The Rhode-Island Republican. [volume] (Newport, R.I.) 1809-1841, 1835-06-17


nature was received through the Post Office pre-
vious to the publication of our last weeks paper
and was omitted for want of room:
"Who are the whigs"? Aye, indeed, who " are"l
Let no one suppose this question be answered by
tengwLo aoere the wings of former times ;-on tha,
Benjamin Franklin even is " good authority or the
question: who " are" the wings of the present day
There is need of authority, doubt, to sustain the
present assumption of the term among us by those
who call themselves whigs in a good sense Of the
word, but, unfortunately for the none can be found
and the word will, as others have DONE lose its good
neaning by being imperfectly applied to bad SUBJ
Ject. 1t Is therefore pity, that good word as
this then was, had not been so embamed by Frank.
lin as to have prevented the offensive odour of its
present application. AS it is, however, it needs d
distinctive epithet to show its meaning, and how lit
tie it mas of It's former sense. The word achig al
now used is much akin TO % aohigg1e ,chaggh." ID
thus phrase Join the abstract " aohiyqery" and vol
will have the harmonious as well as i;et description.
of what has, under the name OF 0kig, made of lat(
no little noise in opposition to the present popula
administration, viz. mtiggSe aohaggte whiggery. G.
taken that name for the meaning of the phrase Be
gin with the date and circumstances of its first aD
plication, during the panic session, and trace it
long to the present time. Thus that the Pres
dent by the removal of the deposites had seized
the public treasure,-is an example of Whiggll
But that the functionary should not have Il
single dollar In his discretion for tho defence
of the country, should the require it, is anotl3
er of a whiggh. That the deposites once mad
could not be lawfully removed from the u S. Banf
was wAaggle. But that the future depostes mgls
be withheld (though could be removed) if thos
already made were unsafe, was a whiggle. Thu
the Bank was exclusively the treasury, and I'll
President of the U. S. in the execution of the lavc
had nothing to do with the treasury was aohogeIa
But that the President of the Bank might use Al
much as he pleased of the public money contrar
to the will of the people, to buy or brbe, alarm
allure as many as he could to sell their country
the Bank,-was phiggle. That the execution
the laws relating thereto was an unconstitutiona
custody of the public money-was a whGggle. BIZ
that the constitutional custody of the public mone
consisted merely in making laws for the purpose,
was a whiggle. That the Bank must distress tt
country, because President Jackson might not liz
the branch checks, or Congress might some day d
other cause them to be refused the distress of IT,
Bank-was a whaggh. But when the panic we
over and the checks were refused, the declaration d
the Bank, that it was all a matter of indifference
as it always had been to that institution, whetht
they were receivable or not,-was Uhiggh. Thattla
U. S. Senate was anxious to obey the voice of til
people-was a whGggh. But that the more the
opposed their own constituents for the sake of OF
posing the prese administration, the more obedei
hey would be to the popular will-was whiggi 4
And so ON, through great variety-but let this su
ice for the present as an example of the mode
INVESTIGATING the meaning ofthe terms whiggie phds
yh,-and consequently of defining the apPellatio
IF rhig-by its abstract. Let each one satisfy him
self of the meaning of the word from the facts cor
nected with its use, and whether each phaggle hsl
Is corresponding whiggk or not or, if one has ad
,used oftener than the other, which has been MOI
requent. For this may regulate the abbreviatioI
and it may be thus determined whether it shouI
&c rhig phdg whig, whdg 1hig rhag. Pei
naps it will be according to circumstances. An
he phiggle must always depend upon the succey
If the whdggle, though by no means always of equll
dimensions, and frequently very frequently have Il,
shaggles failed of having single rhiggie in III
rain. Not so, however, in our recent electio}
wherein famous little rhaggle carried off glorV
us little phiggle. So much for the nhdggh on all
hority" and to present mode Of !elucidatng III
meaning of rhigs which originally seems to hai
cen mere rhig and when the word was first al
lied to persons it term OF reproach, but, SUI
equen,ly, from the persons so called. it became,
, Franklin's time, one of honor,-and now atIengif
seems itself to be reproached by the character
ne party by whom it is assumed ;--and no sdou4
will hereafter be again used for its primary pulI
ose with respect to persons and with much mo-
fleet.