Litchfield enquirer., 1837-02-16
PROGRESS OF sYcopHANCY.

w lSe'S reSOlutlOn, proposing an nCulrY into the condition of the Executive Departments. l Mir. P. said he was not one of those dema. gogues whose mouths are ever pouring forth declarations of their attachment to the Peo- pie, but confess am democrat enough to proclaim our rights in opposition to the insi- dious encroachment of Government. Iavow that am for the power and rights of the Peo-
 pie being felt practically in this, Govern ment, while those who are always declaim- ing for those rights seem to come here but to smother and oppress them. They profess to be the advocates of the popular cause, while they are all found arrayed in close phalanx on the side ofpower, pouring out eulogies up- on the Administration screening its officers, | iustifYing acts of fraud and corruption, ana i opposing the People in their demand for in- uuiry and investigation !s Though the party to which have the honor of belonging has been stigmatised ard treduced as the enemy of popular rights, profess, sir, my attach- ment to them. I avow undying devotion to the liberties of my country, and hope yet to live to see the day when the rights of the People, the rights and power of this House, shall no longer be trampled under foot by base subserviency to Executive power to those who bow the knee to its mandates, and crowd in eager anxiety to beg the crumbs that fall from the table of royal master.
 MT Speakerl cannot refrain from declar. ing the profound astonishment with which listened to the extraordinary facts related on this floor by the gentleman from Tennessee | (Mr. Peyton) in relation to the electioneering campaign made by tie President last sum- mer through western county. We have heard that he has been Zealously engaged in the work ofsecuring successor to his power and authority. We heard of his interfer- ence in this matter, of his labors and undig- nified speeches in the contemptible work of raising into power one who lived by fawning upon his hand. Mortifying and disgusting as these facts are, not less astonishing did it appear to me, when in answer to them we heard the gentleman from Georgia (Mr. Glascoch) and the gentleman from Louisia- na (Mr. Ripley) rise in their seats, and, in- stead of offering apology or denial, exert themselves to Vindicate the interference.- Sir well remember the "Gwinn letter." which indirectly ordered the Ruckerized con- vention at Baltimore to do the bidding of 6 master knew we'll that the successor had been appointed, but l did not know, did not believe, that should see the day when re- presentative of a free but betrayed People would rise in his place in this House, and vindicate such appointment. We are told, in apology for an interfer-  guised and shameless, that the President has right to speak his own opinions, "that he is free man as well as any other citizens" "that he is man who was never known to hesitate in the frank assertion of his opinion" sc. The private opinion of the President is one thing, the public declaration of his wish- es is another. Whenever his opinion, what l ever it may be, be it private or be it public, is sustained with all the power and influence of office, is enforced from cabinet ministers ! down to all the petty holders of office, is pro- claimed and preached by menial sycophants and subsidized press, notoriously under the | dictation of power, then, sir the Presidents | private opinion and preference becomes | law to hundred thousand nercenary fol. lowers who live upon his will.
 Every people from their history and edu- cation, have peculiar criterion by which to judge of liberty. In England an idiot or a [ knave may sway the empire by the law of legitimacy, and the plumcs of titled nobili- | ty may wave over stars and garters, and yet | the Englishman may proudly claim to be | freeman; and why! Because these things | are sustained by the fundamental principles | of the British Constitution as part of their au- thorized and lawful government. But when Cromwell raised his government over the rll- ins of the British Constitution, and against
  he added to the glory and the power of the British name, yet he was dictator, and the people were slaves so long as they acquics- ced in the usurpation. So it is here. We live in land of constitutional law, every principle of which sustains the freedom of ! the elective franchise, from the highest to the | lowest. If the greatest principle of Ameri- can liberty be violated and defied by exccu- | tive aietatiur, no nnottor wbut character is raised up as the successor of power under a dynasty, we are slaves and dastards if we tamely acquiesce. As far as practical lib- erty is concerned there is no difference in ef- feet, as to tho people interested, between the government of him who comes in trampling over the freedom of election through dfcta- ton, bribery, and frauds and he who comes into power waving over the desolated fields of his country the bloody sword of a con- queror and usurper. As to all practical ef- fects they are the same. a.- .-.f. |
 Is there any man in the House who does not know that the President elect could not have been chosen but by the direct influence and interference of the President! Let no man say there is no proof of this interfer- | ence. Independent of the facts stated by | my friend from Tennessee, (Mr. PeytonY and | the stated letters, toasts, &c. of the President himself will now call the attention of this House and this country, to some facts upon which would defy any sworn jury of free men on earth to bring in verdict 5not gull ty." win introduce witness against whom hirelings have poured out their malignity and calumny, but whose veracity and private in- tegrity no man dare impeach. will give the language of the distinguished Senator from Tenn. Cudge White.) as it is publish ed in his speech at Knoxville last summer.- When the President was on visit to Ten nessee in the summer of 1884, "and after inc