Herald of the times. [volume] (Newport, R.I.) 1830-1846, 1835-08-06
WHIG CANDIDATES
FOR THE PATH CONGRESS-:
Hon. TRISTAN BURGES,
OF Providence.
RYY.CRANSTON, Esq.
or Newport.
TO THE WHIGS OF RHODE-ISLAND

TO THE WHIGS OF RHODE-ISLAND
Besides the immense resources of the Post
Office perverted as they have been and cor
ruptly applied to the business Of carrying
elections; besides the immense patronage Of
the Executive prostituted to the same object,
the Executive, not content with these tre-
mendous engines for destroying the freedom
Of elections, and for controlling them in his
favor, and, as if these we're not enough in or
der "to make assurance doubly sure" has
broken through the Constitution to possess
himself of the control of all the revenues of
the country, and made that another engine
TO aid in the same pursuit. lie has possessed
himself Of that control, lawless control; and
las placed those revenues in local banks,
spread over the whole country, and planted
in every district thereof subject to be with
drawn at his will, and placed in other local
banks. These banks now hold the advanta-
ges Of these depositcs, only by his will, and
only at his pleasure. They have all, thus,
direct interest, in sustaining this dynasty, and
in carrying the elections, by which this dy-
nasty is to be sustained. Their means ofin-
fiuencing elections are prodigious; and it is
not in the nature of things that they should
not all be zealously exertsd in that service.-
And this is expected of these Institutions by
the Executive; and it is prescribed to them
also by the dictates Of their own direct pccu-
mary Interest,"
The Executive claims this control Of the
public treasure, rs the Executive preroga-
tive; it is therefore to be exerted by his sue
cessor, if Van Buren, be that successor, for he
has told the country that he shall tread in
the footsteps Of Jackson, and finish the
work which he has SO gloiiously begun
With such an Executive, these, with all the
public treasure under his control, with all the
public force at his command, the country is
no longer free. For freedom is freedom on
ly in its security; as despotism is despotism,
not so much for what it does, as for what it
may do. Conscious security is the feeling
which makes freedom blessing, and it has
no other, or none bat such as springs from
this; as it is the feeling Of insecurity which
makes despotsm curse. The slave may
never feel the hand of the despotic power
welded over him; he may live and die ex-
empt from its pressure; but still his condition
is the miserable condition of slave, because
he lives always exposed to the danger of its
blows. The naked sword, suspended by
alt tOb fbn bno ,,r a..
table loaded with dainties, took from him all
enjoyment Of the feast, and made him mscr-
able, though in the meantime the thread did
not break. 1t was his insecurity that made
his misery and his sense of insecurity, with
such an Executive, repeat, with all the pub.
lie treasure under his control, with all the
public force at his command, if we do not
suffer all the evils of despotisn, we owe it
not to any security from them, but to the for
bearance of the Executive. And such is pre-
cisely the condition of every people under a
dcspotIc government. ! know it is contend
ed by the tory party-the administration par
ty-and in the genuine spirit of torysm,
which has always been, as it now is, the ad-
vocate of despotsm in the Executive, always
the sycophant of arbitrary power, land that
this spirit should exist in this country, to the
extent it does is the most alarming, of all the
alarming circumstances in our political con-
dition,) know, say, that this tory party
have contended that the control Of The public
treasure was the constitutional Jorerogative Of
the Erecutiue. SO they have contcnded that
every assumption of arbitrary power by Jack
son, as the Executive, was but the exercise
of his constitutional prerogative; their slayish
spirit has kept pace with his arbitrary spirit,
in all his SAID assumptions. There is not
one which it has not approved, and applaud
ed, and sustained. There is no reason TO be-
lieve that there can be one, which they would
not approve and applaud, and in which they
would not sustain him. Were he even to
dispense with the forms of the Constitution,
as he has done with the substance and assert
his right to rule independently of those forms,
there is no reason to believe that he would
not find in that slavsh spiri, host of defend.
ers, and even the support of the bulk of his
party. Then, that we do not witness a ma
ked despotism welded over our country. un-
disguised by the forms Of liberty, we owe to
him, not to them. lie seems to be content.
'very recently The Government deposites have
been removed from the old Newport Bank (Which
had always been the y. s. depository bank for "
Newport TO a newly created Bank Of small cap
tai, and for no assignable or imaginable reason,
,ther than that Of engaging and rewardng cleo
ioneering services. And we see the head Of that
nsfitution zAannslv narfnrninr the elacf erina