Newspaper Page Text
POLITICAL.
From tbe Globe.
MK. CALHOUN.
The reply of this gentleman to the New York Demo
cratic committee, is pregnant with important truth. The
glance at the effect of a vacilating currency on “ wealthy
capitalists,” we hope, will open on their vision a view of
their own true interests and those of the country. Noth
ing can bo more certain than that a system which keeps
the securities wherein capital is invested in a state of con
tinual fluctuation, must tender all as unsafe as if embarked
in a storm among breakers. The gamblers in stocks, who
have no real stake, have means in this system to raise the
wind and to place the wealth of substantial men for ever
at hazard like their own wild speculations. It is so too with
the regular merchant and fair trader. The speculating
credit system and paper monopolists make their whole bu
siness a lottery. In the language of Mr. Calhoun, we are
amazed that these sound classes “are not the first to see
this and take the alarm.”
From the Neie- York Evening Post.
Mr. Calhoun was invited by the Democratic Committee
of Arrangements for the 4th of July, to deliver an oration
in this city. Ho returned the following answer:
Fort Hill, June 12, 1839.
Gentlemen: I have been honored by’ your note of the
Jsth May, (received the 9th inst.,) informing me that dele
gates of the Democratic Republican partv, from the sever
al wards of your city had selected me to deliver the oration
at the approaching anniversary of independence. '
I acknowledge with gratitude the honor of being selected
by so numerous and respectable a portion of my fellow
citizens in a distant section of the Union on such an occa
sion ; and am duly sensible of the obligation which it im
poses ; but the great distance and my numerous and indis
pensable engagements render it utterly impossible for me
t. accept. »
Among other grounds to which you have alluded, you
have referred to th•» part I have recently taken in the Se
nate, as one of the causes of that favorable opinion to
wards me which has lad to the intended honor that I am
reluctantly compelled to decline. Permit me to say, in
taking the position to which you refer, there were difficul
ties of the most formidable character in the way, but had
they been tenfold greater, they could not have deterred me
from the course 1 took, so imperious was the sense of duty
under which 1 acted. The currency was no new question
with me. For many years it had been the subject of my
reflection, and the source of deep solicitude, and I had
Blade up my mind, when the tima arrived, that would force
it upon the attention of the country and Government, as
to the part I would take if then on the stage of action.
The derangement to which our country is subject is not
accidental. It is inherent in the system itself, and, in
spite of every effort to correct it, will grow from bad to
worse, until some great and radical change is effected. In
the meantime, the community is destined to pass through
»cen*s of difficulty and danger greater than any heretofore
experienced, unless the people should be timely aroused to
apply an efficient remedy to the growing disorders. I hold
it almost impossible th=H there should be any state of things
more corrupting to li'. ’rals, more dangerous to free institu
tions, or more paralyzing to industry, than an uncertain,
vacilating currency, uuder the control of private cupidity,
such as ours is and I am amazed, that the wealthy capital
ists, whose property exists in stocks and securities, *re not
the first to see it and take the alarm. They ought to see
that th. gains from the irregular working of such a system
must be but momentary and salacious, and must be follow
ed by a storm, if permitted to progress, which will scatter
such acquisitions as leaves before a tornado. In taking
my stand against the system, no partial or local considera
tion governed me. I stood up for what I honestly and sin
cerely believed to be the mdraii,’,', the freedom A prosperi
ty of the country, actuated by enmity to .no clas? or scc ‘
tion, but believing that I was acting the part of a true, frienu
<o all those who were profiting by it for the moment, as
well as of those who for the time were its victims.
Whether in this I was mistaken, 1 am content to leave
to time and experience to decide. Thus far I have seen
nothing to shake my opinion, but much to confirm it, much
to animate me to perseverance in the course I have taken,
till art effectual remedy is applied to this among the most
dangerous evils that can befal the country.
For the very .kind manner in which you have communi
cated the wishes of those you represent, you will please
accept my sincere acknowledgements. I cannot but be
highly gratified to learn, that many of my old friends in
year treat metropolis have not forgot me, and I do assure
you that few things would afford me more pleasure than
would an opportunity to renew my acquaintance with them,
as well as to form it with those more recent friends whose
approbation I have been so fortunate as to gain, in the trying
scenes through which I have more recently passed.
