Martinsburg gazette. [volume] (Martinsburg, Va. [W. Va.]) 1833-1855, 1845-12-18

4
Claysons and the other giorioss and leading spirits
Of their party.is no where TO be found such as
thess.
Thar the Powers Of Government should reside in
sectional minority
That il Is dangerous 70 trus, the People with the
exercise Of political Power.
| That representation should be based upon prop
srty, &c. &c.
These eonsosatiys principles 10 govern
men,s purely or professedly arstoerasical or mon
aycAicai, --becsuse the reverse Of those principles
would necessarily overthrow such eovernment--but
they desraetipe principles with u.s. in as much
ibsis adoption necessarily desroys the theory Of
our Republican System, and snnihilstes that equal
ity Of individual and political Right which 10 the
basis Of all Popular Government.
To our mind there i. something positively cruel
in this a5ored effort to fix upon the Wings of Berke
ley County, the stigma Of opposition TO the propo-
sed Reform Of our State Government. lift sprang
from our political opponents. we could understa nd
it, But coming as it does from protested Wings,
it is, to us incomprehensible, unless indeed il
DO upon that acknowledged weakness of our
nature. which Esop 30 chsrmingly portrays in
his fable of the Fox that had lost its tail. We call
tia stigma. for with our strong conceptions Of the
clear justice aud overriding necessity os the meas
ufe, We can view IL in no other light. Nor can we
comprehend, how any party without absolute SELr
IssoLATfos can array itself az sinst cause 50 just
and righteous in itself--and so imperously deman-
ded b. the best interests and permanent welfare of
the State.
| 1t has been the misfortune of the Wing Party in
almost every stage of its History, to have bad its
progress arrested and its triumphant hopes wither
ed and shrunk, by the crude vagsries Of men be-
longing to it, who, either reckless OF ignorant of
the current of Public sentiment, or regardless of
the tue ends of Wing organization, have sought
to impress upon tie patty their local or cir
cumscrbed views standard articles of its politi.
to fix her VAMPIRE fangs into the heart of
our party, and to extract from its life's blood
the alimen, Of its future growth more re-
Gently. Native Americaaism seized upon the
ancient trunk. its wild and spurious shoots. Blu,
the energy and good sense Of the Wing party have
spurned them all from its embraces. IL refused
! To mingle with such unhoy elements. /, shrank
from the contamination of such low and grovelng
associations. 1t determined in the spirit Il not in
the very language of HEsRY CLAY 10 stand erect
upon the platform of its own broad, national, dis
tinct, peculiar and patriotic organization. And
now what is the effort, feebly made, TO be sure
and yet plainly perceivable in the movements of
upon the Wings of this County a local creed at
with the genius and spirit of the party itself,
to make it the advocate of principles which sound
Republican Liberty abhors to indoctrinate it with
the tenets Of RAsDoLpH, TAzEwELL and GILES;
to plant in the heart of the Valley a colony of
Eastern interests; to separate them in sympathies
from their compatriot Wings throughou, the
Union; to change the standards of their political
| faith; and TO sink the principles which have
given them character and position throughout thi,
Republic into advocacy of doctrines which Gun
never stand the searching scrutiny of popular
quiry. Did you band yourselves together, Wing
friends, for any such purposel You know you
did not. II there be men in this County who
opposed as we believe them to
be opposed to Reform-st them oppose the meas
u7e upon its intrinsic dement's. This they have
an undoubied right to do, and no one will complain
of the utmost extent to which they may think prop
er to wage an implacable But let them
not attempt to use your honest prejudlces and feel
ings, and your political organization to accomplish
objects altogether distinct from the true ends of
your association. For believe US, as A6olitioaism
was not Whiggery ;-as Native Americanism was
no, Whggery;-so in like manner Anti- Conuen-
tionism is not Whiggery. Nor can you associate
your political faith with any of that trio of rsMs
without the most fatal results to the purity, stabili
ty and integrity of your Party.
We perfectly concur with the writer of the fore
going communication, that the diversities of opin-
ion upon the Convention question have not so far
produced any dissenson in the Wing party of this
County. Indeed, we're not aware before we
read his very eloquent appeal, that "osr ranks"
had even become in any respect "disordered;" OF
that there existed any occasion for his pathetic
commentator ito maintain, with loving hearts
and blended hopes" our political brotherhood"
We have been living in total Inconsistencies Of
any opposition sufficiently potent in this County to
arrest the Onward march of our "serred files" or
aec, in any degree the stability of the Solid pha
lanx" Of our power.
But one thing we can say-and say with con-
vction land we ask "this writer TO mark what we
say amounting absolute certainty of its truth
that il the effor, should ever succeed in prescri
bling ''opposition to Constitutionai State Reform"
anong., the articles of the " Wig Greed, he will
find to hi. souow-if he be genuine Wing at heart
that his "serried ranks" and his "solid pha-
anx," in despite Of their glowing hearts" and "blen
ded hopes" will be swept by tornado of ruin, as
fatal as that which the Assyrisn Cohorts Of SIENNA.
cherib encountered.
Like the leaves Of tn forest when Autumn has
That Host, with its banners lay wthered and
strown
For tho Angel of DsaA spread his wings on the
blast
And breathed in the face of the foe as he passed
And the eyes of the sleepers waxed deadly and