Alexandria gazette. [volume], April 16, 1834, Image 2

About Alexandria gazette. [volume] (Alexandria, D.C.) 1834-1974

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THE GAZETTE:
By EDGAR SNOWDEN._
Terms
Daily paper - - - ” - per annum.
Country paper _ * 5.per annum.
The ALEXANDRIA GAZETTE forthe coun
try is printed on Tuesday, Thursday, and
Saturday. .... i
All advertisements appear in both papers, and
are inserted at the usual rates.
MR. McDUFFIE’S SPEECH,
Continued from the Alexandria Gazette, April 11.
What reflecting patriot can contemplate this
mighty host of executive janizaries, more terri
ble than an army of Northern barbarians stimu
lated by the hopes of plunder, without a pro
found sense of alarm and apprehension for the
fate of our institutions? They are in the midst
of us: they insinuate themselves into our sanc
tuaries, amongst our domestic altars and house
hold gods, and, under artful disguises and by
incessant and untiring efforts, obtain a control
" over public opinion, by contaminating its very
sources and elements. We have seen how in
other countries similar means have been em
ployed to effect the purposes of ambition: when
Oliver Cromwell was preparing to subvert the
iberties of England, it was his custom to say,
at each successive advance in his progress:—
“ This power is not of my seeking. It came to
me from God, by the choice of the army, the
usual channel through which the divine mercies
are dispersed to the nation, in these latter
days!” And how long will it be before some
American Cromwell, elevated to the throne of
Empire by this army of political saints, shall
say to us—11 this is not of my seeking, it came
ma f"iT»m frhck rt^Anlo h\T flip r'hnif'.P nf
bv iijv *■'-'*** ^ y —
disinterested patriots who hold offices and serve
the country purely for the sake of conscience,
and who are the usual channels through which
the favor of the people is dispensed in these lat
ter days.”
Have we not already seen the ominous signs
of this approaching catastrophe, in our own
heavens? Contemplate—without apprehension
if you can—the spectacle recently exhibited in
the State of Ohio; read the proceedings and
analyze the composition and character of that
extraordinary and self-constituted convention
which assembled together for the purpose of no
minating a successor to the present Chief Ma
gistrate." And, although this administration
came into power under a solemn pledge to re
deem the popular elections from the tampering
influence of office-holders, yet this convention,
two-thirds of which consisted of office-holders,
notoriously proceeded under the banner of the
Chief Magistrate to nominate his successor; and
the voice of this mercenary assembly has been
hailed, throughout the ranks of the faithful, as
the voice of the people, or what seems to be of
still higher authority, the voice of “ the party.”
I will now advert to another sign, which 1
have deeply regretted to perceive, and which I
cannot but regard as one of the most fearful in
dications of these inauspicious times. What
have we seen in the great State of Pennsylva
nia, heretofore standing proudly pre-eminent
among the States of this"Union, and justly re
garded as the keystone of the Federal arch?
Do you recollect the political history of that
State for the last twelve months? Little more
than that period has elapsed since her legisla
ture resolved, by an almost unanimous vote,
that it was both constitutional and expedient to
recharter the Bank of the United States, and in
structed their Senators and requested the Rep
resentatives here to use their efforts to effect
that measure.
And yet we have seen that legislature, with no
earthly reason to justify the change but that
which was given by the French granadier who
dispersed the Chamber of Deputies—“ the Ge
neral has given orders”—entirely change its po
sition in regard to the great question so deeply
involving the vital interests of the State. I can
not believe that the legislature is a true expo
nent of tho sentiments of the people.
* a . _ l_• -_•
DUl, uitii may uc, is it ai an aui j.ii is
ing that the President should be delirious with
power when he perceives the magic of his in
fluence illustrated by such extraordinary ef
fects? He has almost literally realized the vi
sion of the madman, who ascended a lofty'
mountain, surveyed from his proud pre-emi
nence the almost boundless horizon, and swell
ing with the conception that he swayed the
sceptre of universal empire, exclaimed in a
voice of authority, “kingdoms, to the right
about face!” Yes, sir, “the General has given
orders,” and they have been obeyed; but I trust
in God that the sovereign people of the ancient
and venerable Commonwealth of Pennsylvania
will not be as subservient as those who have be
trayed her interests, and proved recreant to her
principles.
