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CHRONIOLE AND SENTINEL.
AUGUSTA.
MONDAY MORNING, AUGUST 10.
FOR PRESIDENT,
WILLIAM HENRY HARRISON,
Os Ohio ;
The invincible Hero of Tippecanoe the incor
ruptible Statesman —the inflexible Republican——
the patriotic Farmer of Ohio.
fob vice-president,
JOHN TYLER,
Os Virginia;
A State Rights Republican of the school of ’9B—
—of Virginia’s noblest sons, and emphatically
one of America’s most sagacious, virtuous and
patriot statesmen.
FOR ELECTORS OF PRESIDENT AND VICE-PRESIDENT,
GEORGE R. GILMER, of Oglethorpe.
DUNCAN L. CLINCH, of Camden.
JOHN W. CAMPBELL, of Muscogee.
JOEL CRAWFORD, of Hancock.
CHARLES DOUGHERTY, of Clark.
SEATON GRANTLAND, of Baldwin.
ANDREW MILLER, cf Cass.
WILLIAM EZZARD, of DeKalb.
C. B. STRONG, of Bibb.
JOHN WHITEHEAD, of Burke.
E. WIMBERLY, of Twiggs.
FOB CONGRESS,
WILLIAM C. DAWSON, of Greene,
R. W. HABERSHAM, of Habersham.
JULIUS C. ALFORD, es Troup.
EUGENIUS A. NISBET, of Bibb.
LOTT WARREN, of Sumter. ,
THOMAS BUTLER KING, of Glynn.
ROGER L. GAMBLE, of Jefferson.
JAMES A. MERIWETHER, of Putnam.
tHOMAS F. FOSTER, of Muscogee.
(Tjr* No mail North of Richmond last night.
The National Intelligencer of the sth says:
We are happy that we have it in our power to
relieve the anxiety of the distant friends of Mr.
Habersham, by stating that he is now so much
better as to be considered out of danger.
Extract of a letter to the editor, dated
Mobile, August 4, 1840.
The Whigs have succeeded in this county and
Baldwin, (on the east side of the bay,) most trium
phantly, beating our opponents throughout —Re-
presentatives, Sheriffs, all all. The vote was
strictly a party vote, and I have strong hopes that
even Alabama will be found in support of Harrison,
Tyler and Reform.
From the Mobile Advertiser of the 4th.
Great triumph of the People ! ! !
THIRD HARRISON GUN FROM MOBILE CITY.
IT WILL NOT BE THE LAST ! !
One of the most peaceable elections ever held
in the city of Mobile came off' yesterday, and it
affords us infinite pleasure to inform our readers
that the PEOPLE have triumphed over the of
fice-holders by a signal and decisive majority.
We will not speak of the tremendous exertions
made to defeat us; suffice it to say THE PEO
PLE HAVE TRIUMPHED, and that the
friends of “HARRISON, TYLER AND RE
FORM” have elected their four candidates to the
Legislature, and their Sheriff. Our official ma
jority will be at least 100 votes.
The returns ate not official, hut we presume
they are in the main, correct, and will not vary
either way 10 votes.
From the Log Cabin Extra, of the oth.
LOWNDES COUNTY.
Hunter, 852
■Campbell, 893
Hunley, 566
Robinson, 576
Autauga—Davis and Doseter, Representa
tives.
Coosa—Morris, Representative.
Butler— Crenshaw and Romfw/Representa
& tives, and Womack's majority for the Senate
over 500.
Macon— Fitzpatrick, Representative.
Russel —One Whig Representative.
g Montgomery —Hutchison and Ashurst, Rep
resentatives :
Barbour and Russell— Buford, elected to
the Senate, which is a whig gam.
The Senatorial District of Pike and Butler
was last year represented by a Democrat. It is
probable Womack is elected, which will be a
whig gain.
Whig gain in the House 1 in Lowndes, 1 in
Autauga and 1 in Butler.
Bibb and Shelby Whig Senator—gain.
Two gained in Bibb for the House.
Those in Italics are whigs.
Extract of a letter to the editor, dated
Baltimore, August 5, 1840.
News has just reached us that in a duel between
Hon. F. Thomas and W. Price of Hagarstown, Mr.
Thomas was killed, and Mr. Price badly if not
mortally wounded. Yours, &c.
Missouri. —Two large Whig meetings were
held in the city of St. Louis recently.—The edi
tor of the Bulletin says : “ When we look around
us, and see whole States renouncing V. Buren
isna, and enrolling themselves under the Whig
banner, a hope arises in our bosom that Missouri
may awaken from her lethargy, and assist in res
cuing the country.”
Frontier Convention. —The friends of
Harrison and Tyler have resolved on a Frontier
Contention, to be held at Erie, Pennsylvania, on
the 10th September next, to embrace delegates
from the Slates of Michigan, Ohio, New York,
and Pennsylvania.
The Loco Focos have at last ceased to count
ths seceders from their party. They now find it
much shorter work to count what they have got
left. — Prentice.
Mr. Van Buren loves the people. — Globe.
But the people don’t return his passion. Th«
man is in iiOvis!
From the Fayetteville Observer of the sth.
North Carolina Flection.
