Phenix gazette. [volume] (Alexandria [D.C.]) 1825-1833, 1831-02-25
From, the National Gazette, FEB. u.

the President and Vice President, which has eX-
cited SD much interest wherever it has appeared
or been announced. To the cursory remarks
which we made upon it, on Saturday last, we now
could add many serious reflections; but we
must postpone most OF them. until We shall have
inserted the whole of the matter which Mr.. Cal
houn has issued. This gentleman ought, we
think, to have included the correspondence with
the District Attorney for the Southern District OF
New York, to which he refers in his letter of 29th
Nav, TO which he refers ia his letter of 29th May
1880.
To us, the three most striking features Of this
affair are these
Ist. Thet disclosure of the secret and conf
dental deliberations of the Cabinet, by Mr..
Crawford, upon which Mr.. Calhoun anlmadverts
with severity abundantly provoked. II appears
from the recent examinations and trial OF the ex-
French ministers, that Poiignac and all his col.
leagues inhexibly refused. when their lives were
at stake, to reveal what had passed i'll the royal
and ministerial councils. One of them, in the
course of the trial, vehement> and ppremptoria H.
I ly, checked his lawyer. when he iouad that he
was pursuing plan of defence thar separated Or
distinguished him from the rest nt tn, accused.
Cd. The circumstance that President OF the
United States has-at the distance OF 20 many
wears from the event,-imperiously called the Sc
cond officer of the Uninn to account for the dis
charge of his duty in the caEinet.-a special duty
by reason of the post which he then held; and has
spurned him with particular contumely when he
had furnished adequate explanations. and shewn
! that he had, to the knowledge Of the President
himself, finally concurred in disposal of the
question with which the President, soon after,
professed to be greatly satisfied.
Sd. The implication of certain plotters against
the Vice President, who are indeed unnamed,
but generally supposed to be the Secretary OF
State and his intimate political and personal
friends. We do not mean to assert or insinuate
that those gentlemen have done what is believed
by the public to be imputed to them: We merely
notice the common impression that they are the
persons to whom Mr. Calhoun allvdes in his men
ton of ntrigues and maneuvres for his disgrace
with the President, and at whom the Washington
Telegraph points in its paragraphs on the subject,
| which we quoted on Saturday. Thus we should
have the President, Vice President, Secretary Of
State, and ex-Secretarv of the Treasury, once a
favorable candidate for the Chief Magistracy, and
their principal adherents respectively, involved
in mutual accusations extremely acrimonious and
disreputable. This would be spectacle upon
which the country could not look without shame
and anger; and which it should not suffer to pass
NttHOut tcSUNinS U ucpIlNe uiuse WIN iu tiic tHu
may appear responsible, of the character of its
representatives. and agents. According to the
9uand meme doctrine, JackSonism already i'm
plies fearful concessions ofanclent principles aud
future security; but we trust that no American
citizen, protesting to be,-as every one ought to
be,-iealous Of the honor of the general govern
ment, and anxious for patriotic and dignihed
administration Of fairs, will deem himself bound.
in case OF complicated disparagement and dam
ger like this, to sacrifice those sacred objects TO
the interests of party and popularity. The idols
or the leaders must be confessed to be false or
unfit, when they are proceed TO be S0-nO matter
in what mode or by what organs. Voltare said
of monarchical experimentation nest plus
dangereux que d'avoir raison, quaint les gems &C
credites ont tort.-ss Nothing is more perilOus
than to be in the right, when the men in favor,
or the powers that be, are in the wrong." Let
it not be soil our republic;-let rs not immediate
our conscienccs at any shrine.
-sse6eqn-
Wine.-The United States is not a wine drink
ing nation. Whiskey is the national beverage
Some districts, indeed, indulge IN New England
and st. Croix rum; and, IN all places, the wealthy
topper quafs his brandy, because it costs more mo-
ney, and tnges the countenance with a rich Grim
n,-the badge of royalty. But, every where,
"strOng drink" is the favorite potation. Anti
intemperance societies have Iabored to stay the
scourge, and for time with effect. Yet we are
still the most Incorporate people on the face of
the earth. The Importation of foreign spirits,
which in. 1923 and had fallen of in renlarka-
BILE degree is now, we learn, on the increase.
Old habits, checked by the efforts of benevolent
societies, are resuming their sway.
1t is well known fact, that in all wine-grow
ing countries. intemperance is hardly known
In France, Spain, Italy, and Sicily, where wine is
cheaper than cider is here, the disgusting specta-
Gle Of drunken man is rarely seen. Or wine
bl bbers are spirit-bibbers; for if they abstain from
the use of the "raW materap' (which is rarely
the case,) they do, in fact, swallow in every pint
of Madeira more than gill of brandy. So in
the Sicily Madeira. Port. Sherry and Lisbon
wines, the proportion of brandy is nearly as great.
Even Claret, unless imported in bottles, is adul-
terated with spirits; and that which is imported
in bottles, costs too much for a man of moderate
income to purchase. Hence the rich drink spi-
rits In their wines, and the poor are forced to
drink spirits, because they are cheap, and the
light wines are beyond their means The wine |