Martinsburg gazette and public advertiser. [volume] (Martinsburg, Va. [W. Va.]) 1826-1833, 1832-06-14
THE ADDRESS
the Young MEMS .NatiO''ot hepaH'eGa

TO THE YOUNG MEN OF THE UNITED STATES
More than three hundred Of your young
fellow citizens, delegates from ~ states and
the District of Columbia, assembled IN con
veption az the city of Washington, ask your
attention. 70 A subject Of the greatest impor-
tance N voo. 10 ourselves, and to our com
mon country. The selection Of our rulers IS
a matter Of high interest, as the nobiest pri-
| vllepe of a free people; but it becomes espe-
cialiy 40 when on il may depend, as IN the
present crisis. the safety Of our Constitution,
and che permanency Of our Union. Two IN
Jlviduals are now before you as prominent
| candidates for the highest Office in your gift.
Let us examine for a moment their several
qualification. The first ANDREW JACK
Son. the present incumbent. elected but
| three short years since by a triumphant ma
iori,v Fresh from the battle field, with lau-
reIs AZ vet uniaded; unbiased, as was sup
posed, by party feeling; untrammeiled by
| pre- concerted systems of policy; he was fond
v hailed. az one who would reform every a
buse in government; restore our institutions
| to more than their pristine purity; and rule
| solely for the good of his country. Four oh
iects he was especially pledged to accom-
| plish. To reduce the expenses of Govern
ment; TO abolish the practice of appointing
| members OF Congress to office; TO restrict
The HFeSluentidt stFfitt " q SiuEtC 'CtHh, dfib
| to destroy the "Menster, Party Spirit" And
surely never was there a more favorable or
| portunity of redeeming such pledges. Com
! ing into power with a personal popularity al
/ most uneaualled, and at a time when the
| country was prosperous at home and Fespec
ted abroad, harmonious in itself, and at peace
with the world, he had every Inducement TO
! carry into effect his favorIie theories. But
how has he performed these promises! Let
| facts answer. An increase IN the expendi
lures of Government, amounting, during the
three wears OF his administration. 10 more
than ten millions Of dollars; the appointment
of nineteen members Gf Congress to office,
more than twice the number appointed by
any of his predecessors; his appearing not
merely as a candidate, -. but as a suppiicant
for continuance in Office; these are alone sui
licient to show the insinc Gritty OF his pledges,
and also how flagrantly he has disappointed
the hopes OF his country. lis true be has
destroyed party spirit as it formerly existed
"a contest for principles; but it has been
| only to revive it with a spirit purely selfish
a spirit that looks TO UIM alone as its object:
that acknowledges no principles bus his will
An entire suhseryiency to this will, however
capricious and tyrannical, has now become
the sole qualification FOR office. and without
it, the united virtues and wisdom Of an arch
angel would be wholly unayailing, Near fiji
teen hundred victims have ALREADY been sac
rificcd OIL its Molecb altar. No qualifications,
no services, could save them. Those whose
long and unremittcd attention to official du
ties had disqualified them from engaging in
other pursuits, were not merely driven into
beggary, bot insnlted, reviled, and pcrsecu
ted, by the hirel,ng ministers of bis vengeance,
merely because they could not believe, aud
would not declare, Andrew JACKSON 20 be
the "Grcatest 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 euun-
try should have afforded in some more am
Pile mode) were turned out of office to hide
their perjury in Z welcome grave. The late
Postmaster General, one Of the most efficient
officers ever possessed by any government,
for refusing to become an instrument in this
ruthless prescription, was driven from the
station he bad filed with such honor to him
self and his country, to make room for a tool
of power.
Let us next see what has been the course
Of General Jackson, 10 relation 10 the most
important features of our national policy. is
there a nam from Maine to Florida, who
knows his real sentiments with respect TO
those great interests Of Our coUntrv-inter-
nal Improvement and the protection Of do
niestlc. lndustry-or is there one, who regards
has reputation for veracity, who can ventu,e
to affirm that he has any settled policy on
these subjects, further than a determination
70 reuder them subservient TO lis darling
project OF securing as own re election, or OF
smuggling his WHY ~favorite into power? At
one moment the south is to be gained, and
the Executive veto is employed to stop an
Important work of internal improvement. AT
the next the North Is TO be conc,iiated, and
he sanctions other werks of precisely the same
character. On one day he is q friend of the
tariff, and ready to enforce it at every haz-
ard; on the next he advises to attack it in
detail, and destroy it by piecemeal. Thus,
while he alarms all interests, he satisfies none:
for, while the northern manufacturer are a.
ware. that to secure the vote of the South,
could tlsat elect HIM he would be willing 20
reduce their tlourisifnlg manufactures TO ru.
ms; the southern planters may be equally
certain, that, to gain the same object from
the North, he would not hesitate 10 load them
with taxes far more grievious than those OF
which they now complain. One branch Of
policy alone, has General jackson been con-
sistent. HIS opposition 10 The United States
Bank, urged, again and again, with such
zeal and perseverance, IN despite OF his con-
stitulionai advisers, and political friends, NAV
indeed be regarded as proceeding from fixed
opinion, rather from a blind hatred 10 the in.
stitation, stronger than any opinion, %origina-
ting IN personal pique and hostility TO a high
n.f4en nj tint