The Cadiz sentinel. [volume], May 15, 1844, Image 1

About The Cadiz sentinel. [volume] (Cadiz, Ohio) 184?-1851

Image provided by: Ohio History Connection, Columbus, OH

                
r3 xfkTlTfrilraRi
VOLUME XI.
CADIZ, HARRISON COUNTY, OHIO, MAY 15, 1841.
NUMBER 8.
printed ano rrni.rsm:n every Thursday
111 la. UAId'EK.
(tr Te. One dollar and fifty cents per annum,
if paid in advance, or within three months; two dollars
at the end of six montlm; or two dollars und fiftjr cents
at the end of the year. (gj- These conditions will be
atneur aanereu to.
07 Advertising. One square, (twelve lines,) fifty
tents for the first insertion, and twenty-five cents each
Subsequent publication. A liberal discount made to
those who advertise by the year.
Letters to the editor must be post paid.
SPEECH
OF
MR. DUNCAN, OF OHIO.
In the House of Rcjtresentatitcs,March G, 1811
' On the bill introduced by him to regulate
the election of electors for President arid Vice
President and members of Congress throughout
the United Stales.
Mr. DUNCAN spoko as follows:
" ' There is no higher dntv we owe to ourselves
to each other, and to our country, in whatever
situation we may bo placed, or whatever sphere
in life we may fill, than to understand the nature
of our government, and the civil institutions by
which our rights are to be maintained as citizens,
and by which our civil duties and obligations to
ward each other are to.be regulated. This duty
is not more binding upon us in a civil than in a
political sense. It is indispensable to a faithful
discharge of our duties as private citizens that
we should understand the duties ol a citizen.
Those duties involve a Knowledge of the legal
and political restraints which civil government
throws upon us and brings us under. These ci
vil duties and obligations are common to, and
binding upon, all men in a state of organized so
ciety, whatever the form of government may be;
but we, as American citizens, in audition, to these
duties, owe some of a higher character which
may more properly, be denominated political du
ties, which I contradistinguish from civil duties
for the purpose of illustration. Civil duties, and
a knowledge of the obligations which civil duties
impose, appertain to the subjects of monarchy
or an aristocracy. The same civil duties, in pro
portion to the requisitions of law, appertain to the
citizens of a republican government; but owing
to the fact thai each individual hore is not only
a citizen, but also a member of the republic, and
a part of the law making power, he owes some
higher duties than a mere citizen. Those high
er duties I call political duties. Obedience is the
duty of the humble subject ot the monarchical
government, while command, is the prerogative
of the mouaich; but in a republican government
the duties of obedience and submission are united
with the prerogative to command in the same
person. -Such is the nature of our government.
With us, no nr.'n can be so low as to shake off the
duties of legal and constitutional submission; no
man can be so high as to be exempt from them. No
man can be so low (in crime excepted) as to ex
cuse himself from a participation in the duties ol
coveruin". Mo man can he so high as to trans
cend exemption from tiie oblgations and duties of
tho most humble citizen, or 1o exercise powers
in the establishment of rule:; of civil conduct , not
common to each and every citizen, only as that
power is delegated to him by thesullrage of those
he represents, in whatever official position he
may occupy. And this leads mo to an expose of
the character ofour government. 1 hat 1 do, not
only in conformity with a high duty which I owe
as a citizen in common, but as a representative;
I do it not only because we cannot too frequently
refer to first principles, whether in a private or in
an official capacity; but because the bill under
consideration, in its defence and advancement,
requires such an expose, in order to illustrate the
absolute necessity of this bill becoming a law.
. Sir, our government is a government of the
people. It was created by the people; it is sus
tained by the people; and the people are tho gov
ernment, to every political purpose and intent.
And in these consist tho great and fundamental
difference between a republican (or democratic)
form of government and all others. I believe
there are but three distinct forms of government
regarded as fundamental, viz: a monarchical, an
aristocratical, and a republican form; all others
are modification or mixtures of those. All gov
ernments were republican in their origin; Ho peo
ple ever were so blind to their own interests,
and so regardless of their individual privileges
and natural rights, as to surrender them into the
hands of any one man or set of men, to dispense
them at his or their pleasure or caprice. I make
another assertion that is, that man possesses all
the requisites for self-government ; and to deny
those requisites is a slander on the human fami
ly, and a base imputation on the Almighty. I al
so assert, that no government ever fell by tho cor
ruptions of tho people. Why, then (it has been
and will be asked) have all republics fallen?
