FOURTH ERA--THE HON. MIDDLETON FLAM RE-ELECTED--THE NEW LIGHTS
DETERMINE TO STIGMATIZE THE WHIGS AS FEDERALISTS--MR. FLAM'S
INSTRUCTIONS IN REGARD TO THE PRESIDENTIAL CANVASS--NOMINATION
OF HARRISON AND TYLER--COURSE OF THE NEW LIGHTS--FORMATION
OF THE GRAND CENTRAL COMMITTEE OF UNFLINCHING NEW-LIGHT
QUODLIBETARIAN DEMOCRATS--ITS PRESIDENT, SECRETARY, AND
PLACE OF MEETING.
In the autumn of 1839, the Hon. Middleton Flam was again our candidate
for Congress. He was opposed by the celebrated John Smith, of Thorough
Blue. This contest was marked by one conspicuous feature: we had
completely succeeded in appropriating to our party the name of
Democrats--at least we had labored very hard to do so;--our next move
was to get up the old hue and cry of Federalism against the Whigs. This
required great boldness; but Middleton Flam entered upon the endeavor
with the intrepidity of a hero. Eliphalet Fox walked in his footsteps,
and from all quarters, simultaneously, and by a well-managed concert,
the cry of Federalist was poured forth upon our opponents; and
Henry Clay especially--as we counted on him for the Presidential
candidate--was proved to be tainted with Federalism beyond all hope of
bleaching it out.
We had now two great points settled with reference to the canvass for
the Presidency: the Whig candidate was to be brought into disgrace,
first, as an Abolitionist, and, secondly, as a Federalist. Mr. Flam gave
our club every assurance that these two charges combined would destroy
the purest man that ever lived; and that it was only necessary to drive
these spikes with a sledgehammer every day, and the Democracy in the end
could not fail to believe in the existence and in the enormity of these
offenses, no matter who should be brought out by the Whigs--whether
Scott, Clay, Harrison, or Webster.
But we had pretty conclusively made up our minds that Clay was to be the
man; and our club in consequence immediately set about procuring the
materials for a biography of that statesman, designed to demonstrate
that he had all his life been a Hartford Conventionist in sentiment, and
an unsparing enemy of Southern institutions. This task was consigned to
Eliphalet Fox, who very soon amassed a wonderful amount of matter
exactly to our purpose. In this, Eliphalet gave evidence of his usual
skill; and his facts were so contrived that they might be used with
equal success against either of the four above named, or indeed any one
else who might be brought forward: but as Eliphalet had a particular
hatred for Mr. Clay, and was more accustomed to defame him than any
other great man in the nation, the compilation was imbued with a spirit
that would have been much more effective in breaking down Mr. Clay's
reputation than that of either of the others.
Great was the sensation produced in Quodlibet, great was our
mortification, and great our surprise upon receiving the news in
December from Harrisburg. The convention actually passed by Mr. Clay,
passed by the great claims of Scott and Webster, and brought out
General William Henry Harrison, together with John Tyler for the
Vice-Presidency;--thus, by a perversity which, on all important
occasions, distinguishes the Whigs, putting the two old horses of 1836
upon the course.
Mr. Flam was now at Washington. Our club met and immediately opened
a correspondence with him for advice. "Keep your eye on the Globe,"
was his first admonition. His second was, "Open upon Harrison
your Abolition batteries;--swear that the nomination was procured
by Garrison;--charge Tyler with being a slaveholder, and send that
off to New Hampshire;--prove that Harrison was a stark Federalist
by accepting an ensigncy from the hands of Washington;--but, above
all, turn him into derision for his poverty and plain habits."
It was wonderful to see the zeal with which Quodlibet set about the
task assigned to it by its distinguished counselor. Eliphalet Fox, with
a degree of magnanimity uncommon in an editor, took the field in behalf
of Mr. Clay. "That persecuted patriot," said he, "who deserved more of
his party than any man in the nation, has been treated with absolute
contempt. It was due to his great claims to offer him the Presidency;
but the spirit of abolition swayed this factious convention, and Mr.
Clay was rejected solely on account of his well-known and deep-rooted
attachment to the slave-holding interests of the South. As to General
Harrison," the same article continued, "his humble station as the clerk
of a county court, his insignificance and poverty, will leave the
Democrats but little to overcome. Well has an enlightened and patriotic
contemporary press, a distinguished pillar of the New Lights, remarked,
in reference to the habits of General Harrison's life and the lowness of
his associations, that two thousand dollars a year, a LOG CABIN, and a
barrel of HARD CIDER would induce him to resign all claims to the honors
his inconsiderate friends have proffered him."
