The Massachusetts spy, and Worcester County advertiser. [volume] ([Worcester, Mass.]) 1825-1831, 1830-03-17

honorable gentlemans unrestralned reDuke
| expecting, however, that he will extend his
buffetings, in like manner, to all similar pro-
ceedings achereDeT else found.
I The gentleman, sir, has spoken at large of
former parties, now no longer in being, by their
received appellations. and has undertaken to
| instruct us, not only in the knowledge of their
principles, but Of their respective pedigrees al
So He has assembled to the origin, and run out
their genealogies. With most exemplary mod
esty, he speaks of the party to which he pro-
fesses to have belonged himself, as The true
Pure, the only honest, patriotic party, derived
] by regular descent, from father to son, from the
! time Of the virtuous Romans! Spreading be-
fore US the family tree Of political parties, ne
takes especial care to show himself, snugly
perched on popular Dough! He is wakeful to
/ the expediency of adopting such rules of de-
scent, for political parties, shall bring him in,
in exclusion of others as an heir to the inherit
4 ance of all public virtue, and all true political
principles His doxy is always orthodoxy. Het-
erodoxy is confined to his opponents. He spoke,
J sir, of tho federalists, and / thought saw some
! eyes begin to open and stare little, when he
ventured on that ground. | expected he would
draw his sketches rather lightly, when he look
4 ed on the circle round him, and especially II he
should cast his thoughts to the high places out
4 of the Senate. Nevertheless, he went back to
! Rome, ad annuns urbe condita, and found the
fathers of the federalists, in the prmeVal aristo
Gratis of that renowned empire He traced the
! flow of federal blood down through successive
ages and centuries, till he got it into the veins
of the American tories, (of whom, by the way,
7 there were twenty in the Caroinas, for one in
/ Massachusetts, From the Tories, he followed
it to the Federalists !; and as the Federal Party
was broken up, and there was no possibility of
transmitting it further on this side the Atlantic,
II Ho 10 harv1 n ara1f hat hoa
off, collaterally, though against all the canons
of descent, int the ultras of France, and finally
became extinguished, like exploded gas, among
the adherents of Don Miguel. This, sir, is an
abstract of the gent.emans history of federal
ism. | am not about TO controvert 1T. 1t not,
at present, worth the pains of refutation, be-
cause, sir, if at this day any one feels the sin
Of federalism lying heavily on bis conscience, he
can easily obtain remission. He may even have
an Indulgence, if he is DESTROYS ofrepeating the
same transgression. 1t is an affair of no difficult
ty to get into this same right line of patriotic
descent. A man, nowadays, is at liberty to
choose his political parentage. He may elect
his own father. Federalist or not, he may, if
he choose, claim to belong to the favored stock,
and his claim will be allowed. He may carry
back his pretensions Just as far as the honorable
gentleman himself; nay, he may make himself
out the honorable gentleman cousin, and prove
satisfactorily that he is descended from the
same political great grandfather. All this is
allowable. We all know a process, sir, by
which the whole Essex Junto could, in one
hour, be all washed white from their ancient
federalism, and come out, every one of them,
an original democrat dyed in the wool Some
of them have actually undergone the operation,
and they say it is quite easy. The only incon-
venenee it occasions, as they tell US, is slight
tendency of the blood to the face, soft suffH-
sion, which, however, is very transient, since
nothing is said calculated to deepen the red on
the cheek, but prudent silence observed in re-
gard TO all the past. Indeed, sir, some smiles
of appreciation have been bestowed, and some
, crumbs of comfort have fallen. not thousand
miles from the doors of the Hartford Conven-
t ton itself. And if the author of the ordinance
of 1887, possessed the other requisite qualifica-
tions, there is no knowing, notwithstanding his
) federalism, to what heights of favor he might
: not yet attain.
Mr.. President, in carrying his warfare, such
, as it was, into New England, the honorable
, gentleman all along processes to be acting on
the defensive. He desires to consider me as
having assaulted South Carolina, and insists that
he comes forth only as her champion, and in
her defence. Sir, do not admit that made
any attack whatever on South Carolina. No
thing like it. The honorable member, in his
|
revenue, and some other topics, which heard
both with pain and with surprise l told the
: gentleman that l was aware that such senti.
ments were entertained out of the Government
4 but had not expected to find them advanced in
: 1T; that knew there were persons in the South
!, who speak Of our Union with indifference, OF
doubt, taking pains to magnify its evils, and to
!, say nothing of its benefits that the honorable
} member himself, was sure could never be one
q of these; and regretted the expression of such
r opinions as he had avowed, because thought
n their obvious tendency was to encourage feel.
f ings of 6isrespect to the Union, and TO weaken
7 its connection. This, sir, is the sum and sub.
n stance of all said on the subject And this
d constitutes the attack, which called on the
: chivalry of the gentleman, in his opinion, to
f harry us with such forray, among the party
S pamphlets and party proceedings of Massachu.
sets! If he means that spoke with dissatis
faction or disrespect ofthe ebulitions of individ
!. uals in South Carolina, it is true But, if he
means that had assailed the character Of the
: Sta.~, h@r honor or patriotism, that had re.
o nected on her history or her condret, ho ha d
Z not the slightest ground for any such assump-
. tion did not even refer, / think, in my OBJ,
servatlons, to any collection Of individuals.
E said nothing of the recent Conventions.
7 spoke IN the most guarded and careful manner,
r and only expressed my regret for the publica.
tion Of opinions which presumed the honora-
a Bile member dsapproved as much as myself. In
. this, it seems, / was mistaken l do not re.
, member that the gentleman has disclained any
} sentiment, or any opinion, of a supposed anti
} Union tendency, which on all or any of the re-.
cent occasions has been rather to prove, that, in
divers times and manners, sentiments equally
: liable to my objection have been promulgated
} IN New England. And one would suppose that
his object, in this reference TO Massachusetts,
was to lind precedent to justify proceedings
in the South were it not for the reproach and
contumely with which he labors, all along, TO
load his precedents. By way of defending South
Carolina from what he chooses to think an at.
tack on her, he first quotes the example of Mas.
sachusetts, and then denouncos that example.
in good set terms. This two fold purpose, not
very consistent with itself, one would think,
was exhibited mere than once in the course of