Let us no longer delude ourselves with the vi
sion of freedom, if such be the power of one
man Is it the crown that makes the king, Mr.
Speaker, or the sceptre? Is it the mere pomp
and circumstance of power, or the substance of
power, unlimited, uncontrollable power, that
makes the despot? *
l say unto you, sir, and to the gentleman from
Tennessee, whose integrity of purpose com
mands my respect, that, let him firmly establish
this theory of executive omnipotence and offi
cial dependence, and connect it, as it is doom
ed to be connected, by all the laws of political
affinity, with that system of party discipline
1 which is so admirably exemplified in a certain
political school, which holds its deliberations
under the auspices of a saint, not known, I be
lieve, to the Christian Calendar*—once esta
blish that theory' and this practice, and you arm
the President of the United States with a power
of incantation, which may ‘ call up spirits from
the vasty deep, to do his errands,’ and they
will come—
“-As when the potent rod,
Of Amram’s son in Egypt's evil day,
Waved round the coast, up called a pitchy
cloud
Of locusts warping on the Eastern wind,
That o’er the realm of impious Pharaoh
hung
Like night, and darkened all the land of
Nile”
Such, and so numerous, will be that host of
official dependants and executive retainers who
will always stand i^eady to rally round the stan
dard of executive usurpation, like the vassals of
former days, rushing at the signal of the bugle
blast, or the beacon light, to the banner of the
feudal chieftain, equally and indifferently pre
pared to justify the right and to defend the
wrong. Yes, sir, such will be the portentous
cloud, not only of political locusts, but of cor
morants, vultures, vampires, blood-flies, muqui
toes, and of all the tribes of devouring birds of
* St. Tammany.
\
mt ,
prey, and blood-sucking insects, which the Pre- '
sident of the United States can alwrays call up <
to afflict the land and consume its substance, by «
waving that wizard staff which you now pro
pose to place in his hands.
Indeed, if we are to credit the statements made
in the public journals, of certain oracular res
ponses recently given out from the executive
tripod, it would seem that we have already a
political Moses in our land:—-not, to be sure, en
dowed with the faculty of calling up successive
plagues to desolate the land of Egypt, but who
has ascended Mount Sinai and there received
a divine commission, to call down the consu
ming vengeance of Heaven upon the children
of Israel, for bow ing down to worship the Gol
den Calf! It is recorded of Oliver Cromwell,
that in the political trances and rhapsodies, with
which he frequently edified the Parliament, he
made his followers believe, and actually believ
ed himself, that the “ spirit of God spoke in him,
and by him.” Is it incredible, therefore that the
President of the United States, in his old age,
w’hen his passions have survived the vigor ot
his intellect—intoxicated with those ever-lasting
draughts of flattery, which the cringing syco
phants around him are incessantly administer
ing, should imagine himself to be the chosen in
strument of Heaven, to inflict its vengeance up
on the people of the United States, for daring to.
uphold and sustain an institution which he deems
it expedient to destroy?
