,'t, ! 
 
 
 0 
 
 3&j v . . ' * 
 
 l/]/753f c£*x-*~7>lj FjM~rr\ 
 
 /As * 
 
 ij 
 
 v ti 
 
 READ AIVD CIRCULATE. 
 
 FACTS FOK THE PEOPLE! 
 
 Addressed to the Electors of IVisconsin. 
 
 “ Truth crushed to earth will rise again, 
 The eternal years of God are hers, 
 While Error, wounded, writhes in pain. 
 And dies amid her worshippers.” 
 
 THE DEMOCRATIC PLATFORM. 
 
 7) cMCtt^TTT, 
 
 Resolutions of the Democratic State Convention—Aug. 1857. 
 
 Resolved, That the Democratic party of Wisconsin arlWp to hl , 
 
 the ne r. e o ^"f^rably ° pp03ed to thc “‘“Sion of the right of 
 find * p"“« ™ thTsutute Bolksff Wi8C0M?n ° f 
 
 kept completely disengaged from participation in all improvements or enter 
 pnsea which properly belong to localities or private omaXations and th.t 
 
 ^rtv DC to e .dAm d0Ctri r e WiU a,one F«“™ OwSSSnt from be^ 
 
 lived TlLd™ ^ °T er - ridin g “any of the older States. E 
 
 r" bi » —v. ..i. w. .,n»u.. „ 
 
2 
 
 ACCEPTANCE OF MR. CROSS. 
 
 u WrujAnv T ‘‘savdeb.s Chairman of the Democratic State Central Com 
 
 reply . Milwaukee, Sept. 5, 1857, 
 
 -nr -rr m c.v r>EES Chairman Dem. State Central Committee . ... f 
 
 H Sir-Tour communication formally announcing my nomination for 
 
 vpcnlntions passed by the Convention are m accoiaance with my 
 views 1 and I have P therefore 7 no hesitation in adopting them as the platform upon 
 
 " ThanS X! "ttn U f,om°wtieh' I received the nomination for Oik 
 manifestation of their confidence and esteem,^ remain truly resentfully. 
 
 HON. JAMES B. CROSS. 
 
 It is not now proposed to give an extended sketch of the worthy and popu- 
 i 11 nmWe for Governor on the Democratic ticket-though we might truth- 
 ^wTpak of his eX Struggles in life-of his manly course in the Legislature, 
 SiKffident seiwtL anfgreat popularity as Mayor of Milwa^-aem^ 
 
 three s ° t ^”sdid nttwisfi to exhibit their puny weakness by mak- 
 
 S2S 
 
 Milwaukee—the ^Wisconsin and the 
 
 from po^ticM qiponents, deserves to carry weight with lt-and tf mU uM all 
 reasonable men. ^ the W i scon sm of August 28th said : 
 
 be too plastic in the X" m?y suck out the substance of the peo- 
 
 upon apopular man— in older that they m y Uti i that w hen an elector 
 pie "Wisconsin tai so many ofttat ^^ 5 °“ ^ an , but an oligarchy. 
 
 Mr* CkoIs and generous impulses, and, therefore, if he is elevated to 
 
 ‘he Executfve office of th/state, we trust that lie may be his own counsellor, 
 
 ;‘e”s J <tmed ^ 
 
 frieJ*in oil partie^’ “^d/S ^"Jn counsel^ -tffe Sul 
 ^receivc^nT detrime nt. >} These are very strong admissions from a politics. 
 
3 
 
 opponent; but strong as they are. the facts connected with Mr. Cross’ career 
 and character, more than justify all that is here said. 
 
 When Mr. Cross was mentioned in connection with the Gubernatorial nomi¬ 
 nation, some tew of his malignant enemies—for what man of mark is exempt 
 from envious foes ?—began to libel and slander him in advance, as guilty of de¬ 
 falcation to the city of Milwaukee. The Wisconsin published the report of the 
 City Comptroller relative to the matter, which showed that the city of Mil¬ 
 waukee was then indebted to Mayor Cross about $30,000 ; and the Wisconsin 
 noticed the matter, as follows : 
 
 “ City Finances. —We publish in our issue to-day, the report of the City 
 Comptroller, relative to the account current of Mayor Cross with the City 
 Treasury. A statement had been in circulation, that the Mayor was a defaulter. 
 At the present time, when Eastern capitalists are particularly sensitive about 
 the financial condition of Western cities, such an averment was calculated to 
 do a great deal of injury to our City credit. We are gratified to learn frons 
 this official statement, that Mayor Cross is not a defaulter; that every bond 
 placed in his hands is accounted for; and that so far as his official influence 
 could be exerted, the credit, of the city has been maintained.” 
 
 A recent number of the Free Democrat, edited by S. M. Booth, contains the 
 following manly and generous notice : 
 
 “ The Free Democrat has never preferred, as a charge against Mr. Cross, that 
 he is the Barstvw candidate. It is because James B. Cross is the voluntary as 
 well as chosen leader of the Democratic party, with such aims, and devoted to 
 such purposes, that we oppose his election. For humane feelings and for acts of 
 personal kindness, Mr. Cross will bear honorable comparison with his neighbors. 
 And while we cheerfully accord to him what is justly due, as a man or a citizen, and 
 shall not be led by party feeling, to misrepresent him, or to resort to any tricks oj 
 dap-trap waif are in opposing him, we cannot forget that his position is diametri¬ 
 cally opposed to the principles for which we have battled all our life.” 
 
 Such is James B. Cross, the Democratic nominee for Governor. His very 
 enemies praise him. Ho man who knows Mr. Cross can charge him with dis¬ 
 honesty or duplicity : and he has proved himself an admirable and impartial 
 executive officer, by the manner, in which he has so faithfully and acceptably 
 discharged the duties of Mayor of Milwaukee for the past three years. He is 
 now presented to the people of Wisconsin as a candidate for the highest office 
 of the State within their gift. He has often been tried, and never found 
 wanting. Fellow-citizens—he is eminently worthy of your trust!—a man who 
 never deceived the people, but has always done more and better than was ex¬ 
 pected of him. He steadily grows upon the esteem of all who know him, or 
 have occasion to confide in his integrity and faithfulness, either in public or 
 private life. It is always safe to honor and trust sucli a man. Like that nobLe 
 old patriot, Andrew Jackson, his faith is in the people! He has proved 
 himself their friend—their honest, faithful servant; and from them has he not 
 a right to expect a generous confidence and an unswerving support ? 
 
 A TRUE PORTRAITURE OF A. W. RANDALL. 
 
 When a man presents himself for the suffrages of the people, his previous 
 career, so far as it may aid us in determining his qualifications and fitness for 
 the office to which he aspires, is a legitimate subject of investigation With this 
 view, let us candidly dissect some points in Mr. Randall’s character—nothing 
 extenuating, nor aught set down in malice. 
 
 In 184*2 or ’43, A. W. Randall sold his Whig principles to John Tyler, and 
 got for his pay the appointment of Post Master at Prairieville, now Waukesha, 
 and held the office two or three years ; when he became a defaulter to the Gen¬ 
 eral Government, and his sureties had the entire amount to pay. 
 
 In 1848, Mr. Randall joined the Free Soilers, and was a candidate the fol¬ 
 lowing winter at Madison for United States’ Senator, but sold out his interest, 
 influence and good will to a brother Free Soil candidate for about $200; and 
 the same night exhibited the price of his political prostitution to a Waukesha 
 neighbor, also then at Madison, and boasted of the deed and gloried in hir 
 
* 
 
 4 
 
 shame —that citizen yet resides at Waukesha, is a Fremonter, but no admirer or 
 supporter of RandaLl. 
 
