Newspaper Page Text
.’ttr. if.ives’ Speech-— Continued.
The circular which he caused to be issued by
the several beads of Departments, immediately
after his induction into office, is in the following
words:
“ The President of the United States has seen
with dissatisfaction, officers of the General Gov
eminent taking, on various eocusiaus, active parts
in elections ol the public lUDCtionanes, whether
of the General or of the Stale Governments.
F eadorn of elections being essential to the mu
tual independence of Governments, and of llio
different branches of the same Government, so
vitally cherished by most of our Constitutions, it
is deemed improper for officers, depending on llie
Executive of the Union, to attempt to control or
influence the free exercise of the elective right.
This I am instructed, therefore, to notify to all
officers within my Department, holding their ap
pointments under the authority of the President
directly, and to desire them to notify to all subor
dinate to them. The right of ony officer to give
his vote at elections as a qualified citizen, is not
meant to lie r, strained, nor however given, shall it
have any effect Vo Ins prejudice ; hut it is expected
that he will not attempt to influence the votes of
others, nor take any part in the business ot elec
tioneering, that being deemed inconsistent with
the spirit of the Constitution, and Ins duties to it.”
)Naw, Mr. President,Moyou discern, or can any
member ol tins body discern, in llicso solemn
end-emphatic declarations, the slightest appear
ance of an act of mere temporary expediency or
ol party recrimination ! On tlic contrary, da they
not proclaim the nan-interference of Federal
Executive officers with popular elections to be a
fundamental principle ol liberty and the Consti
tution ; as "essential to the mutual independ
ence 'ol the Slate and General Government,” "so
vitally cherished" by American institutions, and
Li in lisponsahle, indeed, to preserve from deslruc
tont.e great ‘constitutional remedy” of the
elective right itself! Could the principle he pla
c’d on higher or more sacred or more enduring
ground ? It is impossible, indeed, to read these
noble monuments of the.principles of Mr. Jeffer
son without seeing in them the same steady de
votion to, and just appreciation of, popular rights,
which, in the Declaration of independence, jih
■KerteJ the right of election to he r ght inesli
m '/lie to freemen audfurmidable In tyrants only,"
end which, in his first inaugural address, incul
cated "a jealous rare if the right of election /«/
the people, as the mild and sale corrective of abu
ses which are lopped by the sword of election
where peaceable remedies are unprovided.”
These, sir, are the principles of a pure, unadul
terated, conservative democracy, and I would lug
leave’lo oommonil (hem to (ho meditation of the
honorable Senator from New Jersey, , eforn lie
cones forward with nnothcrdcfmice of the prag
matic rights of office-holders.
In regard to the legislation of England on the
subject, the honorable Senator, confining his
view to a single statute, (that of the filth year of
William the 3d.) treated it as a special bargain
between the King and the Commons, to procure
supplies for the Crown, on the one hand, and to
protect certain corporate rights of election held
by the Commons, or their constituents, on the
other; in other words, as a sort of mercantile
contract,'by which the King agreed, if the (Join
mans would grant him a stipulated sum In taxes,
he would refrain interfering, hy his officers, with
the elections o! the I 'ominous, lint, sir, this is
most grossly to misconceive the dignity and cha
racter ot the question, and to degrade it below
the whole principles on which it vests, Tito
■freedom of elections from official interference, us
a principle of Engli-h liberty, rooted in the glo
rious revolution of IGBB, being intimately con
nected both with the moving causes and the im
mediiile results. If the. Senator from New Jersey
will look at the hill of rights the great charter of
British freedom,solemnly adopted by both Houses
ot parliament in the nmne and enicnalf of the
nation, lie will
y enumerated in the
pruaaUdcjjfjrfat act, among the causes by which
•Janvt'V'ic 2d tiad fut{cited the throne, that "he
I violated the. freed an us elections us mem
bers In error in Parliament ,• and afterwards, in
the body of the act, it is declared as an integral
pact of “the ancient tights and liberties" of the
people of England, “ that the election of me.m
birs of Parliament ought to] be free. The
history of the times shows that James the 2d re
sorted to all sorts of influences, both upon his
parliament and his people to carry his favorite
object of the establishment of (lie Roman Catholic
religion. Finding the existing Parliament in
tractable ta liis purposes, after practising upon
the loyalty us each member whom he supposed
bound to him by any tics of interest or attach
ment, by sending lor them and holding private
audiences with them, separately, in his closet, (a
royal expedient, which first gave rise to the term,
closeting, ns a .political phrase, and which is,
perhaps, not without examples of its practice In
our own country.) lie determined to dissolve the
old Parliament and to summon a new one. In
order to mould this new Parliament to the de
signs of tlic King, nil the resources of manage
ment and influence were brought to l>ear on the
eductions. Oliicers, appointed hy (lie Crown,
were sent to every part of the kingdom to regu
late, as it was called, the corporate bodies pus
eesdng the right of choosing members of Parlia
ment, or, in other words, to prepurr, them for the
choice of such members as would lie acceptable
to the C"U t. Letters were written hy the King’s
ministers to the lord lieutenants of the counties,
and other men of influence, requiring their aid
in the election of such persons as were known
•to be favorable to the views of the King; calling
•upon them, si the same time, to ascertain the