Why havo all government which depended up
on the aggregate wisdom and stability of tho peo
ple, failed? It is part of my purpose, in my sup
port of tho present bill, toanswor these interrog
atories. At present, I wish to define and illus
trate tho character of our government; and, for
that purpose, to illustrate tho principles of other
governments, and to expose tho difference to the
end that ours may be better understood.
A monarchical government is that which con
centrates ull power, legislative, judicial, and min
isterial, in tho hands of a siuglo individual. An
aristocracy is that form of government which pla
ces tho samo powers, and tho same amount of
power, in tho hands or a fow individuals, touch
governments are called absolute monarchies, or
absolute aristocracies, as the case may be abso
lute, because the mass of tho people havo no par
ticipation in making, adjudicating upon, or exe
cuting the laws by which they are governed.
Their civil duties consist in submission and obe
dience; prerogative dutios, in commanding sub
missive obedience to tho laws which they have
no hand in making, and submission and obedi
ence to the adjudication ot laws, without any part
in the adjudication and submission, and obodience
to the execution of tho laws, without any share in
.tho execution, only as tho subjects of execution.
In such governments tho people are a kind of po
litical automatons, without political will or voli
tion, which movo merely as they are moved by
the will of tho laws which govern them, or tho
will of him or them who make tho laws. Such
a people may hoar, in their external form, the
image of their maker for a timo, but havo the
soul of Balaam's ass; and in a timo will become
asses both" in soul and body. A monarchy end
an aristocracy may both assume a representative
character, by a delegation of tho prerogatives or
law making, law adjudication, and law execution,
which is most generally the case in extensive
monarchies and aristocracies: but representative
change docs not change tho character of the gov
ernment; it only operates to the case of tho mon
arch, or to those holding power in an aristocracy,
not to the relief or enfranchisement of the peo
ple. Those who receive the delegation of such
prerogatives, are the representatives of the origi
nal power; and it is his will, power, and inter
ests, they are bound to promote-- -not the interests
of the people. And it is most generally the case,
that representative monarchies and aristocracies
are the most oppressive of all governments; they
increase taxation, and oppress still moro by
means of collection, without, in any particular, el
evating the character or condition of the subject.
But I have neither time nor space to pursue the
investigation in detail; it is sufficient to say they
are, both in their nature and practical operation,
calculated to oppress the subject, and arc worse
than no government. 1 would prcler anarchy ;
I would rather die in defence of my natural rights,
than live a slave. A republican government, 1
repeat, is a government of the people. Tho peo
ple and the government, in a political sense, are
the same. I have said, in all republics, all polit
ical prerogatives belong to the people: this is lit
erally true. Though our government is a repre
sentative democracy, yet all power is in the hands
of the people; and their representatives are but
their agents, bound by their will, responsible to
them, and removable at their will. It was im
possible, at the commencement, that ours could
be any thing but a representative democracy; our
population was too great, and our territory was
too wide spread to admit of a singlo democracy.
The fanners of our government were compelled
to give us. a representative democracy that is,
to authorize us to appoint agents to do that for
us, which we, according to tho fundamental prin
ciples of democracy, should have done ourselves.
Our ancestors, in the formation ofour govern
ment, provided the moans by which we should
appoint our agents. 1 lie power and the means
by which we appoint our political agents or 'repre
sentatives, is called the elective iranclnse. J o
define all of our free institutions which make up
our proud and glorious political iabric, is foreign
to my present purpose, nor does the support ol
the present bill require such a range. Ihcre is
one ofour free institutions which I propose very
briefly to discuss I mean the elective franchise.
That is one which, of all others, demands our at
tention, our consideration, and our especial guard
ianship. Of all our proud institutions, that is the
proudest:; of all our free institutions, that is the
most valuable. It is tho soul and the body of
our republic; it is the basis ofour political fabric;
it is the foundation of all our freo institutions.
Destroy it, and our government loses its name,
and all our freo institutions are annihilated.
They become, in an instant, a part of the dust
of other republics; and, with them must be num
bered among the things that arc not. The elec
tive franchise is not only tho arch of our own,
and every other republic, and the main pillar of
tho temple of liberty, Lut.it is the rule by which
freedom is measured; for, just in proportion to the
exercise of the elective fiauchise, so are any
people free and sovereign. Freedom .and the
elective franchise arc synonomous terms and
handmaidens. The one has no abiding place
without the other. They walk hand in hand to
sctlicr; they live together; they die together.