 About 1848, Mr. Randall had a note of about $80 placed in his hands, as an 
 attorney, for collection, by Major Meacham, of East Troy, Walworth county, 
 against a citizen of Waukesha. Randall collected the money, and appropriated 
 it to his own purposes. Major Meacham came for his pay— Randall was short; 
 said he hadn’t collected it; and the Major desiring the note, Randall put Him 
 off by saying he had mislaid it, but would find, and hand it to him in the 
 morning. Meanwhile Randall went to the maker of the note to borrow money 
 to pay it, so he could say to Major Meacham that he had collected it; but his 
 friend had no money. Randall then asked if he had the old note; it was found, 
 but with the signature torn off; when Rarndall resorted to another expedient, 
 by appealing to that friend to write a new note ol the original date and amount, 
 that he might rumple it up, and make it appear old—the maker of the note 
 agreeing to put off the payment of the note a short time, till Randall could 
 make a raise. This was done to accommodate Randall, and save him ftom dis¬ 
 grace. The payment was conveniently put off from time to time, but the maker 
 of the note some two years afterwards had it to pay. Thus Randall tricked a 
 client, and doubly tricked a friend. 
 
 These are plain, unvarnished facts. And in addition to all this, the records 
 of the Waukesha Circuit Court show, that Mr. Randall has been sued by his 
 clients for money collected for them, which he had appropriated to his own use. 
 
 In 1853, Mr. Randall voted for A. F. Pratt’s stallion, the Badger Boy, in 
 preference to either E. D. Holton, Henry S, Baird, or W. A. Barstow; and 
 he has frequently boasted of it publicly since—even since his nomination for 
 Governor He dares not deny it. 
 
 In the fall of 1854, Mr. Randall failing to get the Democratic nomination for 
 Assembly ran as an independant candidate; and by pledging himself to the 
 Germans in the district to oppose a Maine Prohibitory Liquor Law, he was 
 elected. Once in the Legislature, he went for such a law, saying he went there 
 “ unpledged,” and “ in favor” of the measure. His full speech, declaring him¬ 
 self “unpledged ” and “ in favor ” of the Maine Law, may be seen in the Stale 
 Journal, the Republican organ, containing the legislative proceedings of Feb. 
 28th 1855. He has, in September 1857, written a letter to Auguste Pott, a 
 German of Sheboygan stating that he was opposed to the Maine Law, and only 
 voted for it in obedience to the instructions of his constituents ! What a laby¬ 
 rinth of deceptions and contradictions ! 
 
 Mr. Randall has resided seventeen years in Wisconsin, and though he has no 
 family but his wife, he has yet been so thriftless and so wasteful, that he has 
 never accumulated any property, and never paid a cent of taxes, except perhaps 
 a poll tax for road purposes. He seldom or never prepares law papers, they be¬ 
 ing done by his brother—relying for his success as a lawyer upon his “ gift of 
 gab,” His loafing propensities are well known in Waukesha, where he plays 
 games of ball with the boys, or cards at the taverns and saloons for “the whis¬ 
 ky” or “ the cigars,” with mere youths—and so openly, and brazenly, that all 
 who pass can frequently see him. Could a man so thriftless and indolent, be a 
 safe and proper person to place at the head of affairs, often of the most momen¬ 
 tous importance, of this great and increasing State? 
 
 His trick of pretending to move to Milwaukee this summer was merely for 
 effect—having the Governor nomination in view ; while Waukesha had two 
 strong and worthy candidates in the field— Rufus Parks, for Treasurer, and 
 Hon. E. Enos, Jr., for State Superintendant; and so undesirable was he by the 
 Waukesha county delegation in the Republican State Convention, that when he 
 Was nominated for Governor, he only received two out of the ten votes of that 
 county. Just before the meeting of the Convention, he played another adroit 
 trick, in writing a letter which appeared in the Milwaukee papers, declaring 
 that he was not a candidate for Governor, nor for any other office. Yet imme¬ 
 diately thereafter, we find him at the gathering of the Convention at Madison. 
 It hardly need be added, that since, as before, his nomination, he makes his 
 home in Waukesha—his residence in Milwaukee having been sufficiently pro¬ 
 longed to answer his political ends. 
 
 Such is the nominee of the Republican party for the high and important office 
 
 v 
 
5 
 
 of Governor of Wisconsin. First a whig—then a Tyler Democrat—a Free Soiler 
 twice—thrice a Democrat, and now a Republican—all things by turns, and 
 nothing long—always unreliable, a trickster, and a renegade. Is such a man 
 fit for the distinguished position to which he aspires ? Freemen of Wisconsinl 
 the decision lies with you ! Consult your consciences—consult the high duties 
 and obligatinns you owe your State—then go to the ballot box, and fearlessly 
 perform that duty as your own consciences shall dictate ! 
 
 A REPUBLICAN INVESTIGATION. 
 
 Report of Messers. Davis, Tenney and Hastings — The State 
 Treasurer and Secretary of State all right. 
 
 We copy from the report of the Investigating Committee of last winter the 
 result of their examinations in the State Treasury and Secretary of State’s office. 
 The committee consisted of M. M. Davis, Republican Senator from Columbia 
 county, H. A. Tenney, present Chairman of the Republican State Committee, 
 and S. D. Hastings, present Republican candidate for State Treasurer. The 
 report is conclusive against the attacks made in Republican papers upon Mr. 
 Habich, Assistant Treasurer, who has had almost exclusive charge of tne busi¬ 
 ness of the Treasury for the past two years, Mr. Kuehn having been much of 
 the time absent in attendance upon the land sales, and at home. We commend 
 it to the people of the State : 
 
 “ Report of Joint Committee for Investigation , as provided 
 hy Chapter 115 of the General Acts of 1856 , and of the 
 several Aets amendatory thereto. 
 
 “ The committee have made as full and thorough an investigation of the mat¬ 
 ters committed to them, as it was possible for them to do, in the circumstance 
 in which they have been placed, 
 
 “ The committee commenced their investigation in the office of the 
 
 STATE TREASURER. 
 
 " It was their aim to carry out fully the spirit as well as the letter of the law 
 under which they acted, and accordingly they pursued their investigations into 
 the most minute details of the business of the office, and it is with great satis¬ 
 faction that they are enabled to say, that the funds of the State have been care¬ 
 fully guarded by the prompt and faithful officer who now has the charge of the 
 treasury of the State, 
 
 “ The books of the office are kept with a due regard to system and neatness, 
 and the contrast between the management of this department under the present 
 Treasurer and that of his predecessor is marked and gratifying. 
 
 “ The quarterly examinations of the books and accounts of the Treasurer, re¬ 
 quired by the statute to be made by the Secretary of State, your committee are 
 satisfied have been promptly and faithfully made. 
 
 “ While in the Treasurer’s office, the committee examined the bank securities 
 deposited there by the Bank Comptroller, in accordance with the requirements 
 of the banking law, and found them all correct, 
 
 SECRETARY OF STATE. 
 
 “ Everything in this department furnished evidence of the efficiency and 
 faithfulness of the officer who is at its head. The books of the office are kept 
 in a neat and systematic manner, and the more thorough the examinations 
 made, served but to furnish the more abundant evidences of the correctness with 
 which they have been kept. 
 