sentiments of the several candidates in their re
■spective counties, and to obtain from them pledges
to support the measures of the King, in the event
of their election. All, even down to justices of
the peace, who declined co-operation in this poli
tical service, were immediately removed from
office, and others of more pliable character sub
stituted in their places, while eueh J as complied
were continued in office, and promised further
promotion and rewards.*
It was by this licensed interference of the offi
cers and servants of the Crown with the elec
tions of members of Parliament, that James 2d
was de dared in the preamble of the hill of rights, I
as we have seen, to have “violated the freedom
of election of members to serve in Parliament;” j
and to frown upon all such interferences in future,
it was solemly declared in the body of the same l
instrument, as part and parcel of the “ancient
rights and liberties” of the People of England,
that “elect! ms of members of Parliament ought
to be free." In order to carry out this great
principle, consecrated and asserted by the revo
lution of\6BB, various statutes have been passed,
from time to lime, prohibiting, under heavy pen
alties, any interference of officers, appointed by
nny dependent on the Crown, with the election
vs members of Parliament. A celebrated writer
on the British Constitution, living near to those
ti nes, tells us that (while the spirit of English
liberty.dandled and fostered hy the revolution, was
yet in tile flush of its youthful vigor) “no less
than seven acts were passed in King William 3d's
reign to prevent undue infl it nets on elections.”-)
Tills great principle of the freednupof popular
elections from all official interference is not only
sanctioned anJ enforced by the positive legisla
tion of England, in the purest period of her con
stitutional history, but it is laid down as a funda
mental can on of civil and political liberty in all
the ablest treaties on the theory of free govern
ment. Locke, it is known, wrote his immortal
“Treatise on Government*” shortly after the re
volution ofiaSd, ami under the inspiration of its
* Sea Hittoryof the Revo’ution ig • England in
1*», by Sit James Mackintosh, chap VII.
’* e» Par. Istt. 13.
I gr«Al example. It was from ins werfc, with liioet
of Hooker, and M:lton, ami Sidney, that thegrea
statesman of our own revolution drew those ani
mating pieecpts of freedom which buie then
triumphantly through the unequal contest for in
dependence, and xvhicli they afterwards so deeply
1 impressed on all the institutions founded by tbei
wiadornand valor. Mr. Jeflrrson, especially, «ai
8 trained to llic great part lie afterwards ac ed, liy i
r thorough study and meditation of Locke’s work
It is a curious fact, not geucrally known, that se
vernl of the most striking passages ol tlie Uecla
c ration of Independence arc taken almost vcrlmtio
from the "Treatise on (government;" and it ii
impossible to read the introductory f>srt of tlia
sublime paper without perceiving through tin
whole of that portion of it. how constantly tin
’ mind of the writer was recurring to the principle!
taught by bis gieat master. *
Lot us see, thru, what tills illustrious preceptoi
of the founders of American liberty has said on
thfi matter we have been discussing. lu the lasi
chapter of his work, he is treating of the diesolu-
Him of Government; and among other ways in
which that may be brought about, he lays down
tlie proposition, that whenever either of the grand
departments—the legislative or the Executive—
a•> contrary lu their trust , the Government is
dissolved. He then proceeds to show that the
Executive power, in attempting to influence or
control the election of members of the Legislative
department, or to influence or control their con
duct as representatives, after they arc elected,
commits a gross and flagrant violation ofits trust.
The whole passage is fraught with the deepest
wisdom, and should be written in living charac
ters on the alters of freedom, in whatever land
they may lie raised. I beg leave to read it to the
.Senate, and to invoke their serious attention to
every word of its venerable old English text—for
every word insignificant and replete with instruc
tion for tlie present times:
‘•He” (tlie Executive Magistrate) “acts also
contrary to his trust, when lie cither employs
the force, treasures or offices, of tlie society, to
corrupt the representatives and gain them to his
purposes, or openly pre-engages the electors and
prescribes to their choice sucli whom he has, by
solicitation , threats, promises, or otherwise, won
to his designs, and employ s them to bring in such
who have promised beforehand what to vote and
what to enact. Thus to regulate candidates and
electors, and new model tlie wavs of election
what is it lint to cut up the Government hy the
roots and poison the very fountains of pnh/ic
security I lor the People having reversed to
themselves the choice of their representatives, as
the fence to their properties, could do it for no
other end but that they might always be freely
chosen, and so chosen, freely act and advise, as
the necessity of the commonwealth and the pub
lic good should, upon examination and mature
debate, he judged to require.” “ 'Voprepare such
an assembly as this and endeavor to set up tlie
dccla ed abcl/i.rs of his itwn will for tlie true rep
resentatives of the ‘People, and the law makers
of the society, is certainly as great a breach of
trust and as perfect a declaration of a design to
subvert (lie Government as is possible to lie met
with. To which, if we shall add rewards and
punishments,” (mark Mr. President, how similar
arc the practices of power in all ages and coun
tries,) “v isibly employed to the same end, and all
the arts of perverted law made use of to lake oil'
and destroy all that stand in the way of such a
design, and will not comply and consent to be
tray the liberties of their country, ’twill he past
doubt what is do ng.
