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


as repositories and fiscal agents Of
the governme nt,-thus subjecting all the mo-
neyed Institutions of the country to his in
fluencc and control. In the steady pursuit of
the same great aim, they have seen "a system |
of party discipline, introduced and organized |
under the auspices of the present Chief Ma |
gistrate, the fundamental cannon of which is |
that every member of the party which brought
him into power, must surrender his individu-
al opinions and convictions on public mea-
surcs, however profoundly entertained, to the
dictum of the President, and support what
ever he shall recommend, under pain of en-
communication and political death for disobe-
dience. BY these means, combined with
the powerful persuasives ofhis official patron
age, the President is virtually invested with
supreme Po,cer. The debasing principle has
been openly avowed, as we'll as practically
enforced, that the first duty of the public
functionary is to the President who appoints,
and not to the country which employs him;
and that so long as he renders good political
service to his chief, no infdelity to his public
trust. not even the grossest peculation, shall
be suffered to deprive him of his office.
While untaithtul agents and public delauters
have thus earned IMMUNITY and reward, others
who have been distinguished by the honest,
aal9e," i6fhaafHs 9 fe ihIi6ir eafsjal
| office, for no other reason than that thew could
not conform the private and involuntary
| operations of their minds to the standard of
Executive faith, or that they beloved it unbe-
coming the propricties Of their situation as
| public officers, to take part in those cleo
pioneering eXertions, which have come to be
considered the surest passport to favor and
security. And to cap the climax of these
bold pretensions of Executive power, we have
seen report solemnly putforth and triumph
antly carried through, by the Presidents
friends In the Senate, proclaiming in the face
of day, and in contempt of the most revered
oracles OF Anglo-American liberty, the daring
heresy that it is both the right and the duty
oil Executive oflice-holders to 1ntermeddle
with the freedom of elections, thus sacrif
eng the vital principle of popular SOVEREIGN
ty itself at the shrine of this new idol of
Presidential supremacy.
Nhlle IN these measures and PROCEEDINGS.
we have seen the President and his friends
pursuing with unvarying aim, as the primary
object, 1t would seem, of their efforts, the dan
gerous ACKNOWLEDGEMENT of his power,-in his
plans OF national policy, we have been con-
SANITY met with suggestions and recommended
tions aiming at the subverson of established
institutions, and utterly destructive Of the re-.
pose and Settled order of business in the af-
lars OF the country, and appealing to the
their support. The special object to which
his schemes of innovation have been mainly
directed, is unfortunately the most delicate of
all the interests of society, and that which re-
quires to be touched with the wisest and most
cautious hand-the system of its CURRENCY
forming the common measure by which the
iabour and property of every individual in the
community is estimated or exchanged In
stead OF pursuing salutary and practical re-
form OF existing abuses, whatever they NAV
he, Gan object in which all GOOD men and ma
triots would heartily unite with him. he has
brought forward crude and anti-socfal theo
Iies, and has proprgated them with all the in
fiuence OF his high office, which go to the en-
tire destruction of that system of credit.
which Is coeval with the settlement of our
country, is so peculiarly adapted to its cir
cumstances, and to which whatever irrerular-
tiles may have sometimes attended it, las in
deed, what good, In the ordinances of nature
or the institutions of man, is not liable to oc
casionai abuse,) every candid and well in
formed mind must admit that the unparrellel- |
ea GieVeiopcment of American prosperity and
civilization has been mainly owing.
The Presidents theories and recommends |
tons, II they mean any thing, go to the en-
IRE destruction of this long established sys-
tenn, now indlssolubly connected with all the |
interests OF society, and to the establishment,
In It's stead, OF an exclusive hard money cur
rency, or something practically tantamount to
1t, operating a sudden and total revolution in
the value OF labor, property and contracts, and
involving the farmer, the mechanic, the trades
man, the merchant, and in short every class
OF men, with the exception of creditors and
pu6hc officers enjoying fred salaries from Tie
Sooernmen) In one common ruin. As an es-
sentiai part OF this policy, the President has
Proclaimed crusade against the Institutions
deriving their existence from, and responsible
10 the States alone, and in his newborn zeal
mas so lar forgot his former opinions, as to re-
commend to Congress the en- action of a spe-
clal bankrupt law, applying to these Institu
tons exclusively, and intended to put an end
TO their existence by an act of Federal author
iy--a measure which but few years before,
he had denounced in the strongest terms, an
:" odlous and unconstitutional invasion of the
rights OF the States" See his Speech i'm
the Senate of the United States, on promo
sition of hlr. Branch of N. G.. on the 9Th of
February, 1897, 3rd vol. Register CONGRESS-
Debates, $50
Upon all these subjects, the Conservatives
have differed, and still differ with the Presi- |
dent, as well as upon his sub-treasury scheme. |
These differences have been manifested by |
them on various occasions, and in a variety |
OF forms-speeches, votes, and discussions |
OF popular assemblies. In regard to myself, |
nave omitted no proper occasion, in both |
written ana oral addresses to my fellow-citi- |
zens, 10 proclaim them: and yet have seen,
with Infinite surprise, that some persons re-
Gently, to cover their own chance of positiop. |
have alledged that it had been heretofore uu-
derstood that | differed with the administra- |
ton on but a single question: that of the sub- |
treasury This alienation too iS no,da;n tho