I have thus endeavored to expose this novel
and alarming theory of executive power, which
l fear will be speedily consummated in a con
solidated despotism concentrated in a single
person; and I now propose to examine briefly
what has been the practical exposition of it fur
nished by the present Executive. We often
look without apprehension upon the most dan
| gerous pretensions and practices, when upon a
! closer scrutiny we perceive the latent principle
of mischief which had before escaped us. 1 make
! this remark in reference to one of the positions
I assumed by the President, in the Manifesto he
: addressed to the people of the United States on
i the occasion of the removal of the deposires.—
I .. • . k a . I _ _ 1 _ f 1 l./\ T T II ! f /l
I lie position is, inai me prupic ui me
! States by the mere act of re-electing him, have
authoritatively decided that it is unconstitutional
and inexpedient to recharter the Bank of the
] United States; and basing himself on this de
cision, without deigning to consult the legisla
ture, the only power under the Constitution
which is competent to make such a decision, he
forthwith proceeds, by his own authority, to ex
ecute what he assumes to be the w ill of the. peo
ple constitutionally expressed, and of conse
quence the supreme law of the land. Simple as
this reasoning and assumption may at the first
glance appear, l venture the opinion that it is
one of the most profound and artful contrivan
ces ever invented by the genius of usurpation to
disguise its design and cover its approaches.—
Examine it philosophically, resolve it into its
elements, and what can you make of it ^but a
new and more direct highway to unlimited pow
er, than any heretofore discovered, by substitu
ting the will of the President for the will of the
people. This is truly an age of improvement
and in nothing is it more strikingly illustrated
than in the improved process of stealing power
from the people. This one is distinguished for
its directness and simplicity; whereas the usur
pers of other times have been compelled to
make their approaches against the fortress of
liberty, by the slow process of opening trenches
and advancing under their cover. In other
countries the difficulty has been to obtain the
votes of the people to sanction the assumption
of the kingly office. Here, under our elective
system, it is easy to obtain the chief executive
office, but the difficulty is to make its power un
limited, by breaking loose from the inconveni
ent restraints of the Constitution and the laws.
The present Chief Magistrate has most dexter
ously surmounted this difficulty; for if you will
admit his position, he will never be at a loss to
make his sovereign will the paramount law, to
be executed £i as he understands it.” What is
the argument it involves?
That the people of the United States, by re
electing Andrew Jackson, have adopted and
ratified all his known political opinions as their
own; thus enacting laws and regulating the
great question of banking and currency, with
out the troublesome machinery of the legisla
tive department! Yes, sir, these most difficult
and delicate of all the appropriate subjects of
legislation, have, with the public treasure, been
• 1 _i_it_n_: .1_i_,1 Mm.. >■>/,
SCl4.t;U Itpuu UV IUC- 1 IC51UUH UIIU m ^ WU"
toriously regulated by his will! But this is not
the worst view of the matter. Admitting for a
moment the constitutional right of the President
thus to collect the sovereign will of the people
on a subject of legislation, the present is a gross
misapplication of his own doctrine. He never
sent a message to Congress on the subject of the
bank in which he did not hold out the hope that
he would sign an act of recharter, with modifi
cations. In every instance his objections were
to the bank “ has at present organized,” which
was saying by implication that he would sanc
tion the institution, if differently organized —
And in the message immediately preceeding his
re-election he leaves u the subject to the investi
gation of an enlightened people and their rep
resentatives.” And yet he is scarcely warm in
his seat when he turns round and gravely in
forms us, “now that the people have sustained
the President—-it is too late, he confidently
thinks, to say that the question has not been de
cided. Whatever may be the opinion of others,
the President considers his re-election as a de
cision of the people agaipst the bank. He was
sustained by a just peoplc^and he desires to evince
his gratitude by carrying into effect their decis
ion, as far as depends upon him” As far as
depends upon him! a very useless qualification
under this new fangled executive theory and
practice. But, sir, was every power usurped
under mere frivolous and fraudulent pretences,
with humbler words or a bolder hand? It is
almost in the very language of a predecent fa
miliar to us all:
“ Thanks gentle citizens and friends:
This general applause and cheerful shout,
Argues your wisdom and your love for Rich
ard.”
But this spirit of executive assumption seems
to have infected even the most insignificant of
the “instruments” of the Chief Magistrate.—
j Even the Government directors of the bank
' swelling like the frogs in the fable, claim a par
ticipation in this royal ( rerogative of personating
the majesty and speaking the voice of the peo
ple. Listen to their audacious language: “Pay
ing no sort of respect to the exalted public sour
ces whence their appointment immediately ema
nates, the bank has the boldness to claim co
equality with the nation, to disregard the organs
and representatives of the people!!” Co-equali
ty with the nation! we the people! Such are the
modest pretensions of executive spies and in
formers. What is to come next, as the fruit of
those extraordinary executive doctrines?