The framers ofour government were so consci
ous of the vast importance of the elective fran
chise, that tiiey interwove it in tho political in
stitutions of our country in such a manner ihat
it could not be destroyed without bringing ruin
upon all others. Our ancestors had a right to
expect that this franchise, which was purchased
with the blood of thousands, mid with the treas
ure of millions, would be appreciated as a rich
legacy would never be squandered. They had
a right to suppose that those moral, political, and
patriotic obligations and sacred covenantswhich
descended upon their posterity, would forever be
a secure guaranty against all innovations" upon
that sacred institution. They had a right to sup
pose that no sons of theirs would bo so prod'gal
and rccklccs as to squander that legacy which
was to provide peace, happiness, freedom, and
independence to millions, and for all lime. They
had a right, to hope that no wretch would be found
base enough to corrupt that franchise upon whose
purity depended tho duration of all tlio free insti
tutions purchased with their blood and their
treasure. But, not content with that hope and
that confidence which they had a right to indulge
not content with the obligation of patriotism
upon those who were to inherit the rich legacy of
heir toil, they superseded religion and morality.
They interwove, in the official duli cs of all who
were to havo the safekeeping of the elective
franchise, a solemn oath. Ihey required tho in
dividual whom choicoor the law was to select to
guard the purity ot the elective tranclnse, to ap
pear At the throne ot the Judge ol tho living and
the dead, and in J lis presence and in His name,
to bind themselves to permit no unhallowed foot
to tread upon the sacred franchise. Such is the
value ol the elective franchise, and such arc the
means provided to defend and preservo it in its
pristine purity. Uut in order that tins sacred in
stitution shall remain pure, and shall tho more
completely maintain all our other freo institu
tions, our constitutions and laws havo wisely de
fined the manner in which it shall bo used, tho
time when it shall be used, the place 'where it
shall bo used, by whom it shall be used, and tho
circumstances under which it shall bo used.
A violation of any of thoso provisions is a viola
tion of tho constitutions and of the laws regula
ting tho use of the electivo franchise, and a cor
ruption and violation of the franchiso itself; and
ho who is guilty of it, is guilty of treason tho
most dangerous and aggravated; and iftho sworn
oliicor, whoso duty it is to guard and defend that
franchise, has wilfully or negligently permitted
such violation, ho is guilty of both treason and
penury. And upon tho same principle, ho who
holds an offico in corruption of tho elective
franchise, and in violation of tho constitution, is
equally guilty of treason, inasmuch as both are
violations of a sacred and fundamental principle
of the government. All republics have placed
a high estimate on tho electivo franchise, and
have imposed penalties for its violations and abu
ses in proportion to its magnitude.
1 believe in tho Grecian btatcs, in their repub
lican days, a violation of tho electivo fiauchise
was punished by death. It was also a penal of
fence for a citizen of one Slate to voto in, or
meddle with, tho institutions of another. Such
an offence was looked upon and punished as trea
son. - It is so, and is and has been considered
so, in ovory republic. An abuso of tho cloctive
franchiso is a violutioii of u fundamental principle
of the government, and an attempt to overthrow
the government itself. No institution should be
guarded with such jealous care as that of the
elective franchise ; for the overthrow of all others
put together would not so much endanger our
liberties. It is tho highest duty that every citi
zen owes to himself, to his country, to the mem
ory of his ancestors, to their blood and treasure
spilled and expended in the great revolution by
which we were redeemed; aud, above all, to
those fc'ho are to come after him, to preserve this
franchiso in its pristine purity, and to transmit it
unsullied to posterity.
My next object is to show that the elective
franchise has been basely violated, and the ballot-box
most corruptly abusod. If I can do that,
I will have shown good reasons why this bill
should pass, or some other one that will prevent
such abuse and such corruption hereafter.
I havo stated that our constitutions and laws
have defined the manner in which the elective
franchise shall be used, as well as who shall be
entitled to its exercise; and the samo rules pro
hibit its use in any other way than those prescri
bed, and by any other persons than those desig
nated. For tin's purpose elective precincts are
established in every county in every State in the
Union. By the wisdom ofour law-makers, those
precincts are small; they havo also provided for
the appointment of a class of officers called
judges of election, whose duty it is to know of
themselves, or by information, all persons who
aro or are not entitled to the use of the elective
franchise. The judges aro sworn to receive no
vote from the hand of any one not entitled to
a vote within the precinct, and to reject all votes
from persons living without the precinct, whether
citizens of the State or of the United States, or
not. Tho object of those provisions and guards,
is to secure the elective franchise from abuse.
