The Madisonian. [volume] (Washington City [i.e. Washington, D.C.]) 1837-1845, 1840-10-20
LETTER OF JUDGE BURNETT,
OF OHIO,
IN reply 10 an Irritation 10 the Lancaster
Meeting.

In reply 10 an Irritation TO the Lancaster
Meeting.
| CINCINNATI, Aug. "a, 1910.
! Those OF our citizens who know from memo
ry, as do, or who have otherwise learnt the de-
plorable condition Of this country at the close of
the Revolutionary war, and the relief afforded
by the adoption and faithful administration of
the Constitution of 1889, under the auspices of
Washington, will know how TO appreciate DE
| value of the instrument, and the importance Of
preserving it in its original purity. The Revo-
lutonary war had left the American people in
poverty and distress-wthout money-without
commerce-withoutm manufactures without Gre
| dit, and without national character. Under
the wise and>well arranged system devised by
| Washington, and faithfully pursued by all his
successors, till 1929, the American people rose
from poverty and distress, to ease and affuence,
and from the reproachful SCOTS of Europe to the
| level OF the most honored and respected nations
on the globe. That policy was faithfully pursu-
ed by every President, from Washington to the
younger Adams, inclusive, and had il been per-
sisted In till the present day, imagination can
scarcely conceive the health of prosperity to
which the American people could, ere this time,
have attained.
1t may be safely affirmed, that the world has
never witnessed such an instance of rapid ele-
walton as our nation presented in 1929. In the
short period Of 40 years, we had risen from po-
verify to overfiowing abundance, and from foreign
derlsion to the summit of national renown: Our
flag was seen on every ocean and seat passed
without insult or molestation, and brought back
to our shores the wealth Of all portions of the
globe:-and let it be remembered the fruits of
| that wise system of policy were enoyed by all
| classes of the community. The most humble
day-laborer participated in the profits, and in the
glory, which the wise measures of the govern
| ment procured for the nation. A field was open
emf rtuivxx a..
though humble and obscure, to rise to wealth
and distinction. Credit, the poor mans capital,
could be readily obtained, and il rarely happen
ed that talent though uncultivated, if connected
with industry and honesty, failed to obtain pa
tronage.
This, sir, was the condition Of the American
| people in 1929. After that period, the system
previously pursued was abandoned and sue
cession OF untrled experiments was resorted to,
commencing under the administration of Gen
Jackson II was, undoubtedly, the design of
| that distinguished man, when he went into Of
hce, to administer the government on the prin-
ciples he has previously avowed, which were
approved by the great mass of the people, and
he would have done so, if he had fallen into
honest hands; but unfortunately, the chief now
at the head of the nation gained his entire con-
fidence, and became his principal adviser, and
had controlling agency in bringing about the
course of experiments which has proved so de-
structive to the prosperity and happiness of the
| nation.
When Mr.. Van Buren, succeeded TO the Pre-
sdency, he promised to tread in the footsteps Of
his ustrious predecessor. As far as those steps
wore the impress of error, he did follow them
but he abandoned all the sound principles which
his predecessor had advanced in his letter to the
legislature of Tennessee, and in his inaugural
address to Congress and resorted to success
sion of arbitrary measures at war with those
III nj nd wit fha IF oil of
magistrates who had preceded him. II was left
for the lawyer of Kinderhook TO discover that
Washington, Jefferson, Madison, Monroe, and
the elder and younger Adams, were ignorant of
the principles Of the Constitution, and had ad-
ministered it during period of forty years, in
violation of its plain import For one, shall
not attempt to disturb the complacency which
may have been produced in his mind by such
unparalleled vanity. On this extraordinary dis
coyery, he justifies his own course, and vindi-
Gates the arbitrary measures he is pursuing
And what has been their result How rapidly
has the nation fallen from the pinnacle of pros
perlty and happiness, enjoyed in 1929, to the
valley of distress and despondency2 While the
system, matured by the father of the country
was adhered to, the nation rose to wealth, hap
plness, and character, with unexampled rapid
" but when that system was abandoned, and
Mr.. Van Buren, came into power, the prosperity
Of the country was suddenly checked, as if nip
ped by the frost of death; and from that day, we
have been sinking with a velocity as unexam-
pied as that which had marked the progress Of
our elevation.
1t is evident that efforts cannot be produced
without adequate causes. When we see ma
ton, under the operation of well defined course
of policy, steadily and rapidly rising, without a
check, through period of forty years, we can
not but ascribe the prosperity of that nation to
the plan on which its government has been
administered; and when we see that plan aban-
doned for new, untried expedients and dis
cover that the prosperity of the country is sud-
denly checked and destroyed, who can hesitate
to trace the effect to its producing cause As
certainly as the prosperity of the United States
from 1889 to 1929, was the result of wise adj
mnistration OF its government, so certainly is
the distress and embarrassment which now over
shadows the land, the legitimate result of the
new policy and the arbitrary measures introduc-
ed by Mr. Van Buren, No intelligent man can
doubt it--no candid man will deny il, and no
patriot will hesitate moment, to put forth all
the energy which God and nature have given him
to terminate policy, by which such results have
been produced II is time to abandon the new
destructive measures, borrowed from the despots
Of Europe before they shall have consum-
mated their mischief, and to place the admins
tratlon OF the government in the hands of wise
and virtuous men, who will take council from
experience-forsake the footsteps of folly and
ignorance, return to the plain, republican paths
Of the iustrious men under whose guidance,we
were happy and prosperous. Such men are to
be found in this country. We see them in the
nominees of the Harrisburg Convention.
IL has been my lot to be personally and init
mately acquainted with those distinguished gen
tlemen for a number Of years. They are both
intelligent, experienced statesmen--they are
pure, consistent, Jeffersonian republicans.
With the iustrious Farmer of North Bend
my acquaintance has been the most intimate and