 SCHOOL AND SWAMP LAND DEPARTMENT. 
 
 “ The business connected with this department has become very extensive and 
 eomplicated, and while the committee are compelled to call attention to a few 
 
6 
 
 matters which do not appear to be strictly correct, they deem it due those who 
 have the charge of the important interests concentrated here, to say that every ¬ 
 thing connected with the department gives evidence of industry and faithful¬ 
 ness on the part of those therein employed.” 
 
 COST AND RASCADITY OF 
 
 WISCONSIN REPUBLICANISM. 
 
 HOW BASHFORD GOT RICH-THE LAND GRANTS. 
 
 The Mineral Point Tribune, a Bashford and Kansas shrieking paper, says 
 Bashford was poor when he entered upon the duties of Governor. That's so—he 
 was so poor, that he had to pass around the hat among his friends, and bleed them 
 to pay the expense of contesting his claim to the Governorship. The Wisconwi , 
 another Fremont paper, says Bashford is now generally understood to be rich; 
 and wonders how he could get rich on a salary of $1,250—and then adds, by 
 way of explanation, that “ it is one of the mysteries of our State politics.” Yes, 
 indeed—“one of the mysteries” under Republican rule. To those who want to 
 understand the matter, the mystery is easily explained; but there are none so 
 blind as those who wont see. 
 
 Let us give some facts—and facts are stubborn things. At the meeting of the 
 extra session of the Legislature last fall for the disposition of the Land Grant, 
 Bashford urged that it shouldn’t all be given to one company— he knew why 
 he wished it divided up and parcelled out, so he could make more drives and 
 secure better bargains for lining his own pockets, as the sequel proves. He re¬ 
 solutely refused to approve the bill as passed for the disposition of the North 
 Eastern Grant, unless a supplement were added, giving him the appointment of 
 two of the Directors. The Chicago, St. Paul and Fond du Lac Railroad Com¬ 
 pany used every exertion, and every appliance, to get the Legislature to give 
 them the Grant; but the Legislature persistently refused all overtures, and repel¬ 
 led all such influences—adhering steadily to the policy of securing the benefits 
 of the Grant to the citizens and enterprises of our State, and building up our 
 own commercial metropolis, Milwaukee, rather than aiding and fostering Chi¬ 
 cago. Bashford was immovable—except as he was moved by money influence; 
 and so at length the supplement was passed—and then he promptly signed both 
 the bill and the supplement. 
 
 Why all this stubbornness, unless he was to make “a good thing” out of it? 
 And taking this view of it, we can readily see the all-powerful reason that 
 prompted him to use so arbitrarily the power he held in his own hands. He 
 promptly appointed his brother, Levi Bashford, as one of the Directors, and 
 John Potter, of Fond du Lac, a special friend of his, the other—they were to 
 do the dirty work prepared for them, aided by four subsidized Directors, and 
 yet another four residing in the Rock River Yallev, who were naturally favor¬ 
 able to the change, in transferring the whole control of the Grant to Chicago. 
 The traitorous deed was accomplished, by a vote of ten to six— Levi Bashford 
 and John Potter being with the majority; had they cast a different vote, and 
 firmly maintained the interests and integrity of Wisconsin, there would have 
 been a tie vote, eight to eight, and the whole stupendous and fraudulent trans¬ 
 action nipped in the bud. 
 
 Thus were the aims and intentions of the Legislature utterly defied and 
 thwarted—a magnificent Grant of the public domain, by trickery and fraud, 
 conveyed to citizens of other States—a heavy blow aimed at the prosperity of 
 our own commercial emporium, Milwaukee—the wishes, hopes, and dearest in¬ 
 terests of our people all frustrated, and their feelings grossly outraged. All this 
 was brought about by the open bribery and heartless treachery of Coles Bash¬ 
 ford, the Republican Governor of Wisconsin, whose administration has been 
 fully endorsed by the late Republican State Convention. His over-powering 
 venality, like Benedict Arnold’s, prompted him to sell himself and his State 
 for “ filthy lucre ;” the bribe was a large one—the temptation too strong, and he 
 could not resist it. He loved and embraced the treason, like Arnold, for the 
 
i 
 
 gold it yielded him in return. This is no idle tale—no newly trumped up mat¬ 
 ter for the campaign. The details of this treacherous transfer, whicn took place 
 on the 24th and 25th of October, and the 6th and 7th of November 1856, may 
 be seen in a lengthy statement drawn up and signed by Hermann Hairtbl, 
 Julius White, and Charles Kuehn, three of the Directors who stood op man¬ 
 fully for Wisconsin and Milwaukee interests, and published in the Milwaukee 
 Sentinel of Nov. 14th 1856. Julius White is a leading Republican of Madison, 
 and is now a member of the Republican State Central Committee, Five of the 
 Directors, who had steadily opposed this gigantic swindle, resigned their places 
 in disgust and retired from the Board—their names ought ever to be held dear 
 by the people: they were Messrs. HERMAN H^ERTEL, JULIUS WHITE, 
 CHARLES KUEHN, WILLIAM SCOTT, and JAMES DUANE DOTY. 
 
 Immediately after the fact of this rascally transfer was made known, Wisconsin 
 literally sold, and that by its own Governor—it was published in the public pre&s 
 under the very nose of the Governor, what was publicly rumored, that Gov. Bash- 
 ford, either directly or through his brotlier,LEvi Bashford, received Fiftt Thou¬ 
 sand Dollars in stock from the Chicago, St. Paul <fe Fond du Lac Railroad Com¬ 
 pany, plainly enough as the price of prostituting his high position as Governor, 
 and playing traitor to the dearest interests of the people of Wisconsin. HE 
 NEVER PUBLICLY DENIED IT. It is a well-known fact, that William 
 B. Ogden, the President of the Chicago Company, and Judge Wheeler, spent 
 a portion of the Sabbath previous to the transfer, with Coles Bashford, at Al- 
 goma; and the next day, Monday, Mr. Ogden was busy at the meeting of the 
 Directors, appeared to manage matters as though they were all cut and dried, 
 and the guilty transfer was speedily effected, by subsidizing some of the Direc¬ 
 tors, and inducing others to resign, and filling their places with more pliant 
 men. Hon. James Duane Doty, one of the original Directors, as we have seen, 
 in the Eastern Laud Grant Company, who from first to last, steadily and man¬ 
 fully opposed this stupendous fraud, WAS PRESENT, AND AN EYE¬ 
 WITNESS, WHEN THE FIFTY THOUSAND DOLLARS WERE PAID 
 OVER TO COLES BASHFORD. Gov. Doty has told it as no secret, and ex¬ 
 pressed his wonder that Bashford, knowing his (Doty’s) opposition to the en¬ 
 tire swindle, should have received his pay in his presence. A certificate for the 
 FIFTY THOUSAND DOLLARS of Stock of the Chicago, St. Paul, and Fond 
 du Lac Company, was made out for Coles Bashford, and the stub of the certi¬ 
 ficate in the stock-book shows that it has been delivered. These are facts which 
 ought to sink any man, and the party who endorses and sustains him, to eternal 
 infamy. The whole train of facts, dates, and transactions are such, that no rea¬ 
 sonable man can doubt them. 
 
