Martinsburg gazette. [volume] (Martinsburg, Va. [W. Va.]) 1833-1855, 1836-09-29

some ii high and some in low degrees.
Did il ever occur to any one Of you,
tina. he was serving chief Is there
any one of you who would acknowl-
edge HIMSELF the servant of political
master--nay, more, boast of it as his
chief and browning glory, and that too
in the hearing Of his master, to fiatter
his pride and win his favor 7 If there
be such an one we do not seek to win
hm--we address the manly, the inde-
pendent and the free, and we ask Of
them, if they can keep down their dis
gust long enough to place such sych-
ophant in the chair of Washington
whether they can quiet their apprehen-
sions also? Are they not taught by
all history, by what they see daily in
common domestic life, by the brute
tribes of nature-that obsequiousness
and servility to those above is invaria.
bly, attended, always avenges itself, by
oppression and tyranny exercised on
those below7
In addition to the merit OF being sup
ported by General Jackson, and by all
who are subject to his orders, the par
tisans of Mr.. Van Buren, claim for
him another, and that is his protested
determination TO carry out the princi-
Piles upon which General Jackson has
administered the Government.
If there be any principle more
prominent than all others in that admir-
nistration, it is the principle Of favorit-
ism, commencing with the President,
and running down through every chan
mel into the lowest and meanest offices,
insomuch that the readest and surest
access to the government, is upward
from the bottom, through those obscure
and dirty passages, Witness late
and memorable instance. You have
all marked the unprecedented outrage
inflicted on the gallant Scott. You
have seen him a soldier, covered
with wounds sustained in the service
ofhis country, stricken down by So
cret blow at the head Of his army, on
the eve ola triumphant success, secu.
red by his skill and made more glori-
Gus by his humanity. And how struck
down ? Without open charge-wi,h'
out proof-without trial-at the in
stance of a subaltern officer patronized
by the editor Of the government news
paper, "the vilest and most malignant
minion that infests the government"
Think you this would have happened
under any former administration See
you not, that men that gallant and high
minded men, are compelled to stoop if
they would approach the government
through its most favored channels, to
the meanest selcdegradation? And see
you not also, that no past services and
no present merit is secure against the
secret venom of the reptiles which
crawl up from the low purlieus of the
palace to the Chair of State, and into
ali the departments of the government.
And when before was there ever
such insolence of Office exhibited as
this system of favoritism has produced?
1t is but short time since, that Penn.
sylvania, one of the most powerful
and respected of the states, ventured to
pass certain laws touching her own mu.
uicipal affairs, in contravention Of or
ders from Washington and for this, a
paid deserter from the ranks of Mr..
Clay, who was so odious as traitor,
that he with difficulty attained the poor
reward of his treason, whom the power
Of the government barely sufliccd to
squeeze through the Senate into an au.
ditor's office by one vote, but who now
presides over department so rotten
before as to dread even at his hands no
further injury; this man has dared,
deliberately, publicly, and in writing,
to denounce her legislature as corrupt.
Fellow citizens, suppose this yonr own
case-that any minion Of the Federal
Government had dared thus to de-
nounce the Legislature Of Virginia for
an exercise Of their lawful right, what
would you have said-not Of him-he
would be beneath your Indignation
but Of the government which should
keep him in its service and favor .? Can
the States preserve either influence or
respect ifthey are thus subjected to in
suit and outrage from the retainers of
office at Washington ?
Do you desire these principles to be
carried out by Mr.. Van Buren, or to be
carried further =? Ifnot-what are the
other principles which you approve,
that Mr.. Van Buren, is to " carry outl"
More money has been expended in in
ternal Improvements, under this admit
than any former--a large |
standing army and numerous fortifca-
tons have been called for frauds be-