Lynchburg Virginian. [volume] (Lynchburg [Va.]) 1829-185?, 1839-03-25
THE ENQUIRER AND THE CoNSERva.
TIXES

ta
fierce assaults upon Senator Fontaine, Of the H,,,.
yer district, gives to those Conservatives WIN A..
not prepared to " sink or swim" with Martin W.
Buren,, while they believe that the measure which,.
is endeavoring force upon the country, by tn. A.,
of Executive power, aided by the seductive nAu.
Of executive patronage, will be ruiniou, In III.
country, an uneqnivocal indication that they ara 10
receive no quarter at its hands. In the emphatic
language OF Gen. Jackson, when Mr.. Riyes Arm
took ground against that measure, i, is determined r.
" kick cut Of the party" all whom ii cannot lash
back into the traces. Are the Conservatives. v,bo
bei,cue rhdt The Enquirer has heretofore said ofh.
Sub Treasury 10 be true prepared for this l,s.pin,
ry treatment! Are they serve enough to hand
their necks to that oppressive yoke, which ste, III.
free expression Thought and speech as effectua,,
as sedll'on laws, Or the dungeons Of the dcspo,-.
yoke which their fathers refused to bear! Ar.
they content TO be mere passive machines in thu
hands oil privileged lew, who have assumed IN.
right OF thinking for the multitude, and who r.pu
date and denounce every man who refuses 10 20
through the process Of ground and lofty tumblin,"
at the word Of command There are some-tLer,
may be many-~ho will thus degrade the lofty en-
dowmcn's OF reason: but think we know cho-
brtli-right. and consent 10 do the bidding of our
Political Pope aud his corrupt and servie priesthood
who are even now arrayed in their sacrhcia habit.
ments," and have erected and adorned the altar I'M.
on which they intend offer up their vicm-s
victim solely because he dares to exercise the Free
dom Of Opinion.
Let us look at this matter for IA moment, and SEQ
what picture it presents to the contemplation of
rejecting men. In September, 1887, when Mr..
Van Buren, first presented to Congress the Sub.
Treasury scheme, the Enquirer objected To it,-l,t.
tina, it gave up the public moneys, often amounting
at the time 10 Il millions of dollars, into
the hands ofndividuals appointed by Me President
and removable al his wiH-2jly, that being thus de-
posted in their pockets, chests or vaults" they
could every day approach and use IT, without those
safeg guards and checks which employed to
render it safe, but which have been found, nume-
rous they are, incompetent to protect from Tho
grasp Of official rognes-3dy, that il would ac-
cumulate power in the hands Of the President" and
enable him to put the peoples money directly in
the hands OF his friends and partizans :" uniting the
purse and The sword in the same hands, and muir
plying the of corruption-and 4thly, that it
established two sorts Of currency, tie better for
peope'-And in the language of patriotic apprs-
hension and warning, it invoked the opposition Of
all the friends Of limited Erecutire and guarded
Erchequer." And now, forsooth, the Enquirer is
prepared TO surrender all these strong objections
objections strong, if not stronger than any which
are applicable to any other measure ever proposed,
by any administration or by any maitland to sup
porl the man by whom this system is sustained, a.
gainst the repeated decisions of Congress and the
people. with perlinacity and obstnacy which is
destined to bring TO the test and finally TO decide,
perhaps forever the great and vital
in this country, the VOICE OF THE PEOPLE.
or the WILL OF THE EXECUTIVE is 10 DO
the governing ptinci ple-whether the President is
TO yield his iavorite schemes, at the command Of
the people, whose servant he is in theory, wheth-
er the People are to surrender their hostility TO \
pcrnicous measure at the command of their master,
as he practically is, if he riumps in this struggle.
Al the bottom of this controversy lies that great
principle which asitated Eng land IN the days Of the
/ Suars, and France under the Bourbons. Ii is a
contest between Popular Rights and Kingly Prerog-
ative-lt is violent effort, on the part Of our ku-
lers, to enlarge their powers, against the will the
great mass Of the people, whose interests demand
that those powers should be abridged, or at eas,
that they should be kept within the limits prescribed
by the Constitution. That it is so, is evidc Mt from
the Enquirer's own object ons, above summarized,
to the Sub-Treasury scheme. And how can any
freeman who believes that those objections are ufdS
now consent 10 be told that this IS "subordinaI
question:! How can he hesitate to separate him
self from men who identity themselves with the ma
sure! There cannot be SUCH All who now
support the administration which sustains it, must,
as rational men and patriots, either admit that
these objections do not apply to that measure, or
that they prefer the triumph Of "a party to the saliva
ton OF their free institutions. There is no alter
native 1t is an issue which the Conservatives have
themselves made up, and cannot see any extri-
cation from the dilemma. but by bold and fear
less opposition to the party which susans that obi
Gus scheme.
We know that many are trammelled by old party
tIes which they reluctant TO dissove-;hat others
lear the denunciatoas of that influential pre- IS,
which, having led them on to the Breach now aban-
dons thein-nay, not only deserts the flag which IL
sell had raised, and under which SO many gallant
and generous spirits rallied, but absolutely improves
upon all presidents in lreachery. and fires upon the
trends who obeyed its call, and marched on TO tho
assault under its guidance! But while the former
difficulty is common to the obscurcst members OF