Though circumstances will not permit me to accept the
honor proffered, and to be present at your celebration, it
will not, I trust, be considered an intrusion to offer the fol
lowing sentiment:
“ Equality, in its broadest sense, of rights and privile
ges betweeen citizen and citizen, pursuit and pursuit, and
one portion of the country and another, the deep and solid
foundation of our political fabric ; preserve that, and all is
safe—destroy it, and the whole would rush headlong to the
dust.”
To Richard J. Smith, Steven R. Harris, and C. H.
Dougherty, Esqrs.
From the Ozark (Mo.) Standard,
THOMAS H. BENTON.
Heply of Mr. Benton to the letter of the citizens of Spring
field, inviting him to a public dinner.
Springfield, June 1, 1838.
Gentlemen : It gives me great pleasure to acknowledge
"the receipt of your kind letter of invitation to a public
dinner, and to make my thanks for the flattering terms in
'which it is expressed ; but it has not been my custom to
accept public honors of this kind, and in my present tour
•over the State, it has been my plan to travel in away to
avoid all political excitement and party feeling, and to see
the people generally, without form or ceremony, and with
out regard to political distinctions. I travel to see the peo
ple and the country, to learn their wants and their wishes,
and to thank them for their past support and favors; and
wish to promote an easy intercourse with all that shall do
•me the honor to make my acquaintance.
The time is coming, I think, when we shall be more
harmonious than we have been for some years past, and
when -experience shall prove the utility and wisdom of the
great measures of Gen. Jackson’s administration, and re
unite the friends of the country in the support of a common
cause. The veto of Ute National Bank charter, and the
termination of that institution was a measure which neces
sarily divided opinions in a.free country, where every citi
zen was at liberty to think for himself; and the unprece
dented efforts which were made, to mako people believe
that there was not gold or silver enough in the world to
Supply the place of U. S. Bank notes, and that all debtors
must be ruined, all prices fall to nothing, all property be
sacrificed, and al! labor cease for want of pay—the unpar
alleled efforts which were made to impress all these gloomy
Bpprehensions on the public mind, were well calculated to
distract and alarm the people ; and for a time the effort was
such as to delude many good citizens. But the season for
mistakes and errors and division of opinion, has now passed
away, and all must see that the day of the downfall of the
National Bank, was the day of the upraising of the national
prosperity; for, with the exception of the brief intervals
of artificial distress and panic, manufactured by the Bank
■nd its friends, the increase of the public prosperity has
been constant and regular since that day ; and now at the
■nd of seven years from the veto we all see that the pri
ces of labor, produce and property are, on an average,
•bout three times as great as they were when we had a
National Bank, and a Federal Administration to rule over
ms. This is a result which every body can see, and about
which there cun be no dispute; so that the opinion must
become general, that the death «f that Bank was the birth
of American prosperity.
This is what Gen. Jackson and bis friends foresaw when
they commenced their opposition to that Bank. They knew
that that Bank, in addition to being a political machine in
the hands of the Federalists, was tdso a monied engine of
favor lo a few, and oppression to the many, and systematic
ally working to make the rich richer and the poor poorer.
Its great loans were confined to a select few, and those
few were the regulators, not of currency, but of prices;
they regulated the price of labor, produce and property ;
and they fixed the price of every thing to suit themselves,
and that was at about one-third of its value. The break
ing down of the favoritism and monopoly of that Bank—
stopping its enormous loans to a select few —stopping its
transportation of our specie to Philadelphia and thence to
Europe—with a revival of the gold currency, and the in
crease of ourspecic from twenty millions to about one hun
dred millions, these are the true causes of our present grat
ifying prosperity, and every friend of the liberty and pros
perity of the country should now see the propriety of keep
ing down a National Bank and keeping up a circulation of
gold and silver. Nor is it sufficient to keep down a Na
tional Bask; the local banks should also be kept in subor
dination to the laws. They should be prevented from
stopping and suspending when they please, and from inun
dating the country with small notes, and post notes, and
other pestiferous trash. The richest countries in the world,
such as Holland, the Hanseatic towns, Cuba, &.c., have no
paper money at all. France has none under one hundred
dollars, and England has none under twenty-five dollars;
and all these countries especially France and the three
form *r, have an overflowing abundance of gold and silver
—not only enough for all their own uses, but to lend to all
foreign nations, and that at the low rate of four or five per
cent, per annum. Missouri can have as much gold and
silver as any of these countries by following their example.
