Last fall, at the Fair in Jackson, in West Tennessee, in the house and at the bedside of Andrew Guthrie, on being inquired of as to his future course, the Governor became very much excited, and roundly asserted, that if the American party nominated Fillmore, he should go against him. [**hand pointing right ==>]Because Fillmore, in his appointment of persons to office in Tennessee, did not consult him, but in many cases appointed his personal enemies! Mark, he did not pause to inquire who might be the opposing candidate to Mr. Fillmore. He was not then, as he is not now, governed by any principle in the matter, but by passion. He is against Mr. Fillmore, under all circumstances, no matter who may oppose him! And why? Because Mr. Fillmore did not suffer him to put his numerous active friends into fat offices under the General Government; to many of whom he had made pledges while he was struggling for a seat in the United States Senate—where he ought never to have gone, and where the better portion of those who aided in his election now regret having sent him!
But it is true, Fillmore and his Cabinet did refuse the extravagant demands made for office by the Governor; and in no single instance did they appoint men to office from Tennessee without consultation with Bell, Gentry, and Williams; all three of whom were offensive to Jones. They had proven themselves to be worthy of consultation; the Governor had not! This accounts, moreover, for the efforts of Jones at Baltimore to defeat the nomination of Fillmore, and to procure the nomination of Scott—efforts which, unfortunately for the country, were but too successful!
When the American party was organized in Tennessee, Jones had no objection to the creed, and would have fallen into the ranks, but then he beheld Gentry and Brownlow in the party—men whom he despised above all others. He tried to prevent the nomination of Gentry for Governor by letter-writing, and by seeking to get up a Whig Convention. Failing in these schemes, he threw himself into the arena, and secretly damaged Gentry all he could, and played into the hands of Johnson, who was only elected by a majority of some two thousand votes!
We are not informed as to the course Gov. Jones will pursue in this contest, further than this, he will go against Fillmore. We predict that he will support Buchanan. Pride of character may keep him from it—if he have any of that commodity left, after his five years' residence at Washington! The platform upon which Buchanan has been placed by the Cincinnati Convention, is a reiteration of violent and undying hostility to every measure of public policy that was advocated by Henry Clay and the Old Whig party. Jones still professes an equally undying devotion to Clay and his principles. Moreover, Jones has, on every stump in Tennessee, held up Buchanan as a rank old Federalist, a Pennsylvania Abolitionist, and as the wicked traducer, violent calumniator, and malignant persecutor of Henry Clay—even attributing his promotion to the Secretaryship of State, by Mr. Polk, to his infamous agency in fastening upon Mr. Clay the foul charge of "bargain, intrigue, and corruption." We confess that we are at a loss to see how Jones can fall into the support of Buchanan. The nomination of the man is a direct insult to Old Clay Whigs!
Albert G. Watkins, the Representative in Congress from the First Congressional District of Tennessee, has gone over to Democracy, placing his change upon the ground of his great concern for the South! We take it that he will support Buchanan without hesitancy. This would place Watkins before the country in his true colors, and reflect the likeness of the man with daguerreotype accuracy!! With such a platform, and such a candidate on it, Watkins would have the appearance of a man walking in one direction, with his head turned completely around, and his face looking the other way! The incongruity of the platform, and the peculiar reputation of Buchanan for political inconsistency, are alike adapted to the history and incidents of Watkins's late canvass for Congress! The plain truth is, that the man so completely destroyed himself, and was so ruinously exposed by his competitor, Col. Taylor, whom he beat only some two hundred votes, (and that by means that make his seat in Congress one of thorns,) that he could but go over to Locofocoism. And although he has, in former days, held up Buchanan on the stump as an old Federalist, and as the reviler and persecutor of Henry Clay, he can advocate him now with a better grace than he can look his Know Nothing constituents in the face! We cannot say of this man as Pope said of Craggs:
"Broke no promise, served no private end,
Gained no title, and who lost no friend."
William G. Swan, of Knoxville, is next on the list of "Old Line Whigs" who have gone over to the Foreign Catholic Democratic party, and of whose conversion the Democrats at a distance boast. Here they do not brag; but on the other hand, some of the leaders, whose names we can supply, authorize us to state that they do not want him, and will not receive him. This man was twice beaten for the Legislature in this county—never elected by the people to any position outside of Knoxville—and became soured at the Whig party. He went for Johnson and Sag Nichtism last summer, and his loss is not regretted by the American party in this county.
But John H. Crozier, of Knoxville, has gone over to "Old Buck" and his admirers; and this is claimed as a change! This little man, supremely selfish, was turned out of Congress five years ago, by Josiah M. Anderson, with the people at his back, for taking too much mileage, by several hundred dollars per session, for four years! He afterwards desired the Whig party to run him for Governor; but they were not willing to undertake the load. He became soured, and last summer paid a visit to some of the counties below, to avoid, as was believed, voting for Gentry for Governor, and Sneed for Congress. He was formerly very bitter in his opposition to Democracy; and on many a stump has he denounced Buchanan, and all others concerned in the "bargain and intrigue" slander of Clay, besides holding up "Buck" as a Blue-light Federalist! At a recent Buchanan Ratification meeting in Knoxville, he made a bitter speech against the American party!
These two men, Swan and Crozier, were active in getting up an organization against us, in 1849, by heading a company which purchased the "Register Establishment," of this city, at the head of which they placed one john miller m'kee, behind whom they and others concealed themselves and wrote violent and abusive articles, through a controversy of two years. Driving the whole of them to the wall, as we did, in the controversy, they determined to mob and tear down our office; and with a view to this, those concerned deposited their guns, and other "implements of husbandry," in the law office jointly occupied by these two men, who have operated as twin brothers for several years—each sympathizing with the other in his political defeats! Those concerned were deterred from this contemplated and well-arranged assault upon our office, by Col. Luttrell, the Comptroller of the State, and other gentlemen of nerve, arming themselves with shot-guns, pistols, and hatchets, and taking their stand at our office!
Nothing daunted by this defeat, these gallant lawyers, and generous—not to say brave—opponents betook themselves to the county of Anderson, in this Judicial Circuit, and with great difficulty got up an indictment against us, under an old statute, forgotten by gentlemen of the bar, for advertising a Baltimore lottery scheme; when they themselves, and their relatives, were dealing in the Art Union lottery in this city! They were most signally defeated in that indictment; and, together with the two Williamses, brothers-in-law of Crozier, sought to drive the business men of the place, and others, from advertising in our paper, or subscribing for it. Failing in this, they sought to prevent us from getting the Government advertising under Fillmore's administration; and in this they failed, though this is the ground of their hostility to Fillmore and his Cabinet, as well as to John Bell, M. P. Gentry, and C. H. Williams.