 Nor is Bashford’s connection with the North-Western Grant to the Milwau¬ 
 kee and La Crosse Railroad Company, less palpably criminal. He has tried to 
 cover up his tracks in the matter, but his trail is easily traced. In the first 
 place, let us state, that in a lengthy communication published in the Milwaukee 
 Sentinel, of the I8th of June 1857, over the signature of Josiah A. Noonan, the 
 amount of the “ CORRUPT ION BONDS ” of the La Crosse Company, issued 
 for the purposes of bribery and corruption, is given, as prepared by one of the 
 Directors of the Company, at ONE MILLION OF DOLLARS! Mr. Noon¬ 
 an, after giving other figures going to show the heavy losses incurred by the 
 Company, consequent upon securing the Grant, then adds : “The next person 
 that came into my office after these figures were handed me was Byron Kil- 
 bourn. I called his attention to them, and told him they came from one of his 
 Directors. He looked at thpra, suddenly changed color, and remarked the loss 
 was not as bad as that, but unquestionably the Land Grant was a great curse to 
 the State, and particularly to the La Crosse Company.” That bribery and cor¬ 
 ruption were resorted to, and on a stupendous scale, to secure the Grant to the 
 La Crosse Company, cannot be doubted or denied by any sane man who knows 
 anything of Wisconsin legislation during the fall session of 1856. A leading 
 Bashford and Randall paper at Milwaukee received $10,000 of these corrup¬ 
 tion bonds ; and another Randall paper,ever making loud professions of purity 
 and expressing holy horror against all corruption and rascality, received ^.OCH' 
 of these very bonds. 
 
 It will be remembered, that Bashford vetoed the first bill that passed, cob* 
 
8 
 
 yeying the North-Western Grant to the La Crosse Company. Then, it is well 
 understood, that a distinguished functionary stepped in as the high contracting 
 party between the Governor and the La Crosse Company—a new bill was forth¬ 
 with gotten up—passed—and speedily approved ! And Bashford got his pat 
 —FIFTY THOUSAND DOLLARS of La Crosse and Milwaukee R. R. bonds, 
 and TEN THOUSAND DOLLARS IN CASH ! This was endeavored to be 
 kept secret, but some of the officers of the Company proved leaky, and divulged 
 the genera] facts in the case. Some of the newspapers in the Governor’s inter¬ 
 est, and mouth-pieces of the Republican party, and the Governor’s Private Sec¬ 
 retary, have endeavored, in an evasive and shuffling manner, to deny the 
 fact of the Governer having been bribed ; but when their evasions were pointed 
 out, they have remained silent. They made it convenient to deny what they 
 didn’t actually know, and only tell what they did happen to know that was ir¬ 
 relevant to the matter. It cannot be denied, that Gov, Bashford has been pos¬ 
 sessed of a large amount of La Crosse Railroad Bonds—and, it will be remem¬ 
 bered, that by the admission of his friends, he was poor when he came into office, 
 and had been in office only a little over six months on the meagre salary of $1,250 
 per annum—and so he could not be supposed to have possessed means to pur¬ 
 chase a large amount of railroad bonds. If he came honestly by them, why 
 has not he, his Secretary, his brother, or others in his confidence, come forward 
 and fully explained how, when, and where he got them ? And as $1,000,000 
 of these “ CORRUPTION BONDS ” were confessedly issued and distributed, 
 does not the very course of the Governor in vetoing the first bill, and so prompt¬ 
 ly approving the second, go to show that he got.his share ? The great Walpole 
 used to say, “ every man has got his price the La Crosse Company soon 
 found out what value the Governor set upon himself, bought him up, and paid 
 for him. 
 
 Thus we see, that by preventing the Land Grant from going to a single com¬ 
 pany, Bashford acted shrewdly ; for as the result proved, he managed to get 
 double pay—FIFTY THOUSAND DOLLARS from the Chicago Company, 
 and SIXTY THOUSAND DOLLARS from the La Crosse Company ; making 
 altogether ONE HUNDRED AND TEN THOUSAND DOLLARS ! He 
 could then no longer do, what he had solemnly sworn to do—to support the 
 Constitution, and “take care that the laws be faithfully executed,” for he had 
 outraged alike LAW, JUSTICE and MORALITY, and had virtually become 
 the slave of the two Railroad companies, to do their bidding, so far as their in¬ 
 terests were concerned in the magnificent Land Grants. A noble State betrayed 
 —public justice outraged “in the house of its friends ”—and the dearest rights 
 and interests of a confiding people bartered for GOLD, and their noble national 
 inheritance squandered for a mess of pottage ! 
 
 Over such a monstrous crime, and unparalleled public outrage, our whole peo¬ 
 ple should mourn and put on sack-cloth—for “ when the wicked bear rule, 
 the people mourn,” Yet strange to say, the Republican party of Wisconsin, 
 as represented in its recent State Convention, passed, on the 2d day of Septem¬ 
 ber 1857, a resolution—“ That the warmest thanks of the Republican Party 
 of Wisconsin are due to COLES BASHFORD,” and “that we HONOR him 
 for his administration of the State Government.” The Republican party, 
 therefore, have fully endorsed all his acts, and we have a perfect right to hold 
 the party accountable for them. And now, fellow-citizens of Wisconsin, can 
 you confide in a party that gives us such a Governor, and who endorse, defend, 
 and white-wash his administration ? And you, fellow-citizens, who have mort¬ 
 gaged your farms and homesteads to aid these roads—what must be your feel¬ 
 ings in view of all this monstrous rascality that has beggared the companies, 
 and forced their stock down to a mere song ? And should not Bashford and 
 the Republican party be held accountable for these criminally disastrous results ? 
 
 BASHFORD ON THE VETO POWER. 
 
 It is well known, that the opposition to the Democratic party have always re¬ 
 garded the veto power as almost sacred ; that it should never be resorted to, 
 except in extreme cases of over-hasty legislation, or palpable violations of the 
 Constitution ; and contending, moreover, that in matters of ordinary legislation, 
 it would be arbitrary for the Governor to thwart the wishes of the majority by 
 
9 
 
 resorting to the veto. But in the case of Gov. Bashford and the Land Grants, 
 we find him prostituting his high position—resorting to the veto, and still fur¬ 
 ther threatening its use, plainly to extort a bribe from the R. R. companies that 
 sought the Grants with so much avidity. When Bashford had the promise of 
 his hush money, he was then quiet as a lamb and threw no more oostacles in 
 the way of the passage of the Land Grant bills To what venal uses was the 
 sacred veto power prostituted, by the head and front of the Republican party 
 of Wisconsin, who in their recent State Convention, so warmly endorsed his 
 administration ! 
 
 i 
 
 bashford’s $ 9,000 appropriation. 
 
 When Bashford contested the Governorship before the Supreme Court, it is 
 well known that a fund, said to have been about $5,000, was raised to defray 
 the expenses. The last Legislature being strongly Republican in both branches, 
 voted him $9,000 to remunerate him for expenses, which had, in fact, been paid 
 by the contributions of friends. The Governor was, of course, gratified with a 
 chance to make so large a steal—approved the bill, and got his money. He 
 furnished the Legislature a bill of items, in part, for the payment of which the 
 appropriation was asked —$2,000 each to two of his counsel, and $1,000 each to 
 two others; and counsel’s expenses, $1,125—making $7,125; the rest of the 
 $9,000 was said, in a general way, to have been paid in sending out runners to 
 hunt up evidence of frauds, paying witnesses, <fec. Whether the counsel were 
 ever paid any such enormous fees, is extremely doubtful; and from a single 
 fact that has leaked out, it is hardly probable that Bashford ever paid out more 
 than the volunteer fund raised for expenses—and that fact is this, that as soon 
 as it was ascertained that an appropriation was made to Bashford, Phil. Bovek, 
 of Waukesha, came up, and demanded of His Excellency his pay for having 
 gone to Waupaca to hunt up election frauds, but was flatly refused, and thus 
 Bovee afterwards reported in the streets of Waukesha. 
 