I would myself banish all paper money under one hundred
dollars; but twenty is the highest mark to which the De
mocratic party has yet come; and I hope to see the next
legislature of Missouri act up to that mark, and save the
State from the degradation, loss and misery of losing a
specie circulation, and becoming the receptacle of all the
small trash, all the depreciated stuff, and all the broken
bank notes of the surrounding States and Territories.—
The present paper system of the United States cannot
stand, even if there was no pecuniary or political object
in blowing it up every three or lour years. A thousand
banks, issuing small notes, and doing business upon each
other’s paper, could not stand even if all hands were in
favor of saving them ; but this is not the case ; many are
in favor of periodical explosions of the banks, both for pe
cuniary and political objects, and especially to cause a re
suscitation of the National Bank; and these will acceler
ate the event which would come of itself in a few years ;
and thus periodically afflict the country with a broken bank
currency. Our State Legislature can save the State from
this affliction, and Congress can save the General Govern
ment.
Our State Legislature can save the State by excluding
all paper money under twen'y dollars; (I had much rath
er say undei one hundred ;) Congress can save the Gener
al Government by establishing the Independent Treasury
System. This latter measure is now a permanent object
of the administration, and is called for by the strongest
reasons of policy and necessity. Hard money payments
to and from the Federal Government, and the keeping of
its own money by its owa agents, (which are two essential
features of the Independent Treasury,) are indispensably
necessary to save the Federal Government from bankrupt
cy every time the local banks shut up or blow up; also to
prevent such banks from expending their currency upon
the cred:! of the Federal Government ; also to keep up a
sufficient quantity of gold and silver in the United States
to make it safe not to have any banks at all, and to prevent
an exclusive circulation of paper money; also to’prevcnt
the resuscitation of a National Bank. The Democracy
of the Union are now nearly united in support of this great
measure, and, if not established soon, the next explosion
of the paper system will do the business. I look upon the
of the Independent Treasury System as an
evei” whid. 1 ’- sooner or later, must take place ; but it may
be that another “ s’u * ncnsi< ’»” must be addcd t 0 tlie ar g"-
ment before it can be carrieu.
• You speak in exalted tenif’; gentleman, of the benefits
of General Jackson’s administration > an( l "° * J Oll nla \’
for never has any country improved and aa;’, !<nced nmc i
ia the same length of time as ours has done since ..’ ls e * e ‘
vation to the Presidency. At home am* broad prosperity :
and honor have been accumulating upon the country since :
that day. According to the predictions of his opponents,
every species of evil was to result from his election ; ac
cording to the/uc/, every species of good has ensued from
it. According to these predictions, we were Jo have wars
with all Europe, a military tyranny at home, and the ruin
of all domestic industry. On the contrary, we have had
peace with all the world, trade with all nations on the best
of terms, and compensation made to our citizens by many
nations to the amount of seven millions of dollars, for spoli
ations committed on them under former Presidents. In
stead of a military despotism, established on the ruins of a
Republic, we have now the same Constitution that we had
before ; and we haye it belter understood, better observed,
and better guaranteed by the increased intelligence and
vigilance of the people and the increased responsibility of
public servants. Instead of the ruin of domestic industry,
we have more industry, and a better reward for labor, than
we ever had before. Such were the predictions; such are
the facts : and it will now belong to the page of history to
record the error of the one and the truth of the other, and
to present the administration of General Jackson as the
most transcendently glorious and universally beneficial
which ever blessed any portion of the human race.
It is not possible within the limits of this brief letter, to
enumerate, even by name, all the great measures which
have signalized and illustrated the administration of Gen.
Jackson, and blessed and benefitted the country; but who
can forget the payment of the national debt, the abolition
of duties, on near fifty millions of imports, and his earnest
recommendation to Congress to abolish the tax on salt, and
give to the country the ftee, cheap and plentiful use of that
article of universal and prime necessity, without which nei
ther man nor beast can take his daily food in health and
comfort? Who can forget the indemnities sent over in
gold, to the amount of so many millions, from France,
Spain, Denmark, Naples, and Portugal? Who can for
get the gold bill, which had been dead for thirty years, and
which has already given us near thirty millions of that coin,
being near three times the average annual amount of the
notes circulated by the late United States Bank? Who
can forget the silver bill, which legalized the circulation of
foieign silver, and has replenished the country with silver?