Here wc find, Mr. President, this great apostle
ofliberty, of American as well as English liberty,
(for our own great statesmen, the fathers of tlie
republic, were his disciples,) asserting the very
doctrines which I have been maintaining against
the Senator from New Jersew, dpeJjttqHg-fhSTany""'
interference ol Ilia Executive (whether indirectly
►fftrough ’ins officers and agents, or directly by
himself, i« immaterial) with popular elections,
any attempt to “ pre-engage the “lectors, and pri
son'be lu their choice,” those whom they should
elect, is n fundamental ‘ breach of trust" —a
gross violation of that right of "freely choosing
their representatives which ihe People have reser
ved to /hems- lues,” and is, in fact, to use bis own
energetic and noble language, "to cut up the Gov
ernment by the roots, and to poison the very
fountain of public security■” It was in this
school that the great men of our Revolution were
taught the principles of liberty; and it is easy to
trace, indeed, in the very passage I have read to
the Senate, the principles which, early impressed
on the mind of Mr. Jefferson, led him to proclaim,
in the outset of his Administration, that noble,
self-denying ordinance which, we have seen, he
laid down ns the rule of his own conduct, and ol
that of all in authority under him.
Bill the Senator from New Jersey in his report
tells us that tliis is English doctrine—that “such
a plan is indigenous in sucli a soil !” We have
seen, sir,that it is American doi trine, sanctioned
by tlie most venerable names in the calendar ol
republican statesmen, as well as English doctrine
derived from llio purest sources of English con
stitutional freedom. Util I would ask, Mr. Pres
ident, in what .*o/7 (with the exception of ourown
favored land) has the tree of liberty ever struck
deeper root, or spread out larger and more vigor
ous branches than in tlie soil of England! Is it
not the land of our glorious ancestors, whence
they brought tlie most valued principle of our in
stitutions, with their instinctive love of freedom,
and hatred of tyranny and oppression; and, above
all, that sturdy spirit of independence which, if
now revived, would he the happiest omen of the
perpetuity of our liberties !—ls it not Ihe laud of
mayor chart a, of the p tition ofr : ghl, and of the
bill of rights .- Is it not the land of tlie habeas
corpus, of the trial Ivy jury, and of representative
gov rnment itself ! Is it not from those monu
ments of British freedom that Mr. Jefferson him
self (“-the great apostle of democracy,” as the
Senator from New Jersey has learned to call
him.) tells us we have derived “the materials of
which our own happy Government is construc
ted !"• And has it come to this, that principles
and doctrines of the most vital importance to the |
preservation of our free institutions are to lie
scornfully rejected because they have come down |
to ns from our English ancestors I Are Locke j
and Sidney, Milton and Hooker, and that 1 mg
! line of illustrious sages and patriots Irom w hom
* The coincidence here noticed is so curious and
] instructive that it may not be amiss to present it to
| tlie view of tlie reader in a few parallel passages
taken from tlie Declaration of Independence and
tiie “ Treatise on Government:”
Declaration of Independ Locke on Government.
cnee- “ People are not so ea
-1 “Prudence, indeed,will sily got out of their old
| dictate that Governments forms as some arc apt to
I long established should suggest. They are hard
j not be changed for light ly to be prevailed with to
I and transient causes; and. amend tlie acknowledged
accordingly, all expert- faults in the frame they
•once hath fliowii that have been accustomed to.
| mankind arciuirc liispn.s. till the mischief become
, ed to suffer while evils general, and the ill dc
; an sufferable, than to signs of the rulers become
I right themselves hy nbol- visible, or their attempts
j isiting the forms to whichl sensible to Vic greater
they are accustomed.” v.irt. the People, who are
tore disposed to suffer
him right themselves hy
distance, arc not upl to
« But when a Ion; tir.”
j train of abuses and tistir “ But if a long train pi
potions.pursuing invari buses, prevarications. 4
j ably Ihe same object, win ut fives, all lending tin
ers a design to reduce same tray, male the dr
\ them under absolute Au-\sign visible to the People
I minion, it is their right, jv4'C. 4 < .
j is their duty, to throw off) “Ibis doctrine of :
i such Government, and to vower in the People p
j provide new guards for providing for their safe! j
, their future security," anew,” Sr c. he.