 BOOTH ATTEMPTS A STEAL. 
 
 Bashford being an especial favorite of his party, could get his individual 
 wishes gratified. But S. M. Booth, pre-eminently the great Republican shrieker 
 of Wisconsin, who had run a tilt against the General Government, thought from 
 Bashford’s illustrious example, that he must come in, and ask the State to in¬ 
 demnify him for expenses incurred in his foray against the Union. A bill 
 passed the Assembly granting him $2,000 ; but some of his Republican brethren 
 in the Senate thought the matter of making such appropriations from the pub¬ 
 lic treasury exhibited a little too much party favoritism, and must shut down ; 
 and so a portion of his own friends snubbed him off, while another portion 
 contended clamorously that he should have it. Booth got a precious little sym¬ 
 pathy—but nothing more—not a dime. 
 
 THE BIG ATTEMPTED KANSAS STEAL. 
 
 A still larger steal was attempted, and came very near being successful. It 
 was to secure an appropriation of TWENTY THOUSAND DOLLARS out of 
 the hard earnings of the people, to be placed at the disposal of the Governor, 
 ostensibly for the relief oi Kansas, but really to squander upon such sliriekers 
 and howlers as Edward Daniels, to keep up the bugaboo farce of Kansas ex¬ 
 citement, and thus manufacture capital for the Republican party. The bill 
 passed the Assembly by a strictly Republican vote ; but some of the older heads 
 of the party in the Senate, dared not go before the people upon such a big steal 
 — so they throttled and killed it. 
 
 BRIBERY INVESTIGATION CHOKED OFF. 
 
 At the last session of the Legislature, petitions came in from the people, pray¬ 
 ing for a thorough investigation of the stupendous briberies connected with the 
 Land Granta A MILLION OF DOLLARS had been used for corruption pur¬ 
 poses by the La Crosse Company; how much by the Chicago Company has 
 never fully transpired—except the $50,000 paid Bashford, and $25,000 each to 
 some of the Directors. The Republican party had come into power, with the 
 2 
 
10 
 
 most profuse professions of love of freedom, and hatred of public rascality— 
 fond of shrieking—fond of office—fond of humbugging the people, and loud in 
 their protestations of purity, honesty and clean hands. They had decisive ma¬ 
 jorities in both branches of the Legislature, and could carry any measure they 
 pleased ; and they had a “ pure ” Governor who could approve such measure—if 
 he would ! Well, what did they do ? Did they fulfill the wishes of the people, 
 and go to work and ferret out this enormous rascality ? When the Janssen de¬ 
 falcation, of some $34,000 transpired, they were then very eager to investigate— 
 and it was right and proper ; they thought they could make political capital out 
 of it; but now nearly FIFTY TIMES AS MUCH had been used in buying 
 up their Governor, subsidizing their presses, and purchasing their leaders. 
 They shrunk from an investigation—slunk back like cowards—defeated the 
 the ends of public justice—disappointed the just expectations of an indignant 
 people—winked at, and covered up, the most stupendous frauds—and suffered 
 bribery and corruption to stalk abroad in the Executive Chamber, and in the 
 Halls of Legislation ! The Republican party, who had the power, refused to in¬ 
 vestigate the Land Grant briberies, and thus suffered the guilty to go free. 
 Citizens of Wisconsin—can such a party deserve your confidence ? 
 
 REPUBLICAN FINANCIERING-DOUBLE PAY. 
 
 It was reported by a select committee of the Assembly, at the extra session of 
 1856, that Charles Burchard, a leading Republican member of that body, and 
 formerly President of a Republican State Convention, had drawn double pay— 
 first, two dollars and fifty cents per day as a member of the Investigating Com¬ 
 mittee the previous spring and summer, during the recess ; and secondly, two 
 dollars and fifty cents per day, for fifty-one days services after the adjournment 
 of the Legislature the previous spring, as an appraiser of that portion of the 
 school lands known as selections of the saline lands, by appointment of Gov. 
 Bashford. Burchard got double pay—drew and pocketed the money, and for 
 two kinds of services, one in one part of the State, and another in a far distant 
 region, both covering the same period, when it was morally impossible for him 
 to have performed but one of the services ! 
 
 J, G. Knapp presented one bill, in 1856, for traveling and subpoenaing wit¬ 
 
 nesses, as follows: 
 
 State of Wisconsin, 
 
 To J, G. Knapp, Dr. 
 
 1856. To traveling, hunting and subpcening witnesses for Judiciary 
 Committee of the Senate, upon the annexed subpoena, four 
 
 hundred and eight miles, at 6 cents. $28 86 
 
 To serving subpoenas on eight witnesses, at 50 cents. 4 00 
 
 Audited October 4th, 1856. $32 86 
 
 After receiving pay for his traveling, it occurred to him, that he might be 
 allowed the per diem of a Congressman, and a Republican Legislature and a 
 Republican Governor gave him that as follows : 
 
 State of Wisconsin, To J. G. Knapp, Dr. 
 
 April 1856. To sixteen days service in procuring witnesses, in the 
 matter of the frauds in the election returns, in the vote 
 for Governor, in the year 1656, to be examined before 
 the Committee on the Judiciary, in the Senate, includ¬ 
 ing all traveling and other expenses, at $8,00 per day $128 00 
 Appropriated by bill, approved March, 1857. 
 
 The words RETRENCHMENT and REFORM, it would seem, are only used, 
 by the Republicans when out of office, and conveniently forgotten when once in 
 power. 
 
 bashford’s swamp land management. 
 
 Gov. Bashford sent to Washington, and obtained lists of the Swamp Lands 
 from the General Land Office, and declined placing such lists, as the law directs, 
 with the Secretary of State, so as to enable pre-emptors to prove up their claims; 
 the Governor retained the lists, evidently to prevent pre-emptors from obtaining 
 
11 
 
 their just and lawful rights, and to enable his brother Levi Bashford. and other 
 favorites, to make their selections, and be prepared to attend the sales, and se¬ 
 cure good bargains. But Col. Jokes, the ever watchful Secretary of State, de¬ 
 feated. the evident plot against the honest pre-emptors, by sending to MenasLi 
 Land Office, and obtaining a list of the swamp lands—and by it, enabling the 
 pre-emptors to prove up their claims. 
 
 HOW BASHFORD GOT SOME CITY LOTS. 
 
 There is oftentimes a wheel within a wheel—so it proved in Bashford 's case 
 in the Land Grants. He, Tom Reynolds, and Charles Burohard, got a tract of 
 some forty acres in or adjoining Prescott, and several city lots, for pledging 
 their influence and good offices in securing the terminus of the La Crosse road 
 at that point. The Western terminus was established there; and Reynolds has 
 openly boasted of the lots he, his friend the Governor, and Charles Bcrohajrd. 
 obtained for their influence in securing that point as the terminus ! 
 
 BASHFORD APPOINTS A NEGRO TO OFFICE. 
 