Who can forget the veto of the Bank charter, which killed
the vampire which was sucking the life-blood from the
South and West—which broke the machine which was go
verning our elections —and which destroyed the “ regula
tor,” which was enabling a few favorites to “ regulate”
the produce, labor, and property, and to take every thing
at the one-third of what they now have to pay for it?—
Who can forget the removal of the Indians, which freed
all the Southern and Western States from the incumbrance
of a useless population, threw open a vast and fertile re
gion to the production of cotton, and thereby created a
new market for all the products the more Northern States,
for all their manufaclures, and new employment for the
shipping of the Northeastern States ? Who can forget the
recommendation to graduate the price of the public lands,
to give preference to settlers, and to sell the lands net with
a view to screw money out of the people, but with
a view to promote the settlement and to increase the cul
tivation and improvement of the country? Who can for
get the most wise and patriotic Treasury Order of 1836,
which instantly operated as a pre-emption law in favor of
settlers, and which had the same effect upon the specula
tor who were then monopolizing the public lands (with the
paper of banks which were going to stop payment) that
the discharge of a blunderbuss would have upon a flock of
black birds on a wheat stack? Who can forget these
measures, and so many others, all tending to promote the
general prosperity, and by virtue of which the wealth of
the country has been doubledin a lew years, the maikct
price* of staple production* have been trebled in many
instances, and the laboring man whether bound or free is
multiplied into.three such men, in point of profitable pro
duction, as he was when we had a national Bank and a
hederal Administration? Who can forget or deny these
things ? But let us look forward. The repeal of the salt
tax, the graduation of the price of public lands, and the
passage of a new pre-emption law, are three great meas
ures which you are now to expect from the Congress of the
United States, and such is my opinion of the justice and
equality of each of these measures, and such my confidence
in the eventual success of all that is right, that 1 fully count
upon seeing them all adopted, and beholding the day when
you will get the best of salt at three bits for the measured
bushel at the liver towns; when every settler will be pro
tected in his improvement from the day he makes it; and
when inferior lands will be sold for a price adapted to their
qality. You also want laws to preserve and protect the
permanent circulation of gold and silver among you ; and
that is a case in which Congress can aid you by establish
ing the Independent Treasury; and it is a case in which,
without the aid of Congress, or of any other State, you
can help yourselves, by the easy and simple process of
excluding all small paper and all depreciated paper from
the State.
I am greatly gratified, gentlemen, with my visit to your
quarter of the State. It was the last to be settled, because
longest encumbered by an Indian population. For a long
lime it was a sealed book to the people of the other parts
of the State; but the removal of the Indians has opened
the book, and displayed to view its fair and ample pages;
and already the Southwest quarter of Missouri is known
to a great distance and is attracting an immense emigration.
Taken in its full extent as embracing the valley of the Os
age river, part of the waters of the Gasconade; and that
fertile region of which the Ozark mountain (as this beau
tiful table land is called) is the centre ; taking your section
of the State in this extent, and viewing its various resour
ces and capabilities—its load and iron ores, pineries and
other valuable timbers, its happy mixture of prairies and
woodland, its various fertile soil, both valley and upland,
its matchless supply of the purest water, its double facilities
sos navigation by the Missouri and Arkansas waters, its ex
act adaption of stock raising, and the unquestioned salu
brity of its climate ; viewed under all these aspects, and
your quarter of the State rises to a high degree of consid
eration, and must see the day when it will vie in import
ance with either of the other three quarters of the far fa
med, justly famed and tianscendantly favored State of Mis
souri. To all these natural advantages there is one other
of an adventitious, and perhaps, temporary character,
which you at present enjoy, and 1 hope may long be bles
sed with ; and that is, that there is no bank within upwards
of a hundred miles of you,and that you have a more plen
tiful supply of gold and silver currency at this day than any
bank ridden portion of the Union has even of paper mo
ney. Respectfully, gentlemen, your friend and fellow cit
zen. ' THOMAS 11. BENTON.
Messrs. John P. Canphell, Ac.
From the Lancaster (Pa.) Intelligencer.
A REMINISCENCE.
We publish to-day the eloquent and conclusive speech
of the Hon. Henry Clay, of Kentucky, against the United
States Bank, delivered in Congress in the year 1811.
Our readers will admit with us that it is a very good
speech. We presume the only fault that Mr. Clay will
find with it is, that it was overprinted at all! But so it
is. He would ‘rather be right than be President !’a nd
don’t care a picayune for consistency. Badinage apart,
this speech is a pregnant instance of the systematic incon
sistency ofthe Federalists. Your Penroses and Clays no
more think of talking one hour for and the next against
a measure, then another man does about eating his din
ner first, and smoking his cigar after it!