Our constitutions and laws have peculiarly guard
ed the States from interference with each other
in relation to the privilege and use of the ballot
box ; and all elections are declared void which
arc vitiated by illegal votes whether by illegal
votes from the hand of thoso who havo no right
to vote, or, having a right to vote, vote in the
precinct, county, or State, other than that desig
nated as the proper place to vote. It is now my
purpose to show that the elective franchise has
been violated in all the particulars which I have
mentioned, but more especially by persons voting
in States, counties, and precincts in which they
had no right to vote, aud in violating express
laws regulating elections, and defining the priv
ileges of elections; and it is to prevent a repeti
tion of such violations hereafter, and in all time,
that I h avc introduced this bill. It would seem
that the framers of the federal constitution had
a presentiment of the possibility of the abuse of
the elective franchise, in the very manner and
by the very means by which it has been violated:
hence they reserved the moans to the federal
Congress of preventing such an evil.
I hold in my hand the Constitution of tho Uni
ted States. The fourth section of the first arti
cle rends thus:
" Tho times, places, and manner of holding
elections for senators and represcntativo shall be
pre scribed in each State by tho legislature there
of; but the Congress may at any time, by law,
make or alter such regulation, except as to the
place of choosing senators. "
A part of article second, section first, reads
thus:
"The Congress my determine the time of
choosing the electors, and tho day on which they
shall give their votes, which day shall bo the
same throughout the United States."
And these, sir, aro the constitutional authori
ties for tho passage of tin bill now tinder con
sideration. I here never was a time, nnr will
there ever be a time, when it will be more prop
er for Congress to interfere and assert its consti
tutional authority in this matter than at this
time.
It would seem, with the knowledgewo which
we possess of the wholesale frauds and unvar
nished treason that were practised in 1838 and
lfe4D, that it is an imperious duty that we owe
to our situation, to tho country, and the oath we
havo taken, to pass some law which will arrest
a repetition of such frauds. I would be excusa
ble in the mere assertion of the frauds upon the
ballot-box, and violation of the electivo fran
chise, practised in the elections of thoso years,
so well are they known, and so firmly are they
fixed in tho conventions of this wide-spread com
munity; hut I have promised proofs and exposes,
so I proceed to present soino of ihein. I sav
tfowicuf (hem, for I have neither timo nor space
to give even those 1 have more than a bird s-eye
glance, nor have I had time or opportunity to
collect tho one-thousandth part.
I hold in my hand a book. It is the journal
of an investigating committee raised and author
ized by the legislature of Ohio to investigate
a contest between J. C. Wright, coutestor, aud
G. W. Holmes, conlcstee, (all of the county of
Hamilton,) who were candidates h'r the Ohio
Senate at the annual election of 18 10 tho for
mer us rank a blue-light federal whig as over jus
tified tho Hartford convention, or worshipped
a coon; the litter as puro and as firm a locofoco
anti-bank JciTorsoniau democrat as ever boro the
name, or " skinned a coon;" both clever fellows,
and highly respectable citizens in every personal
and private sense. Holmes was tho successful
candidate; Wright contested his seat; and this
book contains tho evidence disclosed by tho con
test. It is a largo book ; it contains four hun
dred and twenty pages; and every page, from the
titlc-pago to the last page, is crowded in close
lines and small type, with evidence of the basest
frauds on tho elective franchise. Well as the
frauds of 1840 are understood, this book disclo
ses frauds beyond suspicion, and almost beyond
comprehension. Did I not owo it to my con
science, to my country, and to my office, and
this constitution, which I have bound myself,
with uplifted hand, and in prosenco of my God,
to support, f it tho honor of my country, and for
tho character of our public institutions at home
and abroad, could wish this book, and all such
evidenco of fraud, practised in that memorable
1810, were among tho things that ncrcr were.
But tho evidenco is hero in books; it has a place
in tho knowledge and recollection of tho poople
in this couutry; and it is matter of taunt and
boast in other countriusV , So, our best plan is to
use it, and cxposo it, to prevent a repetition of
such frauds. Sir, I havo evidenco indisputable
that not less than sovon hundred voters were im
ported into tho singlo county of Hamilton, at the
election of 1810, to defeat the democratic ticket
by a regular, organized system of swindling and
pipelining. A part of tho evidenco is contained
in (lie journal to which I have referred; a part in
the acknowledgements of those who participated
in tho frauds, not only as workers and conduc
tors of the iniquity, but as voters also ; but a larger
part in letters which I received from persons re
siding in the interior of the State Ohio, and sev
eral ouicr western htates letters received be-
torc the eicction, informing me that arram'e-
ments were making by the whigs to send voters
by companies to defeat my election, and letters
received after the election, informiuz me that
companies had been sent, had voted, and boasted
ot Having done their part to defeat "bully Dun
can. " I have said that I have neither timo nor
space to display but a small part of this mass of
evidence, lean only present one of the "most
glaring items, and merely allude to the balance.