Mr. Speaker, the most alarming, and to me
the most distressing symptom of the times, is the
influence of the executive power over the mem
bers of the National Legislature, and the new
doctrine of the allegiance of the representatives
the people to the President, now openly avow- <
At an early period of the session, I read
with some surprise, in certain political journals
which usually speak by authority, the avowal 01
the doctrine that the members of this House,
Dome here, not to represent the people, but to
support the adminstration light 01 wrong, in all
things; in other words, to represent the will and
obey the orders of the President. I did not,
then, expect what I have since had the pain of
witnessing, the promulgation of the same doc
trine from places of high authority, from the
seat of legislation, in both wings of the Capitol.
Sir, what are we? where are we? Are we the
representatives of the people, clothed with a
high trust to be exercised for their benefir, and
under an exclusive responsibility to them, or are
we feudal vassals, bound by a tie of puity alle
giance to the President, mere “leigemen ol the .
Dane?” Are we, like the Parliaments of France
under the ancient dynasty, summoned here to
attend a royal ‘ bed of justice,’ and to register,
by compulsion, the royal edicts and manifes
toes? If these are our appropriate functions,,
why stand we here prating about the Constitu
tion. the rights of the legislature, and the custody
of the public treasure? If we have lost the sub
stance of liberty, I say down with the idle and
unsubstantial pageantry of its forms. W hy keep
up the delusive mockery of a Legislative De
partment, when it serves only as a mask for that
despotic power which controls every thing, and
as a memorial to remind us of our own degene
racy? Let us rather conform to our own condi
tion, by obeying that imperial mandate which
was first issued in the city of New York, some
months since, through one of the executive or
gans;_“pass the appropriation bills and go
home,” leaving the people, in the extremity of
their distresses, to the tender mercies of the Pre
sident and his privy counsellors! Ay, sir, grease
the wheels of the Car of Juggernaut—enrich the J
shrine of your idol—and when you have per- i
formed these ministerial offices of priestly devo
tion, go home, and tell your miserable and ruin
ed constituents to prostrate themselves before
the mighty pageant, and oner up the incense 01
their expiring hosannahs to the god oi their ido
latry, while his fatal car is crushing them into
the earth, and mingling their blood with the dust,
and the whole Pandamonium of false and trea
cherous counsellors who have deceived him by
their flattering sorceries, and ruined the coun-;
try by their infernal machinations, are laughing i
at the agonizing distresses, and revelling in the j
spoils of a people, whose hopes he has disap ,
pointed, whose sacred rights he has violated, |
and whose vital interests he has betrayed, and j
whose constitutional liberties he lias trampled in
the dust!
We are not, indeed, without some very signi
ficant indications, that this royal mandate will
be executed by the prerogative of prorogation. !
It has evidently been the subject of grave delibe j
ration, in that secret consistory where such high
matters are usually decided. And as I feel—
like one who, about to retire from the stage, has
a natural anxiety that his last act in the drama
should be decently performed—I must ask it as
a personal favor, that if we are to be prorogued
by the President, the act may be performed with
becoming solemnity, and according to the most
approved historical precedents.
I shall now proceed to furnish such a prece
dent, and l trust the friends of the President will '
appreciate the feelings of kindness in which it
is done. I quote from a high authority, sir; no
less than that of the Lord Protector Cromwell.
