Lincoln telegraph. [volume] (Bath, Me.) 1836-1846, 1841-09-23
- olitiCal.
ADDRESS
OF THE WING MEMBERS or CON
GRESS TO THE PEOPLE OF THE UNI
TED STATES

lis termination are OF nature to make SO strong
an impression upon the country. and to excite So
much interest in the future action and relations
of the Wing party, that the Wing Representa-
tiyes in both Houses of Congress have thoughtlt
their duty, before separating, TO address their
constituents with a brief exposition OF the cir
cumstances in which they conceive themselves to
be placed by the events which have recently
4ranspred
This session of Congress was called almost
the first measure oft iilnstrIous and lament
ed citizen whose election to the Presidency was
no less significant OF the general sentiment OF
condemnation of the acts Of the preceding Ad-
ministration than it was expressive of wish for
an immediate and radical change in the public
policy. The lmproydence of those who had just
been expelled from power had rendered it ineY-
table and the country hailed the meeting of a
new Congress as the sure pledge OF relief from
all those evils which the disastrous Incompetent
cy the men at the head OF affairs had brought
upon it.
The people desired the early adoption of the
policy which had been promised them by the
Wing party. That policy had been brought TO
the consideration of the country throughout a
contest of nearly twelve years duration, main
tanned with unexamped devotion; and its prn-
Piles were illustrated by the precepts and prac-
tice of the most eminent and patriotic OF our elti-
Gems in every form by which they were able to
address themselves to the intelligence of the peo
pie. No one Inexperienced these principles;
they were identified with the labors of that great
party whose unparalleled success was both the
token and the reward ofthe genera confidence Of
the nation. They promised reform
LIST. In the restraint of executive power and pa
tronage;
Cd In the wholesome regulation of the cnrren-
CIV and the advancement of the interests of indus
try and
Sd. In the establishment OF an economical ad-
minisration of the finances.
They proposed to accomplish the first of these
objects by limiting the service Of the President
to single term; by torbddng all officers ofthe
Government from interfering in elections; and
by a voluntary selfdenial on the part of the Chief
Magistrate, in that excessive use of the Veto
power which had recently become offensive to
the country an instrument Of party supremacy
They hoped to achieve their next object by the
establishment ola National Bank by an ad ust-
ment of the system of duties upon a moderate
and permanent scale, adapted as nearly as prac-
-tcabe to the interest; and contormable with the
views of every portion of the Union; by the es-
tablishment Of a uniform system Of bankruptcy
and by the distribution ofthe proceeds of the pub
lie lands among the States--a measure recon-
mended not only by considerations of justice to
the States themselves, but also by sad expert,
ence Of the embarrassments produced in the cur
rency resulting from the admlnistlat atom of fund
ofsuch variable amount an item in the ordna-
ry revenues of the Government. The establish
tent OF an economical administration of the fl
nances they expected to attain by cnttlng down
all useless Offices by enforcing strict account
ability of the public agents and, more conspic-
uously, by making exact and adequate provision
for the ascertalnment and eventual liquidation o
that public debt which the past admnstrati on
had created by permitting their expenditures to
overrun their receipts, and which they had con-
cealed from public observation by the easy device
of repeated issues ofGovernmcnt notes.
These were the prominent points to which the
policy of the Wing party had been directed, and
which constituted the great issues before the
country in the recent Presidential election. We
aware that our adversares in that contest
now deny these issues, founding their denial
chiefly upon the fact, that no formal manifesto
put forth to declare the terms upon which
we insisted. We choose rather to appeal to the
widely difused knowledge Of our principles
which had been impressed upon every mans
mind in that long struggle of years gone by
with which one party had been identified, and OF
which its very name was an exponent
1t need not be said, that in a representa- on
spread over a territory of such extent as that
comprehended by our Union, and exhibiting in
terests SO diversified, what might be called the
characteristic principle Of the Wing party
throughout this wide sphere, should be subject to
occasional notifications, dependent upon the To-
cal influences and that it was incumbent, there
fore, upon the party to move together in a spirit
OF mutual concession and accommodation OF sec
tional ditfere of opinion 1t not be told that,
in the system ofmeasures which we have enum-
Grated, conflicting views might naturally exist
between the Representatives of distant portions
of our Republic, and that only by the yielding OF
minor interests to the establishment OF the gem
-eral good, entire harmony was to be obtained in
the action of Congress. This natural and to
be expected. But we felt proud consciousness
that in the patriotism OF the party all such diff
culties would vanish, and that the demands of an
enlarged welfare would be met and fulfilled,
through the virtue of that spirit of compromise
and forbearance that liberal and comprehensive
sentiment of selfdenial and concession, which
rests al the heart of our conlederacy, and which
constitutes the living principle Of our Union
Before the appointed day arrived for the meeting
of Congress- and at the expiration Of but one short
month from the date of his Inauguration, our be-
loved President was snatched from US by the
grasp of death too soon for the happiness Of his
country, but not too soon to awaken III our boz
SONS a deep and awful sense of the rreparable
loss which we have sustained in the deprivation
of great and good man--not too soon to con-
vince how long and how bitterly our country
IS doomed to deplore this heavy misfortune. In
this our calamity, we hoped to find consolation IN
the character and principles of him whom the
Constitution had designated to fill the Office OF
the departed chief. 1t is true, that towards that
individual, even at the moment of his selection
for the Vice Presidency, very earnest public
attention had been directed, and it is equally
true that but passing regard was bestowed up
on the current ofhis previous life and opinions