+ See his letter to John Nerve 1, Esq. in the ltd
' volume of bis Wiitlngr,
Be Jefferson and Iris immoftal aasaoutts drew the.r
nt lessons of political wisdom. to be thus dishonored
d- and contemned, and held as witlings and "idiots,’
ru I suppose,compared with ike guiding lights of
n- modern loci f icoitm'i
ly The Senator from New Jersey also tells us in
or ' substance that there is niucii less reason fur throw
as ; ing up legal barriers against Executive imerfer
a ' cure and en. roachmenl in this country than in
k. England—that in E*gland the chiel Executive
e- Magistrate is hereditary—here he is elected by
rv- -.the J’euple; and hence the Senator would seem
m to inli-rtlial he should he free from constitutional
is or legislative restraints. But this very cireurn
at stance of the popular election of the chief Magis
te trate, in another and more philosophical view of
ir the subject, creates the greater necessity for rat
es sing harriers by law against the abuse of his au
thorily; being chosen by the People, he nalurally
or has their sympathies an I confide oe. 1 hey see
hi in him the creature ol llioir power— the nHeeled
st image of flieir sovereignly. They are, therefore,
i- very nalurally less disposed to he jeduus or dis
n trustful of him, than they would he of an heredi- .•
n lary chief magistrate, holding his existence and
d power independently of their will. f)n the olli
- er hand, the elective chief magistrate himself, res
ts lying on these natural sympathies and liberal dis
c positions'in the popular mind, would often he
>i templed tn abuse them ; and. unless restrained by
e inn, to venture on stre ch sofinffu n ior act r
i- ily wliirh an hereditary mug s'rale, the con taut
l, ohjeci of pul lie vigilance and jealousy, would he
I. nnwillii gl l risk. Accordingly, one of the most
it Ihealaswe 1 as profound pulitii al wrilers of the
age. one whom his own country no n (Talleyrand)
1 pionounccd t*he a second Montesquieu, has ie
e maiked in bis generally candid view of American
o inslnth n-, that public officers here are ordinarily
r ‘ far more independent within their sphere, of ac
- lion than the civil officers of his own country;”
and from a reliance on the sympathy and indul
-0 gence of the People, whose agents they are, they
s “sometimes venture an man if tat ions of their
> power which astonish even an European." “Ily
s this means” he. adds “hi hits are farmed in the
/ he. ret of a free country which may one day he fa
-1 tut to its liberties.”
i These remarks of l)e Tocqucville arc not made
i with reference to the President particularly, but
I are app ied to American public officers in general.
t His-boi kis by far the most fuvuiable virw of
Airwri- an institutions that has been presented by
any lo eign writer; and he holds them up, indeed,
• for imitation and gradual introduction into Eu
, rope, as tin as the diHi-rent circumstances of the
!• old and the new world will admit. The remark I
, have quoted from him. therefore, coming from so
enlightened and friendly a source, deserves at least
t ie candid consideration of every man who cher
ishes, and wan'd preserve and perfect, our free
nopulnr institutions. It shows that we should not
be content wiih tlie fact, important us that is, that
our principal public officers are chosen by, and
ac, at fixed periods, responsible to the People.
That very i ircumstance may embolden them, from
' are iance on the sympathies and protection of the
People, to venture on unwarrantable excesses.
The true security of freedom is to throw up, be
fore-!! ind, harriers by law against the abuses of
oi w. r, though it be conferred by the People; and
then ihe r sponsibility of elective agents will he
somethingicil and effectual. "It would he a
dangerous delusion,” Mr. Jefferson has (old us,
“ were a confidence in the men if our choice to*
ill nee our fears for the safely of our rights.” ‘‘ln
quest! ins of power, then, let no more lie board of
confidence in man, but bind him down from mis
chief by the chains of the Constitution.”* - _
And yet how often liar, i)jj s B j lon B ong about
the men of our ohiilte been sung to lull the
jealousies of a l.ee Pettyfe, and-to strengthen the
i rin id dclqgiiU'ilgjuYny, J n this very report of
Hie Senator from New Jersey, the sympathies of
the People are constantly invoked on behalf of the
offier-holders, (whose interference with their most!
sacred rights is sought to he subjected to some
gal restraint.) by being told, in not less than half "
i dozen doleful passages, that these poor “pro
ribedoffi - crs” arc the. People's officers —“honor-
ed by the choice and confidence of the People /”
In like manner, if a measure ®f the President,,
deemed dangerous to the liberties amd best inter
ests of the country, is opposed, and opposed with
effect, the generous feelings of the People are au
once appealed to, to come forward and sustain tha
President of their choice.
From whatever cause it has arisen, whether
from lhat suggested by De Tooqueville, from tHu
operations of parly discipline, from the political!
organisation of public officers, or from the prero
gatives conferred on the President by the Consti
tution itself, or from all combined, the fact is urn
doubtedly true l at Executive, power has attained!
a strength and development here which it does
not possess at this moment in any other constitu
tional system existing in the world. In England
mil In France, we know the Executive veto has
fallen into total disuse. Here, it has become an
ordinary and habitual resort. In England and in
France, if a measure of the -Executive he defeated
by the representative branch of-the Government,
ministers resign, and a new system of adminis-
M alien, accommodated to tlie views ol the Legis
lature. is formed, H re, a favorite measure of the
Executive may have been condemned and reject
ed, time after lime, and yet it is again and again
presented and urged upon the Legislature and the
nation without the slightest regard to the repeated
manifestations of the opinions of the People and
their Representatives against it. And, in this
very matter of elections, the most vital in a free
representative Government, the interference of
Executive officers (as was lately, not to speak of
other instances, most publicly shown in the two
largest cities of the Union,) is open, systematic
and undisguised. On no subject is the spirit of
liberty in England more jealously awake than on
this.—Under the administration of Lord North
even, the Lord Lieutenant of a county (an officer
appointed by the Crown) having written letters
to some of his friends recommending to them the
support of the ministerial candidate for Parlia
ment. the matter was promptly brought to the no
i lice of the House of Commons, and the minister
showing some disoositlon to treat the suhjeit
j rather lightly, the House immediately entered up
| on their journals the following indignant rebuke
of the minister, and noble vindication of the Irec
doin of elections:
“Resolved, That it is highly criminal for any
minister or ministers, or any other servant of the
Crown in Great Britain directly or indirectly, to
make use of the power of his office in order to in-
I fluence the election of members of Parliament;
and that an attempt to exorcise that influence, is
an alia k upon the dignity, the honor and the
i»dep{“d nee of Parliament, an infringement of
' the rights and the hlvrties of the people, and an
’ attempt to sap the basis of our free and happy
Constitution.”
