South Branch intelligencer. [volume] (Romney, Va. [W. Va.]) 1830-1896, 1835-03-14
SATURDAY, MARCH IA, 1885.

have cooled down and it will not
cool down until angry discussions Of
party measures which are past, shall
have ceased.
Addressing myself, then, 10 the hon
est and patriotic citizens ofboth parties
in the district, and asking from Them
cool and dispassionate hearing, will
briefly state my reasons for thinking
that the institutions and the Liberties of
the country are in danger.
The principle that the sovereign
power rests, and Of right ought to rest,
in The people, is the essential basis of
our political institutions. We have
siaked our fate and fortunes on the
truth of this political axiom. So long
as the important public functionariss
are elected by the free, unbiased, and
spontaneous expression of the peoples
will, our institutions and the liberties
which they protectare safe. The PEG.
pie may err occasionally /; but they
have intelligence enough, Sin the long
rum" if left to themselves, to elect o
magistracy who will administer their
affairs with honesty and ability. But
when and so soon as, the executive de-
partment Of the government shall be
invested, by course Of unwise and
improvidenl legislation, or by the com.
bined operation Of this and other caus-
es, wilh patronage and influence enough
to enable it to control the free express.
ion ofthe popular will in the elections,
our free political Institutions will have
lost their efficacy, and our political
liberty will be extinct. When that
control shall be exercised, our civil lib
erty will perish also. The form Of our
institutions may remain but we shall
be slaves and not freemen. Rome had
her senate and her consuls for ages al
ter the absolute power of the emperor
had extinguished both her political and
her civil liberty. And we. too,may have
our president and our congress, but
the president will be monarch, and
the congress his subseryient tools.
In the correctness of these hypo-
lhetical views, which are, in fact, mere
political ,ruisms, you will doubtless all
concur. But you will ask whether they
have any actual or probable bearing
on the state Of things 10 this young and
vigorous republic /: whether the execu-
tive department Of the general govern
ment is now invested, or is likely soon
to be invested, with patronage and in.
huence enough TO enable it to control,
if so disposed, the freedom Of popular
elections. l answer, that whether it is
noao possessed of so great degree OF
indirect power is doubtful question,
and one which fortunately for the peo-
pie, has not yet been brought to the
test OF actual experiment. But that it
will ere long possess the power, unless
means be devised TO check ihe rapid
increase Of our national expenditure,
is, in my opinion, abundantIy clear.
1t is an astounding fact, that the an.
nual expenditure of the government,ex'
GLIDING payments made on accoun. OF
the public debt, has increased, in eleven
years of profound peace. from nine
millions seven hundred and eighty
four thousand dollars, to ta0enty ts0O
millions seven hundred and thirteen
thousand. | say that this is an as.
founding fact not in reference to the
waste OF the public money, TO the ex.
travagance and profusion which il
would seem to indicate +; but in refer
ence to the corresponding increase o.
the patronage, Influence, and Indirect
power Of the executive department,
which it certainly does indicate. MOI
is it my purpose to impute 10 the con.
gress of the United States, which is
chiefly to blame for this enormous in
crease ofnational expenditure, any sia-
ister purpose 10 authorizing it. ask
you merely to look at tie effect pros
duced, and in sober seriousness to con.
slider, whether an executive Invested
with so great and so rapidly increasing
apower of buying golden opinions from
all those who feel the comfort and the
benefit of its disbursement, is not dan.
gerous to the liberties ofthe country
Whether continued increase of its
patronage and influence in the same
ratio will not, ere long, enable it to
control The will Of the people ct the
elections, by means of such host of
dependents as must be generated by so
great an expenditure, each one of whom
has his dependents, or inaaence, or
connexions. II the people of these U.
States are content to rest their security
against the exercise of this power, on