We h ave returns from live counties, among
them some of the strongest Federal Torv coun
ties in the State; and the result is, that we have
GAINED A MEMBER OF THE LEGISLA
TURE, and lost 268 votes tor Governor, as com
pared with the vote for Governor in 1836, the
only test vote in all the counties. The loss, it
will be seen, is in Granville 473, and in Warren
36; whilst we have gained in three counties,
Pitt 137, Edgecombe 101, and Franklin 3.
These five counties embrace one twelfth of the
entire vote of the State. As the majority of
Dudley in 1836 was 4,868, we could afford to
lose throughout the whole State in the same
proportion, and yet elect Morehcad by a majority
of 1,642 votes. But instead of losing we shall
gain. The great West is Morehead’s stronghold,
and not a county in the West votes until the
13th. We have not the slightest fear that More
heads majority will be less than 5,000.
In the last Legislature, we had a majority of
12 on joint ballot. The gain in Granville makes
that majority 14, which the Federal Tories must
overcome before they can re-elect Brown and
Strange.
FOR GOVERNOR.
Morehead. Saunders. Dudley. Spaight.
Granville,... 873 760.... * 977. 391
Warren, 88 705 92. 673
Pitt, (maj’y.) 109 483 518
FranKlin, 383 636 408 564
Edgecombe,. 111..... 1130 71 1191
1564 3231 1931 3330
FOR THE GENERAL ASSEMBIY.
Granville County. —Senate, Johnson, Whig,
by 5 maj. over Wyche, Van. Commons, R. B.
Gilliam, Dr. Russel, and Maj. Roberts, all Whigs.
Poll: for Senate, Johnson, 365, Wyche, 360.
For Commons, Gilliam 906, Roberts 874, Rus
sel 869, Hester, Van, 796, Beasley do, 698,
Young do 777: 1 Whig gain.
For Sheriff, Leslie Gilliam by a majority of
317 over Cook.
Warren. —Weldon N. Edwards, S.; Eaton
and Hawkins, C. All Vans. No change.
Franklin. —John D. Hawkins, S.; Young
Patteison and Thos. Howerton C. All Vans.
No change. Poll: Senate, Hawkins 299, Levin
Perry 108. For Commons, Patterson 689,
Howerton 636, John E. Thomas, Whig, 426,
George Davis, do. 154.
Edgecombe. —3 Van elected. No change.
Beaufort. —Win. Selby, S.; J. O'K. Williams
and S. P. Allen, C. All Whigs. No change.
Pitt. —Alfred Move, S.; John L. Foreman and
Isaac Joiner, C. All Whigs. No change.
RECAPITULATION.
10 Whigs and 9 Vans elected. Last year 9
Whigs and 10 Van. 151 to be heard from.
Augusta, August 7,1840.
At a meeting of the Clinch Riflemen, upon their
parade ground, this day, the following preamble and
resolutions were adopted:
Whereas, it has pleased Almighty God to take
from our midst, in the full vigor of health and use
fulness, our young friend and fellow soldier, Thos.
Silcox, one of the most prompt, efficient, and hon
orable members of our corps, and whose loss we
shall ever regret. As a citizen me equally bear
testi m ony that he was social, benevolent, kind and
exemplary:
Be it therefore resolved, That we deeply sympa
thise with the bereaved relatives and friends of
the deceased, and that we wear the usual badge of
mourning for the three next regular parades.
Be it further resolved, That a copy of this pre no
ble and resolutions be sent to the family of-the
deceased, and that the same be signed by the
Chairman and Secretary, and published in the ga
zettes of the city.
WM. M. FRAZER, Chairman.
Robt. F. Hyde, Sec’y. pro. tern.
Trouble Thickening. —On ooard the brig
Russel, arrived on the 2d at Philadelphia, are
those two lions from Morocco which the Empe
ror insisted on sending to the President of the
United States, and about which the consul at
Tangier had such a contest with one of the Em
peror’s three-tailed bashaws. Their reception
is provided for, we believe, in the bill passed by
Congress, else they might furnish material for
another week or two of debate while the business
of the people is neglected.
From the Georgia Journal.
Chief Justice Taney and 3lr, Tan Buren.
At the April Teim, 1840, of the Circuit court
of the United States, for the District of Maryland,
atrial took place of an individual from the Island
of Manilla, who was called Lorenzo Dow, and
who had been seat by an American consul to
Baltimore, charged with the crime of murdering
on the high seas, Capt. W. C. Langsdin. a citi
zen of Boston. No white person was on board ,
the vessel when the captain was murdered, but ,
there were three negroes whom the district attor- '
ney proposed sending to the Grand Jury as wit
nesses against the prisoner. Upon the admission j
of such testimony, very interesting and learned ,
arguments took place, both in favor of,by the pro- ;
secuting attorney, and against, the admission, by *!
the counsel for the prisoner. Mr. Chief Jus- '
tick Taney, an Administration man, and a .
warm friend of Mr. Van Buren, delivered the
opinion of the Court, which was in substance
this: that had the prisoner been a white man, the
testimony of the negroes was inadmissible; but
inasmuch “as the person did not stand in the
condition ol a Christian white person of the
European race, the evidence offered by the U.
States was admissible against him.” Now this
is the decision of Mr. Chief Justice Taney. He,
in the decision of tnis most important legal ques
tion, involving in it the same principles conten
ded for by Lieut. Hooe, is decidedly with that
gentleman, and in opposition to Mr. Van Buren.