He had organized his first Parliament as he sup
posed, in such a manner as to be sure of a ma
jority for any project of the court. But although
his returning officers had taken care to give him
a majority at the commencement of the session,
yet the spirit of liberty so far prevailed over the
spirit of personal allegiance, as to throw him in
to a minority in the progress of the session.—
Finding the majority inaccessible to fear or per
suasion, the historian records, that “ lie sum
moned the House to meet him in the painted
chamber. [We shall be summoned, I suppose,
to the East Room, scarcely less celebrated.]—
Displeasure and contempt were marked in his
countenance. [A very natural prelude to
what follows.] They appeared there, he ob
served, with the Speaker at their head, as a
House of Parliament. Yet what had they done
as a Parliament? He never had played, he ne
ver would play the orator; and, therefore, he
would tell them frankly [Cromwell was a frank
man. too. sir.1 thatthev haddone nothing. For
five months they had passed no bill, [our time
is not yet out] had made no address, had held
no communication with him. As far asconcern
ed them, he had nothing lo do but to pray that
God would enlightened their minds.”
“But had they done nothing? Yes; they had
encouraged the cavaliers to plot against the
Commonwealth, and the levellers to intrigue
with the cavaliers. [The coalition between the
nullifiers and national republicans is here evi
dently foretold.J By their dissentions they had
aided the fanatics to throw the nation into con
fusion, and by the slowness of their proceedings
had compelled the soldiers to live at free quar
tors on the country. [Here Gen. Jackson could
give Cromwell a lesson. Why did he not seize
upon the deposites? ) It was supposed that he
would not be able to raise money without the aid
of Parliament. But he had been inured to diffi
culties, and had never found God wanting,
when he trusted in him. [Almost the very lan
guage of the manifesto.] The country would
willingly pay on account of the necessity. But
was the necessity of his creation? No: it was
of God; the consequence of God’s providence.
It was no marvel, if men who lived on their
masses and service books, their dead and carnal
worship, were strangers to the works of God;
blit tor those who had been instructed by the
spirit of God, to adopt the same language, and
say that men were the cause of those things,
when God had done them, this was more than
the Lord would bear. But that he might trou
ble them no longer, it was his duty to tell them,
that their continuance was not for the benefit of
the nation, and therefore, he did, then and there,
declare that he dissolved the Parliament.” This
is the manner in whigh Cromwell got rid of the
troublesome incumberance of an independent
Parliament.
But to be serious, sir, I for one, am not dis
posed to adjourn before something effectual is
done to relieve the country from its distresses,
and I will not do so with my own consent, even
to avoid the fate of Cromwell’s parliament. In
the present calamitous condition of the country
we have a melancholy exemplification to prove
how small a share of human wisdom is requisite
to produce the greatest conceivable extent of
human misery! The merest pigmy, armed with
a sceptre, can destroy in a single day, the fabric
of a nation’s prosperity, which all the intellec
tual giants of the land cannot rebuild in a long
and laborious course of years. I will not tell
the people to look for salvation to those who
have involved them in this calamity. No, sir,
this storm has been produced by a species of
necromancy, which is endowed only with the
faculty of mischief, and which, having raised
the elements, has no power of exorcism to lay
:hem. The Prospero, whose fatal wand has j
sonjured up these elements, into this wild and
fearful and disastrous commotion, has no magic
power to call up the ministering spirits of the
stormy deep, to rescue the sinking fortunes of
a whole people, rashly and wickedly exposed
to the rocks, winds, and waves and quicksanks
ofthis most desperate and inperous experiment.
Sir, the executive branch of the Government
has plunged the country into this stormy sea of j
desperate adventure, under circumstances which !
o-reatly aggravate the outrage committed upon j
the Constitution, and upon the rights and inter-!
ests of the people. What excuse or apology
can be offered for such a daring assumption
and hazardous exercise of power by the Ex
ecutive? When Cromwell usurped the supreme
power in England, he saw the nation torn to
pieces by factions and drenched in civil blood;
and his strong arm clutched the fallen sceptre,
to save the country from universal desolation.