 If undoubted proof were wanting, of not merely the professions but the 
 practice of the Republicans, upon the question of negro equality, it is to be 
 found in the fact that Gov. Bashford, on the 9th of July 1857, appointed Wm 
 H. Noland a negro of Madison a Notary Public ; but Col. Jones, the Secre¬ 
 tary of State, refused to file the bond in his office, and made the following en¬ 
 dorsement on it : “ This appointment is in violation of the Constitution, anti 
 
 therefore void," It was void because the Constitution makes no provision for 
 negroes holding State offices; and the Secretary of State could not by his oath, 
 certify that a negro was “ duly appointed and qualified, and empowered by the 
 Laws of this State to administer oaths, acknowledge deeds, and other written 
 instruments.” The Revised Statutes, p. 90, expressly declare, that “ The Gov¬ 
 ernor shall appoint in each organized county of the State, one or more Notaries 
 Public who shall be considered State officers." Had there been a Republican Sec¬ 
 retary of State, this first attempt in the appointment of negroes to office in 
 Wisconsin would have been signally successful, and would have proved the en¬ 
 tering wedge for similar appointments all over the State—thus making negroes 
 “ State Officers,” and placing them in official positions over hundreds of thou¬ 
 sands of our white fellow citizens. Wisconsin Republicanism aimed to do th’j 
 deed ! 
 
 COST OF BASHFORD’S ADMINISTRATION. 
 
 1848-’49. Gov. Dewey’s first term. $94,071 31 
 
 1850. do second term. 71,675 38 
 
 1851. do do. 112.420 80 
 
 1852. Gov. Farwell’s Administration. 123.474 06 
 
 1853. do do. 163,910 58 
 
 1854. Gov. Barstow’s Administration,. 264,692 07 
 
 1855. do do. 273,067 72 
 
 1856. Gov. Bashford’s Administration. 349,350 45 
 
 1857. do do. 452,760 00 
 
 These figures are all taken from the Reports of the Secretary of State, except 
 the present year, and these arc obtained at the offices of the Secretary of State 
 and Treasurer, and including liabilities on 1st January 1857, certificates have 
 been issued during the nine months of this year to the amount of $437,760; and 
 the estimates for the remaining three months of the year are placed low at 
 $15,000, when it is remembered that a large amount of printing in the German, 
 Norwegian, and Holland languages was ordered by the last Legislature, which 
 is yet to be paid for. Let us mark the contrast of the cost of Barstow’s and 
 Bashford’s Administrations : 
 
 Barstow’s term . $537,759 79 
 
 Bashford’s term. $802,110 45 
 
 This shows an excess of cost of Bashfordism and Republicanism, in the last 
 two years, over Democratic rule, of $264,350 66 ! ! ! The exceea is about one 
 
12 
 
 half of the whole amount of Barstow’s Administration ! ! There is now nearly 
 $100,000 of certified outstanding indebtedness against the State, beside the 
 State Loan, as the result of extravagant and wasteful Republican legislation— 
 and no means provided for its payment. 
 
 NEGRO SUFFRAGE. 
 
 The Case Fairly Stated. 
 
 This question of negro suffrage must be met at the polls—our Republican 
 Senate, Republican Assembly, and Republican Executive, the three law¬ 
 making departments of the State Government, having forced the matter upon 
 us. It is a purely Republican measure—one brought forward by Republican 
 leaders, and passed by a Republican Legislature, and approved by a Republi¬ 
 can Governor. 
 
 At the Democratic State Convention, one of the resolutions composing the 
 platform, was as follows : 
 
 “ Resolved, That we are unalterably opposed to the extension of the right of 
 suffrage to the negro race, and will never consent that the odious doctrine of 
 negro equality shall find a place upon the statute books of Wisconsin.” 
 
 In his letter of acceptance, Mr. Cross said, “ The resolutions passed by the 
 Convention are in accordance with my own views.” Here is no evasion, but 
 Mr. Cross firmly plants himself on the platform of his party; and so do all his 
 fellow-nominees on the Democratic ticket. 
 
 The Republican Convention met, and resolved, “ That we are utterly hostile 
 to the proscription of any man on account of birth-place, religion, or color.” — 
 All the leading papers of that party have agreed, that this was intended to en¬ 
 dorse the negro suffrage question. Speaking of the platform, Booth stoutly 
 affirms, in the Free Democrat, that it “ does contain the free suffrage plank, in 
 claiming equal rights for all, without regard to color ;” and again : “That this 
 must be construed as an expression of sympathy on the part of the Convention 
 with the proposed extension of suffrage, cannot be denied, and that it is, to that 
 extent, an endorsement of the measure, is equally true,” 
 
 Byrd Parker, “ a bird of African plumage,” is sent forth through the State, 
 to lecture upon the free suffrage question, and make converts; the Sentinel, 
 Free Democrat, Pond du Lac Commonwealth, and other negro suffrage sheets, 
 urge people to go and hear him, they puff his speaking, and endorse his mission, 
 Hot a leading Republican paper in the State has uttered a solitary word against 
 the negro suffrage plank in the Republican platform. That plank is there— 
 they acknowledge the corn, and even glory in it Let us cite some refreshing 
 passages : 
 
 “ Recoiled the prediction,— ; just as sure as this measure of justice is denied by 
 Republicans, just so sure is the death warrant of our party sealed—and justly 
 too.”' 
 
 So says the Berlin Courani. 
 
 “ A party,” says the Fond du Lac Commonwealth, “ that dare not meet the 
 legitimate deductions from its own avowed principles, will soon stink in the nostrils 
 of honest men, and become the sport of its enemies. * * * We hope the 
 
 party is not so hypocritical as to spurn this doctrine” Again, the same paper 
 declares, that “Ho man can be a real believer in our system of government, 
 and consistently oppose the doctrine of equal suffrage to alland alluding to 
 the charge, which does not seem to be true, that some of the Republican nomi¬ 
 nees are opposed to free suffrage, adds, “ If such shall prove to he the fact, we 
 hesitate not to say, they are very poor Republicans; and if the evidence direct 
 ever appears, fastening the charge upon them, here is our hand and our vow, to 
 the Palriot and all mankind, that they don’t receive our vote. How bring on 
 your evidence, if you have any, that we have nominated a set of men that 
 eschew the platform of the party that supports them.” 
 
 This is plain talk, and shows conclusively the united understanding of the 
 Republicans as to their negro suffrage plank, and that it is fully endorsed by 
 
13 
 
 the party ; and furthermore, if a single one of their candidates should be found 
 tinctured with opposition to the darling measure—“ the legitimate deduction 
 of their avowed principles ”—he is threatened with the party anathema and 
 excommunication, without benefit of clergy. Yet further—“ To deny that 
 measure of justice, is to sign their death warrant as a party.” 
 
 Some of the Republican papers, the State Journal among them, while en¬ 
 dorsing the platform as a whole, speak rather tenderly and gingerly about the 
 particular plank opposed to “ color ” proscription—in plain language, the negro 
 suffrage question. Even the Free Democrat plays somewhat shy; sometimes 
 venturing bold words in a very timid way. “ We have given,” says the Free 
 Democrat, “ abundant evidence, thus far, of devotion to the measure, and expect 
 to give more before the contest closes and, “We could hope that every man 
 who professes to be a Republican, would see it in the line of his duty to vote 
 for free suffrage, for we think his duty is very clearly in that direction.” 
 
