Three San Francisco Homicides
Moment of Truth: 3. The Campaign
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Moment of Truth
3. The Campaign
From the Sacramento Union:
The campaign has taken on a most disturbing tone. The contest between Democrats and the Republicans has been buried by the fight between the two wings of the Democratic Party, and especially between their leaders.
Senator Gwin, who typically does not return from Washington for our election seasons, has made a point of coming back and taking charge of the campaign for the now-dominant pro-administration wing. Senator Broderick is managing the opposing faction loyal to himself and to his anti-slavery platform. Yet at enormous rallies, by far the largest ever seen in California, both have chosen to ignore the major issues of the moment to attack each other personally, and in such language as may lead to violence.
Dr. Gwin has long been honored as an orator, though he has compromised his dignity in the vulgar and abusive tone he has recently adopted. David Broderick, by contrast, was never noted as a public speaker, and owes his great career to his ability to build a loyal and effective operation. Yet all who've heard the famous "Chief" declaiming on the stump this month have marveled at the sheer compelling power of his passion and his hatred for his enemies, most notably, his fellow senator. It must be said that the barrage of personal attacks commenced with Gwin, and shocked the state as coming from a gentleman so long acknowledged for his manners. At this point, though, it hardly matters who began the fracas. Both are tearing at each other on the stump with such a virulence that, should they run across each other accidentally, would almost surely trigger bloodshed.
* * *
Senator Gwin speaking to a rally in Roseville:
"We know that I have been accused of making deals with Broderick to win my re-election to the Senate. It's even claimed I traded off my rights to nominate the patronage positions in our state. That I would so demean myself and my authority in office as to sacrifice my own supporters' interests and their just rewards was, and is, the blackest libel. The lie is, fortunately, obvious. Look at all the California offices within the gift of the United States, and count, if you can find them, any granted to the friends of Broderick! In fact, try to name a single post not given to a true Administration man!
"I'd like to take the credit for these large appointments in the Customs House, the U.S. Marshal's office and all others. But our thanks are owed to Broderick. When he arrived in Washington two years ago as U.S. Senator, he brought a list of those he'd promised patronage. I knew the man so thoroughly that I did nothing to impede him, nor did I offer any names myself, because I knew that our new Senator would so offend the President with gross behavior that all of his suggestions would be tossed in the spitoon. Without a single word from me, President Buchanan selected men that he, and I, could trust for loyalty to the Administration.
This was the result of Broderick's bullying his way into the U.S. Senate, that venerable chamber so recently the haunt of Henry Clay and Daniel Webster, and now of Stephen Douglas. This New York City brawler! This former grog shop owner from a firehouse! A man who stormed out of the White House when honored by an audience with President Buchanan, a gentleman of breeding. Broderick's brought California nothing back from Washington for the same good reason that a mangy mongrel sneaking through the kitchen door is driven out with kicks instead of food. This man has no more business sitting in the U.S. Senate than my bootblack, except my bootblack is much more refined."
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Senator Broderick speaking at a rally in Marysville:
"This Gwin! This criminal! Where shall I commence the catalog of all his crimes? When gold was found, he rushed out from Mississippi just to line his pockets, so he could buy more slaves to build up his plantation back at home. He's never been your Senator because he's never wished to live in California. He's still representing Mississippi and the other Southern states from his temporary perch here. He’s never brought his family out. That speaks volumes where his heart is, and his loyalties. They are not with California.
"Gwin's true loyalties are to himself and to those business interests that employ him. There has never been a swindle more corrupt than the Pacific Mail monopoly in which he played the leading role. And in the Lime Point swindle, authorizing the U.S. Government to purchase private land in San Francisco for twenty times what it was worth! In both of these examples, and in so many, many more, Gwin himself has shared the profits one way or another.
"He has no lasting stake in California. Gwin's only stake in California was a gold mine, long played out, but which brought him in that fortune which he sent to Mississippi. By contrast, I've sunk everything I own in San Francisco real estate, the very keystone of our future here. I only met his wife in Washington, though he and I arrived in California a full decade back. He brought her there to live, but not to California. Why? Because we don't have slavery in California, whereas in Washington she can enjoy what Chivs call their 'domestic institution!' How could she possibly give her lavish parties without her Negro slaves?"
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From the Stockton Record:
People hereabouts cannot remember such large crowds as gathered here the past two nights, as Broderick and Gwin took turns before the voters of three counties. Reports of their performances at other rallies did much to charge the interests and the passions of their audiences, as did the chance to see both giants in two days. This battle of the champions nearly bled into the crowds because there were so many Broderick men and Gwin supporters present at one time. When Gwin spoke Saturday, his adherents in the audience came close to blows with men who backed The Chief. The same occurred when Broderick spoke before an equally mixed crowd on Sunday.
