Staunton spectator, and general advertiser. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 183?-1849, 1840-12-31

"e oulSoiNeS are 100 poor III knowledge
guide the ship Of State but we have an
Bile captain, skiliul pilot and expert seame
to direct her course, under whose auspce
she spreads her sails to prosperous breezes
and will bear us and our children safely an
happily over the waters of Life" But no,
6ng,o you that that captain is able, that pile
skliiul, those seamen expert And if sc
yet how know you that they are homes. an
true To your Interests? You have been tod
so Told, and by irhom ? By those who's
interest 1t is to deceive and luIl you into
false and fatal security. BY the very mel
you have trusted with the ark of safety
ircighted with your rights and happiness
! by them, their dependents, and their lirelngs
by those, who have been bat,enng for years
upon the spoils of party and office. BY those
whose concentrations are the price of favo
conferred, or promised, or hoped for. By
those, In fine, who, trusting to your supine-
ness ana ignorance, and panderng to your
depfaved taste and vanity, are loudest in their
praises OF the dear people, "the sweet, the
honest, the intelligent people - while their
sole object is, by the arts of the Deniagogue,
TO win your countenance and sutirages, to
climb over your heads upon the ladder Of po-
htlcal preterment, and feast at Washington
upon the crumbs of unleavened bread dis
tributed amongst his retainers by the Great
Father of Demagogues!
heSe men, rioting in their ill-gotten wealth
and power, eager to prop the falling fortunes
and conceal the Ubiquitous practices of them
selves and their Patron Saint, and believing
that you are too honest and unsuspicious, too
supplemented and ignorant to watch mar
foWiy those whom you have commissioned
TO Keep watch over your interests, greet you
from year to year with the cry of "all's
well, ard seek TO lull your fears and stife
your Indignation by specious promises and
iilusory hopes But IS all we'll! Have
those promises been redeemed, those hopes
realized! A million voices answer NO =
Thousands upon thousands of an abused and
disappointed people, your friends, your neigh
bors, your brethren, identified with You in
feeling and interest, are sounding the tocsin
OF alaIm, and calling upon their countrynen
TO rally around the standard OF free princi-
pies and defend the sacred constitution and
laws against the miscreants in power, who
would do violence not only TO their spirit but
their letter likewise. The whole country is
agitated to its centre. The people are divi-
ded into two great parties, each arrogating TO
itself the true Democratic faith and princi-
pies, and charging upon the other departure
from the Republican creed.
But call upon you to trust neither the one
side nor the other 10 credit the '.ipSe aiXits''
of neither Wings nor Loco Focos, but to sta
dy far yourselves the character of this and O.
Their governments, TO examine the Constitu-
ton and Laws. to read the authentic histo-
ries of the times to consult the public records
and the opinions, of the wise, and good and
impartial, and then Judge for yourselves =
Read, reflect, decide and act. Yon are bound
to do SO by your sworn allegiance to the
state, by your love of liberty and justice, and
by your own best interests and dearest rights,
which, even if they be not no,U endangered,
may become so hereafter, and require Your in
reference and protection.
In every Government under the sun, it be-
hoves the citizen to become acquainted with
its spirit, its policy and its administration
But more especially III our own, one OF the
peculiar characteristics of which is that euery
citizen may have an agency In its admins
tration, and is, or ought to be sentinel upon
its ramparts, do this duty and this necessity
exist in their highest and most imperative
form. 1t was founded by the great body of
the people, by them it has hitherto been d.
rectcd, and to them it looks for support and
preservation. Each one Of you is d constitu-
ent elementary part of II, and on each rests
portion of It's burden. IL has not been in
stituted for YOU by others, but by you for
yourseves--and by you alone can it be adj
ministered in purity and preserved In integr!-
ty. At the polls, in the halls OF legislation,
or in the courts Of justice, you are called on
to pronounce upon its principles, TO sanction
or condemn the acts of its administrators,
and to devise plans for its proper mainten-
ance and direction. How important, there
fore, how essential to its well-being, that you
should enter on the discharge of these varied
and oneroGs dntIes with enlightened under
standings that your memories should be
stored with lessons drawn from the expert
ence of the past-your judgments formed by
much reading and reflection, and your minds
deeply imbucd with that most difficult OF all
studies, the science of government--cspcci-
ally of government like ours, compounded
of every other form, so wonderful in lis me-
chanism, so diversified in its objects, so nice
ly adjusted in all its parts, and 50 liable to be
turned from its true balance between state
and Federal powers
But YOU NAV answer. "'Tis Of little con-
sequence TO us whether Van Buren, or Har-
rison be elected. whether our Republican in
stituticnS be preserved or overturned, whetE-
er the price Of labor be enhanced or reduced.
We have no property to protect, and are con-
tent to leave to others the administration Of
affairs in which we have no interest. Who
ever rules, anu whatever the pOIcJ OF the
Government, 1Ce at least can live on undis-
turbed and unaffected" Aye, and is it so
Have you indeed no interest at stake True,
YOU may own but little property yet is not
! that little dear to you as the rich mans MILL
ons to him Is net the humble roof that
protects your families against the inclcmen-
| cies of the weather, and the coarse food that
satisfies their hunger, invaluable 20 you as
their splendid buildings and costly yiands &c
| the rich And is not your little acre o.