Pipelayers flocked from other districts, and other
States some on foot, some on horseback, some
on mules, by wagon-loads, by stage-loads, and by
steamboat-loads. My time will only permit me
to notice the steamboat-loads. I will ask the
clerk to read the following deposition. The
clerk read :
57. EXPOSITION OF JEFFERSON PEAK?
In the matter of the contested elnr.ti nn. vvhnrn
the seat of George W. Holmes, in the Senate of
the fotate of Ohio, is contested by an elector of
iiamuion coumy, the said Geon?o W. Ho mos
appeared by his attorney, Thomas J. Hender
son, at the clerk's offico of the Gallatin circuit
court, in the town of Warsaw, countv of Galla-
) kiiiu oi iventucKy, on the second day of
yeccmucr, i.iu, agreeably to the annexed no
tice, and adjourned over until to-morrow mor
ning, December 3, 1810, as endorsed on said
notice.
December 3, 1840.
Mot pursuant to adjournment, when Jefferson
Peak, a witness, produced on the part of said G.
W. Holmes, who being dulv cautioned and
sworn, deposes and says :
Question by Thos. J. Henderson, attorney for
G. W. Holmes. Please to state if you know of
any person or persons taken to Cincinnati to vote
at the State election held on the 13th of Octo
ber last ; and if you know any tiling about it, state
all you know in relation to them?
Answer by Deponent. I went on board the
steamboat Mail, at this place, on the night pre
vious to the State election in Ohio, for Lawrence
burg, Indiana, on business for Messrs. Peak and
Roberds, of this place. On going aboard, I found
tho boat so much crowded, that there was no pos
sible chance for sleep, either on the floor, or in
a state-room or berth. As there were so many
persons onboard, over and above places for sleep.
including the floor, myself, with a number of
others were compelled to sit up all night, or
nearly so. I did get to lie down a short time
before day by occupying another man's place on
the floor, which he had just left.
During the night on our way up, nearly all the
conversation seemed to be in relation to the
Ohio election, that was to take place on the next
day; and a great portion of tho passengers that
I saw that night did not have the appearance
that cabin passengers usually have, though I did
not see anything like all the passengers which
were on board, as I got off of said boat about
daylight, at Lawrencoburg; and a great portion
of them wore in bed when I went on board, as
every place seemed to be crowded; and the
greater portion of those I saw seemed to be more
like ruffians than otherwise. And when the
boat stopped at Lawrencoburg to put me out,
they sent me ashore in the yawl, and I had to
pass through the lower deck to get to the yawl,
and thoro appeared to be a great many persons
on dock as well as in the cabin.
After remaining in Lawrencoburg a short lime
--probably one and a half hours, 1 left for Cin
cinnati, Ohio, on board the steamboat Indiana,
where we arrived about 10 o'clock on the mor
ning of the day of the election in said State.
During which day, in passing through the city of
Cincinnati, I saw several advertisements sticking
up in different places, purporting to want hands
to go on the Green river locks to work, to the
number of one or two hundred hands. This ad
vertisement stated that they wished all the hands
that would conclude to go, to be ready on the
wharf on Wednesday morning, tho 11th of Oc
tober, ready to go on board the mail boat, for
which so much per month will bo given the
amount not recollected. On my arriving at the
mail boat, Gen. Pike, next morning, I saw an
unusual number of persons on board said boat,
Gen. Pike; and also a large number on the
whaif and wharf boat opposite the said steam
boat. Gen. Pike. I also saw a man on the wharf,
with a sheet of paper in one hand, which ap
peared to contain a number of names, and a num
ber of bank bills in the other, and seemed to be
settling with a number of men on the wharf be
fore tho bout left, and the same man, with the
aid .f another, continued to settle and pay
a number of men and boys, or youths, on board
of said boat, after she left the wharf. And after
we had loft the city of ( Jincinnati, and proceed
ed down stream some six or eiulit miles. Mr. h.
F. Calhoun, of Mississippi, and myself, were in
conversation on tho politics of the day, and du
ring which lime a gentleman by the name of
Gcorgo Bucll, of Lowrcnceburg, came up to us
in tho cabin of said boat, and asked me if I had
noticed what was going on on board of the boat.
