The Arkansas banner., 1843-12-09

and tendencies are avowedly in this direction, as contradistinguished from that whose nega- tive constitutional distractions they are so
 wont to rdicule, should be carried into pow CT, as it would be in the person of Mr. Clay,
 we repeat that it must prove deep, if not a
 deadly blow, to the perpetuity of the Union.
 indeed, so far do we consider 1t from being
 safe to admit that party into power, with all
 their latitudinarianism of construction and
 proneness to overworking the conceded pow
 CTS of the constitution, we rather incline to
 the belief that 1t will ere long, be necessary
 still further to contract the powers and sphere
 of action of the Federal Government, even
 below the point to which the worst of us ia
 natics for State-Rights now strive to eonfine
 them
 The above is the point of view in which
 we look upon the approaching election with
 the highest interest. It will not, perhaps, be
 appreciated with the same earnestness of
 feeling by all of our readers-those who are
 less disposed to dwell on the slow and in-
 sensible operation of abstract principles, than
 oh the more speedy and visible action of sPe-
 cifc measures. To the consideration of the
 atter-to that of all, indeed-it will be sufh-
 cient for us to suggest, rather as topic for
 their own reflection than one which we have
 either time or space to develope in the pre-
 sent article what must be the pernlclous, the
 fatal influence of the event we are here anx-
 ous to deprecate, upon the peace and pros
 perity of the country, through the Currency and the whole vast extent of concerns de- pendent upon the currency. Mr. Clay is the
 head of the national bank party, the paper money party, the credit-system-party and his election must mean, if 1t mean anything, na- tional bank, paper-money, credit-system.- For Gods sake, tell us-is that old agony to be agonized over again Is the busi1sess of the country-is all the infinite variety of in terests, moral as well as material, of which that word is the expression-never to be al- lowed to repose from the perpetual agitations of politics ?-neyer to be allowed that tran quil stability which is its first and last neees- sary of existence This, as all. know, has been the one main subject of controversy be- tween the parties during the past three Pre- sidentlal terms. The Democratic policy has, throughout, been hostile to federal interfer- ence with the paper currency and commerce oi the country. In General Jackson's time, 1t made the one step of the refusal to re-char ter national bank, as federal controlling leader and head of those which the States, in their own bad policy, saw fit to create In Mf. Van Buren's, 1t made the further step of the total disconnection of the federal govern ment from all the banks, from the whole pa per-money system. Whatever other differ ences of opinion might exist as to the merits of the Independent Treasury, there could be none that, in this point of view at least, 1t met one of the most important of the exigencies of the country. ltplaced its commerce, ere- dit, industry, all that constitutes its < busi- ness," at a safe distance beyond the reach of those political disturbances which had here tofore so often distressed and distracted them. This was in itself, as not even the angrest Whlg could deny, an immense good, even while he might be most bitterly charging against 1t other evils-of rather the negation of othor benefits, which he enormously con sidered 1t within the province and power of the Federal Government to render to these great national interests. And is this salutary policy to be now all undone? Is another national bank to plunge the country into an- other long convulsion of party struggle, on the one side for Its repeal, and on the other for its retention? Is the currency to be again and for ever tossed to and fro, now high in the air, and now dragged deep in the mire, as a football for the kicks of parties The present state of things Is a sort of interreg- mum, an imperfect kind of approach to a practical sub-treasury without the specie clause, existing, in the absence of other le- eisiatlon on the subject, under the old laws the organization of the Treasury Department. But it is one which does not even pretend to peimanency, and which must, on the decision of the issue now pending be- tween the two parties, give place to the one or the other of the two opposite policies ill regard to the currency above alluded to- Can 1t be possible that any rational man, af- ter all the light shed on this subject by the events oi recent years, can hesitate in his choice? Can it be possible that the access sion of the national bank party to power can be regarded, by any mind not wholly fren- zied by partizan passion, in any other light than as the worst calamity that could belall the country
 To avert such a calamity, what ought not to be done-what shall not be done, if ne- cessary-by the Democratic party, in whose hands the destinies of the country now lie, if they are but true to themselves and their no- ble and sacred cause Is it's risk to be ha- zarded-say, rather, is its certainty to be in curred-for the eradication of any partial in- teress, tavorite ambitions, or sectional iea- lousies? Are we to throw away such an elec- tlon as this is to be, by continued indulgence Ill these fatal dissensions which time but az gravates, and by which we are already thus distracted and weakened? Perish rather, we say-and every true Democrat will echo the sentiment-perish rather all of these our most cherished great men, for whom we seem thus about to sacrifice all our most cherished great principles! If the friends of Van Buren and Calhoun cannot or will not unite upon either of the two to the exclusion of the other, with that cordial sincerity of zeal which it has be- come evident is indispensable to success, the party and the country must not be sacrificed to such rivalries, nor to any of the punctilios of ,lo ,I ...I.