 'f'kere cannot be a question as to the position of the two parties. The Demo¬ 
 cratic party, by its Convention, its platform, the endorsement of that platform 
 by James B. Cross and the united Democratic press of the State, have taken 
 bold and decided ground against negro suffrage and negro equality. The Re¬ 
 publican party, on the other hand, has, by its Convention, its platform, and 
 party press, taken unequivocal ground for the measure. Its papers nor its can¬ 
 didates dare repudiate it. It is a measure peculiarly their own in its inception; 
 its journals alone defend it, and press its support upon the party and the peo¬ 
 ple; and its sable and other orators urge it upon the stump, and at meetings 
 called in various parts of the State for that purpose. These are facts that cannot 
 be successfully controverted. The appointment of the negro Noland as a No¬ 
 tary Public by Gov. Bashkord, shows what the Republican leaders would do, 
 if they only had the opportunity. 
 
 Are the people of Wisconsin ready to adopt and endorse any such nonsense 
 as the political and social equality of the white and negro races? We think 
 not. This very question, pressed upon them by the Republican leaders, has 
 opened the eyes of hundreds and thousands in this and other States, to the ex¬ 
 treme and fanatical notions of the par excellence Nigger Party—endeavoring, as 
 this party does, to give the negro the pre-eminence in all things, forgetting that 
 we owe higher and holier duties to the White Race, to whom the Almighty has 
 committed the great work of extending Free Government, Knowledge, and 
 Christianity to the nations of the world. Our Creator clearly never intended 
 these two widely dis-similar races to fraternize ; if he had wanted them to be 
 one, he would have so made them—but he has placed, with his own finger, a 
 mark of distinction, in color, intellect, physiognomy, and other strongly marked 
 characteristics. Whenever these lines of demarkation are endeavored to be 
 obliterated by amalgamation, the white race lias been degenerated, enfeebled, 
 and degraded, as a natural consequence. We want no negro equality, for it is a 
 physical and mental impossibility; we want no political equality, for it would 
 bring with it negro rulers, negro judges, negro jurors; we want no negro social¬ 
 ity, for it would degrade and brutify our race, giving negro husbands, and negro 
 progeny to our fair daughters and sisters. We religiously believe it an insult 
 to our Creator to suppose that lie ever designed such disgusting amalgamation. 
 The very thought would be unnatural, offensive and revolting to our natures. 
 
 This favorite Republican hobby has been submitted to the people of Iowa, 
 and they almost unitedly repudiated it by forty thousand majority ; the negro- 
 loving Republicans have presented the question to the people of New York, 
 Ohio, and Wisconsin, Upon a matter of such vital interest to our race, a free 
 and intelligent people shoidd, and mil, speak at the polls with emphatic indig¬ 
 nation. 
 
 Mr. Clay on Agitation and Negro Equality with the Whites. 
 
 Mr. Clay’s famous letter to his biographer, Colton, is so pertinent to the 
 present condition of public affairs, that we publish it. The old-lino Whigs, 
 who now co-operate with the Democrats, will find their old leader’s platform 
 as usual, now as it was fourteen years ago : 
 
14 
 
 “ Ashland, Sept. 2,1843. 
 
 “ My Dear Sir :—Allow rr e to select a subject for one of your tracts, which, 
 treated in your popular and condensed way, I think would be attended with 
 great and good effect. I mean Abolition. 
 
 “ It is manifest that the ultras of that party are extremely mischievous, and 
 are hurrying on the country to fearful consequences. They are not to be con¬ 
 ciliated by the Whigs. Engrossed with a single idea, they care for nothing 
 else. They would see the administration of the Government precipitate the 
 nation into absolute ruin, before they would lend a helping hand to arrest its 
 career. They treat worst, denounce most, those who treat them best, who so 
 far agree with them as to admit slavery to be an evil. Witness their conduct 
 towards Mr. Briggs and Mr. Adams in Massachusetts, and towards me. 
 
 “ I will give you an outline of the manner in which I would handle it: Show 
 the origin of slavery. Trace its introduction to the British government. Show 
 how it is disposed of by the Federal Constitution ; that it is left exclusively to 
 the States, except in regard to fugitives, direct taxes and representation. Show 
 that the agitation of the question in the free States will destroy all harmony, and 
 finally lead to disunion—'perpetual war—the extermination of the African race — 
 ultimate military despotism. 
 
 “ But the great aim and object of your tract should be to arouse the laboring 
 classes of the free States against Abolition. Depict the consequences to them of 
 immediate Abolition. The slaves, being free, would be dispersed throughout 
 the Union ; they would enter into competition with the free laborer — with the 
 American, the Irish, the German—reduce his wages, be confounded with him, and 
 affect his moral and social standing . And as the idtras go both for Aboliticnism 
 and amalgamation, show that their object is to unite in marriage the laboring white 
 man and the laboring black woman—to reduce the white laboring man to the de¬ 
 spised and degraded condition of the black man. 
 
 “ It would show their opposition to colonization. Show its humane, reli¬ 
 gious and patriotic aim. That they are those whom God has separated. Why 
 do Abolitionists oppose colonization ? To keep and amalgamate together the 
 two races, in violation of God’s will, and to keep the blacks here, that they may 
 interfere with, degrade and debase the laboring whites. Show that the British 
 Government is co-operating with the Abolitionists for the purpose of dissolving 
 the Union, &c. You can make a powerful article, that will be felt in every 
 extremity of the Union. I am perfectly satisfied it will do great good. Let 
 me hear from you on this subject. 
 
 HENRY CLAY.” 
 
 Negro Suffrage, and Negro Inferiority. 
 
 BY HON. A. W. ARRINGTON. 
 
 Chancellor Kent says, 2 Com. 258 : “ The African race, even when free, are 
 essentially a degraded caste, of inferior rank and condition in society.” These 
 are the words of a great master in jurisprudence, one whose very lips seemed 
 luminous with learning, one who has honored the American name wherever the 
 language of our land is read or spoken. 
 
 You set out with the intimation, that I am tinged with prejudice, and “ appeal 
 to the prejudices of my readers;” in other words, that I entertain a contempt 
 for the negro.” Now, I am at a loss to conjecture the ground upon which you 
 predicate this charge; because I am conscious of opinions and feelings the very 
 reverse of what you suppose. Contempt for any production of God and nature 
 in all this wide universe, is as foreign from my real sentiments, as I know it 
 must be from yours. It is true, I have avowed my belief that all the colored 
 races are, at present, as they have been since the dawn of history, inferior to 
 the whites; and such is the ethnological faith of the whole scientific world. 
 Professor Agassiz asserts, that “a peculiar conformation distinguishes the brain 
 of an adult negro; that its development never advances beyond that of a Cau- 
 easin in the stage of boyhood, and that, besides other singularities, it bears, in 
 several particulars, a marked resemblance to the brain of the orang-outang,” 
 Types of Mankind, p. 415. The researches of Belzont, Champollion, Lepsius, 
 
15 
 
 and others, have produced from the monuments of the Nile, a pictorial record 
 of the black race, stretching back into the dim twilight of centuries, two thou¬ 
 sand three hundred years before Christ; yet the men of that race, on all the 
 tombs and temples, are painted in the condition of slaves. See Types of Man¬ 
 kind, p. 215, and the authorities there cited. 
 