1 answered that I did not know of any thing
strange. Ho then asked mo if I had not observ
ed a man paying oil men on the boat ever since
sho had left tho shore. I answered I had, be
fore sho left and since. Ho asked mo if I knew
what it meant. It told him I supposed it was an
individual who had been to Cincinnati to engage
aands to go on tho Green river locks. Ho im
mediately informed mo that it was a man paying
off persons for going to Cincinnati to vote for
Pendleton. 1 said to him, it can t bo possible.
Ho replied, come with ino, and I will prove it to
you, or I will satisfy you, I do not recollect
which, llo then Started, ns well as I can recol
lect, towards the crowd, when tiiey were assem
bled at or near one end of the cabin of said boat.
I called or spoko to him to stop, which ho did.
I then remarked-to him Bucll and Mr. Calhoun,
and requested them to bo cautious, and wc
would find them out. About this time tho crowd
appeared to movo forward, and usssmblo again
on the boiler deck, in front of the cabin. We
thrco then proceeded near the crowd. I went
up in tho crowd, and observed one man sitting
on the railing of the boat, and somo ten or fif
teen around him; tho ono sitting seemed to be
making calculations; and ho askod ono of the
mon how much did they we him, or how much
war his bill; ho replied, Sunday ( Monday, Tues
day, and Wednesday. Tho man remarked, that
was making tho calculation, that he ought not to
charge for Sunday, as ho could not make anv
thing in Louisville on Sunday. He remarked
that he was to have a dollar per day for every day,
Sunday included, and board in the city of Cin
cinnati, just at Uiat time the man sitting down
observed me Jookin on; and some individual
who stood by holding a sheet of paper in his
nana, with a largo number of names on the
same; and the individual sitting on the rail ob-
senmg mo looking on the same, he immediately
snatched the paper in the other man's hand, and
tore the same in two; and remarked, at the same
time, by G d he did not want every man to see
that paper.
The whole crowd then moved their stand to
near tho wheel-house; and there, as before, ap
peared to proceed to settlo with divers individ
uals. I hey seemed to come up from the deck
of said boat into the cabin in crowds of from 10
to 15 m number; and after they sol through set
fling, and a portion of them receiving their money,
tney would dispe rse and go below, and another
crowd , como np. They continued in the samell
way, I think until about one o'clock, P. M., of
said day; during which time I did not fully sat
isiy mysen about the matter.
I then went to the clerk of tho boat, who was
at that time a stranger to me; I asked him how
many men were there on board that had been
carried to Cincinnati to vote. He laughed, and
remarked that he did not know. I asked him
who settled for their passage. He pointed out
to me a man, rather an elderly looking man;
I atterward found out his name to be William
Stewart, from himself. I asked the clerk of the
boat if he had a list of their names. He said yes;
there lay a paper on his desk. I asked if that
was the one. He said it was. I then took it in
my hand, aud then laid it down again, as I thought
it would not be prudent to open it, as Iliad pick
ed it up of my own accord. I then went to sev
eral of the men, and asked them a great many
questions; where they lived. They all said (that
i talked with, but two exceptions) that they
were citizens of Louisville, Kentucky; the other
two lived in Indiana, one in Jeffersonville, the
other in Indianopolis. These men on board of
the Pike (with but few exceptions) seemed to be
a set of cut-throats and ruffians. One of them
was pointed out to me by one of the head officers
of the boat, who observed that, while he (the
officer) was lathering his face, that fellow stole
his razor. And another ono was pointed out to
me by a whig passenger, who observed that he
was sold under the vagrant act at St. Louis for
six bits. 1 then called on an individual on
board of said boat, (Pike,) who belonged to the
steamboat Mail, by the name of Robot t Edinason,
a nephew of mine, and asked him what he was
doing on the Pike, and why he was not on the
steamboat Mail. He observed that he had stay
ed at Cincinnati to vote, and then going to his
home, which is about six miles from Warsaw, in
Kentucky. 1 asked him why he would vole m
Ohio, or any where else, when he well knew he
was not old enoush. lie said he knew that.
I asked him if he swore to his voto. Ho said he
was too smart for that ; he said when he was in
Louisville that yonder (pointing to H ilbarn Siew
art) came to him on the wharf at Louisville and
ollered Jinn and another man a dollar a piece per
day, and pay their expenses to Cincinnati and
back, if they would go and vote the whig ticket.
And after chatting some time with said Stewart,
he (Edinason) said he would see him, (Stewait)
damned first, before ho would vote lor money;
but that they both belonged to the steamboat
Mail, and were going to Cincinnati, and inten
ded to vole the whig ticket. I asked Edinason
if he voted the whig ticket, and he said he did.