When Bonaparte returned from Egypt, and
dispersed the Chamber of Deputies, he found
the armies of the republic driven back, the fi
nances involved in bankruptcy and the combin
ed powers of Europe menacing the existence of
France. Wliere, said he, are the conquests I
made, the victories 1 achieved, the resources|I
supplied, and the armies I left for the seciuity
of France? But what was the condition of the
United States at that fatal moment when the
evil genius of the President prompted him to
assume the fearful responsibility of destroying
our system of currency, in open and avowed
contempt of the legislative power. What was
there in that condition to afford the shadow7 of a
pretext for the usurpation of which w-e com
plain? What civil dissensions was it designed to
compose; what financial embarrassments and
public sufferings was it calculated to relieve? It
is w orth while to look back to the inception ot
this executive experiment. The people of the
United States were in the enjoyment of an un
exampled prosperity: literally basking in the sun
shine of tranquility, abundance, and content
ment-blessings the more exquisitely realized
fmm th^ir contrast with the troubled scene which
had recently passed away. They had seen a
dark and portentous cloud lowering in the ho
rizon, and could almost hear the distant thunder
and see the prelusive Hashes of the coining
storm, which threatened to shake the mighty
fabrick of this federal system to its deep foun
dations. But at this eventful crisis, a redeem
ing power was interposed, in the spirit of con
ciliation; a covenant of peace was ratified here,
the storm passed away, and the rainbow cir
cled the arch of the heavens, the cheering har
bingerofthat happiness and contentment which
were the lot of a united people, until the fatal
dog-days, when this most pernicious scheme of
executive usurpation was engendered, not to
save the country from civil dissensions and res
tore its disordered finances, but to mar and des
troy the brightest vision of happiness that ever
blessed the hopes of any people!
And I regret to find that the authors of this
fatal experiment are resolved to carry it on in
the same reckless spirit in which it was con
ceived. Nothing has struck me more forcibly
than the stubborn perseverance of the admin
istration in their desperate purposes, hoping
against hope, blind to the palpable results of ex
perience, and deaf to the cries of a suffering
people. It is a spirit of heartless indifference to
popular suffering, wholly without excuse, and
almost without example. We have been told
by a member of this House, (Mr. Beardsley,)-—
in the exterminating spirit of that Roman who
always concluded his speeches w ith the motto,
“ Carthage must be destroyed”—that the Bank
of the United States must be destroyed by what
ever means, and at the hazard of whatever con
sequences. “ Perish commerce, perish credit;
give us broken banks and a disordered curren
cy,” rather than retrace the steps of this execu
tive crusade against the bank! And the Chief
Magistrate himself declares that neither “the
opinion of the legislature, nor the voice of the
people, shall induce him to abandon his purpose,
whatever may be the sufferings produced,” add
ing, for the consolation of the enterprising and
industrious classes, that if those should fail “ who
trade upon borrowed capital,” they deserve
their fate.
Mr. Speaker, we can scarcely give credit to
the historian who records the degeneracy and
degradation of a great people of antiquity, when
he informs us that a Roman Emperor amused
himself by fiddling while the capital of his em
pire and the fortunes of the Roman people were
involved in one general conflagration. But our
own melancholy and woful experience is but
too well calculated to remove any historical
scepticism which might induce us to suppose
that the extraordinary spectacle to which I
have alluded, was drawn rather by the pencil of
poetry than by the pen of historical truth. For
even at this early period in our national pro
gress, in the very dawn of our republican insti
tutions, we are ourselves exhibiting to the world
—which we vainly boast of enlightening by our
example—a spectacle, in some of its aspects,
more unnatural and revolting than its Roman
prototype. If my recollection of this interesting
chapter in the history of man be not imperfect,
Nero was not himself the incendiary who ap
plied the fatal torch, by which the temples and
the gods, the senate house and the forum, the
