Richmond enquirer. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1815-1867, 1840-06-19
POLITICAL.
ADDRESS OF THE AI.BEN ARI.E DEMOCRATI,
SICII AS;'r InMhIJTEE.

VIGILANCE COMM II III.
In castinr a rapid glance over the origin OF parties
in our country, we perceive among these who strug.
Eled for Independence, two parties, one who fought
for liberty, the other for power; one fought for inde-
pendence as the means of establishing 4 popular 60
yernmeut. the other that power might be transferred
from an ENGLISH to an American arls;ocracy; that the
people might be transferred from foreign TO domestic
masters.
In the Convention which framed the Constitution o:
the United States the same parties existed. The one,
the party of the people. which triumpled in the cs-
t%ablishment OF our present happy form Of government,
viz: The General Government TO watch over our To-
reign relations, and the State Governments to take
care of our internal concerns: preventing an excessive
concentration Of power and consequent abuse Ill one
set of hands: and at the same time conveying so much
power To each, as To enable them to accomplish the
object to which each Of them was best adopted. The
other, the arIstocratlc party, who desired n PRESIDENT
and Senate appointed for life, the appointment OF the
Governors of States By the Executive Of the United
States, and a veto power in Congress over all the laws
Of the State Legislatures.
These parties still existed after the formation of the
at the head Of the one, Jcfter-
son, &c. ut the head of the other. The influence and
integrity of Washington prevented many signal eXhI-
billions ofthe practical effects OF the AristocratIc princi-
pie during his administration; in that of Adams ITS
principles were developed. The Bank of the United
States in the administration OF Washington; the Alcn
and Sedition laws, large Standing Armies in time OF
Peace, high taxes, an host Of useless officers, a latitu-
dinous construction Of the Constitution of the u. 5,
abandoning It's plain, obvious and common sense
meaning for that construction which gave every power
coveted by thcm--were the means adopted TO trans
form it in practice to SUIT their AriStocratIc principles;
added 10 this were the brow .bca;inns and insults offered
TO leading Democrats. Jones wrote his editorials for
the Examiner, the immediate predecessor Of the En-
quirer, with loaded pistols upon has ta~ble-Randolph
had to 30 armed, Macon was forced to draw his knife
10 defend himself in The Theatre from one of John
Adams officers. The ~"rogue's march was played al
ter Thomas Jefferson, when Vice President, publicly
through the streets Of Philadelphia. Leading Demo
Gratis had to avoid public asscmblagcs IN the streets and
visit each other, through bye-ways TO avoid insult.
In lcnl the Democracy again riumphcd, and sent to
retirement, the enemies of the rights of man-we en-
joyed a long repcsc, party distinctions in an evil hour
were obliterated, the enemy was admitted into the
camp, he sought By stratagem what he had failed to oh.
tain by force. Under new names and hypocritcal
professions, public confidence was sought; a Bank OF
the U. States, Il Tariff for projections, and Internal I'm
provements by the General Government, were the
fruits ofthis hollow truce between the A.istocratic and
Democratic parties, between the people and their natu.
raj enemies. Under the younger Adams the principles
of favoritism 10 the few at the expense of the many,
stood forth IN all their native deiormity. The friends
of liberty rallied TO the rescue of their country and
hurled the enemies of our free institutions from their
seats, Andrew Jackson was elected President;-th man
of infleXiblc integrity and the iron nerve, heaven sent
for the occasion and the work. The Bank of the L.
States, the Tariff, and a System of Internal Improve
ments by the General Government sought surrcpti-
tiously to be engrafted upon the Constitution, were
eradicated by his stern integrity and undaunted firm.
ness, in defiance of the reckless resistance of associated
wealth, foreign and domestic with all the aids ii could
bride or conciliate in alliance with the hopes of disap-
pointed ambition which sought by such means 10 clc-
waite itself into power, upon The ruins of our holy cause
and our sacred principles. The people, true 20 them
neiges and their country, sustained the man of the time,
IN eiecting these great and radical reformatlons.
The work, however, was not complete. In un-
guarded moments, in spite of the warning OF such
men as Jefferson and Taylor, cur Legislatures have
exercised u power violating the spirit of the ConstItu.
ton at least, which denies 10 the States the power TO
issue bills ct credit, or in other words, paper money,
by q sophism which transfers to associations of wealth,
the right to issue them in the form of bank notes, and
thus create a currency; a power which is positively
denied 70 the States themselves by the Constitution,
and have placed the banks above the law and above the
people. They promised us bcnefts-they have over
whelmed us with evil. We have had our temporary
decisions of over excited activity in all branches of
business-we are now, after a year Of most abundant
harvest and fair prices, almost destitute Of a circulating
medium, and what we have is deficient in quantity and
debased in character. We have had no wars, we have
suffered no calamity, save that of excessive banking.
The illusion that banks steadily and permanently in
crease the circulating medium Of u country IS now left
to the tyros of the counting house and wing poiltl'
clans.
The introduction Of bank notes expelled from clrcn-
lation our s~pecie-tlat which was value, and Tor which
Te paid no interest, being our own, and mas substituted
their promises to pay, upon which we pay interest,"
Every bank note in circulation has been lent to some one,
whose negotiable note bearing an interest of near seven
per cent. the bank holds; if The borrower be a seller Of
goods he must add the interest TO the price of the artl-
Gle we purchase Of him; if he be a purchaser of our
he must deduct it from the price he would pay
as. It is evident that he through whose hands an ar
merely passes cannot create an additional Value
he must have his clear profit TO liye-his sales are regu.
lated by the foreign demand; he does not produce; ne
has then no fund from which to pay this interest with
,ut drawing it from the producer. The interest, then,
upon al! the bank notes in circulation, must come ex-