The Whig standard. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1843-1844, 1844-01-13
posed, pronounce a fragrant sentence Of stultif-

such proceeding; but to me it seems con-
temptuous sporting with the sovereign constitu
ency of the country sheer mockery and insult
to the public intelligence.
And by what means is Mr.. Van Buren, 10 be
again presented as the legitimate and anoinled
candidate of the Democratic party? Not GER
lany by the will OF the great body of the party,
who we have reason 10 believe, deprecate and
deplore the madness and folly of the act, but by
the secret and invisible agency Of selfconsttuted
conclaUes and caucuses, controlled with absolute
sway by few bold and adroit political managers.
! run no risk in saying that if the individuals
composing the party throughout the Union could
be Intercepted, upon the roir dire, to say whom
they wou prefer as the Presidential nominee of
the party, three-fourths of them a, the least and
probably larger proportion, would unhesitating
ly declare their preference for some new candi-
date. And yet, in utter contempt of the popular
sentiment Of the party, and disdainfully rejecting
the only equitable as well as practicable mode
of arriving at the will of the majority through
the medium of fair, equal, and uniform popular
representation in the nominating Convention, the
friends Of Mr.. Van Buren, (holding on to that old
machinery of party discipline and subordinaton,
derived to them from the cunning order of the
Jesuits through the bloody Jacobinical Clubs of
Revolutionary France, by which one or two ac-
tive spirits are enabled TO suppress the will and
control the movements of vast and entire bodies
of men) imperiously declare that he, and he
only, shall be the candidate of the party. Is it
not time that honorable and patriotic men, as
they respect the dignity of their own characters,
the privileges OF freemen, and the sacred princi-
pies OF Republican Government, should unite in
one generous and vir,uous struggle to overthrow,
efectually and forever, the tyranny of a system
which, if now submitted to, must finally convert
our noble popular institutions into the worst of
all dominations-that of an INSCRIPTIONS and
sordd party olgarchy.
And what are the wise and benignant mea-
sures of administrative policy which are promised
US as the fruits of Mr.. Van Buren's restoration
return to the glories and blessings Of the sub
Treasury systeIn-a renewed war upon the cur
rency, commerce, and business of the country !
Just at the moment when, by the mere fact of
the withdrawal of the hostility of the Govern
ment and that AIS medicatrir nature which is
inherent in the energies of a free, en- erprsing,
and industrious people, all the business pursuits
OF the nation are regaining their prosperity
and activity, and the currency and exchanges of
the country are finding their proper and natural
level, every thing is to be again thrown into con-
fusion, and we are to be replunged into chaos
OF wild and pernicious experiments, simply to
slgnalize remorseless party triumph, in the
consummation of measure openly at war with
every great practical interest Of the community.
And to this would be added, by natural and
necessary connection, all that long train of con-
genial abuses which so ingoriously illustrated
the era OF Mr.. Van Burens former administra-
| ton multiplied schemes for extending Execu-
tive power and Presidential patronage profuse
and profigate expenditures of public money /;
the lmpunity and protection Of faithless public
officers, purchased by the merit of their party
services; a new brood Of defaulters OF the Hoyls
and the Harrises-a race the entire disappearance
OF which since 1910 is one of the proudest proofs
OF the justice and necessity Of the change then de-
creed by the voice of the people. But it were
vain to attempt an enumeration of the teeming
abuses that must ever attend the fundamental
heresy of Mr.. Van Buren's political system,
which, instead of regarding government as
high and holy trust for the good Of the country,
sees in it nothing but JOB to be administered
for the benefit of party, of which the President
is the head and grand akmoner.
Now, would ask, what is there to be appre-
hended from Mr.. Clay's election, which ought to
have the weight of feather in the scale, when
compared with the fatal and destructive evils,
poisoning the vital elements of republican free
dom and virtue, as well as the essential sources
OF national prosperity and happiness, which we
have every reason to believe would inevitably fol-
low the restoration of Mr.. Van Buren,! We
shall, doubtless, have paraded before our eyes,
in stereoiyped horrors, the old and thread
bare appartion of the Tariff, The Bank, and Dis
tribution. On the subject of the tariff do not
hesitate to say that Mr.. Clay's creed, developed
in his recent letters is in every respect as just,
as sound, and unexceptionable as that of Mr.. Van
Buren,, and his practice infinitely better. Mr..
Clay did not vote for approve the tariff of 1928,
consigned to an odious celebrity under the name
of the Bill of denominations. which Mr. Van Buren,
and his friends carried by their votes. 1t is rather
an unfortunate coincidence, considering the pro-
fessons Mr., Van Buren,. that all the tariffs which
have been most complained of in the South owe
their existence upon the statute book to the votes
of himself or his friends.
1t is no want of charity, then, but the result of
the mos. candid and deliberate consideration,
when | express the decided opinion that Mr..
Clay is far more to be relied upon for practical
adjustment of this delicate and complex subject,
on terms jurt and satisfactory to all sections of
the Union, (harmonizing their various interests
by the golden rule of moderation, which is the
only pledge of permanence and stability in any
that may be made,) than Mr.. Van |