And vet. if a statement repeated through many
j of the public journals of (he country, and never,
i so far as I have seen, contradicted, is to he credi
e I ted. a high Executive officer of this government
- I actively interfered in an important election then
e 1 pending, by addressing letters to his friends, eall
* | ing on them, by their fealty to the administration,
, v s j to vote against an honorable member of the other
house. (Mr. T.egare) who, by his short but hril
,y j liant career in Congress, has left a bright light
to ! on the Parliauieyitary annals of his country, and
I to whom future tithes will look hack as the model
''t of an accomplished legislator, and of an eloquent
f j and trained statesman. Let the doctrines of the
_ report now under consideration, amounting as
' e they do to a hold justification of these practices,
be sanctioned and this Executive power, already
a so formidable, re-nforoed by the organized i lec
of tioneering activity of the whole corps of ofliee
lil holders and of numerous auxiliary troops of ex
kh j * The celebrated Kentucky resolutions of 1795,
i drawn by Mr. Jefferson
pedants, will be iiistaCed in a virtual suprematlj | |
over the laws and Constitution of the country. ; ,
The author of this report, Mr. Presidant, has
sacrilegiously. as he must pardon ine lor say- i
ing, invoked the authority of the Virginia rcsolu- !
lions and report of 1798 and ’99, and has, here
and there strangely perverted their text to give a
semblance of support to his most dangerous doc
trines. Now, I take upon myself to say. there
never were two documents more thoroughly op
posed, in their whole spirit and substance, than
this report of the Judiciary Committee of the
Senate, and the resolutions and report of the Vir
ginia Legislature in ’9B and ’99. The object and
entire drift of the Virginia report and resolutions
were to assert the rights of the people as against
the Government. The whole scope of the report
of the. Judiciary Committee is to maintain the
alleged rights of the officers if the Government
as against the People. The V irginia report and
resolutions asserted the right of the People free
ly to discuss and examine the merits of public
men and measures, us the means of subjecting
» the Government to its just responsibility to the
People. This report contends for the right of
t e officers of the Government to interfere with
electrons as a means by which the People will be
inevitably subjected to the undue influence of
the Government.
• (To be continued. J
CHRONICLE AND SENTINEL,
A U GUST A.
SATURDAY MORNWO, MAY 25.
The pertinacity with which some of the Van
Buren papers in the South attempt to fasten up
on every opponent of the administration, a con
nection of some sort, with the designs of the ab
olitionists, has often excited our indignation
With the recorded fact before our eyes that Mr.
Van Buren himself has voted under oath, against
t he admission of any state into the Union, which
t olerated slavery, and for the continuance of free
n egro suffrage in Mew York, it is not a small tax
u pon our patience to hear his friends herald him
fa, - th as the peculiar friend and champion of South,
ern rights and institutions.
Among those editors who have been most fro
wn rd and pertinacious in their attempts to abuse
the public mind at the South, is the editor of the
Nashville Union, the organ of the administration
in Tennessee. He has for some time past, been
abusing John Bell, Judge White, and other dis
tinguished Southrons, and charging them with
being leagued with the abolitionist*, because, for
sooth, they arc opposed to the immaculate Van
Buren. It noW turns out that this very editor
himself is an abolitionist , and one 100 of the worst
order .' He came to Tennessee, or rather was
imported into that State, in February last, to be
come the champion of the administration party.
He became so noisy about abolition, that suspi.
dons began to be entertained that he bimsel l
might not he altogether untainted, and upon being
accused, he acknowledged that wdiile he was the
editor of Uedfor^Ussax^^^
abolition produc
tions for ttHie purpose of procuring for the Van
Boron party, the votes of the abolitionists! that
■“ be Usd labored to convince the abolitionists that
it was their duly to support the administration.’’
This much ho has admitted, and the testimony has
k been produced to prove that at the time above as
laded to, has was a rank, out and out abolitionist
himicf— that in o'der to propdiae the free ne.
goes of New Bedford, and scan e their votes fm
the Van Buren ticket, he proposed that they
should be allowed to name one of the candidate
to be run upon that ticket, which being agreed t 0
by his political friends, he himself, then editor of
the New Bedford Gazette, now editor of the
Nashville Union, teas named by the free negroes
as the man of their choice to be run upon the
ticket, and he was run and beaten by the Whigs !
This was in 1837, and now in 1639, not two
short years having elapsed, this man, this candid
ate of the free negroes of New Bedford, is iin'
ported to the South and placed at the head of a
leading administration paper, for the purpose of
abusing high-minded and distinguished sons of
the South as abolitionists, because they refuse to
' support Van Buren ! He is now one of the
apostles of Democracy—a painted saint among lh e
faithful—a Missionary sent out to enlighten u s
upon politics, and convert us to Van Burcnism!