He, Mr. Chief Justice Taney, could see some
thing to condemn in the introduction of negro
testimony against a white man, and that too, in
a legal point of view ; but Mr. Van Buren, neith
er legal y, nor morally, could see anything which
required his interference. A Southern man, a
Virginian by birth, must have his feelings insul
ted, and his rights trampled upon, and when the
President is appealed to, to do him justice, he is
told by that high functionary, with a coolness
displaying to the world how heartless is the man,
rtrat he sees nothing in the proceedings that re
quires his interference; and yet this man is said
to be a friend of the South and of Southern insti
tutions ! What presumption! and how insult
ing to the common sense understanding of every
Georgian, is such a remark when addresred to
them ! A friend of {the South, indeed ! Why,
his every act, involving our interests, either di
rectly or indirectly, proves him to be the very
reverse of such an assumption; and what is more
so far from being duped by such a cry on tbe
part of his partizans, the people of our State view
the effort to palm him upon them as a friend to
their institutions, with the most sovereign con
tempt, which has been before exhibited at the
polls, and which will be there again displayed.
Fire of the Flint. —The following letter
has been forwarded to us for publication by th:
writer. It would seem that Honest Amos meets
with rubs from every quarter. We comply with
the request to publish, but shall soon expect to
hear of Mr. Gray’s having “leave to quit.” If
Amos can stand all the thrusts that are made at
him, he must have a hide as thick as that of the
Hippopotamus. —Columbus ( 0.) Journal.
y Fair Pleasant, (Ohio,) July 15, 1840.
\ To Amos Kenuau, Sir .--I re
e ceivcd your address and prospectus, together with
your letter and promise of reward, with such
feelings as you will find described in this scrap
g beneath.
Think not that your promise of reward will
1 bribe me to assist you in trying to blast the fair
fame of General Harrison, «<r aid you in keep
ing in office that old Federalist. Martin Van
3 Buren, who once, through the “Peace Party,” at
p tempted to sell us to the British, and who is now
j surrounded by and keeps in office,noted Federal
. ists who once said ‘that if they thought they had a
r drop of Democratic blood in their veins,they would
1 open them and let it out”—and such advisers,
too, as wish to reduce the poor man’s labor to a
, sheep’s head and pluck a day. For such a pur
. pose, you invoke Democrats to your aid !—Such
are the men you wish me to assist you in keeping
f in office, at $25,000 a year, $8 a day, &c. Was
; it not that you hope to be sent on a Foreign Mis
sion, at SIB,OOO k a year, with outfit, you would
never have resigned the Post Office Department,
—and for a like reward from another quarter, you
would curse the Administration which you now
are supporting with such loud praise, bringing
disgrace on yourself, (if that be possible,) and
ruin on your country.
As your Address was designed to promote pri
vate interests, I therefore send it back to you,
agreeably to the rules devised by yourself for the
regulation of the post, offices and mails, and by
the use of the franking privilege which you
saught to violate for your benefit and by which
you desired me to forward subscriptions to you.
Yours, with due respect,
GEORGE GRAY, Jr., P. M.
From the Troy Daily Whig.
More Changes.- —ln addition to the gallant
Capt. Stockton of the U. S. Navy, and Hon
Levi Beardsley of this State, we learn from tho
Philadelphia Standard that, Major Eaton, Secre
tary of War under General Jackson, and late
American Minister at the Court of Spain; Wil
liam J. Duane, son of the veteran editor of the
Aurora and Secretary of the Treasury, under
General Jackson ; Commodore Stewart, the con
queror of the Cyane and Levant, the gallant com
mander of the Constitution during the last war,
and the candidate for President in 1838, of the
friends of Governor Porter ; Reuben M. Whitney
the able political economist and confidental friend
and adviser of General Jackson; Henry Tolaud
of Philadelphia, the distinguished Democrat and
ardent personal and political friend of General
Jackson, together with a host of others, who,
though of less note, have been firm and uniform
adherents of the Van Buren party, have determin
ed to give their votes for General Harrison aud
Reform. Shall we be told by the Federal Loco
Focos, that there are no changes in favor of Har
rison 1 Rather will they not soon be tempted to
inquire—shall we, in a month from the present
time, have a single well known Democrat among
us 1 Avoid the conclusion as they may, the
HAND-WRITING IS ON k THE WALL.
THEIR DAY HAS COME !
From the New York Star of the -4 th.
The Thunder Showers, yesterday —Tho
sharp thunder storm, which suddenly gathered
broke over the city yesterday morning, at half
past eleven, in terrific peals and flashes, with tor
rents of rain, was followed by an interregnum of
some hours, when it recommenced with less fury
but more copious and prolonged showers, which
continued till ne..r nine in the etening. The
electric fluid, which in some instances appeared
to dart down into our streets in a broad living
glare, and almost without any report than a sharp
cracking noise, in others was accompanied with
deafening thunder. The storm of the morning
was severest and shortest. Some six or seven
places were struck, hut, strange to say, though
the progress was from the battery lengthwise
through the island, inclining to the East river side
there was no one killed with the exception of a
child, who being struck with three others while
under a tree in Love Lane, died from the effects
of it. The sloop Jas. Lawrence of Sag Harbor,
L. I, had her mast broken. The Boston packet
Fairfield, as we noticed yesterday, had her mast
badly shivered and several onboard stunned—the
captain, it is said, seriously. 'The ship Elisha
Dennison, foot of Clinton street, E. R. had the
maintoprnast and raainmsl slightly injured. The
steeple and iron fence in front of St. Paul’s are
said to have been struck, the fluid passing into
and ploughing up the green sward within. 'The
house of Mr. Lambertson of Brooklyn, opposite,
was struck. A flag staff in York, near Sands
street, also in that city, was shivered to pieces.