SPEECH OF MR. CLAY AGAINST RECHARTERING THE UNITED
STATES BANK IN 1811.
Mr. Clay’s remarks against the bank were principally
confined to the subject of its unconstitutionaiity. His
argument on this point was so replete with keen and
powerful logic, that we choose to transfer it to our pages
in his own words. Nothing equal to it can be found in
any of the numerous discussions which the bank question
has called forth. Ho seemed to hold the strength of his
I antagonists in the hollow of his hand.
1 “The vagrant power toerect a bank, after having wan
-1 J"red throughout the whole Constitution in quest of some
congenial t() fes !en » upon, has been, at length, loca
ted tn that provision that authorises Congress to lay and
collect taxes. In 1791 the pow Cf's' s refered to one part of
the instrument, in 1811 to another. SoniClimes ft is
alledged to be deducible from the power to regulate coni--
i me: ce. Hard pressed here, it appears, and shows itself
under the grant to coin money.”
“What is the nature of this Government? It is
emphatically Federal, vested with an aggregate of speci
fied powers for general purposes, conceded by existing
sovereignties, who have themselves retained what is not
so conceded. It is said there are cases in which it must
acton implied powers. This is not controverted, but the
implication must be necessar|*, and obviously flow from the
enumerated powers, with which it is allied. The power
to charter companies is not specified in the grant, and I
contend is of a nature not transferrable by mere implica
tion. In the exercise of this gigantic power, we have seen
an East India company erected, which has carried dismay,
desolation and death throughout one of the largest por
tions ofthe habitable world. A company which is in it
self a sovereignty—-which has subverted empires, and set
up new dynasties—and has not only made war, but war
against its legitimate sovereign! Under the influence
of this power we have seen arise a South Sea Company,
and a Mississipi Company, that distracted and convulsed
all Europe, and menaced a total overthrow of all credit
and confidence, and to produce universal bankruptcy.
Is it to be imagined that a power so vast would have
been left by the Constitution to doubtful inference? It
has been alledged that there are many instances in the
Constitution where powers, in their nature incidental, and
which would necessarily have been vested along with the
principal, are, nevertheless, expressly enumerated ; and
the power to make rules and regulations for the govern
ment of the land and naval forces, which, it is said, is in
cidental to the power to raise armies and provide a navy,
is given as an example.—What does this prove? How
extremely cautious the convention were to leave as little
as possible to implication. In all cases where incidental
powers are acted upon, the principal and incidental ought
to be congenial with each other, and partake'of a common
nature. The incidental poxver ought to be strictly sub
ordinate and limited to the end proposed to be attained by
the specified power. In other words, under the name of
accomplishing one object, which is specified, the power
implied ought not to be made to embrace other objects
which are not specified, in the Constitution. If then, as is
contended, you could establish a bank to collect and dis
tribute the revenue, it ought to be expressly restricted to
the purpose of such collection and distribution. It is
mockery, worse than usurpation, to establish it for a lawful
object, which is not lawful. In deducing the power to
create corporations, such as I have described it, from the
power to lay and collect taxes, the relation and condition of
principal and incident are prostrated and destroyed. The
accessary is exalted above the principal. As well might
it be said that the great luminary of day is accessory, a
satellite to the humblest star that twinkles forth its fecblo
light in the firmanent of heaven.”
“Look at it in another aspect. Seven-tenths of its
capitol are in the hands ol foreigners, chiefly English sub
jects. We are possibly on the eve of a rupture with that
nation. Should such an event occur, do you apprehend
toat the English Premier would experience any difficulty
in obtaining the entire control of this institution? Repub
lics, above all other Governments, ought most seriously
to guard against foreign influence. All history proves
that the internal dissentions excited by foreign intrigue,
have produced the downfall of almost every free Govern
ment that has hitherto existed; and yet gentlemen contend
that we are benefited by the possession of this foerign
capital 1”
The effect of these and other arguments used by Mr.
Clay, was so powerful, that, notwithstanding the confi
dence with which bis opponents had entered upon the dis
cussion, he was sustained by the final vote, and the char
ter was not renewed. It was a signal victory.
STATE RIGHTS ANDi UNIfED ~BTATES~IiGHTS.
Tins ©)IP
THE TRITE ISSUE.