I then asked tho said Edinason to, give ine all
the names that he knew had voted illegal volts;
to which he refused, slating as his reason that.
if lie did that, they would take his life; and thai
he was afraid to, and did not wish to be hrcuidil
into any scrapes about the election; that they
were a set of swindler and cut-throats, and
would steal the coat off a man's bac k.
Some time after dinner, tbr the fi;:;t time.
I saw the man (Stewait) alone, who had been.
luring the day, sitting with the men. It was
just before we arrived at Aurora, or Rising Sun,
I think the former; and some ol the persons on
board had painted or marked on a boaul the
whig majority in Hamilton county and city of
Cincinnati. I stepped up to him and remarked.
that we would soon hae a fine huzza; and in
i low moments, the persons on tho shore, at the
before-mentioned town, saw the result of ihe
vole on the board, and raised a tremendous huz
za, llo remarked to me, at tho samo tuna, ami ;
said, is it not a great victory to beat such a scoun
drel aud villain as Duncan? I observed, that
1 thought that the party had gone to greater
lengths to beat Duncan than any one of the par
ty, lie said yes; for he was tho greatest scouu-
Irel m the woild, as well as I recollect.
I at that moment laid my hand on his sliouldei
nid observed, old follow, if it had not been for
you, that we never would have beat Ihein in the
world. To which he replied, beat indeed! No
indeed, said he, if it had not of been fur the votes
that 1 carried to Cincinnati, that Duncan would
of beaten (hem to death. I asked him, how in
tho devil did you manage so as not to be found
out? What Ward did they vote in? llo remark
ed, that ho divided them out, and carried seven
or eight at a time, and voted in different wards,
and his friends helped him, and a portion of them
voted in the third ward. I asked him if he car
ried as many as eighty or a hundred; and ho re
marked, that he carried moro than cither; and
remarked moro than once that lie carried more
than Pendleton's majority. And, I suppose,
there were eighty or a hundred on board that
day, and, probably, over that number.
btewart also informed me that ho was the man
that beat Mcrrywcther, in Jcflbrson county, Ky.,
who ran at tho August election, for a scat m the
legislature of Kentucky. I asked him how he
managed. Ho told mo that ho took the men
from the city of Louisville, and carried them to
Six Milo island, and there kept them several
days, and cat, drank, and slept with them, until
AUmday ol the election, and then carried them
over into Jefferson county, and he got them to
voto, and in tint way ho bead Mcrrywcther. He
tlso staled that tho wings did not treat hun well
at Cincinnati; for they did not give hitn but sov-enty-fivc
dollars to pay tho men with. I asked
him who gavo him that. Ho said that tho Tip
pecanoo club gave it to him, of Cincinnati. And
i0 remarked, that ho had paid out ten dollars ol
his own money, and that ho could not pay them
off until ho got to Louisville. I asked him if
tney wcro a making any noise about their pay,
and ho said no; that ho had just been bolow and
treated them to a dollar1 worth of drink, llo
also stated that ho never eat until they eat. llo
also slated that they eat in the cabin, and part of
them slept in the cabih and part on deck. He
told me that ho knew how many men it would
take, and they were determined to have them.
I noticed, at dinner, when tho men came to tho
table, that it was easy to distinguish them from
tiie rest of the passengers, or, that is, tho most of
them. . i
Mr. Shephard of this place, the editor of the
Warsaw Patriot, a decided whig paper, and as
much so as any in tho State, was on board, and
I called on him to notice the men, and called his
attention to a great many circumstances herein
detailed. And I do further state, that I went to
house where Shephard slopped, with an officer,
on this day, for the purpose of bringing laid
Shephard before the justice for the purpose of
taking his deposition, but he could not be found.
Tho same Stewart informed me that ho would
have no -difficulty in getting the money on his ar
rival at Louisville. I asked him if they did nav
im well for his trouble. Ho said ho did not
charge anything, only his money back; that what "
he done be douo free of charge. I asked hint -how
many went upon the steamboat Mail; I
think he told me between eighty and one hun
dred. I asked him who had charge of those on
the Mail, and he informed me that Russell had;"
and I think he said Captain Russell. I asked
hitn if they swore the men that be carried up to
vote, and ho told me nearly all of them. Ha
told me that he told them, when they came on
board the boat at Louisville, what they should
have if they voted, and if they did not vote, they
wcli know what they would get. , And further
this deponent saith not.
JEFFERSON PEAK.
Sworn to and subscribed before us, thi3 3d day
of December, 1840.
B. TILLER, J. P. G. C.
JAS. F. BLANTON, J. P. G. C.