The Sun says,
We learn also that a dwelling house in Brook
lyn occupied by Mr. Devanport, bookkeeper for
Bowen & McNarnee, corner of Beaver and Wil
liam sts, was struck by lightning. The house
but little injured. A black woman, who was
engaged at washing, was severely shocked, but
recovered without serious injury.
The Express says: a Liberty pole, at Brooklyn,
220 feet high, the largest in the city, erected a
shoit lime since at an expei se of S6OO, in the
second ward, on the corner of York and Pearl
streets, was struck by the lightning, and so badly
shivered as to compel the authorities of the city
to order it cut down. The lightning then pass
ed into the cellar of the building at the cornei ad
joining the Liberty pole, and escaped through the
yard, destroying every thing in its course. A
man was in the act of hitching a horses to the
pole when it was struck. Tne horse was thrown
dawn but not killed, the man escaped uninjured.
The Canada Convicts.— The following ex
tract from a letter in the Montreal Herald gives
the first information we have had of the arrival
of the political convicts, from Upper and Lower
Canada, at their destined place of punnishraent.
The Quebec Gazette, in copying the letter, inti
mates the probability that the convicts would be
pardoned soon after their arrival.
We observe that the Lieutenant Governor of
Upper Canada has mitigated the sentence of Liv
ingston Palmer, lately convicted of high treason
in that province. Instead of suffering death he
is to be transported for life.
“H. M. S. Buffalo, Hobart town, Feb. 14.
We left Quebec on the 25th Sept. 1839, with 141
political prisoners, 85 from U. Canada chiefly A
mericans, for Van Dieraan’s land, an J 63 from
Montreal fer Sidney. Saw nothing remarkable
on our passage to Rio Janeiro, where we arrived
on the 30th November. After completing our
water and refreshing the crew and convicts with
fresh beef, sailed on the sth, and arrived here the
11th February. 1840. We have had one of the
most delightful passages that could be made, as
to weather—a fair wind all the way, and with the
exception of a few squalls, with rain near the
line, not more than a strong breeze. —The pri
soners, on the whole, behaved remarkably well;
owing in all probability, to the very strict guard
kept on them, for the Americans came on board
with a most infamous character, as a most daring
and villainous set, ready to sacrifice their lives
rather than be transported. We fortunately de
tected a conspiracy among them in time to pre
vent an unpleasant affair, they having had in
agitation to rise against us. They have since
been very quiet. It was reported before we left
that some Americans, sympathizing with their
countrymen to be sent by the Buffalo, intended
fitting out two Baltimore clippers to intercept us,
but we did not meet or see any thing supicious.
We shall land eighly-two on Saturday morning,
who will be placed in the gangs to break stones,
&c., for repairing roads. The others, (French
men,) we carry to Sydney ; they are all respect-
ably connected, and have not given the slightest
trouble. We sail, I think, about Wednesday,
and hope to be clear of them all by the end of
the month, and start for our ultimate destination,
New Zealand, which is now more interesting
than ever.”
It is expected that the Nashville Convention
will be attended by from 30,000 to 40,000 per
sons.
Thf. Truth is told sometimes through
mistake. —A distinguished member of the Van
Buren party, who attended the celebration of the
4th inst. was asked how he liked the oration, re
plied, “that Carnan made a very good speech,
but he did’nt like Ellis’s speech at all, it bore too
hard on the present administration.” Mr. Car
nan delivered the oration, and Mr. Ellis read the
Declaration of Independence.— Vincennes, la
Guz. _
Speech of Hon. Henry Clay of Kentucky,
Delivered June 27, IS4O.
On the occasion of a Public Dinner, given in com
pliment to him, at Taylorsville, in his native
county of Hanover, in the State of Virginia.
The sentiment in compliment to Mr. Clay was
received with long continued applause. Tha‘ gen
tleman rose and addressed the company substan
tially as follows :
I think, friends, and fellow-citizens, that, avail
ing myself of the privilege of my long service in
the public councils, just adverted to, the resolution
which I have adopted, is not unreasonable of leav
ing to younger men, generally, the performance of
the duty, and the enjoyment of the pleasure, of
addressing the People in their primary assemblies.
After the event which occurred last winter at the
Capitol of Pennsylvania, I believed it due to my
self, to the Whig cause, and to the country, to an
nounce to the public, with perfect truth and sin
cerity, and without any reserve, my fixed deter
mination heartily to support the nomination of
William Henri Harrison there made. To put down
all misrepresentations, I have, on suitable occca
sions, repeated this annunciation ; and now declare
my solemn conviction that the purity and security
of our free institutions and the prosperity of the
country, imperatively demand the election of that
citizen to the office of Chief Magistrate of the U.
States.
