Sentinel of the valley. [volume] (Woodstock, Va) 1841-1848, 1844-02-22


Treasury adherents, and the centre and
citadel of that monied aristocracy. viii.
had despoiled the people of their indie
pendence, ard plundered them to the
iull value of twenty shillings in the pound
for the few farthings given TO the soldier
b;v the harpies who had specialized on
their claims. Time would fail us TO en-
unerate the various arts. by which he
sought to gain an undue influence over
the mind of the uususpectIng, noble, hear
ted Washington, to drive ffem his coun.
ellis the neighbors and best friend Of the
President, and to throw him into the
hands of those cold and willy politicians.
who sought. under cover of his great
name, to consummate their schemes OF
plumber and oppression. We have not
snace TO dilate on the Excise Laws and
the instructions they occasioned--the
treaties by which we were thrown into
commercial dependence on the jealous
rival of our prosperity. and close alliance
with a monarch. whom our Declaration
of independence pronounced to he ty-
rant, and unworthy the confidence of a
free people. Nor shall we stop to emu
merate the harsh measures adopted TO
drive the Republic of France, our friend
and ally. into hosti!ities; or recall the
denunciations of Republican principles.
as Jacobinical, disorganizing and revnu
tiouary; and the indecent haste with
which standing armies were created, and
naves equipped, to war against them, un-
der the pretence of fear Of foreign in
vasion.
The soul Of the patriot would burn
with Indignation at recital of the nu-
merous cases, under those odious and
iinquisitorial statutes. the Alien and Sc
dition laws, by which the poor exile. es-
Gaping from the oppression of his own
country, was driven from our once hos
pital shores; and the citizen, who by his
own Preside. dared breathe suspicion of
the rapid and alarming usurpatons Of
Government,Was denounced as seditious,
dragged before distant and unknown tri-
bunals, fined and imprisoned. Thus
was our infant Republic, under the con-
duct of daring leader, hurried into all
the corruptons, vices and exploded max
inns Of the old monarchies of Europe; and
if the forms also were not adopted. it
was no fault of his. who avowed himself
a monarchist, and declared the impossi-
bility of governing this country without
military force to aid the Executive.
His pernicious principles and daring
measures pressed too rapidly for endu-
rance to their ruinous consequences, and
caused a revulsion in public sentiment.
Even John Adams, the willing instru-
ment OF his designs, when too late, held
back in amazement, dismissed the friends
of Hamilton from the public service, de-
clared that he was devoid Of all moral
principle, was at the head Of British
party designed to subjugate the coun-
try;' and that iii the twelve regiments
had been full, and Hamilton at their head
two years, the United States would have
been forced to raise another army to
disband the standing army Although
the principles of Hamilton were exposed,
overthrown, and rendered odous. they
were not destroyed. So deeply rooted
are they in the depraved nature of man,
that they eau never be destroyed. Urg-
ed to excess by the insatlate thirst Of
wealth, they may shrink from public 0,
dunn, but will soon re appear under some
new guise, and with less forbidding as
pect. Republicanism demands such
sacrifice of the passions, such devotion
to the public good, such undertaking re-
gard TO justice and peace, that even
the people. from whom it springs, and
for whose benefit it exists, cannot long
preserve its purity. What vas branded
in the beginning of the 10Th century with
popular reprobation, re-appears in one
generation with renewed strength-the
more insldous and dangerous, in the
modified form it has been made 10 as
sumo. The well-known declarations
and exploded measures Of Hamilton,
could lind no favor in our times; but the
doctrines of the modern Elisha; on whose
shoulder has fallen the mantle Of the
great prophet, are no less subversive OF
the Constitution, and destructive TO
Liberty. as Alexander Hamilton to
the old Federalists, so stands Henry
Clay TO the modern; who, under various
names and DISCUSSES, are still the same.
Henry Clay is the exponent of their O.
pinIons. the prophet whose oracles they
obey; and next to the unmeaning sym
bols of the log cabin, is the idol whom
they worship. We unhesitatingly de-
clare, as our solemn conviction, that his
elevation to the Presidency will restore
III their pristine force and virulence. the
rulnOas doctrines of the renowned chief
tain of Federalism. After forty years OF
Punishment. they will return, sweeping
away the restrictions, thrown around the
exercise of power, by long line of Re-
publican Administrations: for adams,
though he abandoned the friends of his
father, and professed to wear tie garb
oil Repubfcanlsm--stole into the Presl-
dency by collation. with the leader OF
Federalism, and under his influences, as
well as his own inclinations, conducted
the Government on the Hamiltonan prn-
cIples: Punishment of nearly half
cpnfnrV with the aiopn leaves