Staunton spectator, and general advertiser. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 183?-1849, 1840-03-05

expectation of my principles, as well as the
'urest guarantee Of my future course.
For these various reasons felt that ought
not to give any pledge of support to any
OF the Presidential candidates, as the condi-
ton of my election to the Senate of the Uni
ted States, and accordingly declined to do so
whilemy name was recently before the Legis-
lature, in connection with the election for that
Office. These motives Of reserve have now
ceased. My name is no longer before the Lee
gisature for that or any other office; and as
in time past, it has never been by any act OF
solicitation of mine, SO, whether it shall, at
any time hereafter be, will depend on the free
will of others, not mine. And in the event,
even, of my name being again presented to
the Legislature, by the partiality and gene |
rous confidence with which my friends and |
fellow citizens have been heretofore pleased
to distinguish me, the Presidential election
will have been determined, and we shall all,
of necessity, have taken our equal and res
ponsibe parts in it before the Legislature, ac-
cording to their recent decision on the subject,
will proceed to the election OF Senator of the
I-can no Iungrr IetI the shgr,rst -uentiicy as
! private citizen, in expressing to YOU freely
| and without reserve my opinious on the inter
es;ing question You PROFOUND to me.
our enquiry naturally divides itself into
Two branches. The first is, can we support
The reelection OF the present Chief Mauis-
trate-those OF us. mean, who have been in
earnest in our opposition to the leading mea-
sures and prevailing policy of his administra-
ton! And this question would seem proper
| ~ and plainly to resolve itself into another.
Has he abandoned or Withdrawn any of those
measures, to which we have been, and are
still thus opposedl So far from it we have
seen that, in his Message to Congress, he has
again brought forward and urged, with in
creased determination of purpose, his now
cherished sub-Troasury scheme, which, at the
time OF his election, all his political friends
believed to be fraught, and which we still be-
lieve to be fraught with the direst evils to the
country. lie has not only again earnestly
recommended this scheme, but he has urred
its adoption in the most obnoxious and obiec |
tlonable OF all the forms it has ever assumed. |
refer OF course, to what has been commonly
called the specie clause, or requisition of the
public dues in gold and silver alone. This
rigorous feature of the scheme had been pre-
termitted by the President, in his more recent
eXposltlons of 1t, and was believed to be f.
nally abandoned by him; but it is now brought
forward In bold relief, it is understood, as the
sane qua non of the new political alliance.
which has been announced to the country
And the President even tells us that he &c be-
lIeves no period will be more auspicious'' for
the introduction of this hard money policy in |
the operations of the Government, than the |
present when we know, that in two-thirds |
or three-fourths of the States, specie is at an
average premium of ten per cent. above the |
common currency! Most g auspicious,' - in
deed, for the interests of those who are the
recipients and benefciaries of the public con-
trlbutions, but surely not for the interests of
the people, who are the payers, immediate or
ultimate, of all these contributions.
In compliance with this recommendation
OF the President, we have just seen the sub
treasury bill, with the obnoxious specie clause, |
hurried through one branch of the National
Legislature, by minority vote, in the abb |
sehce OF many members, when if that body, |
(the Senate,) had been full, and its members |
had voted In conformity to the opinions and |
wishes, either expressed or understood, of
thelr respective States, the measure would |
have been defeated. And yet in the face of
suci facts as these, appeals are still made, |
In the name of a blind and abject party-ale- /
GRANGE, to many who are truly opposed to |
this scheme, from thorough conviction of |
Its most dangerous and fatal tendencies, to
support the reelection of the President, by
whose influence and anti-republican contuma-
cy, 1T is to be imposed, and permanently fast
eheo' upon the country. A poor attempt is
now made to give FEASIBILITY and effect to
this appeal, by representing the sub-treasury
scheme as mere question of eXpediency, on
which men may agree to differ without any
compromise of principle, on either side; and
this attempt Is made, too, by those who have,
themselves, but recently denounced the
scheme, In the strongest terms, as dangerous
to the public liberty, by giving the President
the immediate control of the public money,
putting into his hands "a fund Of Corruption
and aiarmingiy increasing the power and in
Iuence OF his office, ''already too great fer a
republic" Surely, when considerations such
as these are involved, the question is one of
vital and fundamental Importance. In this
lspect-as measure alike hostile to the pub
Tic liberty, and warning upon the prosperity
OF the country, directly and indirectly, in all
us most essential interests, the sub-treasury
project has ever been viewed by those Copser-
Odftre htpubhcdns, who have given evidence
81 the sincerity of their faith by fearlesslv
and 't1Ji'nchingty meeting the denunciations
which its profession has drawn down upon
Them. Entertaining such opinions, can they,
as honest men, and as freemen, so far surren-
der their minds and their wills to the slavish
a'sciPiihe OF party, as to support the re-elec-
tion OF President whose policy they believe
70 be fraught with consequences so calami-
'ous to their country? humbly think net.
Another dlsingenuous device for entrappinp
conservative votes, is founded on the assump-
tlon that they differ with the President on but
single question. Even were this SO, il
would be cause enough for the withdrawal of
Their support, where the questionis one of so
grave and fundamental a character as the
conservatives honestly believe the sub-.reas-
ury scheme TO be. But the assumption is
wholly untrue. The Conservative Repubiicans
have differed and still differ with the Presi-
dent on other points Of the bi0bect ;,o,,or |