The Madisonian. [volume] (Washington City [i.e. Washington, D.C.]) 1837-1845, 1842-05-19
THE RHODE ISLAND DIFFICULTY
THE DEMAGOGUES.

uoH9ClOuo teHuenCy VI eAtid'dSdHt Pe"'y oP" ~
was so palpably manifest, as at the present mo-
ment. Adventurous demagogues have no end
in view but self-aggrandisement They labor
exclusively for selfish purposes. They are heed
less of the general welfare, if its attainment
does not promote individual interests. This is
the secret of the Globes hostility to the Ad-
lninistration. That paper is the organ of the
Destru ctives. The few must triumph at the
expense of the many. These Jacobin leaders
must maintain their power at all hazards. And
this can only be done by keeping some enemy
in view for the purpose of attack. If the en-
envy is upright and unassailable in his principles
and practices he must be misrepresentation
doctrines must be imputed to him--so that hemay
be continual target for the shafts of the adven-
turers. Party peace would be fatal to these
Destructives. They live by the political sword,
and they are never at loss to make false issues
with the peaceably disposed.
The alarming aspect which the Rhode
Island difficulty has assumed is the work of
these Destructives. And if an amicable ad-
justment of the affair is prevented-if blood
must flow in a servile war-the responsibility
will rest with the demagogues out of Rhode
Island
When the late President was snatched from
earth, the act was generally regarded as the in
terposition of Divine Providence, for wise and
bene6cent purposes. The God which had pro-
tected us during the perils of the Revolution
and conducted US in safety far on the highway
to national prosperity-thus evncing to the
world that America enjoyed His peculiar favor
again interposed in our behalf, that we might
be rescued from the fatal effects of internal
partisan fury.
The president without party" has his des
tiny to fulfil. The end is not yet. Sore trials
are to be encountered, and great evils are to be
overcome The disease of Demagoguism is
deep-rooted, and cannot be eradicated in day.
Yet the decree of Jehovah must and will be
fulfilled.
The violent struggles of the Destructives, Of
which the Globe is the organ, is symptom
that the remedy is at last reaching the heart of
the cancer. Though imperceptble at first, the
novel course pursued by the present Republican
Administration is now obviously tearing down
the landmarks of the late contending parties
Both parties will be reneodelIed: and the third,
if there is to be third party, will merely con-
sist of the ercrescences, the scabs and sores
extracted from the regenerated body polite
This party will be headed by the Globe, and the
respective organs of Mangum, Clay, Benton,
Bolts, and Arnold.
Our destiny must be fulfilled. Though the
march of regeneration and reform is opposed at
every step by the articles of the delnagogues its
L. Il
opposition will be bootless.
1t is by no means surprising that the Destruc-
tives have labored to give threatening shape
to the Rhode Island difficulty. The object was
to throw stumbling block in the way of the
President. They perceived that his course
would ultimately destroy all the cobweb fabrics
Of ambitious aspirants, and on the preservation
of these their own existence depends. Some
thing must be interposed to force the President
to take issue, that they may be able to rally
their old rank and file once more to arrest the
progress of an old-fashioned Republican Execu-
tive in these modern times. The difficulty
must be kept up. 1t must be sustained, or the
President will soon have the great body Of the
People with him Such is the motive. This
is the reason why the demagogues have labored
so assiduously to preuent an adjustment of the
Rhode Island difficulty. And now they are
sanguine Of SUGGEST barring accidents or an
other interpositon of Providence. Certain we
are, that if information was brought to the
Capitol to-day that the difficulty was actually
adiusted,-the Destructves would either re-
sign or make an attempt to impeach the Pre-
sident
But, what has the President done in the pre-
misses, that the demagogues should attempt to
cast odium on him? In his replies to Governor
King, he has merely stated what it will be his
duty to do in certain emergencies. He has
quoted the letter of the Constitution. Would |
the Destructives strike the first blow at the Con-
stitution? Would they destroy that instrument
rather than see their unholy partisan schemes
frustrated? True, the Constitution says Re-
publican Government shall be guaranteed to all
the States But, does it say the Federal Go
vernment shall make them for the States ?
Rhode Island was one of the old thirteen"
Its charter government was recognised as the
legal government when the compact was enter
ed into. And shall the Confederacy no1o annul
it2 Or shall that portion of the Federal Con
stitution relating to instructions now be consi
dered dead letter? Undoubtedly not the de-
magogues to the contrary notwithstanding.
But, in unfolding the Constitution, does it
follow that the President is opposed to the sue
cess of the Suffrage Party2 BY no means. I'll
they form majority of the voters of the State, he
desires, as ardenty as any one, that all their egi-
innate and legal efforts to establish new Con-