The daily Madisonian. [volume] (Washington City [i.e. Washington, D.C.]) 1841-1845, 1842-08-12
THE CAUCUS-MR. ADAMS.

lt.
Long will be remembered, In the history of this
Government, the Caucus meeting of Tuesday
night, and the time will come when the actors
in that midnight conclave will look upon their
transactions with shame and disgust, while the
People OF these great States will hold them in
as much adherence as we now do the members
of the celebrated Hartford Convention. They
have run to the brink of the precipice with so
much impetuosty that they cannot save them
selves, but must tumble head-long into the gulf
below, victims of their own folly-a prey to their
own weakness
1t was on Tuesday night that many Of the
majority were ready and;willing TO abandon the
reckless game of hazard at which they have
been long playing. On that night many
were DESTROYS of relinquishing the furious course
of dest roying one President to make ano-
Their, but there was no kind hand and strong
arm to save them from their friends. They he
STATED at the threshold of the gloomy pit, only
to be pulled in by the g iron rule" of their asso-
ciat.s to which rule they had foolishly bound
themselves in moment of thoughtess phrensy.
The Veto was the topic of discussion and in
the nefarious determination TO pull down the
temple about their own ears, it was resolved
that the Hon. Mr.. Adams should assail the Pre-
sident with all the eloquent fury for which
and almost for which alone, at the present day
he is so famous (; should move reference 10
committee, and call the previous question. No
friend Of the Executive was to be permitted to
meet the wholesale denunciations of the EXPIRE
sident. The liberty of speech was to be cut off
entirely, and by one, who, during the present
session, has shrunk from being the victim him
self. Such was the determination of king eau
Gus, and il was carried into effect in the House
the next day.
1t is but short time since Mr. Adams was
called to the bar of the House for an alleged at
tempt to destroy the Government, and he then
inveighed, with all his oratory, against being
deprived of the right of speaking in his own
defence. But the tables are turned, and instead
the ex-President, the actual President is thus
arraigned, tried and his friends gagged. The
gentleman, who was so bitter when charges
were made against himself, now rolls up his
sleeves, unbuttons his collar binds the victim
on the altar of political phrensy seizes the sa-
CRITICAL knife and performs the horrid rites com
tiAi.tSu W MS udHuo do Sidilu CACCutiOHtl.
The friends of the President attempt to cut
the cords and rescue the head of the nation,
but they arr driven away AMI beaten down by
numbers. They demand the right to be heard,
but the executioner who has but just escaped
from similar predcament, lifts the axe in
their faces, and exults at the sanguinary plea
sures of his occupation, while the members of
the Caucus surround and protect him in his
Presidents staying recreation.
Not a man of the Guard could be heard
The voc, of ju stce il vain craved an hours
delay. 'No! no! mol" rung through the Hall.
''We are the majority-we will do we
please" The altar was ready, the fire was
kindled, and no time allowed but he who stood
accuser, stood also advocate for the accusa-
ton; judge, jury and executioner Not only
So but by exceeding adroltness, he contrived
TO perform all these Offices in the same breath
and, before he closed, finished the grand design
for which he was selected but the night before.
What picture, this, to go before the Ameri-
can public What gloomy page in the his
tory of this country for our children to gaze up
on hereafter! What dark spot of factious
fanaticism to be unroed to the anxious and
jealous gaze of foreign monarches
But the grand actor gives an excuse for his
deed, and il is simply because This Congress is
mol responsible to the People, anil can do as
they please. Mr. Adams said:
"Now, this Congress hal, at best, but short time
to live; the third of March next it dies at that
day every man here will be politically dead save the
comparatively few VIII shall be reelected What
are we to lose Our seats in this House 1t is very
bla hail ALL
care you TO appai these gentlemen with threats of re-
sponsibity and tremendous reckoning before the
people ;"
Acknowledge that their acts will destroy
them with the People, still they persist in in
vitng that destruction. Acknowledging, also,
that all this is done for the purpose of assisting
Mr.. Clay to the Presidential chair they are
ready to make the Constitution a dead letter,
because they are not responsible
Under the delusion of responsibility they
strike at the very foundation of the Government
and would blot the history Of the glorious past
from the book of nations, that under new form
of consultation and anarchy, one man may OBJ
tain the seat to which he has been aiming for
the last twenty-five years. They openly de-
clare, by proposed total alteration of the Con-
sttution, that this free Government has existed
long enough, and that Republic is thing of
constant mutability. Knowing that the People
Will never consent to embrace their views, they
assume the responsibility of destroying, while
they have little power, all the established forms
OF legislation, that the torch may be placed in
the Capitol Tor future fanatics 10 use for the de-
structlon of the Peoples dearest rights.
THIS RETRENCHING CONGRESsl