LETTERS OF "JEFFERSON"-No. 3

[August 27, 1846]

MESSRS. EDITORS: Our opponents are moving every power under their control to induce the good people to believe that they are their especial friends. And it seems to me that their hypocrisy has been sufficiently apparent, to put honest, thinking men on their guard.

They have asserted that low wages for the laborer is for his greatest advantage; also, that if our labor is done in England it will be greatly for the interest of the common laborer. And many other as foolish and base pretenses have been urged for the good of the industry of the country. But among all their pretenses there is nothing more black-hearted and false than that they are the advocates of universal suffrage. Let us look one moment at this pretense, and see if there can be any, the least particle, of truth in it.

Has not the Locofoco party been in power now some seventeen years, except one month when Harrison held the chair of state?

Have they not had the power to enact any law they chose during that time? And why is it, if they are the exclusive friends of the foreigner, that they have not repealed the law of a five years' residence before a foreigner can have the privilege of voting? What good reason can they give why a man who has abandoned his native country, in order to enjoy our free institutions, should be compelled to a residence of five years to become equal to any of our citizens? I have heard them argue as a reason why they have not repealed this provision, that the foreigner has never claimed any change. Yet they urge on the eve of the election that they are opposed to any distinctions between natives and foreign

ers.

The Whigs, on the other hand, have always held that all men are created equal; that location, birth, or any other cir

cumstance makes no distinction; that the mind is the true standard of man; and that when a man, wherever he may be born or whatever his condition, comes to this country with the mind to be an American and a freeman, he is qualified to act as a freeman. The Whigs hold that residence cannot change him for the better; that all he should be called upon to do, in order to entitle him to all the rights and immunities of a citizen, is to become a resident and to make known his intentions to be such; that five years' residence cannot fit such a man better; that paying taxes adds nothing to his capacity; that holding real or personal property will not qualify him better; and that a man who hates our government will not love it better because he is rich nor hate it worse because he is poor.

They hold that the act of abandoning their native home and indicating their intention to become the recipients of our free institutions are the strongest proofs that can be given in favor of that state of mind which is requisite to make a foreigner a good citizen. And that all such men should be allowed to vote for all the officers which are elective. And I ask, why is it, since our opponents have held the power to give to all this right at the coming election, that a part of our population is entitled to vote for only a part of the elective officers? They are residents and may vote for delegates, yet are deprived of the right to vote for the legislators. Are they not to live under the laws to be made to govern, as well as the constitution we are to live under? Does it require more capacity to enact laws than to lay down a foundation for our government! Let every voter look to these men who pretend so much interest in them at elections, and never do anything for them.

JEFFERSON.

THE WISCONSIN DEMOCRACY'S LOVE FOR THE IRISH

"Veritas nihil veretur, nisi abscondi"

[September 5, 1846]

MESSRS. EDITORS: Aware of the courtesy with which you treat even those who differ with you in political opinion, I take the liberty of soliciting a place in the columns of your widely circulated paper for the following facts in relation to the conduct of the self-styled leaders of the Democracy of Wisconsin towards that portion of the adopted citizens for whom they profess so much friendship. I mean the natives of the "Emerald Isle." I will commence with Racine County.

At the Democratic caucus held for the town of Southport in the spring of 1844, three Irishmen, namely Quigley, Harkins, and Callaghan were nominated for township officers, but on counting the votes on the day of election it was found that the names of those three persons, although of unexceptionable character and qualifications, were erased from forty-seven of the fifty-five Democratic tickets polled on that occasion. This circumstance created quite an indignant feeling amongst the Irish generally, but their ire was assuaged by a solemn promise gratuitously made by the officehunting demagogues, that one of their countrymen should be nominated at the county convention during the ensuing autumn for a seat in the legislature. The autumn arrived, the convention assembled at Kellogg's Corners but there was not a single Irish delegate present, nor was any Irishman nominated for office. The most remarkable and bare-faced fraud in the affair was that the Irish were excluded from the caucuses held in townships where they actually formed the majority by a trick of the conjuring clique which enabled them to hold secret caucuses in houses remote from the actual places of holding town meetings. In the township of

Brighton, for instance, a large number of the Irish had assembled on the day of the caucus at the house of Mr. Ward, where the caucuses had been held for several years, and they were there informed by one of the dictators that no caucus was to be held for that township and consequently returned to their homes, while their informant repaired to the residence of a Mr. Coffin, in a remote portion of the township, three miles distant from the nearest Irish settler, and there, with three other conspirators held a secret caucus at which one of these political swindlers elected the other three as delegates to the county convention. So much for the Humbug convention of Racine in 1844, when the Irish population of that county numbered over 3,400 souls or nearly 600 families—all of whom were Democrats and amongst whom were the proprietors, cultivators, taxpayers, and actual settlers of about 72,000 acres of land.

At the Democratic election in Milwaukee held about the same time, Mr. John White, the regularly nominated candidate for sheriff and the only Irishman named on the ticket was defeated by some 300 Democratic votes.

At the Iowa County election last autumn Mr. Dennis Murphy, an Irishman and one of the oldest, most intelligent, and most wealthy citizens of that county, and one of the regular nominees of the Democratic convention for the house of representatives was rejected on the day of the election. During the recent Democratic conventions it is a remarkable fact that neither Dane, Walworth, Jefferson, Dodge, Iowa, Grant, Brown, Portage, Columbia, Rock, Green, Calu-met, Richland, Marquette, Crawford, St. Croix, Sheboygan, nor Manitowoc counties (all of Wisconsin Territory, except Racine, Milwaukee, Washington counties) have nominated a single Irishman-although all, with the exception of Rock, are decidely Democratic. Nor has there been a single native of the Green Isle nominated for an office from any of the five wards embraced within the limits of the beautiful city of Milwaukee.

Mr. Ryan is among the nominees for Racine County. He is decidedly the principal lawyer in that county and the knowledge of this fact may have contributed to secure his nomination, yet I assure you he can hardly be considered as an Irishman as he never identified himself with them since he came to our territory. Indeed, I will venture to say that one-fourth of the population of Racine County are ignorant as to the country of his birth.

I learn that in the Irish townships in Washington and Milwaukee counties a few nominations have been made from amongst the Irish, but I am under the impression that those nominations will not be sustained in the ballot box on Monday next.

Time will tell, however, and I feel confident that the Irish citizens, when they discover the game, will not suffer the clique to impose upon them any longer.

Yours respectfully,

A consistent Democrat,

SEMPER PARATUS.

THE CONSTITUTIONAL CONVENTION

[September 22, 1846]

The convention to which has been entrusted the task of preparing a constitution for Wisconsin is to assemble at Madison on the first Monday in October, a fortnight from yesterday. The duty with which they have been charged, although an important and responsible one, may be easily accomplished within four weeks from the time of meeting. Having the constitutions of all the other states in the confederacy to guide and direct them, the labors of our convention will be limited to the work of comparing these together and selecting from each such provisions as may seem best adapted to our wants and most congenial to our habits and opinions. There is no reason why several months should be wasted in unprofitable debate, as in the convention now sit