E. Payne, who
bid $827,984, or $20,000 less than his successful com-
petitor. Payne afterwards, however, received another
contract, which amounted to $229,171, showing that
the preference was given to Law from no insufficiency
on the part of Payne, much less from any hostile
disposition towards him, for the contract awarded to
him had a bid from A. Barnard $66,776 lower than
his. It is proper to add, that Mr. Barnard was
not sent away empty either, for he also got his
plum. Who was disappointed for his gratification,
the writer has not taken the trouble to inquire.
Minor C. Story, whose complicity with Law has been
already explained, and who presided at the bolter^’
convention, was also kindly remembered at the pub-
lic expense. He got a contract for $28,818. H.5
Brintnall & Co. offered to take the same contract for
$10,664 less, but instead of gratifying him they
gave him another contract, by which they doubtless
expected him to do equally well.
There is yet another of Law’s dependants who
figured among the favorites of the Canal Board by the
side of Abel and Dickinson, and Kellogg, and the
other pure-minded friends of Mr. Seward with whom
the capitol swarmed on this occasion. Oliver Cbar-
lick, of this city, received a contract for $53,438,
which Mr. Van Valkenburg offered to take for $31,-
078, just $22,353 less than the offer that was accepted.
Mr. Van Valkenburg also was satisfied with another
contract, by which the state probably suffered about
as much as it bad in the award to Charlick.
These illustrations are sufficient *o explain the prefer-
ence which Law and his partisans entertain for Mr.
Mather and a majority of whig associates of his easy
virtue in the Canal Board, over the gentlemen nomi-
nated on the democratic ticket, whose private and
public characters are sufficient to discourage any at-
tempt to renew these disgraceful practices during
their administration.
That men of high character, indisposed to pecula-
tion and faithful to the constitution, would be chosen
if the union democracy had the control of the state
convention at Syracuse, was anticipated, and as soon
as the fact was distinctly ascertained by a call of the
roll, the contractor interest, under the lead and presi-
dency of Mr. Story, fled from the convention,
to a room hired by Mr. Mather, then on trial
for high crimes and misdemeanors before the
Court of Impeachments, and organized themselves into
a third party, and nominated a ticket, not with the
expectation of electing it, but, among other things, of
defeating the only candidates likely to interfere with
their renewing the scandalous frauds of 1851 upon the
first opportunity. Both before and since the Syracuse
Convention, while, holding their spurious elections
for delegates to it, and since their disgraceful flight
from it, they have received the active encouragement
and sympathy of the whig press, especially of that
portion of it which has participated in and counte-
nanced their frauds. The understanding between
these two interests is perfect. The public prints very
recently reported the proceedings of a caucus held
at the Union Hotel in this city, composed of repre-
sentatives of both, at which it was resolved to sup-
port a portion of both the whig and the spurious
tickets; and the probability now is that the former
will receive nearly the entire vote of both factions.
THE DISAPPOINTED APPLICANTS POE OFFICE.
The fourth of the predatory tribes embraces the
disappointed applicants for office. This number is
necessarily large, for the number of those who think
themselves fit for official places and is always dis-
proportioned to the number of places fit for them.
There is but a small proportion, however, of those
who feel themselves to have been neglected by the
state or national administration, who are guilty of the
folly of taking up arms against both or either. It is
only the more limited number of politicians, belong-
ing exclusively to the predatory class, who are thus
short-sighted and selfish. Those who labored for the
election of President Pierce, with a view of securing
such an administration of the government as wonld
conduce to the prosperity and honor of the country,
will not condemn him until they have some evidence
that they have been deceived; those, however, who
threw up their hats and clamored themselves hoarse
duriDg the canvass, for personal ends exclusively,
and have* not realized their hopes, are more disap-
pointed than they would be at any administrative
error or folly that the President could commit. Fail-
ing to effect their ends by coaxing and sycophancy,
this class of men naturally resort to the only other
weapon—fear—which their selfish natures know how
to handle, and they try to extort by foul means what
they despair of compassing by fair. They go about
stirring up dissension wherever they can find sympa-
thy ; they ally themselves with all the elements of
dissension that are afloat, and, with the aid of a few
hireling presses, endeavor to convey the impression
that they are moving a deep current of public senti-
ment against the administration. With a weak or
unpopular Executive, they are often successful, and
hence every new administration has to encounter
their clamor at the outset. They are now in full cry
against General Pierce and hi3 Secretary of State,
and they have been so fortunate as to secure the alli-
ance of one of the most widely-extended journals' in
the country, and, we should add, one of the most
profligate.
