Baton-Rouge gazette. [volume] (Baton-Rouge, La.) 1819-1856, 1844-03-23
ADDRESS OF THE CONVENTION.
TO TIE WHTGH OF LOuLSIAMA

TO THE WIGS or LOUISIANA
The army Of free men that, in 1910, rallied
to the Wing standard, held aloft by the gaIlan
HARRISON, after a season Of disappointment
and blighted hopes, are summoned once more
to do battle under even a greater chief thar
he. The country defrauded of her Just ex-
pectations by the treachery Of one man, calls
aloud upon her sons to redeem the error com.
mitted in trusting the national admi nistratior
to faithlesS hands. The spirit Of The good
and great Patriot walks abroad npon the
earth, a~rousing bis friends 10 vi Indicate HE
memory from the consequences Of the de-
sertion Of his successor. Treason has sought
to hide its deformity beneath the mantle Of
the dead, and the a~anctity Of the grave has
been violated to consecrate the iniquities Of
the living. The hosts of liberty that exalted
the lamented hero to the chief magistracy,
are again in the field and opposed by the same
party under the same leader over whom they
triumphed then.
You have been tainted by the adberents of
Van Buren, with the detection Of the present
incumbent of the presidential Office, and the
vacilIation of Mr.. Tyler has been attributed
70 the want OF principle amongst those who
elected him.
The victories achieved in 1s40 have been
ascribed TO most base and untfoly articles.
Your meetings have been libelled as obscene
orgies; your public demonstrations Of zeal in
a righteous cause have been likened to the
revels Of drunken men; the homeIy symbols
Of party have been charged as the idols Of in
fatuation; and you have been s~candalized by
being accused Of doing reverence to beasts and
paltry things when you were contending for
great and conservative principles. Every
dictate Of self-rsspect, the inlunctions Of patri-
otlsm and the inculCations of a lofty sense of
right, demand that you justify your acts by
re-asserting those principles and indicating
them with zeal and success. Should the
American people suffer the nseIves to be over
whslmed by a party so recently Frustrated,
headed by a leader so lately disgraced, it will
argue the inconsistency of republics and ex-
cpse the reproaches and insults that have
been put upon them by Van Buren, and his fol-
lowers. 1t would be an evidence that the rev.
olution in 1910 was a mockery, and those
who accomplished it the slaves of delusion
and craft. Not yet are the Wings of this
State prepared to merit or brook such con-
tumely.
Nor-are our compeers in other States pas
sive under the reproof Of a fallen foe They
are, in every direction, gathering to the an
cient banner. Upon its ample folds glitter
ing in letters of light, are inscribed the watch
words of our party: THE ENCOURAGE
MENT OF AMERICAN INDUSTRY
AND THE PROTECTION OF AMERI-
CAN RIGHTS.
We hold it to be the duty of the American
Congress to legislate for the benefit Of the
American people.
We deem it ae much the province of the
National legislature to protect the industry,
enterprise and agriculture of these United
States from hostile foreign legislation, as to
provide for the defence of the soil against
foreign invasion.
we bell eve with Mr., Jefferson, that the
question Of American manufactures involves