But this occasion forms an exception from the
rule which 1 have prescribed to myself. I have
come here to the county of my nativity in the spi
rit of a pilgrim, to meet, perhaps for the last time,
the companions and the descendants of the com
panions of my youth. Wherever we roam, in
whatever climate or land we are cast by the acci
dents of human life, beyond the mountains or be
yond the ocean, in the legislative halls of the Capi
tol, or in the retreats and shades of private life,oui
hearts turn with an irresistible instinct to the cher
ished spot which ushered us into existence. And
we dwell with delightful associations on the recol
lection of the streams in which, during our boyish
days, we bathed, the fountains at which we drank,
the piney fields, the hills and the valley's where
we sported, and the friends who shared these en
joy'ments with us. Alas ! too many of these
friends of mine have gone whither we must all
shortly go, and the presence here of the small rem
nant left behind attests both our loss and our early
attachment. I would greatly prefer, my friends, to
employ the time which this visit affords in friend
ly and familiar conversation on the virtues of our
departed companions, and on the scenes and ad
venture of our younger days ; but the expectation
which prevails, the awful state of our beloved
country, and the opportunities which I have en
joyed in its public councils, impose on me the ob
ligation of touching on topics less congenial with
the feelings of my heart, but possessing higher pub
lic interest. I assure you, fellow-citizens, how
ever, that I present myself before you for no pur
pose of exciting prejudices, or inflaming passions,
but to speak to you in all soberness and truth, and
to testify to the things which 1 know, or the con
victions which I entertain, as an ancient friend,
who has lived long, and whose career is rapidly
drawing to a close. Throughout an' arduous life,
I have endeavored 10 make truth and the good of
our country the guides of my public conduct; but
in Hanover county, ior which I cherish sentiments
of respect, gratitude, and veneration, above all
other places, would I avoid saying any thing that
I did not sincerely and truly believe.
Why is the plough deserted, the tools of the me
chanic laid aside, and all are s en rushing to gath
erings of the people ? What occasions those vast
and unusual assemblages which we behold in every
State, and in almost every neighborhood I* Why
those conventions of the pceple, at a common cen
tre, from all the extremities of this vast Union, to
consult together upon the su rerings of the commu
nity, and to deliberate on the means of deliverance?
Why this rabid appetite for public discussions f
What is the solution of that phenomenon, which
we ooserve, of a great nation agitated upon its
whole surface, and at its lowest uepths, like the
ocean when convulsed by some terrible storm ?
There must be a cause, and no ordinary cause.
It has been truly said, in the most memoralde
document that ever issued from the pen of man,
that “all experience hath shown that mankind
are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sulier
able, than to right themselves by' abolishing the
forms to which they are accustomed.” The recent
history of our people furnishes confirmation of that
truth. They are active, enterprising, and intelli
gent ; but are aot prone to make groundless com
plaints against public servants. If we now every
where behold them in motion, it is because they
feel that the grievances under which they are
writhing can be no longer tolerated. They feel
the absolute necessity of a change, that no change
can render their condition worse, and that any
change must better it. This is the judgement to
which they have come; this the brief and com
pendious logic which w r e daily' hear. They know
that, in all the dispensations of Providence, they
have reason to be thankful ; and if they had not,
they' would be borne with fortitude and resignation.
But there is a pervading conviction and persuasion
that, in the administration of Government, there
has been something wrong, radically wrong, and
that the vessel of State has been in the bauds of
selfish, faithless, and unskilful pilots, who have
conducted it amidst the breakers.
In my deliberate opinion, the present distressed
and distracted state of the country may be traced
to the single cause of the action, the encroach
ments and the usurpations of the Executive branch
of the Government. I have not time here to ex
hibit and to dwell upon all the instances of these,
as they have occurred in succession, during the
last twelve y'ears. They have been again and again
exposed on other more fit occasions. But I have
thought this a proper opportunity to point out
the enormity' of the pretensions, principles, and
practices of that Department, as they have been,
from time to time, disclosed, in these late years,
and to show the rapid progress which has Leen made
in the fulfilment ol the remarkable language of our
illustrious countryman, that the Federal Executive
had an awful squinting towards monarchy. Here,
in the county of his birth, surrounded by sons,
some of whose sires with him were the first to
raise their arms in defence of American liberty
against a foreign monarch. And may 1 not with
out presumption, indulge the hope that the warn
ing voice of another, although far humbler, son of
Hanover may not pass unheeded ?
The late President of the United States advan
ced certain new and alarming pretensions for the
Executive Department of the Government, the
effect of which, if established and recognized by'
the People,must inevitably convert it into a mon
archy. The first of these, and it was a favorite
principle with him, was, that the Executive De
partment should be regarded as a unit. By this
principle of unity, he meant and intended that all
the Executive officers of Government should be
hound to obey' the commands and execute the or
ders of the President of the United States, and
that they should be amenable to him and he be
responsible for them. Prior to his Administra
tion, it had been considered that they were bound
to k observe and obey the Constitution and laws, sub
ject only to the general superintendence of the
President, and responsible uy impeachment and to
the tribunals of justice for injuries inflicted on pri
vate citizens.