Commonwealth of Kentucky Gallatin Co. set:
Tho foregoing deposition of Jefferson Peak
was this day, taken, subscribed, and sworn to by
the said Jefferson Peak, before tho undersigned,
two of the commonwealth justices of the peace
within and for the county of Gallatin, State of
Kentucky, at the time and place, and for the
purpose stated in the caption thereof, and tho
notice hereunto annexed. The said Jefferson
Peak being duly sworn, and the question pro
pounded, did in our presence, write with his own
hand, tho said foregoing deposition.
Given under our hands and seals this 3d day of
December, A. D. 1840.
B. TILLER, J. P. G. C. seal.
JAS. F. BLANTON, J. P. G. C. seal.
But as I have said those frauds were not con
fined to Hamilton county, they were. wide spread
and never can be but partially exposed. 1 hold
m my hand an expose of the frauds practiced m
Philadelphia, as corrupt and as alarming as those
which I have partially exposed, as practised in
Hamilton county. I also hold in my hands tho
Glciitworih frauds as practised in New York,
which can only be equalled in infamy by thoso
which I have named. Tho limits of a speech
will not permit any thing more than a mere sy
nopsis of thoso frauds. I will ask the clerk to
read some extracts exposing the more glaring
abuses practised in Philadelphia. I will also ask
the clerk to read some short extractsof the Glent-
worth frauds in New York. Tiie cleark read
them.
Mr. Speaker, 1 have nothing to say of the po
itical crime, and moral depravity involved in
lolding a seat on this floor, obtained by such
means as those disclosed by these reports, only
so far as I and my constituents are concerned.
1 he individuals who it is said were returned to
this House by this system of fraud, were Charles
Niylorof Phil tdclphia ; Edward Curtis, Mo3es
Gnmiell, Ogdon Ibtiin in, and James Monroe of
icff xoik; slid N. G. Pendleton of Ohio. How
many more huv.2 been returned l know not, nor
i it my present purpose to inquire, (except as to
he member from Ohio.) Of them I leave others ,
to speak, with the single remark, that present
honor gained by such frauds and treason will bo.
future infamy and contempt. - But I repeat, that
I have something t say of thoso frauds as con
nected with thoss I have l.'ie honor to represent.
1 ho people ol th-o first congressional district of
Ohio had no representative in tho 27th Congress
of their choice. N. G. Pendleton, Esq. of Cin-
innati. bore the governor'.; c:itificato, with the
broad umI of Ohio; and by virtue of thai certifi
cate and Iroad seal lie appeared and took his
scat here; ' tit he was no representative of tho
people of up district which tho broad seal rep
resented hiin to bo. Ho was the representative
of a minority of tho people of the first congres
sional district of Ohio, and ruffians, thieves, aud
cut-throats of Kentucky, audj of other States and
counties without the dilricljff his residence; and;
I Mr. Pendleton held aseatliin, knowirjg thoso
diets, he held it in the guilt of treason and jn
crime ot perjury, lie may not have known
them, though every body else in tho word beside.
know thorn. Mr. Pendleton, in all tho frauds,
perjuries, briberies, and treasons which charac
terized iho elections of 1810, all over tho Union
but more especially in the Ohio first congression
al district, may have been a political automation
or mere man-machine, and, liko Balaam's ass, '.
moved merely as he was kicked into passive ac
tion and obedience. If so, ho must be dischar
ged from tiny imputation of immorality or crime,'
and tho charge placed to his stupidity. I under
take to say there was not one dollar short of fifty
thousand oxpended in and out of Hamilton coun
ty, to secure the election of the whig candidate
of that district; and no man who has a character '
for truth and veracity, and who wishes to main''
tain that character, and who is acquainted with
tho circumstances, will utidcitakc to deny thit ,
assertion. That vast sum was expended in con
summation of the frauds which you have seen'
and heard disclosed. Mr Pendleton may not
ive advanced one dollar, nor ono mill, of all that
sum. 1 hough one ot the richest men in the city
of Cincinnati, or tho State of Ohio, himself, and
more immediately interested than all others, ho
may not have advanced ono dollar to secure his
own election, which was secured by a system of
swindling which no agency but money would .
lave secured, and no sum less than that which I
have named would have been sufficient; yet, I
repeat, he may not havo advanced ono dollar for
such an infamous purpose, to socuro such an fn-
famoua end. 1 hi? liberality orhis federal party ,
friends, in thoir zeal to overthrow tho democratic
party, and to defeat tho democratic candidate,
may have done all without his knowledge, and
Thcl'Iiiladulotiiil and New York fraud nra imi
seried for want of room;
. i