 Every one who has studied the new science of Ethnology, or even read Count 
 Gobineau’b work on the moral and intellectual Diversity of-Races, must be 
 thoroughly convinced that the amalgamation of white with black or yellow na¬ 
 tions never fails to result in the degeneration of the former as well as the latter. 
 The first and most fatal effect is an immoderate licentiousness, which under¬ 
 mines gradually the energies of the physical constitution, and, at the same time, 
 utterly perverts all moral sentiment. Moreover, it is now conceded by the whole 
 scientific world that the colored race are, at present, as they have been since 
 history first descried them, inferior to the whites, and not competent to develop 
 the same civilization either in kind or degree. Hence the conclusion appears ir¬ 
 resistible, that elements so very opposite can not possibly form a homogeneous 
 political association. But it is idle to waste time in quotations, when the decisive 
 fact is universally known and incontestible, that the pure African blood has never, 
 throughout all the ages, given birth to a single great man, or contributed one lone 
 discovery to the stock of human knowledge; while the fair Caucasian family have 
 signalized every land where they have lived with the glory of illustrious names— 
 
 “ stars in the night of time”—from the ice of the Arctic circle to fiery light of the 
 equator. Does not then the inference seem irresistible, that the soil of the negro 
 brain must be strangely barren, to yield neither flower nor fruitage, in so many 
 thousand years ? Do you call this conclusion prejudice ? If so, it is a prejudice 
 of historical induction, nay, an intuitive prejudice of the senses. 
 
 But the admitted and demonstrated inferiority of the colored nations, fur¬ 
 nishes no sort of pretext or shadow of justification for their enslavement, and 
 every argument of the kind must be deemed simply ridiculous. Nevertheless, 
 the fact of such inferiority does present an irrefragable reason for the exclusion- 
 of the negro race from the franchise of citizenship in a community of whites; 
 because the former are not fitted by nature or education for participation in the 
 powers and privileges of republican sovereignty, at least in conjunction with the 
 latter. Besides, if the assumption of intellectual equality were even conceded 
 to the blacks, it would still be impossible, from the enormous divergence in 
 their social tendencies, for the two races to develop a homogeneous civilization 
 in one and the same'political partnership. The entire records of the species 
 evince, by proofs as incalculable as they are mournful, the utter folly and futil¬ 
 ity of all attempts to constitute a prosperous, permanent, or powerful state by 
 the intermixture of opposite ethnological instincts. Are you not aware of the 
 significant circumstance, that the different races have always manifested peculiar 
 predilections for different forms of polity, in correspondence with their other 
 characteristics, mental, moral, and esthetic ? The yellow AsiatiikAflisnlay an 
 invincible preference for theocratic hierarcliies; while the dusky Africa 
 
 choose the regime of petty despots, bowing their necks under the cruel yojre of 
 both political and personal servitude; but never since the inception of societies, * 
 has a colored people given evidence of the faintest desire, or the most feeble ca¬ 
 pacity, for the enjoyment of Republican institutions. The negroes especially 
 appear to be inclined to the rule of unalleviated tyranny. The king of Dahomey 
 suits them well, as the favorite ornaments of his palace and temples are the 
 skulls of enemies slain in battle, or immolated on tno altars of a frightful demon 
 worship. Not less appropriate to the national taste is the holiday amusement 
 of the atrocious monarcn of Ashantee, who, not long ago, watered the grave of 
 his mother with the blood of three thousand victims ! Murray's Africa, p. 292. 
 Equally characteristic was the conduct of the black revolutionists in St. Domin¬ 
 go, marching to independence under the standard of a white infant impaled 
 alive, and borne aloft on the point of a long stake 1 McQueen's West Indies , n. 
 388. 
 
 Now do you really think, that a race which has done and endured such 
 things, for at least fifty centuries, would be a valuable addition to Ihe compo¬ 
 site elements of our Democratic sovereignty ? Do you not know that the com¬ 
 petency for self-government is one of the rarest attainment? in all the domain* 
 
16 
 
 of science and art ? Your idea that all the races of men are capacitated for all 
 the high prerogatives of political freedom, is merely a pleasant, though wild 
 dream of your own benevolent heart, but one which is wholly repudiated by a 
 sober philosophy, as repugnant alike to the principles of human nature, ana to 
 all the terrible teachings of history. 
 
 Your allusion to the opinions of the Revolutionary fathers on the subject of 
 slavery is most unfortunate for your theory. Are you willing to be an obedient 
 and dutiful son of such distinguished sires ? Are you satisfied with being as 
 wise and just as they, without aspiring to superior learning in difficult ques¬ 
 tions of public law, or greater purity in matters of private morals ? But, you 
 will urge, that the framers of the Constitution were all opposed to the policy of 
 slavery. Let the fact be admitted, yet does it follow, that they were favorable 
 to negro citizenship, or believed in the equality of the black race with the 
 whites? I am myself opposed to slavery in every form and under all possible 
 circumstances—opposed to it in Europe, Asia and Africa, as well as in America. 
 Nevertheless I do not wash to be a member of the same political partnership 
 with the dusky pariahs of Hindostan, the degraded white serfs of the Russian 
 empire, or the barbarous blacks of the African wilderness. Nor am I inclined 
 to fire the roof of the Temple of Liberty above my head, in order to evince my 
 abomination of human bondage. The founders of the Republic, with all their 
 hostility to slavery, entered into political fellowship with slave States, provided 
 for the rendition of fugitive slaves to their masters, and permitted fresh import¬ 
 ations from Africa during a period of almost thirty years. Are you, who shout 
 “ no more slave States, and down with the fugitive slave law”—more holy than 
 they ? Do you remember the terrible figure of Jefferson, who compared the 
 people of the South in reference to the institution of slavery, to a man having a 
 wolf by the ears? It might be dangerous to hold on, but it would be certain 
 death to let go. Now, my friend, if you can devise any rational method of 
 release for the wolf, without the destruction of the man, I will most heartily 
 co-operate with you. But until you shall have invented such a plan, as it is a 
 necessity of your noble nature to be engaged in some work of abolition, I 
 would suggest that you might, with great profit, turn your attention to Africa, 
 and find a spacious field for the expenditure of all your philanthropy For you 
 must know that four-fifths of all the negroes in their own native land are in a 
 state of the vilest bondage. Murray's Africa, p. 352. Have'you no sympa¬ 
 thies for them ? %' 
 
 Senator Cook on Negro Suffrage. 
 
 Remarks of Senator Cook, of Sheboygan, in debate in the Wisconsin Senate, 
 on the NegmpSuffrage bill, in February 1857 : 
 
 “ heSj/kmSfe enactments cannot change the laws of Nature. They cannot 
 define iron into gold—they cannot make the negro the same as the white man 
 •in his social relations ; they cannot place him on a level in all respects, and 
 therefore their action is futile.v.I am one of those who contend that there is a 
 difference between the white man and the negro, and I do not believe that the 
 negro is equal to the white man in mental capacity. If this bill were to pass, 
 I should go for giving the right of suffrage, and of holding office, to the Indian 
 as well as the African. 
 
 “ The Democratic party have always been for exteeding the right of suffrage, 
 and Democrats have always been opposed by the anti-Democrats on this par¬ 
 ticular point. When the Constitution of this State was formed, it will not be denied, 
 that the Democrats were in favor of extending the right of suffrage to all white 
 citizens within the State, while the opposing party would refuse to give the right of 
 suffrage to the foreigner, and were unanimous for bestowing it upon the 
 
 NEGRO, WHETHER BOND OR FREE.”