But the annunciation of this new and extraor
dinary principle was not of itself sufficient for the
purpose of President Jackson ; it was essential
that the subjection to his will which was its ob
ject, should be secured by some adequate sanc
tion. That he sought to effect by an extension of
another principle, that of dismission from affice,
beyond all precedent and to cases and under cir
cumstances which would have furnished just
grounds of his impeachment, according to the so
letnn opinion of Mr. Madison and other members
of the iirst Congress order the present Constitu-
Now if the whole official corps, subordinate to
’ the President of the United States, are made to
> know and to feel that they hold their rcspecti v c offi
ces by the tenure of conformity andobedience to his
will, it is manifest that they must look to that will
i and not to the Consitution and laws, as the guide
of their official conduct. The weakness ot hu
man nature, the love and emoluments ol office, per
haps the bread necessary to the support of their
families, would make this result absolutely cer
i lain,
i The development of this new character to the
3 power of dismission would have fallen short ot the
I aims in view, without the exercise of it weic held
to be a prerogative, lor which the President was
’ to be wholly responsible. If he were compelled
■* to expose the grounds and reasons upon which he
" acted, in dismissals from office; the apprehensions
B of public censure would temper the arbitrary na
! ture of the power and throw some power and pro
tection around the subordinate officer. Hence the
new and monstrous pretension has been advanced
, thai although the concurrency of the Senate is ne
cessarry by the Constitution to the confirmation
of an appointment, the President may subsequent
ly dismiss the person appointed not only without
e communicating the grounds on which he has acted
to the Senate, but without any such coramunica
s tion to the People themselves, for whose benefit
- all offices are created! And so bold and daring
- has the Executive branch of the Government be
come, that one of its Cabinet Ministers, himself a
- subordinate officer, lias contemptuously refused to
i members ol the House of Representatives to dis
i close the grounds on which he has undertaken to
• dismiss from office persons acting as deputy post
s masters in his Department.
f As to the gratuitous assumption, by President
. Jackson, of responsibility for all the subordinate
' Executive officers; it is the merest mockery that
• was ever put forth. They will escape punishment
• by pleading his orders, and he by alledging the
’ hardship of being punished, not for his own acts,
; but for theirs. We have a practical exposition of
his principle in the case of the 200,0W0 militia.
1 The Secretary of War comes out to screen the Pres
ident, by testifying that he never saw what he re
-1 commended ; and tiie President reciprocates that
r favor by retaining the Secreatry in place, notwith
standing he has proposed a plan for organizing
the militia which is acknowledged to be unconsti
■ tutional. If the President is not to be held re
sponsible for a cabinet minister, in daily inter
: course with him, how is he to be rendered so foi a
receiver at Wisconsin or Iowa? To concentrate
all responsibiliy in the President, is to annihilate
all responsibility. For who ever expects to see
the day arrive when a President of the United
States will be impeached ; or, if impeached, when
he cannot command more than one third of the
Senate to defeat the impeachment ?
Rut to construct the scheme of practical despo
tism, whilst all the forms of Iree Government re
mained, it was necessary to take one further step.
By the Constitution, the President is enjoined to
take care that the laws be executed. This injunc
tion was merely intended to impose on him the du
ty of a general superintendence ; to see that offi
ces were filled,officers at their respective posts in
the discharge of their official functions, and all
obstructions to the enforcement of the laws were
removed, and, when necessary for that purpose,
to call out the militia. No one every imagined,
prior to the Administration of President Jackson,
that a President of the United States was to occu
py himself with supervising and attending to the
execution of all the minute details of every one of
the host of offices in the U. Mates.
Under the constitutional injunction just mention
ed, the late President put forward the most extra
ordinary pretension that the Cons’.itution and laws
of the United States were to be executed, as he
understood them; and this pretension was attempt
ed to be sustained by an argument equally extra
ordinary, that the President, being a sworn officer,
must carry them into effect according to his sense
;of their meaning. The Constitution and laws were
to be executed, not according to their import as
handed down to us by our ancestors,as interpreted
by contemporaneous expositions, expounded by
concurrent judicial decisions, as fixed by an unin
terrupted course of Congressional legislation, but
in that sense which a President of the U. States
happened to understand them !
To complete this Executive usurpation, one fur
ther object remained. By the Constitution, the
command of the Army and Navy is conferred on
the President. If he could unite the purse to the
sword, nothing would be left to gratify the insa
tiable thirst for power. In 1533 the President
seized the Treasury of the United States, and from
that dty to this it has continued substantially un
der his control. The seizure was effected by the
removal of one Secretary of the Treasury, under
stood to he opposed to the measure, and by the
dimissal of another, who refused to violate the law
of the land upon the orders of the President.
It is, indeed, said that not a dollar in the Treas
ury can nc touched without a previous appropria
tion by law, nor drawn out of the Treasury with
out the concurrence and signatures of the Secreta
ry and Treasurer, the Register and the Comptroll
er. But are not all these pretended securities idle
and unavailing forms? We have seen that, by
the operation of the irresponsible power of dis
mission, all those officers are reduced to mere au
tomata, absolutely subjected to the will of the
President. What resistance would any of them
make, with the penalty of dismission suspended
over their heads, to any orders of the President to
pour out the treasure of the United States, wheth
er an act of appropnaton existed or not ? Do not
mock us with the vain assurance of the honor and
probity of a President, nor remind us of the confi
dence which we ought to repose in his imagined
virtues. The pervading principle of our system of
government —of all free governments —is not mere
ly the possibility, but the absolute certainty of
infidelity and treachery, with even the highest
functionary of the state; and hence all the res
trictions, securities and guaranties, which the wis
dom of our ancestors, or the sad experience of
history had inculcated, have been devised and
thrown around the Chief Magistrate.
