The Whig standard. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1843-1844, 1844-01-25

know not In what light other minds may view
such a proceeding but to me it seems q con-
temptuous sporting with the sovereign constitu-
ency of the country--a sheer mockery and insult
to the public intelligence.
And by what means is Mr.. Van Buren, to be
again presented as the legitimate and anoinred
candidate of the Democratic party Not GER
,ainly by the will of the great body of the party,
who, we have reason to believe, deprecate and
deplore the madness and folly of the act, but by
the secret and invisible agency Of selfconstituted
concloves and caucuses, controlled with absolute
sway by few bold and adrot 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 would prefer as the Presidential nominee of
the party, three-fourths Of them at the least, and
probably larger proportion, would unhesita,ing-
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, (holdtng on to that old
machinery Of party discipline and subordination,
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 ii
not time that honorable and patriotic men, as
they respect the dignity of their own characters,
the privileges Of freemen, and the sacred princi-
Piles of Republican Government, should unite in
one generous and viruous struggle to overthrow,
effectually 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
sordid party oligarchy.
And what are the wise and benignant mea-
sures Of administrative policy which are promised
US as the fruits of Mr.. Van Burens restoration
A return to the glories and blessings of the sub
Treasury systeTn-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 ms medicatrir nature which is
inherent in the energies of free, enterprising,
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
contamination of a measure openly at war with
And to this would be added, by,a natural and
necessary connection, all that long train Of con-
genial abuses which so mgloriously illustrated
the era of Mr.. Van Buren's former administra.
| tion-multplied schemes for extending Execu.
tive power and Presidential patronage; profuse
and profigate expenditures of public money
the impunity and protection Of faithless public
officers, purchased by the merit Of their party
services; new brood Of defaulters, OF the Hoyis
tlo
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 a
high and holy trust for the good of the country,
sees in it nothing but a job to be administered
for the benefit Of party, Of which the President
is the head and grand alanoner.
Now, would ask, what is there to be appre-
hended from Mr.. Clays 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 stereotyped horrors the old and threadbare APP
partition of the Tariff, The Bank, and Dastribu-
ton. On the subject of the tariff do not hest
tate 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 or approve the tariff of 1928,
consigned to an odious celebrity under the name
of the Bill of denominations, which Mr.. Van Bu-
rem and his friends carried by their votes. 1t is
rather an unfortunate coincidence, considering the
professions Of 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 most candid and deliberate consideration,
when express the decided opinion that MIR.
Clay is far more to be relied upon for practical
adjustment Of this delicate and complex subject,
on terns just and satisfactory to all sections Of
the Union, (harmonizing their various interests
by the golden rule of moderation, which is the