Shall ours be a GOVERNMENT OF THE RANKS,
or a GOVERNMENT OF THE PEOPLE? Shall we
have, a CONSTITUTIONAL TREASURY, or an UN
CONSTITUTIONAL NATIONAL RANK? Shall we
have a CONSTITUTIONAL CURRENCY of gold and
silver, or one of IRREDEEMABLE PAPER? Shall
we live under the despotisniof a MONIED ARI STOCRACY,
•runderthe safeguards of a FREE CONSTITUTION ?
[Washington Chronicle.
TUESDAY MORNING, JULY 23, 1839.
DEMOCRATIC TICKET? - “
FOR PRESIDENT,
MARTIN VAN BUREM.
FOR VICE PRESIDENT,
J Oil IV FORSYTH,
FOR GOVERNOR,
CHARLES J, MCDONALD.
GOING AHEAD!
We receive the most gratifying intelligence from all quar
ters, in relation to the Governor’s election.
The Democrats are united and active, and will rally in
their full strength to the support of their candidate.
Judge McDonald is the man for the Democracy. He is
opposed to all the schemes of the Whigs to throw th* Gov
ernment into the hands of monied corporations;—be supports
a sti ict construction of the Constitution, and gives no counte
nance to Mr. Clay aud his principles; while Judge Dougherty
is openly in favor of the pet Bank system, and as far as w’e
know, of Mr. Clay and a National Bank.
Since it is avowed that Mr. Clay “has many and warm
fiiends in Georgia,” the people should know whether Judge
Dougherty is to be found among them. Why does he not
speak out, that the people may understand his position ? Does
he intend to “lie close and keep dark?” We shall see.
\\ e say to our Republican friends, be active—suffer not
the good cause to languish, and all will be well.
MR. CLAY AND THE UNITED STATES BANK.
We publish to-day, a portion of the Speech delivered by
Mr. Clay, in 1811, against the bill to recharter the United
States Bank, containing an argument against the constitution
al right of Congress to incorporate such an institution, which
to this day, remains unanswered, and it is unanswerable.
We recommend it to the particular attention of those whig
Editors, who professing the utmost devotion to State Rights,
still prefer Mr, Clay to Mr. Van Buren. We hope they will
give it a place in their papers, that their readers may learn a
good lesson upon a great question, although its author has
long since fallen from grace.
What a pity that ambition should make such havoc amone
great and gifted men ! That they should sacrifice so much
at its shrine.
Had Mr. Clay maintained the same ground which he oc
cupied in 1811, had he stood up for the State Right princi
ples which he then vindicated with such transcendent ability,
no doubt remains that he would have realized his highest
hopes. He would have been President of the United States.
But ahis! Ambition has ruined him. And so mote it be,
with every man who i? all for himself, and nothing for his
country.
RUN AGROUND.
If evidence wore wanting to prove the utter hopelessness
of the opposition to Mr. Van Buren, it is to be found in the
zig zag editoiial of the last Recorder.
Having exhausted all the slang about his vote for free negro
suffrage—the tariff—the Missouri question, et. cet., and hav
ing searched in vain for some plausible objection to the re
publican measures ol his administration, they are driven as a
last shift to present a cut or diagram of his trip from Wash
ington to New-York, by which it is shewn, that he did not
travel by the compass, upon a direct line. And what of all
this ? Is not the President a free citizen? Is he not just as
much entitled to the power of locomotion as the Editors of
the Recorder ? Was it not his indisputable right to visit as
many places as he pleased ? What is the world coming to,
when a private citizen, or a public officer, in the exercise of
his own free choiee—in the full enjoyment of the liberty of
an American citizen—invading no man’s rights, nor disturb
ing his repose, shall be followed aud tracked through the coun
try like a robber, or an incendiary ?
Suppose Mr. Van Buren had chosen to make his trip thro’
Ohio, and from thence by the way of Boston, to New-York?
What would that prove ? Would it establish the fact that he
is less worthy, or less competent to administer the government,
than if he had not gone at all, or had made his way to New-
York by the shortest practicable route?
The sum and substance of the whole matter is this. The
wbigs have watched him with the eyes of the Eagle. They
have scanned every act of his administration with the sever
est scrutiny, until hopeless of findhigone valid objection, they
have resorted to flimsy and threadbare stories—have dug up
the decayed remnant* of old raw head and bloody bones, in
the hope of alarming grown up children; but, “it is all vani
ty and vexation of spirit;” for unless they can shew that he
has violated bi* trust, that he has departed from those great
democratic principles upon which he was triumphantly borne
into office, they will have their labor for their pains.