Here, friends and fellow-citizens, let us pause
and contemplate this stupendous structure of Ex
ecutive machinery and despotism, which has been
reared in our young Republic. The Executive
branch of the Government is a unit; throughout
all its arteries and veins, there is to be but one
heart, one head, one will. The number of the
subordinate Executive officers and dependents in
the United States has been estimated in an official
report, founded on public documents, made by a
Senator from South Carolina, (Mr. Calhoun,) at
one hundred thousand. Whatever it may be, all
of them, wherever they are situated, are bound
implicitly to obey the orders of the President.
And absolute obedience to his will is secured and
enforced by the power of dismissing them at bis
pleasure, from their respective places. To make
this terrible power of dismission more certain and
efficacious, its exercise is covered up in mysterious
secrecy, without exposure, without the smallest
responsibility. The Constitution and laws of the
United States are to be executed in the sense in
which the President understands them, although
that sense may be at variance with the under
standing of every other man in the United States.
It follows, as a necessary consequence from the
principle deduced by the President, from the con
stitutional injunction, as to the execution of the
laws, that, if an act of Congress, be passed, in his
opinion, contrary to the Constitution, or if a de
cision be pronounced by the courts, in his opinion,
contrary to the Constitution or the laws, that act,
or that decision, the President is not obliged to cn
lorce, and he could not it to be enfored, with
out a violation, as is pretended, of his official oath.
Candor, requires the admission, that the principle
has not yet been pushed in practice to these cases,
but it manifestly comprehends them; and who
doubts, that, if tne spirit of usurpation is not ar
rested and rebuked, they will be finally reached ?
The march of power is ever onward. As times
and seasons admonish, it openly and boldly, in
broad day, makes its progress ; or, if alarm be ex
cited by the enormity of its pretensions, it silentlv,
in the dark of the night, steals its devious way. It
now storms and mounts the ramparts of the fort
ress of liberty; it now saps and undermines its
foundations. Finally, the command of the army
and navy being already in the President, and hav
ing acquired a perfect control over the Treasury of
the United Stated, he has consummated that fright
ful union of purse and sword, so long, so much, so
earnestly deprecated by all true lovers of civil lib
erty. And our present Chief Magistrate stands
solemnly and voluntarily pledged, in the face of
the whole world, to follow in the footsteps, and
carry out the measures and the principles of his
illustrious predecessor.
The sura of the whole is, that there is but one
power, one control, one will in the
concentrated in the President, lie ffiior-1* Ali «
and commands the whole machinery o/ti r<ler h
Through the official agencies,
out the land, and absolutely subjected t ■ rou gh
he executes, according to his pleasure ' Vlll >
the whole power of the Commonwealth
been absorbed and engrossed by hirn > W
sole will predominates in, and animates .a ori «
of this vast community. If this be not 16
despotism, I am incapable of conceiving practi ' al
it. Names are nothing. The existence
istence of arbitrary government does n°t DUn * tx '
upon the title or denomination bestow a
chief of the State, hut upon the quantr ° n
power which he possesses and wields 'p l °f the
sultan, emperor, dictator, king, doge '
are all mere names, in which the pow P res
ively possessed by them is not to be W
to be looked for in the Constitution, or tv !Ut
lished usages and practices of the sever i
which they govern and control. If p.* 1 s te s
of Russ.a were called President of ali the
the actual power remaining unchanged Vi,
ity under his new denomination, would JI ! IOr *
undiminished; and if the President of th
States were to receive the title of Autocm r
United Stales, the amount of his authorit ■ °
not be increased without an alteration of
stituiion. l,lt Ccn- ®
Gen. Jackson was ahold and fearless rea
rying a wide row, but he did not gather
harvest; he left some gleanings to his fait] f
cessor, and he resolved to sweep clean the* fi >
power The duty of inculcating on the
corps the active exertion of their personal
rial influence was left by him to be enfw u
Mr. Van Buren, in all popular elections * p y
not sufficient that this obedience was coerew
the tremendous power of dismission. j t so ° d V
came apparent that the official corps was bo m
plicitly to obey the will of the President, if *
not sufficient that this corps might be benelruf
employed to promote, in other matters tim?
business of theirotlices; the views and inters -
the President and his party. They are l' r
efficient than any standing army of equal numb!*
A standing army would be separated, and standS
from the people ; and being always in corps or '
detachments, could exert no influence in Don> ,m
elections. But the official corps is dispel
throughout the country, in every town, village ant
city, mixing with the people, attending their vm
ings and conventions, becoming chairmen a t
members of committees, and urging and stimuh
ting purtizans to active and vigorous exertion"
Acting in concert, and throughout the whole b' n "
ion, obeying orders issued from the centre th ■
influence aided by Executive patronage, by V*
Post Office Department, and ali the vast othf
means of the Executive, is almost irresistible * r
To correct this procedure, and to restrain th
subordinates of the Executive from ali interir.
