Conservative.
Th °
THE TBAMVAAl
TKOUKr.15.
and the Orange
Free State for peace upon the basis of
independenc3 of the two republics was
denied by Great Britain. The move ,
however , was a diplomatic victory for
President Kruger as he forced England
to make known her policy , viz. , the
extermination of the South African re
publics. It is difficult to tell what effect
the failure of the peace overtures will
have upon the war. Now that tne
Boers realize that their national existence
is the price at stake , they are apt to be
all the more determined.
Roberts took possession of Bloemfon-
teiu without resistance. His tactful and
politic manner of treating the people of
the town has done much to remove the
feeling of hostility and encourage sub
mission on the part of the Free Statert.
President Steyn fled from Bloemfouteiu
upon the approach of Roberts and
established headquarters at Kroonstad ,
120 miles to the north , on the road to
Pretoria and about one-hnlf the dis
tance. Roberts is about to start north
in a final move toward Pretoria. Nature
has splendidly fortified the Boer capital
against the attack of an invading army.
Roberts will find his march against
Pretoria anything but a pleasure trip if
the Boers make up their minds to dis
pute nis advance.
The rebellion is practically over in the
Free State. The British have estab
lished railway communications to the
Cape. The Boers , it is reported , are
fortifying Diggarsberg , about fifty-five
miles northwest of Ladysmith and in a
very mountainous and inaccessible
country. It is quite probable that
General Buller will next be heard from
in the vicinity of this place.
* a very enter-
WHIGS AS ANTI.
EXPANSIONISTS.
. lished in the Janu
ary number of the Suwanee Review ,
Albert Watkins makes an interesting
and instructive comparison between the
anti-imperialism of today and the anti-
expansion of the whigs at the time of
the war with Mexico. The opposition
to the war , under the leadership of
Webster and Greeley , was bitter and
pronounced.
In 1847 , at the whig state convention
of Massachusetts , Webster said : "Un
less the president of the United States
shall make out a case that the war is
prosecuted for no purpose of acquisition
of dominion , for no purpose not
connected directly with the safety of the
Union , then they ( the whig majority in
congress ) ought not to grant any further
supplies. " The Tribune of that year
said : "The Tribune insists that whigs
in congress should vote for withdrawing
our army instantly from Mexico , and
that the only supplies which they grant
shall be those necessary for doing this
safely and comfortably. " At the begin-
ling of the war the democrats wore in a
majority in congress , but as a result of
the next election they became the
minority party.
In speaking of the house Mr. Watkins
says : "Some of the whig members of
, , . that house who
. .
o . . . . .
The Congress of 1847. , . .
dealt m scathing
denunciation of the war while our sol
diers were yet fighting and their ranks
were being decimated by the scourge of
fever even more than by Mexican bullets
were as follows : Senators John J.
Oritteuden , Thomas Corwin , J. M.
Olayton , John P. Hale , Reverdy John
son , Daniel Webster. Members of the
liouse : John Qnincy Adams and Robert
O. Winthrop ( speaker ) , of Massachusetts ;
David Wilmot ( of Wilmot Proviso
fame ) , of Pennsylvania ; William B.
Preston , of Virginia ; Alexander H.
Stevens , of Georgia ; Joshua R. Gid-
diugs , Samuel F. Vintou , and Robert O.
Schenck , of Ohio ; Andrew Johnson , of
Tennessee ; Caleb Smith and R. W.
Thompson of Indiana , and Abraham
Lincoln , of Illinois. Outside congress ,
Seward , Sumuer , Greeley and others ,
who afterwards became leaders of the
republican party , alike denounced the
war. Seward and Lincoln spoke
together at a great meeting in New
York City , both severely criticising the
war policy of President Polk. The
whig state convention of New Hamp
shire , held November 6,1847 , denounced
the war in terms which also sound very
familiar to us of present anti- expansion
days : 'As citizens of a free country ,
we claim and shall exercise the right at
all times of expressing our opinions of
the acts whether of the state or national
administrations , and whether these acts
relate to peace or war ; and that we
regard the attempt of the president of
the United States , in his last message ,
to brand as traitors all citizens of the
republic who do not yield a blind obedi
ence to his will i and approve his conduct
in the unconstitutional commencement
of the present war with Mexico , as an
insult to freemen , and fit only to ema
nate from one who rules over slaves. '
( Nile's 'Register , ' vol. 78 , p. 148. " )
General Robert Schenck of Ohio intro
duced a substitute for the bill for carry
ing into effect the treaty of peace with
Mexico , providing for the giving back
to Mexico the territory of California ,
and was supported by Alexander H
Stevens , of Georgia ; Joshua R. Gid-
dings , Horace Mann , Ishinun and
Palfrey , of Massachusetts.
The political effect of the opposition to
the war upon the party and the indi
viduals making it
Political EfVcct. . . . , , , . °
js thus told by Mr
Watkins : "In this mighty controversy
the democratic party , under the leader
ship of President Polk , defended the war
and advocated its resulting acquisition
of territory. The arguments used were
in substance and in statement , very like
those of the republican party in support
of the Philippine policy ; just as the
contentions of the whigs were like those
of the democratic opponents of the
Philippine policy. So far from being
crippled by their anti-expansion course ,
the whigs not only overcame the demo
cratic majority in the house of repre
sentatives as the war was in progress , as
has been noted , but in the presidential
election immediately following the war
they overwhelmingly defeated the
democratic war expansion party. It is
true that the use of General Taylor , a
hero of the war , for their candidate ,
helped the whigs to win this victory ;
but that does not alter the fact that the
distinctively anti-war party , having re
tracted nothing of its bitter opposition ,
defeated the distinctively war expansion
party. Nor did the stout opposition to
the war and to territorial acquisition , of
Lincoln , Seward , Sumner , Johnson ,
Giddings , and Greeley at all impede
their rapid progress to illustrious leader
ship in the republican party.
1 'In view of the triumphant success of
the whig leaders , both great and small ,
in their own party , and in its successor ,
the republican party , after their oppo
sition to the acquirement of contiguous
territory a natural annexation for the
rounding out of our then broken and
unsymmetricai domain. it is far from
the part of wisdom to calculate or to
contend that opposition to the annexa
tion or permanent control of an isolated
archipelago , six thousand miles from
our nearest border , will injure the
standing or prospects of any present
party or its leaders , or that any attempt
to fasten odium upon them on that ac
count will be successful or worth the
danger of the undertaking. "
Nebraskaabound-
FUSION.
ed in the early
days with joint snakes. These reptiles
taken by the tail and snapped violently ,
flew into fragments. Each piece be
came an independent snake , oftentimes
however , without head or eyes.
Joint politics and joint snakes are not en
tirely dissimilar When a severe shook
sunders silver- republicans , separates mid
dle-of-the-road from amalgamation pop
ulists and jars off a few discouraged dem
ocrats and each variety wiggles off by
itself the gentle joint snake is brought
to mind. He was the reptilian precursor
ser of the fusion party and not strongly
put together.
.
COUIISK Congress are will
ing to feed the
Puerto Ricans , but not to give them a
chance to support themselves by honest
work. It is a course which tends to fos
ter idleness , debauchery , and crime , yet
it is undertaken deliberately for the
sake of a trumpery political advantage ,
[ Philadelphia Ledger ( Ind. Rep. )
,
* -nvv ? 'f " " j , y
- & *
jc * * i