Southern Argus. [volume] (Columbus, Miss.) 1834-1842, 1840-04-07

policy and Institutions shah contin-
pc to be prosecuted IN the destruction and fa-
lasical spirit which the President encourages,
{ he has not infused, iEto his followers. aGreal |
lre tbe Sacrifices, which he himself anticipates, |
lney bid defiance even to his powers of descrip-
lion. Let those Institutions which supply the |
and contribute in so large degree |
to upheld the credit of the Sta es, anaihiated--
Let those noble State improvements, Which
give value to the products of Agriculture, and
life and animation to industry, in creating and
opening way 10 profitable markets, be aban-
doned and suffered to become can heap of
stones,"-let the value of every description of
labor and property be brought down to the
standard of an exclusive hard money currency,
and the imagination may conceive, but no pen
can adequately portray the general scene of
desolation and distress which will follow. To
my mind, the most appropriate type of it is
presented in the ravages of Attila, in the fifth
century, over the face of the iairest portion of
Europe. Il was the boast Of that celebrated
cheftain, that he grass neuer greiD upon any
spot lChere his horse had trOd;" and If the de-
slructive doctrines of the President shall be
carried out, in the spirit Of his Message, he,
too, may boast OF a similar triumph over the
prosperity, happiness, and civilization Of his
country.
Have we not, already, had some foretaste of
the disastrous consequences, which the propa-
cation Of this spirit and these doctrines, is like
" to produce, in the recent proceedings of the
Presidents party in the Legislature of one of
the most powerful States of the Union--I al
lude to Pennsylvania. Under the instigation
of the Presidents Message, we have seen his
political friends there bringing in and trium-
phantly carrying thro' one branch OF the Legis-
lature, By dint Of party discipline, Bill for
forcing resumption of specie payments by
the Banks lcithiR fifteen days, which, it was un-
derstood, would have been promptly passed.
under the same influence, by the other branch,
but the patriotic intervention of the Governor,
who, seeing the inevitable distress and ruin
which so precipitate measure must bring up
on the community, and that it had already in
fcted serious blow on the credit of the State
herself, by rendering it impossible TO meet the
payment of large amount of interest on her
public debt, on the day it fell due, and thus ex-
posed that great commonwealth to the injurious
effects as well as modification, of violation of
her solemn engagements, came forward nobly,
in the face of the party denunciations which he
foresaw and declared would be visited upon
him, and earnestly appealed to the Legislature
to pause, and reconsider the dangerous meas
ure which was in progress. But IN Washing
ton ITSELF under the personal surveillance and
direction Of the movements of his party by the
President, we have seen a still more alarming
exhibition of this reckless and unconstitutional
spirit of interference with the domestic con-
Germs and credit of the States. On motion of
a member of the Senate, fresh, not from the
people, but from the cabinet of the President,
of which he was but few days ago, a men,
Der, we have seen committee raised, upon
feigEed issue of assumption, (Which no State,
or any one on behalf of a State had proposed
TO take cognizance of the subject of State debts,
calling upon the States in succession to the
bar Of the Senate, passing in review their Pc
cuniary engagements and condition, and so
glaringly TO all ntents and purposes, sitting as
a commission of bankruptcy on the affairs of
The States, that when their report came in, it
was Indignantly sent back, to the committee
by which it was prepared, with the concur
renee of many of their political friends, to have
portion OF It suppressed and expunged.
When to these, and the other evidences of
cOntemptuOus disregard for the rights and Dig
nifty OF the States, to which have already re-
ferred, we add the bold act of pdrty-pOlcer, by
which the Presidents friends in the other
House of Congress did not hesitate to disfran-
chise sovereign State Of the Union of her
Constitutional right ofrepresentation, in order
TO effect the election Of party Speaker, On
which object, however, as If by the retributive
judgment Of Providence, they were at last dis
appointed)-a disfranchlsemont which 10 this
day is continued. and may be indefinitely pre-
longed,--we may form some idea Of the modes
~, as wen as justice, with which the Presi-
dent and his party have presumed to approprI-
.ts, 20 or a..
Republicans. In my humble Judgment, the
present Chief Magistrate, has departed from
every leading principle of Republicanism, the
profession Of which brought him into office
and for myself cannot conceive how any one
who is truly Republican and a Conserva-
tve-who, in the administration Of the govern
ment is the advocate of a conservative as OPP
posed to a destructive policy, who is the friend
of State Rights in opposition to Federal consol-
idati0n, who would maintain Legislative indie
pendence against Executive supremacy, who
would see the government of this great con-
lederacy administered as a high national trust,
and not as a party JOB; who, in short, loves
liberty more than polcer, can support his re-
election. Let others decide as they may,
certainly cannot.
Let us now see what are tic public princi-
pies and opinions, the life and character of
General Harrison, the sole opposing candidate
for the Presidency, and If they do not present
a better guarantee for the safe republican adj
minstratiOn of the government. 1t has been
the singular fortune Of General Harrison to
have been more msrepresented and conse-
ouently misunderstood, particularly in his ma
tive State, than any other distinguished citizen
of our country. The reason Of this is, doubt
less to be found in the circumstance that for
the last ten or twelve years of his life, he has
been withdrawn from the scenes of active po-
litical employment, and that, while his name
was before the country, in the last Presidential
election, exposing him, of course, to much de-
nunciation and misrepresentation from his po-
litical adversaries, the attention of tie oppOsi-
ton party of the South was mainly directed to
a distinguished citizen of their own section, so
that there was no party interest felt at that
time, in the South, in detecting and exposing
the numerous and gross misrepresentation OF
which he was made the subject by an uDscTu-
puIous press, From this state of things, it has
arisen, that in the South generally, and in Viz
ginia particularly, the most unfounded charges
have been widely propagated in regard to his
public principles and conduct, and till lately
without efficient contradiction and exposure
thus imposing on many good citizens, who will
be now eager to repair the injustice they have
done him. The most prominent of these char
pes, which is still wantonly repeated, is that
General Harrison is an abolitioniStS. / have
recently investigated with care, all the eviden-
COS of his principles and conduct on this, as
wen as other important public questions, and
am thoroughly convinced that ii there be one
man, who has entitled himself TO The gratitude
OF the South, beyond all others, by the noble
and d;s,ntorogfo1 znal ho hos AZ oil firnac man