With such doctrinaires as this, the party ought to
be eminently successful in the South. They
ought to carry every thing before them in this
benighted region ! We commend him to the
right hand of fellow-ship, among our democratic
brethren of the press. He preaches Van Buren"
ism like, a crusader, and chaun.s democracy like a
Psalmstcr. There is but one drawback upon his
exalted merits, —free negroes are not allowed to
vote in the South, and therefore his eminent skill
and long experience in winning the votes of that
class will be utterly lost to the cause. We think
however ho will do for a sample nevertheless !
«
The Savannah Georgian and (’onstitutionalis
j have manifested some little surprise, real or pre.
j tended, that we should have taken the liberty of
criticising Judge Wayne’s oratory. The less they
say upon that subject the letter. The Judge’s
effort in the Convention was one of the weakest
arguments ever heard from any man, making pre
tensions to distinction—it was a perfect point-no
point concern—a mass of confused ideas, and a
worse contusion of language. Sometimes it was
difficult to tell for some, minutes what he was
aiming at, and finally the hearer would have to
guess at what the orator sumed utterly incapable
of expounding, satisfied with some lamely
asserted conclusion which had no sort of conncc"
tion with his premises. The whole speech was
like the Fcdec farmer’s wheat, “ for every grain’
a bushel of chaff,” ami the concluding portion of
j jt, in which he talked about the “ wool hats,” was
| the merest stuff we ever heard in our lives, fit for
1 a stump demagogue in the backwoods of Arkan
I saw, hut in the mouth of a Judge of the Supreme
j Court of the United States, utterly ridiculous and
disgusting.
We could not help remembering what Tristan
Burges once said of Judge Wayne. Where the
Force bill was under discussion in Congress, as
! ter Mr. McDuffie had concluded one of his pow
erful and thrilling speeches against it, Judge
i Wayne claimed that he should be allowed to rc
j ply to him end close the argument on the part of
the friendiy\ e bi u. His claim was yielded t o
and hereJuL, Mr. McDuffie. When Mr.
i Purges weinNLe, he was called upon at a pub-
lit meeting roV) ls constituents the reason why I
MchulHe wag\t jjjiwercd. He said that Nr. j
W’ajue insisted, on the ground of
j his Southk'n man, on being allowed to
| reply V\,j c h was yielded to him and
then-fort rtLuffie u\ ta unanswered.” Judge
Wayne’s in the Convention satisfied us,
as Mr. Burges ,J his constituents, that he had
given a very got| cason.
v .
“Emerson’s first p the title of a small
school book, a copy of' !kdi has been forwarded
to us through the Post OftiS It is designed to
leach the principles of arithmdc to small chil
dren. It is for sale at Thomas Regards,
A pamphlet, entitled an “ Answer to'N. letter
from the Hon. F. H. Elmore, of South Cardfoa.
by E. M. S. Spencer, has been laid on our taljo
by Messrs. Browne. Cushey & Mc’Cafterty, the\
publishers. The object of the letter is to devel
ope the plans, and practices of the abolitionists
and the manner of proceeding in their sociclit.|
We have not had time to peruse it. It is for sale
at the book stores.
Communicated.
Messrs. Editors t — l had on Wednesday
last the pleasure of attending what is termed a
“Pick Nick” given by the “Pioneer Club” at
their usual place of rendezvous “Pick Nick
Grove.” If on that occasion any thing had been
wanting to give variety and interest to the scene—
if the banquet had been less profuse—its projec
tors less munificent—or the attractions of the com
pany less enticing, nature herself could have sup
plied this deficiency ; and in the absence of ther
enjoyments, have inspired the lover of her charms,
with reflections amply compensating for a mo
mentary seclusion from the worlds bustling, glit
tering throng. Pick Nick Grove, Messrs. Edi
tors, is one of those arcadian spots of which the
poets dream in fancy—its deep and emborrowing
shade—its still and solitary loneliness—its quiet
and its gloom, impart a charm, of which even
mirth and gaidly cannot divest it. Here too, the
troubled waters of the Savannah as they pass in
their onward course o’er rocks and rapids, fur
nish to the listening ear a tale of its “ untiring
history.” And here too—hut I must stop. Messrs.
Editors, ifyou have never been to a Pi k Nick—
go.
The party —the cause of this digression, con
sisted of some fifty or sixty, of which number the
boats “Pioneer” and “Clide,” with their jjendants
flying, manned by those who made a toil of plea
sure. carrietLun
in carriages and put in requisite n
for the occasion, repaired to the spot where plea
sure held her court; making when assembled,
“even busy life wake in that quiet dell,” music
too, was there with its enlivening strains, and
beauty with its blandest, sweetest smile, waking
to life and cheerfulness the stillness of the scene.