You may reiterate old ghost stories. You may make wood
cuts, pictures and diagrams—but in tho consciousness of hi g
own rectitude, and the confidence of the great republican fa
mily, he may well exclaim to every assailant:
“ Cease viper, thou bitest against a file.”
But we would not disturb them in their harmless amuse
ments or severer studies. Let them study Mathematics, Al
gebra, Engraving, and what not: let them draft picture*, ex
ecute caricatures; carve out figures and diagrams, and oven
“ Coffin Hand Bills,” if they should so choose ; it is all the
same to us, because, while with them, it fills up those leisure
moments, which might be speut iu total idleness, or in t hri fl less
labor, they are as it regards their effect upon the election of
Mr. Van Buren, utterly impotent. That question is settled—
he will beat Mr. Clay all hollow and the whig* know it so
that from this time, until the Presidential election iu 1840, their
Editor* will find a “ season of rest,” a sort of holiday, which
they may devote to the enjoyment of such pleasures and pur
suits, as to them shall seem mete- *
It is said that people who live iu glass houses, should be
cautious how they throw stones'; and our neighbors should
recollect, when they condemn Mr. Van Buren for his route
to New-York, that their own candidate for Governor, Judge
Dougherty, has been recently taking some crooked ways in
Western Georgia.
The Superior Court of Baldwin county, commenced its
regular session, on Monday the 15th inst. His Honor Judge
Hill presiding.
On Thursday the 18th., the trial of Josiah Thompson,
charged with the murder of Aaron Searcy, came on, which
was spent iu making up a jury, aud the examination of wit
nesses.
At the opening of Court on the 19th, the argument was
commenced to the jury, which closed late in the afteiuoon
when the jury retired to their room, where they remained until
about 5 o'clock, P. M. ofthe2oth when they returned a verdict
of voluntary manslaughter, and unanimously recommended
the prisoner to the utmost clemency of the Court, who was
sentenced to two years imptisonment at labor in the Peniten
tiary, being the slightest punishment which could be imposed
under the law.
The jury was addressed by Messrs. Poe, Hardeman, Han
sell. aud Solicitor General Foster, in behalf of the State; and
by Messrs. Cone, A. 11. Kenan, and Harris, on the side of
the prisoner, all of whom acquitted themselves with very
great credit: in short, we have rarely witnessed a similar
display of energy and talent, in the prosecution aud defence
es a criminal cause in auy of our Courts.
For the Standard of Union.
“ STATE RIGHTS AND UNITED STATES’ RIGHTS.”
No. 93.
Mr. Van Buren, Mr. Clay, and the Tariff.
Mr. Van Buren has been declared “ as faithless in al) his
professions of regard te the south, as he proved himself,
on a celebrated occasion, when he promised the south to
vote against the tariff, and fulfilled his pledge by delibe
rately recording his vote in its favor.” * Allusion is proba
bly here made to the vote of Mr. Van Buren on the tariff
law of 1828. On this point, I present the following ex
tract from the letter of B. F. Butler, Esq., late Attorney
General of the United States, to Hugh A. Garland, Esq.,
of Meclenburgh, Virginia:—“Mr. Van Buren’s personal
feelings have been at all times adverse to the high tariff
policy; and while he has always endeavored, in the dis
charge of his official duties, to carry into effect the wishes
of his immediate constituents, he has left no proper occa
sion unimproved to moderate their demands, and te bring
their wishes to the standard spoken of in the above ex
tract.” That standard, as given by Mr. Butler, is as fol
lows, to-wit:— ‘A MODIFICATION OF THE TARIFF WHICH
SHOULD PRODUCE A REDUCTION OF THE REVENUE TO THE
WANTS OF THE GOVERNMENT, AND AN ADJUSTMENT OF
THE DUTY UPON IMPORTS, WITH A VIEW TO EQUAL JUSTICE
IN RELATION TO ALL OUR NATIONAL INTERESTS, AND TO
THE COUNTERACTION OF FOREIGN POLICY, SO FAR AS IT
may be injurious to those interests.’—“ In these sen
timents” (says Mr. Van Buren) “ 1 fully concur.—A
sincere and faithful application of these principles—un
warped by private interest or political design; a restric
tion of the wants of the government to a simple and
economical administration of its affairs; a preference in
encouragement, given to such manufactures as are essen
tial to the national defence, and its extension to others in
proportion as they are adapted to our country, and of
which the raw material is produced by ourselves, with a
proper respect for the rule which demands that all taxes
should be imposed in proportion to the ability and condi
tion of the contributors ; would, I am convinced, give ul
timate satisfaction,” Ac.—“ In voting for the tariff law of
1828,” says Mr. Butler, “he acted in obedience to ex
plicit instructions from the legislature of his state ; and
although, as Col. Benton has expressly stated, in his late
letter, he felt much repugnance to many of the provisions
of that bill, he did not feel himseif at liberty to disregard
the wishes and directions of his constituents.” So much
forvcsirmub, wjJr. Butler, whose opportunities to
know were ample.—And is ifea* .aho&anice ol the repre
sentative to the instructions of the constituent; is the
obedience of the United States Senator to the instructions
of the State Legislature; is this to be condemned on the
part of State-Rights-Men? If so, “ the times are,’ in
deed, ‘ changed, and we are charged with them. No
state right has been more explicitly claimed than that of
instructing Senators in Congress.