There are three persons connected with the
Herald who were candidates for important ap-
pointments under this administration. The proprie-
tor himself was an applicant—our readers will hardly
credit the fact—for the mission to France. Mr. Hud-
son, a brother of two of the leading conductors of the
paper, during his absence, was an applicant for the
Boston post-office; and Mr. Lester, one of his regular
contributors, was, as we have already noticed, an ap-
plicant for a foreign consulship.
The wide circulation of the Herald may have more
than neutralized the influence which, as a supporter
of the President’s election, its notoriously mercenary
character was calculated to exert to his prejudice,
though the advantage which Mr. Pierce derived
from that quarter has been greatly overrated.
But the proprietor of the Herald took a different
view. He presumed that what he had done, com-
bined with what he might do if disappointed, was
ground enough for demanding of the President
pretty much any thing he pleased. No one supposed
that even his presumption, however, could aspire to
the French mission, but such we learn, upon unques-
tionable authority, is the fact. The man who but a
few years since was the editor of one of the smuttiest
and foulest prints ever allowed to circulate in any
Christian country, has the]startling impudence now
to demand of the Executive, under the dire penalties
of his personal and professional hostility, an office6
scarcel j inferior in dignity and responsibility to that
of the Presidency itself. Of course the President
did not entertain the proposition. Mr. Bennett went
abroad as soon as the election was over, and waited
confidently for his papers. He returned about three
weeks since, his indignation having preceded him
and left its impression upon the columns of his
journal. He at first directed his venom at the Presi-
dent. He afterwards thought it was easier to wreak
his vengeance upon the Secretarv of State, who was
nominally responsible for his disappointment and
who might be removed from bis office, than upon the
President, who could not. Of late, therefore, his hos-
tility has been concentrated upon Mr. Marcy,
whom he is pursuing with a malignity to
which, no journal but the Herald can furnish a
parallel. The measure of that malignity few
who doubt the incarnation of the devil can ap-
preciate. It was once appropriately characterized
by an eminent dignitary of the Roman Catholic
church in this city, who, like Mr. Marcy, innocently
became the object of it. The present Archbishop
Hughes, many years ago, during the mayoralty of
Mr. Harper, wrote a public letter to that functionary,
provoked by some anonymous threats of assassina-
tio *, in which he developed a case of unprovoked ma*
lignity on the part of the editor of the Herald, which,
in many of its aspects, resembles that which is daily
illustrated in the columns of the Herald towards Mr.
Marcy. The following extracts are all of the letter
which we have space to quote:
“ It has been a matter of speculation among many in
this city, to solve the motive for the constant, the
unvarying malignity of Mr. Bennett against Bishop
Hughes. Some have supposed that he was kept in
bribe for the purpose; others have ascribed it to re-
venge, which, though strong, is said to be in slavish
subjection to avarice in that man’s breast. But of all
whose opinions have reached me on the subject, there
is not one who believes it to be gratuitous. I express
no opinion upon the subject myself, I shall enter into
no abuse of this unfortunate man ; but as those who
are inclined to believe that he is actuated by revenge
have told me that be ascribes the reception he met
with from Daniel O’Connell to my agency, and
as I do not deem it necessary that even he
should be under a mistake on that subject, I will
assign what I look upon as the key of explanation to
the somewhat rude treatment which he received in a
land celebrated for its hospitality, and where every
decent man, from America especially, is received with
a full heart of Irish welcome. It will make a little
episode in this communication, but I have no doubt
that this fact, at least, will be interes'ing to the pub-
lic not only in America, but also in Great Britain
and all Europe. Four years ago 1 was introduced to
Daniel O’Connell, in London. This was at my own
request, for I wished, having then the opportunity, to
see a man of whom there was more of good and of evil
said ihan of any other in the world. A few minutes
after I sat down, and while the conversation was on
mere commonplace topics, a silence ensued on his
part, sufficiently long to make me think that I ought
to retire. I observed his eyes swimming in tears.
This astonished me still more, and I was about to
withdraw, when he addressed me, as nearly as I can
remember, in the following words—but in a voice
which, though almost stifled with grief, yet sound-
ed as the softest and tenderest that ever struck upon
my ears. ‘Dr. Hughes, I have been forty years a
‘public man, I have been engaged in political strife
*	with men of every party and of every creed, I am
‘ by all odds the best abused man in the world, but
‘through all this time neither tories nor whigs, nor
‘even Orangemen themselves, ever made an attack
‘on the mother of my children. She was mild
‘and gentle, she was meek and charitable, she was
‘loved and respected by friend and foe. My bitter-
‘ est enemies would have spared me if they could not
‘ reach me without hurting the lamb ofi'my bosom.