There 100, the rosy cheek, the sparkling eye. the
sunny smile, told of youth, of health, of gladness,
while nature as if secondary their wishes, pre
sented an allurement sot the dance, and on
they
“tripped the light, fantastic toe,”
There was in fine, good eating and drinking—
much talking, and laughing, and dancing—a little
ogling—some angling—(though on dry land)
and if not a “feast of reason,” at least a. “ flow
of soul.” It was there too, that pride and corn
fort paid their tribute to pleasure, while more than
one cheerfully submitted to the sacrifice, and re
turned from the banquet as the warrior from the
battle field, with garments rent—shoes wo rn—
stockings dirty, and dresses soiled ; but it was a
tribute only for the day, which promised, ij ‘ ei/cs
told nn tales, a reward for all the future. The
banquet was, indeed, all that could bo -wished ;
and not until night, as if envious of the day, had
thrown her mantle over them,did they take their
homeward track, the last of whom reached the
city about 9 o’clock. Reader have you ever been
to a Pick Nick 7 If not, go. A.
Crops in Mississippi.
The Natchez Courier of the 17th, represents
tho cotton crop ns extremely unpromising. A
letter from a planter in Washington county states
that he had planted his whole crop twice, and a
part of it three times, and that it dies almost as
fast as it comes up. It seems that the fields are
ravaged by a small insect, which appears in im
mense numbers upon the last, and devours it.
The same letter states that the corn crops look
very flattering.
From the New Orleans Bee rif the 2 2d.
From Mexico.
The schooner Verarrusana arrived on Satur
i day from Tampico whence she sailed on the 9th.
i She brings but little information of interest. Wo
! learn that the federalists were falling hack upon
Tuipan Bustamenle at the head of his army
was in the vicinity of Tampico which place he was
expected to enter without resistance.
The Vcracrusana brought 20(10 dollars in spe
cie.
Consignees per South Carolina Hail Rond.
Hamburg, May 2t, 1839.
G. R. Jessup, T. Richards, Haviland, Risley &
Co., J. li. Murphy, K. Mugin, Rees Si Beall, W. &
J. Ne’son, G. Parrott, J. F. Benson.
TURTLE SOUP
■ | Served up this day at 11 o’clock, at the Cornucopia.
may 2ij
TEMPER INCF. NOTICE —The Total Absti
nence Society will bold its next meeting in the
Presbyterian Lecture Room, on Monday evening
next, at which time the following question will be
presented for debate by any who may choose to
participate:
Has the Legislature the constitutional right to
prohibit the sale of ardent spirits; and if it be
constitutional, would it be proper and conducive to
the public good to pass a law prohibiting entirely
except for medicina," purposes,' the sale of a I in
toxicating drinks > C. F. oTURGES
may 25
"-y BENEVOLENT SOCIETY, for the benefit
of the Sick Pour of Augusta and its vicinity.—
The Visiting Committees for the ensuing month are
as follows:
Division No. I.—Mr. P. H ' T antz, Mr. 0. Bland,
\ rs. Meredith-; Mrs Charles Jones
Division No. 2.—Ur. E Osborne, S. U. Groves,
Mrs. Tiemb y, Mrs. J. W. Stoy.
Division No 3.—Mr- E. W. Collier,Jas. Panton*
Mrs. J-C. Snead, rs. A. Whitlock.
Any member of the committees may obtain funds
by calling on the President, (W. W. Ho t, Esq.) at
his office, Gumming’? Piaza.
may 22 C. F. STURGBS, Secretary.
NOTICE.—' The Rail Road Passenger Train,
between Charleston and Hamburg, will leave as
foI.OWS: —
UPWARD.
Not to leave Charleston before 700a. m.
i> i* Summerville, “ - -8 30
a •> Georges’, - “ - 10 00
ii “ Branchvhle, “ - 11 00
n “ Midway, - “ - H3O m. J
<• »« Blackvi le, - “ -100 p. m.
ii “ Aiken, - - “ - 300
Arrive at Hamburg not before - 400
downwaiid.
Si Not to leave Hamburg before 600 a.m.
\ “ “ Aiken, -“ - - 730
\i< “ Blackville, “ - • 930
“ Midway, “ - -10 30
Branchville, “ - - 11 00
„ “ - - 12 00 M.
]Vnmerville,“ - - 2 00p. m.
Arrive at Chat cstOT not before 300
Distance-1 36m!fc«- KareThrough-ilO OO
Speed not over 2(lV« a » ho^- . 1 V™* " 2 ®
minutes each, for brl akfast and d ' nnt ’ r - and »°*
longer than 5 minutes\ or wood and water at an y
St To n stop for passengW s > w^ ( n a whit s%' n 8“ ,
hoisted, at either of the ab«?Y® stations; an ? * (
Sineaths, Woodstock, I^ ne ‘V 41 "" °
Rives’, Grahams, .
and Marsh’s T. O.
Passengers up will breakfast at Woodstock and
dine at Blackville; down, will breakfast at Aiken
and dine at Summerville. may 21
(ry HIGHLY IMPORTANT. .£0
Nervous diseases, liver complaint, bilious dis
eases, piles, rheumatism, consumption, coughs,
colds, pain in the chest and side, ulcers, all deli
cate and mercurial diseases are successfully treated
at Ur. EVANS’S Office, 100 Chatham-street, New
York.