But, it is said, Mr. Van Buren “believes the establish
ment of commeicial regulations, with a view to the en
couragement of domestic products, to be within the con
stitutional power of Congress.” It will be remembered
that Gen. Washington believed the same; that Mr. Craw
ford believed manufactures might be incidentally encour
aged; and that Mr. Madison allowed to Congress similar
powers. In these men, our adversaries profess great con
fidence.
But suppose Mr. Van Buren does accord the constitu
tional power ; he has been “at all times adverse to the
high tariff policy : Mr. Clay, on the other hand, not only
claims the constitutional power, but strenuously advocates
the policy. It is vain to talk of a third candidate ; it is a
mere shift, a trick, a subterfuge. The contest is between
Martin Van IJuren and Henry Clay; and he who does not
favor the election of one, favors the election of the other.
LACON.
July 16, 1889.
From the Washington Globe.
‘TO THIS COMPLEXION MUST THEY COME AT LAST.’
The Whig papers even in the South are .reckless enough
to place their hopes of party control in the gieat State of New
York, and through that in the Senate of the United States, on
the casting vote of an Abolitionist! When they thus avow
the alliance—the amalgamation with Abolitionists in fact—
what imposture to disavow it by the political cant every where
resorted to by ali such Southern Whigs as Stanly!! Close
political associates es Slade and the Abolitionists i.i Congress,
they pretend to be great enemies to them at home.
From the Raleigh (N. C.) Standard.
MORE OF THE LEAGUE.
The Fayetteville Observer of the 19th instant, in making
some Whig calculations as to the prospects of Federalism in
New York says: “If they (the Whigs) elect three only, they
will have control of the Senate, for sixteen is just one-half of
the Senate, and the Lientenant Governor who presides over
it, and would have the casting vote, is a Whig. So the pros
pect of a thorough regeneration of Mr. Van Buren’s native
State is pretty fair.”
Our readers will recollect that Lieut. Governor Bradish,
above spoken of by the Observer, is a rank Abolitionist.
And this is the man who, the Observer says, is a Whig— tjiro*
whom the Whigs are to have control of the New York Sen.
ate! The Observer counts too, in view of this fair prospect,
upon the election of a Whig Senator from the State of New
York. And this is to bo accomplished through the casting
vote of the Abolitionist Bradish. To be sure the Whigs may
calculate on Bradish. He is “one of them."
Shocking Occurrence.—We are informed of a most
distressing accident that befel three young men of Rhinebeck,
Dutchess county, on Wednesday morning last. The fhets as
related are these: They were returning home from a party,
about eno o'clock, in a oae horse wagon, and overtook a
double team, which they passed and proceeded some distance
ahead, when looking back they saw the wagon which they
had passed coming at full speed- They turned out in order
to give the road, but the two horse wagon, notwithstanding,
run foul of and overturned them, killing one of the young men
instantly—seriously wounding another, so that fears are en
tertained that amputation of a leg will be necessary, and
slightly injured the third. The name of the man killed was
Martin Hoyt. The horse was killed on the spot.
Kingston Reformer.
O’Connell has introduced a motion into Parliament to
allow Roman Catholics to hold certain eclesiastical offices.
Proud looks lose hearts but courteous words win