Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 182?-183?, 1832-06-15
TME ADDRESS
OF THE YOUNG MEMS NATIONAL RE
PUBLICAN CONVENTION

More than three hundred of your young
fellow citizens, delegates from seventeen
States and the District of Columbia, assem-
bled in convention at the city of w arlington
ask your attention 10 a subject Of the great
est importance to you, TO ourselves, and 10
our common country. The selection of our
rulers is matter of high interest, as the
noblest privilege OF free people but it be-
comes especially so when on il may depend
as in the present crisis, the safety Of our
Constitution, and the permanency of our IN
ION. Two individuals are now before YOU
as prominent candidates for the highes. Of
iice in your gift. Let us examine for mo-
ment their several qualifications. The first
is ANDREW JACKSON the present in
cumbent, elected but three short years since
by triumphant majority. Fresh from the
battle field, with laurels as yet unfaded I'M
biased, as was supposed, by party feeling
untrammelled by preconceived systems OF
policy he was fondly hailed, as one who
would reform every abuse in government ;
restore our institutions to more than their
pristine purity and rule for the good of his
country -Four objects he was especially
pledged to accomplish. To reduce the eX-
penscs oil Government TO abolish the prac-
ticc of appointing members of Congress to
office ; 10 restrict the Presidential service to
a single term; and TO destroy the &C Monster,
Party Spirit" And surely never was there
a more favorable opportunity of redeeming
such pledges. Coming into power with a
personal popularity almost unequallcd, and
at a time when the country was prosperous
at home and respected abroad, harmonious
IN itself, and at peace with the world, he had
every inducement to carry into effect his ia
DIT I,,. L., L., i
these promises Let facts answer An in
crease in the expenditures of Government,
amounting during the three years of his adj
mlnistration, to moro than ten millions Of
dollars the appointment of nineteen mem
bers of Congress TO office, more than twice
the number appointed by any of his prede-
cessors his appearing not merely as can
didate but as supplicant for continuance
in Office these are alone sufficient to show
the Insincerity of his pledges, and also how
fagrantly he has disappointed the hopes of
his country. IT'S true he has destroyed par
ty spirit as it formerly eXisted-a contest
for principles ; but il has been only to re-
Vive it with spirit purely selfsh-a spirit
that looks to HIM alone for its object that
acknowledges no principles but his will
An entire subserviency to this will, howe
yer capricious and tyrannical, has now be-
come the sole qualification for Office and
without it, the united virtues s. wisdom of an
archangel would be wholly unayailing. Near
fifteen hundred victims have already been
Eacrifced on lis MoloCh altar No qualM-
cations, no services, could save them. Those
whose long and unremitted attention TO Off
tial duties had disqualified them from engage
ing IN other pursuits, were not merely driv-
cn into beggary, but insulted, reviled, and
prosecuted. by the hireling ministers of his
vengeance, merely because they could not
believe, and would not declare, ANDREW
JACKSON to be the " Greatest and the best''
of men. Even the hoary veterans of the
Revolution, who derived from some petty
appointment the means Of subsistence,
(Which a grateful country should. have
afforded in some more ample mode) were
turned out of office 10 hide their penurv in a
welcome grave. The late Postmaster Gen
eral, one OF the most efficient officers ever
possessed by any government, for refusing
to become an instrument in this ruthless pro-
sCription, was driven from The station he had
filled with such honor to himself and his
country, to make room for tool ofpower.
Let us next see what has been the course
of General Jackson, in relation to the most
important features of our national policy. Is
there a man from Maine to Florida who
knows his real sentiments with respect to
those great interests of our country-inter-
nal improvement and the protection of do
meStC lndustry-Or is there one, who re-
CARDS his reputation for vcracity, who can
venture to affirm that he has any settled poll
Cy on these subjects, further than a deter
mination to render them subseryient to his
darling project Of securing his own re-eec-
ton, or of smuggling his willy favorite into
power! AT one moment the South is to be
gained and the Executive veto is employed
10 stop an important work Of internal i'm
proyement. At the next the North is to be
Conciliated, and he sanctions other works of
precisely the same character On one day
he is friend TO the tariff, and ready TO en-
force it at every hazard on the next he adj
vises 10 attack it in detail, and destroy it by
pecemeal. Thus, while he alarms all in
terests, he satisfies none; for, while the
northern manufacturers are aware, that to
secure the vote of the South, (could that
elect him) he would be willing to reduce
their furnishing manufactures 10 ruins the
southern planters may he equally certain
TO gain the same object from the North, he
would not hesitate to load them with taxes
far more grievous than those Of which they
now complain. On ore branch OF policy
alone, has General Jackson been consistent
His opposition TO the United States Bank
urged, again and again, with such zeal and
perseverance, in despite of his constitutional
advisers, and political friends, may indeed
be regarded as proceeding from fixed opin-
ion, or rather from blind hatred TO the in
stitution, stronger than any opinion, origin
ating in personal pique and hostility 10 a
high officer Of that institution IL is true,
that, alarmed at the consequences Of his OF
position, he has lately minated that he may
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