‘The only attack that ever was made on Mrs. O’Oon-
*nell came from your side of the water and from
‘your city, in a paper called the New York Morn-
'ing Herald / Some mistaken friend. I suppose,
‘thought to do me a service by sending me the paper.
‘It reached me just after Mrs. O’Connell’s death;
‘of course, the poisoned arrow missed the gentle
*	heart for which it was intended, but it reached
‘and rested in mine/
“ Mr. Bennett was not married when he wrote this
attack upon the amiable wife and mother, but those
who are husbands and fathers can best judge whether
Mr. O’Conneirs reception of him at the Corn Ex-
change was merited or not. Whether O’Connell’s
is the only heart that has been wounded by the “ poi-
soned arrow” aimed at the domestic peace of man-
kind from the same quarter, it is unnecessary for
me to say; but, at all events, l think this will satis-
fy Bennett that I had nothing to do with the kind of
recption he met with in Dublin. What the motive,
then, of his hostility toward me is, I am still at a loss
to comprehend; but, in truth, it has given me very
little uneasiness. In the hypothesis, that he has
been bribed to abuse me, I presume that a counter-
bribe would at once double his profits, diminish his
labor, and secure his silence; but I cannot afford it;
and even if I could, it should not be given.”
*******
“ I know not what purposes of revenge, mortifica-
tion like this may have engendered in the mind of
such a mao as Mr. Bennett, but the public are
witnesses of the malignity with which he has not
ceased to pursue me up to this hour. If he were even
moke depraved or less despised, he would not be so
dangerous, bat being without any fixed principle of
good, he occuDies that ambiguous position which
renders him too contemptible for notice, and yet not
sufficiently so to be beyond the power of mischief.
“ If you notice his slanders and convict him of them
people will say that you lost your labor, inasmuch as
nobody believes what Bennett says. If you do not,
your enemies will take them up as undeniable, as-
serted in the newspapers, or as Colonel Stone adroit-
ly expressed it, ‘ taken from a morning print/
“ Such is a portion of my expedience of the danger
to the community from the power of sowing discord,
and producing evil, no less than that of winging the
poisoned arrow into the hearts of families, possessed
by Mr. Bennett. How he has ever employed these
powers, others who have had a similar experience
need not be told.”
Such is the character ascribed to the leading organ
in this city of the predatory tribes who have arrayed
themselves in opposition to Mr. Marcy and to the
democratic organization of this state. The secret of
its hostility is the same as that which actuates a
large proportion of its allies. It is time the country
was aware of it, that the abusive and unprincipled
diatribes of that sheet should have no more influence
than they deserve.
PROFESSING.DEMOCRATS WITH WHIG INTERESTS.
The fifth tribe consisting of those who are interest-
ed in the success of the whig party, embraces a large*
7
proportion of those who compose the other four.
The speculators in canal contracts desire the success
of the whig state officers for reasons, which we have
already stated. The speculators in ocean mail con-
tracts desire the re-election of Wm. H. Seward to
the United States Senate, he having proved the most
eloquent and seasonable champion of their inter-
ests in that body. No democrat could be elected
from New York who would dare to countenance
any of those schemes, and instead of struggling to
strengthen the democratic majority, already large,
they prefer to send a senator who can exert an in-
fluence in their behalf, over the minority in that
body.
They are also aware that no democratic senator
can be elected in this state, who countenances in any
way the defection at Syracuse, and they prefer a ser-
viceable whig like Mr. Seward whose policy is on all
fours with their interests, to a democrat who will not
participate in their predatory policy, and who does
not share their selfish hostility to the administration.
These are the principal motives which impel the
“ terrified ” democrats, directly or indirectly, to sup-
port the whig ticket this fall. They are less for-
midable'from their numbers than for their unscrupu-
lous use of the money with which, in an evil hour,
the government has supplied them. One resolute
struggle by the masses of the democracy, and their
capacities for mischief and temptations to treachery
will be gone forever.
We have thus, somewhat at length, though with all
practical brevity, analyzed the several factions which
have arrayed themselves against the democratic
party, and
*	* Are joined together
Like many clouds consulting for foul weather.
They represent the worst political elements in the
country, and for that reason they assume every pos-
sible disguise, and wear the livery of every j-xpular
virtue. We have endeavored to group them togeth-
er, and put a mark upon them by which they may be
known, and their facilities for misleading the inno-
cent may be diminished, if not destroyed.