gorgeous palaces and the humble cottages of
the imperial city were consigned to the devour
ing element. Can you say as much, sir,—I will
not say for the President of the United States,— i
but for that irresponsible cabal, which is the liv
ing emblein of pestilence and famine, by which
even his more noble and generous impulses are
converted into instruments of mischief? Who
is it that has kindled up the conflagration which
is now sweeping over the land,—like a prairie
fire of the West,—bearing destruction in its bo
som, laying a scene of desolation in its rear, and
scattering consternation in every direction?—
Nay, sir, who is it that has sacreligiously invad
ed the sanctuary of the Constitution, and lighted
at the very fires of the altar that fatal brand,
which, desperately and vindictively hurled—
with whatever aim—has struck upon the great
temple of our national prosperity, involving it
in “ hideous ruin and combustion?” Mr. Speak
er, it was no midnight incendiary that silently
stole into the temple with his Ephesian torch,
concealed by the mantle of darkness. No; it
was the high priest of the Constitution that vio
lated the sanctuary, and desecrated the fires of
the altar. It was in the broad glare of noon
day, from the imperial heights of power, and in
open defiance of all the moral and political gua
ranties of human rights, that this consuming
brand was cast into the elements of combus
tion, and whieh came upon an astounded peo
ple, without cause and without notice, like Hea
ven’s avenging bolt from a cloudless sky. And
now that the signal bells of alarm and distress
are ringing from one extremity of this Union to
the other, mingling their disastrous chimes with
those cries of distress which come to us from
the four quarters of the heavens, on every wind
that blows, and forming one mighty chorus of
indignant complaint that has forced its way in
to the sealed ears of infatuated power:—with
tvhat sympathy, with what feelings of commise
ration, with what *• compunctious v isitin^
these proofs of a nation’s suffering receiv . a*e
the authors of the calamity and their accornpjp
[HereMr. BEARDSLEY made an exnb
tion, disclaiming the language imputed m r
by Mr. McDuffie, to which Mr. McDlh . llrri
plied, that he spoke from memory, and did re'
profess to give the words of the oenth.rnot
throughout, but his (Mr. McD.’s) interpret-,l-an
ofthem.] ^ latl°h
Mr. McD. resumed. I ask you. sir. if fhr.
ministration or its friends have raised a r,* ,a<**
to relieve the country, or even uttered a ^
word of encouragement or consolation to*/ k
the afflictions of the people? From one^0™ e
ter they are told that they must be mistake**31
to their own sufferings, for that “ the Gm' 2s
merit feels no distress”—a sentiment in vf/?1*.
doubt not, the office-holders, who constituted
Government, will most sincerely concur < ^
no! the office-holders, from the President dr *’*':I'
who live upon fixed salaries, do not expend'11,
the least distress, from that great national
mily, which adds twenty-five per cent toe
value of these salaries! For they have dot h
less found out, without much skill in ant/- T
tic, that the same cause which depresses t{.
lueof labor and all the productions of irj(}u.,‘a;
twenty-five per cent., increases the value oft/ .
income precisely in the same degree, p p. 1
at all wonderful, therefore, that “ the Govt. ^
I ment” should be able to bear the suffering d
the people, with the most philosophical fortiTid’d
Yes, sir, these gentlemen office-holders. /■
sitting in their arm chairs and enjoying i,
enhanced salaries, can look down upon fhe
| ferings of the people with as much tranqu V
j and composure, as an experimental philoJ. / j
I looks upon the contortions of a reptile or a id
sect, expiring for the want of vital air under .
of his experiments!
And in what spirit does the President of ft.
United States receive the complaints of p
people when brought to the foot of the thrond
No constitutional monarch in Christendoi:
would venture to respond to the complaints of
his subjects in the same spirit ©f dictatorial
rogance and supercilious mdinerence:—.** 1 (j„
not wish to be pestered with your complaints,
/never will restore the deposited. / never u,
recharter the Bank of the United States. / have
a measure in reserve which will destroy {lie
Bank at once, and which l am resolved to ap
ply, if the Bank continues to pursue its pro-.';
course, be the consequences to individuals vine
they may!"1 The people, however, are consol?