The same paper propounded a series of interrogatories skillfully
addressed to John Tyler, inquiring of him--what number of slaves he
employed on his plantation, what was the ratio of their increase in each
year, and how many he had disposed of at various intervals to Southern
traders:--which interrogatories were admirably drawn up in language so
equivocal in its import as to infer, what it did not directly assert, an
extensive traffic in a commodity which could not but excite great
indignation against him among the large mass of voters of all sides in
the North.
How beautiful are these evidences of the operation of our New-Light
philosophy! What a master in this science is the unrivaled Eliphalet
Fox!
It was soon discovered that our club had fallen into a slight mistake
touching the Log Cabin and Hard Cider, and the charge of poverty brought
against General Harrison. The audacious Whigs had even the effrontery to
adopt the LOG CABIN and HARD CIDER as the emblem of their party, and to
ask the aid of those whom we had inconsiderately derided for living in
those humble cabins and using this cheap luxury of cider, to make war
against our New-Light Democracy. The Log Cabin instantly became the
representative of a sentiment and a word of power; and, in a perfect
tornado of enthusiasm, was raised in every village, hamlet, and meeting
ground in the land.
Truly did this sudden upraising of the emblem strike dismay into our
ranks! Quid consilii capiemus? was our universal question in Quodlibet.
What should we do? Recourse was had to Mr. Flam. "Drop," said that
ready-witted man in reply, "the charge of poverty against Harrison: say
he is rolling in wealth. Bring out your Federalism against him with new
vigor. Call the Log Cabin banner senseless mummery--and declare your
disgust against it, as lowering the tone of public sentiment and morals.
If that doesn't do, get some New-Light Democratic preacher to say that
Hard Cider produces more intoxication than all the liquors the Democrats
ever drank: let him rail against Whig meetings as Hard Cider
orgies--remember the word;--and if we can only identify the New-Light
Democracy with Temperance, its twin sister, we shall produce an
unheard-of effect. Meantime, ply the Abolition battery with all possible
diligence--and vamp up anew that old charge of hiring out criminals to
service; but be careful to make no mistake--describe it as 'selling poor
white men into slavery for debt.' To prove that Harrison is _against_
slavery and at the same time _in favor_ of it, will be a most happy
stroke of our New-Light Quodlibetarian philosophy. Don't fail to do this
with all possible industry. Tell Eliphalet Fox that the endeavor is
worthy of his genius, and if he ever expects to become a great man, now
is the opportunity presented to him."
These counsels gave us great encouragement, and we set ourselves to work
in earnest. The New-Light Club was confined in its operations to the
Borough of Quodlibet. Our whole Congressional district, including
Thorough Blue, Tumbledown, and Bickerbray, required the supervision of a
body which might be organized to regulate the affairs of the canvass
within that limit. This gave rise to the Central Committee. A convention
was called to meet in Quodlibet, where every portion of the district
should be represented. That convention resulted in the appointment of a
Committee of Twelve of the staunchest and most active of the New Lights.
It was called "The Grand Central Committee of Unflinching New-Light
Quodlibetarian Democrats." The name was sonorous, euphonious, and, in a
certain sense, magnificent--but being too long for ordinary use, we
reduced it for working purposes to "The Great New-Light Democratic
Central Committee of Quodlibet." Eliphalet Fox was made President; and
the humble author of these chronicles, in consideration of his fidelity
in the discharge of his duty to the New-Light Club, was chosen to be
Secretary also of the committee--an honor which, with due reverence and
thankfulness, he hath assumed.
From the date of its organization, the committee, a majority whereof
are inhabitants of Quodlibet, meet once a week with most commendable
punctuality, and, as we have reason to believe, with signal usefulness
to the glorious cause in which we have embarked. Zachary Younghusband,
who is a member, gratuitously and generously, out of his mere zeal in
the cause, proffered the use of his room up stairs above the tin-plate
workshop, for our sessions--an offer which we were reluctantly obliged
to decline, after one trial, on account of the noise created by the
workmen below. I mention this praiseworthy offer as due to Zachary, in
favor of whom the committee passed a vote of thanks. We found a more
quiet place of meeting in the back room of the cabinet store of Isaiah
Crape, the Undertaker, for which we agreed to pay fifty cents a week and
find our own lights. In this secluded spot much is done to shape and
direct the destinies of this Great Republic.