Edwardsville spectator. [volume] (Edwardsville, Ill.) 1819-1826, 1822-10-05
NATIONAL POLITICS.

NATIONAL POLITICS.
E,rtract from the Charleston Southern Patriot
There are set ofspirils, ofwhom no
country is exempt, who appear TO be
bred in political disafiection. They are
oil the worst species of ma!contents, lol
they are dIsquieled at the fame OF the
virtues they would assail, but have not
The generosity to appreciate. Mr.. Mon
roe Is one of the most unblemished and
best ntentioned of our statesmen, and
yet he has not escaped the penalty OF
office. lie has passed through al. the
vissiscltudes of his counlry's tortunes.-
His spirit has been disciplined in the
times that tried mems souls He has
been largely schooled in the lessons OF
political experience. He is rich in those
acquisitions that beiit and ada:n the
statesman. And yet neither his public
services of half a century, the waste OF
his faculties, the sacrifice of his personal
ease, the tilsinteres cdness Of his coun-
sells, nor the firmness of his spirit in the
darkest days OF his country's fortunes
have protected his conduct from mis-
representation and his motives from dis
paragement. He has not only been &C
cused Of resorling to ar,i6ce in his m Ill
tary appointments but OF a prodigsl
expenditure Of the public money. But
we will let these impntaiions pass for
the present, and only now advert to the
clamor raised against him, to render him
unpopular with those republicans with
whom he has been prood to act, because,
torsooth, he has made a few appoint
ments TO office from among Federaisjs.
twill be recollected that MIR. Monroe
took the highest honor OF his country
when the heats Of party had subsidized
in the midst o! his Fellow Citizens, and
they had 20 longer The Same prizes "a
stimulate their ambition and excite their
leaionsies. A that moment OF union and
concord, Mr.. Monroe did not forget The
hrincihtes for which he had fought in
the battles Of party, but he paid less re-
spect to men, in regard TO their party
opinions, in his appointments to office.
He took care to place none in public en-
ployment who could by their influence
or example affect those principles. 1t
was for measures and not men he had
commended, and he wisely concluded that
whilst the essential principles of repub-
licanism guided and controlled by his
administration, it was his daty to draw,
for the benefit of the county, on tina, ge-
neral fund of talents and experience,
which is part, and valuable part too,
of its wealth."
Vide the Report of the Military Commit
tee of the Senate, at the last session of Con-
gress, on the appointments OF Colonels Gads-
den and roWSon.
The National Intelligencer, in reference to
the opposition to the administration Of that dis
tinguished republican, eminent statesman, and
well tried patriot, James Monroe, says
Some persons pretending to republic
can politics, who have heretofore belong
ed to the republican party too, who would
be at no loss for pre,ences to desert it, if
they could see reasonable prospect OF a
successful combination of the odds and
ends of all parties-of removed office
holders, and disappointed otfice-seekers,
to subvert the principles on which the go
vernment has been conducted by the re-
publican minis,ralion, and to throw eve
ry thing into anarchy and confusion. Their
hope would be, that, in the scramble,
they might share the loaves and fishes
cast among the multitude. The class
of grumbIers too, (and no small class
either in free community are DESTROYS
ola change now, because nothing ever
was, or ever will be, right with them
and a change would hardly be effected,
before they would be prepared for ano-
ther. The number OF ma!-contents is
swelled, also, by the eight years Of tran
quillity we have enjoyed. Men get wea-
ry of sameness, and, to end calm,
invoke even a tempest. Thus, the pros
perity of the nation, and the wise conduct
of public affairs itself, become argu-
ments against those who conduct them.
The Washington Republican, in commenting
upon the above article, remarks
GIVE are willing on our part, to adopt