ence with popular elections, my colleague M* r "
Crittenden,) now present, introduced a bill in\he
Senate. He had the weight of Mr. Jeflersoirs
opinion, who issued a circular to restrain federal
officers from intermeddling in popular elections j
He had before him the British example, according
to which place men and pensioners were not only
forbidden to interfere, but were not, some of them. !
even allowed to vote at popular elections. Ba; 1
his bill left them free to exercise the elective
franchise, prohibiting only the use of their official
influence. And how was this bill received in tie
Senate? Passed by those who profess to admire
the character and to pursue the principles ofl
Jefferson ? No such thing, it was denounced as
a sedition hill; and the just odium of that sedition
bil , which was intended to protect office-holders 1
against the people, was successfully used to defeat
a measure of protection of the people asramst •
the office-holders ! Not only were they left an- !
restrained, but they were urged and stimulated by ■
an offi ial report to employ their influence in be
half of the administration at the elections of the I
heople.
Hitherto, the Army and the Navy have remained '
unaffected by the power of dismission, and they
have not been called into the political service of the
Execu ivc. But no attentive observer of the prin
ciples and proceedings of the men in power could
fail to see that the day was not distant when they,
too, would be required to perform the partisan offi
ces of the President. Accordingly, the pieces-of
converting them in*o Executive’instruments.has
commenced in a Court Martial assembled at Balti- (
more. Two officers of the Army of the U. States
have been there putj[ upon their solemn trial m
the charge of prejudicing the Democratic party.hy
making purchases for the supply of the Army from
members of the Whig party! It is not pretendd ,
that the United Mates were prejudiced by those [
purchases; on the contrary, it was, I believe, e>- I
tablished that they were cheaper than could have
been made from the supporters of the administra- ;
tion. But the charge was, that to purchase at a!! |
from the opponents, ins’ead of the friends of the I
administration, wa< an injury to the Democratic |
party, which required that the ufler.ders should he I
put upon their trial before a court martial! And \
this trial was commenced at the instance of acom
mittec of a Democratic Convention, and conducted I
and prosecuted by them! The scandalous specta
cle is presented to an enlightened world, of the
Chief Magistrate of a great people executing the
orders of a self-created power, organized within I
the bosom of the State, and, uponsu<ban accasa- 5
lion, arraigning, before a military tribunal,gallant j
men, who are charged with the defence of the hon
or and the interest of their country, and withbear
ing its eagles in the presence of an enemy!
But the Army and Navy are too small, and in I
composition are too patriotic to subserve all the
purposes of this administration. Hence the recent
proposition of the Secretary of War, strongly re- ’
commended hy the President, under color of anew
organization of the militia, to create a standing .
force of 200,000 men, an amount which no con- t
ccivable foreign exigency can ever make necessary. I
It is not my purpose now to enter upon an exami- I
nation of that alarming and most dangerous plan I
of the Executive Department of the General Go- j
vernment. It has justly excited a burst of general I
indignation; and no where has the disapprobation
of it been more emphatically expressed than in
this ancient and venerable Commonwealth.
The monstrous project may be described in a few
words. It proposes to create the force bybreaking
down Mason and Dixoirs line, expunging the
boundaries of States, meltingthem up into a efflu
ent mass, to be subsequently cut up in’o ten milita
ry-parts, alienates the militia from its natural as
sociation, withdraws it from the authority
command and sympathy of its constitutional off
ccrs, appointed hy the States, puts it under tie
command of the President, authorizes him to cause
it to be trained, in palpable violation of the Con
stitution, and subjects it to be called out from re
mote and distant places, at his pleasure.and on oc
casions not warranted by the Constitution! .
Indefensible as this project is, fellaw citizens,®
not be deceived by supposing that it has been ®
will be abandoned. It is a principle of those w ■
are now in power that an election or a. re-election
of the President implies the sanction ot the peo?
to all the measures which he had proposes 0
public affairs, prior to that event. We have sew
this principle applied on various occasion?. e
Mr. Van Buren be re-elected in November W*.
and it will be claimed that the people have the
by approved of this plan of the Secretary oi « *
All entertain the opinion that it is important:
train the militia and render it effective; aadri'
be insisted, in the contingency mentioned, th*
people have demonstrated that they appr°' e f
that specific plan. There is more reason to
bend such a consequence from the fact that a c
mittceof the Senate, to which this subject vas *
ferred, instead of denouncing the scheme as urm ‘
stitutional, and dangerous to liberty, Pf eS , ioD
labored apologetic report, and the AdmimstD
majority in that body ordered twenty tbemsam 1
pies of the apology to be printed for ci rc f a
among the people. I take pleasure in testuj
that one Administration Senator had the man ; ; eC t
dependence to denounce, in hie place, the P r 1
as unconstitutional. That Senator was from)
own State.
[concluded tq-morrow.]^^^^
JOHN R. STANFORD,
ATTORNEY AT LAW,
jy 17] CiarkesvffiD^--
B. H. OVERBY,
ATTORNEY AT LAW,
feb 25 Jefferson, Jackson county^f^
OCT Dr - J - J • WILSON has removed for tjj
Summer to the house of James Gardner,
door below the Academy.
<XTW. G. NIMMO, General Commission * jjj
chant, office on Mclntosh street, next dooi
Constitutionalist. 11