We quote from their addresses:
Senator Gwin:
"What are we to do about this individual? At a moment when the unity of Democrats is critical in order to defeat the abolitionist Republicans seeking to destroy our Union, this Broderick chooses to attack his own! Everyone is asking the same question. Why doesn't he just bolt to the Republicans, if that is where his heart is, and stop tearing at a Democratic Party that so clearly has rejected him? It seems a mystery to many, but not to me. Broderick's the kind of man who, if he can't get what he wants, would rather tear down and destroy in anger than move forward in a new direction. Fury and resentment and revenge are all his leading motives. He has no more self-possession than a rabid dog!
"How are we to pry this sucking parasite off of our Democratic Party? If you kill him, it may only make him seem a martyr. If you beat him up, he'll only garner sympathy. Our task for now is but to trounce his candidates at this election, so that no one anymore pretends there's a division in our Party, or that our California Democrats do not support our national administration. Then, with that glorious but certain victory achieved, we can consider how to clear the stage for good of David Broderick and everything he stands for."
Senator Broderick:
"Gwin's purpose from the day he first arrived in California was to make it an appendage of the slave states. But he ran into a problem. Men had come from all the Northern and the Western states, seeking fortune from their own bold enterprise and labor in the gold fields. They would not tolerate competing with slave labor gangs, bought with Southern capital by gentlemen who would not shovel sand themselves. Our miners were so clear about this issue that even Gwin received the message, so that he stood aside and silent when slavery was rejected in the California Constitution. In fact, the man was shrewd enough to not support Jeff Davis and other Southern senators when they held up our admission to the Union because we'd enter as a free state.
"Gwin's plan was very simple. California could remain a free state for a little while, but would support the slave states with his Senate vote if he became a Senator. Then, later, he would get around to bringing slavery to California by amending our free constitution. And I tell you that, had I not fought him and his cohorts tooth and nail, year after year in our state legislature, we'd have slavery right now in California! Or the southern half of California would have broken off and been admitted as a slave state. Gwin's vision of our state is as a place where slavery takes root on the Pacific Coast forever, where working men compete with slaves, where labor is demeaned at the expense of capital! And, above all, where all the work is done by those who cannot vote!
"Gwin is but the California arm of that corrupt administration that has settled on a vision for the nation. In that vision, slavery must be extended throughout all our Western Territories. All the promise of our future states, of our American civilization spread across the continent, is to be sacrificed to slavery so that the South can feel assured that it can never be outvoted in our nation's Congress by the free states of the North. And if this effort demands violence, then so be it. That's the message of Lecompton, Kansas! That the will of the majority can be overridden by the violence of hired hands of slavery. For that's exactly what those cutthroats from Missouri were! The agents of Buchanan and of Gwin and Davis, and everyone that wades waist deep in slavery.
"So be advised. Gwin and his fellows have already determined to succeed by any means, including arms. They are so wedded to their evil institution that death is due to any who oppose them. But as long as there's a heartbeat in my breast, that breast will be the wall I've always been for freedom! They'll try to tear that wall down. Even blow it down with bullets. Let them try! And let them know that we can fire back! The free working men of California and this nation are not cowards! Let the slavers and their backers start a war and we will finish it!"
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From the San Francisco Herald:
Enough returns are in to say with confidence that Broderick's slate was thoroughly defeated and that Gwin and President Buchanan won a clear, resounding victory for the policies of the administration in the minds of California Democrats. For all of Broderick's efforts these past months, his candidates were much too weak or minor to be taken seriously, and many stronger candidates he might have fielded had joined with the Republicans. There appears to be no future for The Chief in his own Party.
We fear, however, that there remains a further act to play out in this drama. Most people are convinced that Gwin will challenge Broderick to a duel. Broderick himself invited it by declaring he’d accept a challenge after the election, though only from a peer in politics. This was clearly understood as meaning Gwin. Thus Gwin would face some shame or condemnation should he fail to follow through at this point, and risk providing Broderick a tacit victory in his otherwise defeat.
Gwin's language on the stump was so offensive and insulting to The Chief that he appeared to be preparing for a challenge. And Broderick's attacks on Gwin seemed equally intended to provoke it. So much have observers come to think a fight is unavoidable that it is commonly believed that Latham only ran for Governor so he could appoint himself a U.S. Senator should either Broderick or Gwin fall in combat. We pray he may have no occasion for this action and will serve out his full term in Sacramento.