DR. WILLIAM EVANS' MEDICINES,
Arc composed of vegetable substances, which exert
a specific action upon the heart, give an impulse or
strength to the arterial system ; the blood is quick
ened and equalized in its circulation through al the
vessels, whether of the skin, the parts situated in
ternally, or the extremities ; and as ail the secre
tions of the body are drawn from the blood, there
is a consequent increase of every secretion, and a
quickened action of the absorbent and exhalent,or
discharging vessels. Any morbid a tion which
may have taken place is corrected, all obstructions
arc removed, the ulood is purified,and tue body ie
sumes a hea thful state.
These medicines after much anxious toil and re
search, having been brought by the proprietor to
the present state of perfection, supersede the use of
the innumerable other medicines; and aie so well
adapted to the frame, that the use of them, by main- i
taming the body in the due performance of its
tlle v .ital stream in a pur*
and healthy stale,causes TfTo nwtJPany years, htflg
er than it otherwise would, and the mind to be
come so composed and tranquil, that o d age when
it arrives will appear a b essing, and not (as too
many who have neglected their constitutions, or
had them injured by medicines administered by ig
norance) a source of misery and abhorrence.
They are so compounded, that by stiengthening
and equalizing the action of the heart, liver, and
other visera, they expel the bad, acrid or morbid
matter, which renders the blood impure, out of the
circulation, through the excretory ducts into the
passage of the boweis, so that y the brisk orslight
evacuations which may be regulated by tire doses,
always remembering that while the evacuations
from the bowels are kept up. t e excretions f.om all
the other portions of the body will aGo be going
on in the same proportion, by which means the
blood invariably becomes puiilied.
steady perseverance in the use of the medicine
will undoubtedly eli'ect a cure even in the most
acute or obstinate diseases; but in such cases the
dose may be augmented, according to the inveteracy
of the disease ; the medicints being so admirably
adapted to the constitution, that they may be taken
at al. times
In all cases of hypochondriacism, low spirits,pal
pitations of the heart, nervous irritability, nervous
weakness, lluur albus, seminal wea ness, indiges
tion, loss of appetite, flatulency, heartburn, general
debility, bodily weakness, chlorosis or gieen sick
ness, flatulent or hysterical faintings, hysterics,
headache, hiccup, sea sickness, night-ivare, gout,
rheumatism asthma, tic doulorcaux, cramp, spas
modic affections, and those who are victims to tnat
most cxcrutiating disorder, Gout, will find relief
from their sulferings, by a course of Ur. William
Evans’s H Is.
Nausea, vomiting, pains in the side, limbs, head,
stomach or back, dimness or confusion of sight,
noises in the inside, alternate flushings of heat and
chilliness, tremors, watchings, agitation, anxiety
bad dreams, spasms, will in every case be relieved
by an occasional dose of Ur. Evans’s medicines.
One of the most dangerous epochs to females is|,
at the change of life; and it is then they require a
medicine which will so invigorate their circulation
and thus strengthen tlier constitutions as may ena
ble thorn towitiistand the shock.
Those who h ive the care and education of Fe
males, whether the studious or the sedentary part
of the community, should never be without a sup
ply of Ur. Evans’s Pills, which remove disorders
in the head, invigorate the mind, strengthen the
body, improve the memory, and eliven the imagin
ation.
When the nervous system has been too largely
drawn upon or overstrained, nothing is better to
correct and invigorate the drooping constitution
than these medicines.
Dr. William Evans’s Medical Office, 100 Chat
ham street, New York, where the Doctor maybe
consulted.
d/* A Case of Tic Doloreux.
Mrs. J. E. Johnson, wife of Capt. Joseph John
son, of Dynn, Mass., was severely affiicted for ten
y-ears with Tic Doloreux, violentpa in her head,
and vomiting with a burning heat in the stomach,
and unable to leave her room. She could find no
relief from the advice of several physicians, nor
from medicines of any kind, until after she commen
ced using Ur. Evans’s medicines, of 100 Chatham
street, and from that time she began to amend, and
eels satisfied if she continues the medicine a few
days nnger, will be perfectly cured. Keferene,
can be had as to the truth of the above, by calling
at Mrs. Johnson’s daughter’s store, 359 Grand St
N Y,
A REAL BLESSING TO MOTHERS.
Ur. Wm. Evans’ Celebrated Soothing Syrup
for Children Cutting theiii Teeth.
This infallible remedy has preserved hundreds of
ehi dren, when thought past recovery, from con- I
vnlsions. As soon as the Syrup is rubbed on the “
gums, the child will recover. This preparation is
so innocent, so efficacious, and so pleasant that no
child will refuse to let its gums be rubbed with it.
W hen infants arc at the age of four mouths. though
there is no appearance of teeth, one bottle of the
Syrup should he used on the gums to open the
pores. Parents should never he without the Syrup
in the nursery where there are voungclifdren ; for
if a child wakes in the night with pain in the
gums, the Syrup immediately gives ease by open
ing tho pores and healing the gums; thereby pre
venting convulsions, feveis, &c.
Sold by ANTONY & HAINES,
Sole agents in Augusta,
J. M.& T. M. TURNER. Savannah,
P. VI. COHEN & Co.. Charleston.
SHARP * ELLS, Mil edgevil e,
C. A. ELLS. Macon,
. . .A. VV. MARTIN, Forsyth,
BENJ AMIN P. POOH E. Athens,
MARK A. LANE, Washington.
I ~4pC