[This morning]
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☞This morning, in returning from New York, our reporter "dropped in" at the Pewter Mug, the head quarters of "the unterrified." Frown not, oh gentle reader; for the foaming ale in the cool tankard is wonderfully attractive, while the thermometer ranges so high The walls of the Pewter Mug are hung around with the portraits of Democratic worthies. The existence of the Whig party is indicated only by a single portrait, that of the Sage of Ashland.1 Fernando Wood2 figures in spotless kids; John Kelly,3 the Sheriff, displays his coarse features along side the gentlemanly looking ex Mayor. The dead and buried leaders—the Cass's, Pierce's and Buchanans, are poked away in the corners. Prominent among the men of the future stand Douglas and Horatio Seymour4. The Sage of Binghamton appeareth not. Significant it is, that while the other portraits have the names appended, the stalwart shoulders and massive features of the Little Giant5 are left to be recognised without the assistance of subjoined letter pres. In the Pewter Mug, as in the party at large, the name and fame of the little Giant are tabooed, but the lineaments and the man are there nevertheless. No where is it better known than at the Pewter Mug, that the Senator of Illinois is the coming man. Even the strongest Lecomptonists admit, sotto voce, that the issue in 1860 is between the two D's—Douglas, or Defeat. There are none in that well-posted locality that would dream of carrying the name of Cobb, or Hunter, or Breckenridge, or even of Wise, to the people of the Empire State, with any hope of a favorable verdict. Every Congressman from New York city, and every Tammany man who visits Washington during the next session of Congress, will do his part toward convincing the blatant Southern rights gentry that they must take Douglas, or submit to the inevitable success of the Republican candidate. The democrats of the North love the South much, but they love the spoils better, hence they will not endure disunion, which would leave them forever an insignificant minority. Rely on it, they will find means to cause the South to swallow the Popular Sovereignty dogma6 and its great champion Disunion is impossible, Defeat is unbearable; ergo, Douglas is the inevitable.
Notes:
1. Henry Clay (1777–1852) served as the seventh Speaker of the House and the ninth Secretary of State. He was also a three-time candidate for President of the United States as a member of the Whig Party. He was also affectionately known as the "Sage of Ashland." [back]
2. Fernando Wood (1812–1881), a Democrat, was mayor of New York City from 1855–1857 and 1860–1861. He was widely regarded as corrupt. During his time at the Brooklyn Daily Times, Whitman penned numerous fiery articles against "King Fernando." [back]
3. John Kelly (1822–1886), often referred to as "Honest John," was a New York City alderman in the 1850s. He would then be elected as a Democratic member of the US House of Representatives in March of 1855 and served until his resignation in 1858, then serving as a Sheriff of the city and county of New York from 1859–1862 and 1865–1867. [back]
4. Former governor of New York, Horatio Seymour (1810–1886) was the Democratic Party nominee and opponent of Republican candidate Ulysses S. Grant in the presidential contest of 1868. For more on Seymour, see Joel H. Silbey, "Seymour, Horatio," American National Biography Online. [back]
5. Stephen Arnold Douglas (1813–1861), nicknamed the "Little Giant," was a U.S. Senator from Illinois from 1847 to 1861. Douglas promoted the Kansas-Nebraska Act in 1854 and ran for President against Abraham Lincoln in 1860. He was a well-known proponent of "Popular Sovereignty," the idea that the question of slavery should be left for voters of a given state to decide. For more information, see T. Gregory Garvey, "Douglas, Stephen Arnold (1813–1861)," Walt Whitman: An Encyclopedia, ed. J.R. LeMaster and Donald D. Kummings (New York: Garland Publishing, 1998). [back]
6. Stephen Arnold Douglas (1813–1861), nicknamed the "Little Giant," was a U.S. Senator from Illinois from 1847 to 1861. Douglas promoted the Kansas-Nebraska Act in 1854 and ran for President against Abraham Lincoln in 1860. He was a well-known proponent of "Popular Sovereignty," the idea that the question of slavery should be left for voters of a given state to decide. For more information, see T. Gregory Garvey, "Douglas, Stephen Arnold (1813–1861)," Walt Whitman: An Encyclopedia, ed. J.R. LeMaster and Donald D. Kummings (New York: Garland Publishing, 1998). [back]