Litchfield enquirer., 1840-03-19
ADDRESS.
TO THE WING YOUNG MEN OF coNNEcTIc

TO THE WING YOUNG MEN OF CONNECTICUT.
Young Men Of Connecticut -" Eternal vigilance"
in the people, is the guardian spirit OF Common
wealth. Abuses are to be remedied or prevented
Errors in the laws, in the constitution itself are 10
be discovered and corrected; the ever stealthy pro
gress Of usurpaton and corruption Is to be arrested
the right working of republican institutions IS to De Sc
cured and that common good OF many, tor when
alone the State exists, and which is the Common
wealth. is to be protected and perpetuaed only by IN
tgem MANY G G nsr Of those who are
entrusted with the elective power.
We who are entrusted with this power, and who
are now called to exercise 1t IN the annual electOn
the several members Of our State government, are
thus entrusted not for the benefit OF the demagouge
who wants votes to help him to living, and whose
only trade is that OF managing the people ana driving
them like cattle, by arts which he calls potlcs-0ut
for oursev that we may guard own blrthrght
and not for ourselves only but for those with whom we
share the trusts and not for them only but tor others
whose interest in the common welfare is as dear as
ours but to whom this power is not entrusted 'Ie
sword and the torch of invasion were on our DoIoelS
and called to vndicae brthrght IN arS
and on the bloody field, other and dearefe be
than our own would summon US to the conIIe'' - nc
sacred names OF wife, and sister, anu nO'' I,h;ht
happiness is all involved in the common eItnlgn'
would move us; the rights ana nLsh - bereef,er
to live amid our graves, would hre US WIN en.h9s'
asm For the great interests and ends for whcn
the patriot soldier is grded with arms, the patriot cl
zen is entrusted with the elective power The same
high impulses which strengthen the one IN the weary
march, in the hungry camp, in the thick battle, should
move the other to conscientious, ceaseless vlgance
in the discharge his great duty. Both are called IN
different spheres and by different insrumentahues'
to protect their common brhrght.
1t is matter of regret, that in consulting whom 70
place in the administration of our own State govern
ment, we are compelled to advert to subjects whcn
belong to national politics. Yet such is the TACT
There is great organization extending through the
United States, compacted and controlled by the over
grown patronage of the Federal Executive which val
ues all Offices whether of national or State govern,
ments as a common fund for its own purposes, ana
which is thus continually augmentng the great Exec.
utive power which gives it unity and strength One
Of the candidates for the Chief Maglstraey OF TINS
State, is simply the representative of that organ'za
tion-the candidate Of the federal executlye-the
candidate OF the custom house and post othce m
huence-the candidate of the great Office holding:
contract holding, jobbing interest-the candidate OF
that party which has already destroyed the balance
of the constitution, and which, when its measures are
consummated, will have humbled the State govern
lnents into dependencies of the Federal Execu-
tive-wil have reduced the national legislature to the
base function of recording law and the national ju-
dietary to the baser function of pronouncng and ap.
pying as law, the absolute will Of the Federal Execu-
tiye-and will have left to the descendants ofour rev.
dictionary sires nothing of freedom but its empty
forms, and its desecrated name The other candidate
is presented in the name OF those throughout the I'm
ion whose tie is, that they pledge themselves
against this system Of corruption, and of centralized
We STYLE ourselves Democratic Wing Young Men,
not because care for the terms of old political
sroverses, but because we oppose the concentration
Of power in the Federal Executive. Some of those
evils which not few patriots at the adoption of
the Federal Constitution, anticipated from what SEEM
ed to them them the almost regal power Of the
President, and which others equally patriotic, but
more impressed with the Importance Of strong gov
eminent, did not anticipate, are the very evils under
which the nation is now actually suffering, and
against which we are contendng. The mere names
Of parties which have sprung up and passed away be-
fore our day. to us as nothing Yet since the pres
ent contest is in many respects not unlike that of the
Revolution, before it came to the shock of arms-a
contest between the oppressor who governs and the
oppressed who governed-a struggle between
those who would strengthen and those who would
weaken the Of the Executive--we cannot but re-
cognze the fitness Of the party of that day as
applied to the two greatparties Of this our time. In
the Wings we see those who would take from the
overgrown power Of the Executive to give to the peo
pie in the Tories we see those who would take from
the powers Of the people in electoral and representa-
tive assemblies. to augment beyond all check or limit
the power Of the Federal Executive. We are Wings
for the people against concentrated power.
Such are we, the Young Men of Connecticut, who
act together this day, and such are our brethren to
whom we appeal-the sons Of those who have resisted
from to age every form Of EXECUTIVE OPPRESSION.
WHAT'S the oppression of which we complaint Is
it merely fictitious wrong, the trick and cutlery of
party? Or is it real and mighty evil? Judge We
who have the capacity to comprehend simple stale
ment of undeniabe facts. II is on all hands acknowl-
edged that the present federal administration and the
last are the same in their principles and measures
The "treads in the footsteps of the other" The
one is perfecting the undertakings which the other
commenced. And what are these undertakings q
What is it which these two administrations have been
doing or attempting, TO make their era memorable
with postery2 Is the construction Of some great
series OF Internal communications, bringing the ex-
tremities of our vast territory into mutual contact,
and opening all natural resources to enrich us in
peace or to strengthen us in war? Is it some wisely
considered and we'll digested system of arrangements
under which our agriculture, our manufacturing arts,
and our may flourish together, covering the
north and the south, the seaboard and the west, with
rescue the "star.spangled banner from the infamy
of being the only flag earth that efFecually pro.
tects the African eave trade; and to aid according
to the faith Of treaties and pledges sup
dom unites in abhorring? No; nothing Of all this
The great CHARACTERISTIC measures of these sue
cessive administrations, has been-and is~-war upon
They found the country enjoying the best monetary
system in the world. Under that system every dollar
OF the currency was equivalent 20 dollar from the
much to the creditor in New-England as debt in
Boston. Every where intelligence and honest labour
were sure ct finding avenues to competency and to
wealth; we IN credit Of good eharee.er was the
pered. The youngest OF us can remember those times
as times OF universal activity in business and of uni
versal thrift But under the auspices Of our late and
present rulers and the result Of series of exper
ents made by the Federal Executive in defiance of
both houses OF Congress, and in contempt of the suf
terlngs ans remonsrances OF the people, new mon
every thing. Character, known integrity and skill,
are no longer the young mans capital Perplexity
and bankruptcy among men Of business, distress and
want among those who live by labor only, are becom
ing the established order Of ihrgs Every branch of
honest industry languishes anC shakes as with the
palsy Of death.
Yet those who occupy the seats of power in the
Federal Government survey without regret The ruin
they have wrought-and not only without regret-but
with satisfaction. And why shond they moi be salts
fed They have only fulfilled the pleasure Of the
Xvh in Il -
industrious poor that "those who trade on borrowed
capital ought to break" is "glory enough for them
TO serve under such chief" ano to tread as well as
they can in his long strided footsteps.