by the royal assurance, that “ those who trade
upon borrowed capital ought to break,” which
will of course prepare them to meet their late
with Christian fortitude and resignation! What
| are we to think, sir, of a President of the United
States who can thus coolly doom to exteimina
tibn a large proportion, probably three-fourths,
of that great middle class ofour country, whit,
constitute the hone and sinews of the body poli
tic? What shall we say of his know ledge oftl.c
elements ofour national wealth and productive
industry? The most useful, industrious, and
productive class ofour citizens, habitually trade
upon borrowed capital to a very great extent,
it would be a curious subject of statistical inqui
ry, and I will venture to conjecture, that, taking
the average of this class, one-third part of then
active capital is founded upon credit, in some
shape. Every American statesman should
know, what does not appear to have been
dreamed of in the President’s philosophy, that,
owing to the stability and security of our insti
tutions, credit has become an element of wealth
and a substitute for money—a state of tilings
which can only exist under constitutional gov
ernments, and which has heretofore existed in
our country in an extent unknown, perhaps, to
any other. Hence, among other causes, the
unprecedented progress of our prosperity.
| But to return. It seems that the complaints
of the people are rude, unmannerly and disloy
al—as if the porter at the palace should say to
their committees, do not annoy the ear of ma
jesty wUh_lhe harsh dissonnance of your com
plaints,—but regale it with a sweet serenade ol
flattering symphonies; and if you must pray for
relief, in the extremity of your sufferings, be
sure and conclude your supplication with a po
litical doxology,—ascribing all power, and all
praise and all glory, to the deified Capsar!
But, sir, the people of rhe United States are
not to be put off in this way; and I will take
leave to commend to the consideration of1, the
Government,” and particularly to those fa!
sleek, office holding gentlemen who feed out <
the public crib, an instructive picture, drawn io
the life, by the great master painter of the hu
man passions. During the canvass of Cains
Marcius for the consulship, Shakspeare rej m
scnts two Roman citizens as holding a dia'ogi1
relative to the State of the republic. ( a
Marcius, better known by the name of Ct iiol.t
nus, relying upon his military services, and thy
support of the patricians, who were the m.io
holders of that day, exhibited a haughty r,
imperious bearing, contemning the restraint-y!
law and all the civil authorities of the repu.in<
It was a period of much popular distress n •
creased by the extravagance and rapacitv
those in authority, when the two citizens ar
introduced discussing the politics of the da}
One of them said:
u What authority surfeits ou would "
but they think we are too dear—the jcanm
that afflicts us is an inventory to paniculay
their abundance.” [So itis witTTouronu e-1"*y
ers.] He then goes on to say -as was
strange for those primitive days «•! st<rn r<P“
lican simplicity—“Let us avenge oinsrUiy "•
our pikes*****for the gods know 1 11 \ ,l1'
hunger for bread, and not for thirst of my ij
The other citizen, who seems to navy ‘
military glory, replies by asking, ’ ^\nu., - (
proceed especially against Cains MawIU>-y.
sider you what services he has domy y •
country?” “Very well,” says the foimei, « _
could give him good report for it; but * .
himself with being proud****’! say unto
what he hath done famously, he did yy
end: though soft-conscienced men can * 1
tent to say it was for his country, it w ay y
partlv proud, which he is even to the a *
his virtue.” , T ......
You know the fate of Coriolanus; am 1 .
the friends of General Jackson, that a y
military glory has great fascination, ana . y
the Americans are a grateful people, aniJrTi;‘
refuted the calumny that republics are n»r‘“;v
ful. he must not rely too much upon tnat -
nor tax the national gratitude beyond ‘
durance. I particularly warn his ‘ .. (j(l
personal, and political friends, f iat, i ■
not rescue him from the mercenary >}‘
who are murdering his reputation, tnei s , .(1
much reason to apprehend that the mm
came into the presidential office with rn<y
pularity and a more enviable fame; * ,^"„ton.
chief magistrate since the days of ®
will go into retirement, when lie ceasca' n
surrounded with the appendages and p<
age of power, escorted by the execration^
betrayed people, and deserted by the h y
flatterers who lias been the means of hi *
them* I shall be very far, Mr. Spenkn
• * *