Burlington free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1827-1865, 1846-11-06
"The Republican Party.''

sus, or welded the power OF the Caesars.
'The Republican Party"
One of the main expedients on which political
demagogues rely for ruling the mass Is the
employment of party names. BY the magic Of the |
term Democracy they beguie the simple into the |
support of measures which true Democracy |
would blush to own. Their organ here, when
it would reconcile the party in the North and
West to the arbitrary veto of the most salutary
laws and to the sacrifice of domestic industry
and the bread of labor, appeals to Democratic
fea lty to sustain what common sense condemns.
When, on the other hand. it addresses the South.
where the term Democracy savors too much of
equality to be palatabe. the phrase is the Re
publican party, and this indeed. is the tavorlte
phrase of the Union itself. But, after all, we
doubt if the Union. or any other doctor OF the
school. could succeed any better in eXpounding
the true identity and meaning this daily phrase
" Republican partv'' than did the worthy gem
tenan in New York the Virginia doctrines
which he proicssed, and which he was called on
at the hustings to explain.
| The individuality Of both the "Rcpublican
party at large and the Administration of that
| party. is in fact, matter admirably difficult OF
solution. For, what is the Republican party ?
Is it doctrine or is it person or is it a mere
|
cation that may set at defiance all dictionaries
and definitions? Has it been defined If So
where Can it be defined Ifso. by whom Or
is it, after all the labors of na'uralistS. still a
mere lusuS. a nondcscript like nothing else, and
yet like every thing by turns
And first, to inquire of it physically. is 1t a
substance, or is it spirit As for spirit. the de-
mucratic descriptions themselves make it. now
nothing else, and now the most spiritess ofthings
create or uncreate. The Filty-four-iortes aver
that. in late business, it showed soul in COM
parison with which the point of a pin is an enor-
nous object and the government paper here.
itself the most valorous and disnterested of all
authorities, hath demonstrated that nothing en-
: cept the wisdom ofits counsels and the purity o.
T. its patriotism can exceed the indonitabili,y of its
J, courage, alike when it is daring or discreet, and
is reasonable with a strong Power, or trampies
e upon wcak one, after having first stripped
d her
e As to its substance, if substance it be, the de-
" mocratc authors are equally at variance Tho
f. IIards say it is rigid and indurated as adamant
! the Sotts swear it is bland as oil and yielding a
d down: while the Secretary of the Treasury sit
= teth smiling to himself. and knoweth that bolt
o are wrong for that sub-trcasuries are OF IN eta
e when receiving and of paper when paying
6 Individuals well as States have found them
Selves llistdhtll AS W ls SOlluilN.
T. was induced, Il little while ago, to consider it o
a composition much like iron or coal but nov
" finds it greatly to resemble a certain Southern
y plant, popularity called cotton. Naturally, there
" imposed on by their senses, men take Republic
= anism for non-entty but all those pure Re
j. pubicans who have rot office, and contracts, am
Id commissions, look. very properly. upon Rcpub
!, licanism very substantial thing. For wei
!. may they believe who have handled it AS the
III like, who have eaten oft till they were filled
OF who have rung it like coin. and seen it smil
I'd ng at them through the silky intersticcs OF lon
I. purses.
rr All this is, however, not little contrariou-
II and leaves Republcanism, except, perhaps, t
II the fortunate men in power, for whom alone tn
It matter is tangible rather an indeterminate sol
of cf business Shall we rot, then, be compelled
Is examine it historically?
o Not to 90 back beyond 1915, Repubcanisr
was adhesion to Mr. MADISON, (whom Mr. Va
oti Buren, oppose.D the support of "A National Banl
es of a Tariff of Projection, and a great nations
ur system of Internal improvement. Embargoe
as then were still very republican; but not gul
n n boats, though these had once been the Jel6rs,
N. Man test. General jackson, however, adde
la another, about that time, in his letter to N
lst Monroe. He said nothing was repubca
W as to appoint men TO office without regard
"' party; to make honesty and competency the so
ed qualifications to be looked at.
les A very terrible man, however, and any thr
,r- but republican, this same General JacksC
NY was, when measured by the standard then Ike
~, at Richmond and now used here in the UniC
nv office. BY it he was asccrtained to be man
perfectly arbitrary habits, a grossly ignora
be- mind. and one sure TO be a curse to the cou
ia T' try if he was ever in fit of public phrenz
ms elevated to the Presidency
18th Much more pernicious still was one Jo
ere Quincy Adams; who not only spent the enc
ON nous sum of thirteen millions a year during |
or Presidency, but removed nobody from oliiC
ere appointed two or three Members of Congress a
the as many editors to places, but Shocking to
l,e late , played at billiards, and was heard to spe
,aI- ofthe country's building an observatory Il
and did he not pay for these alarming encroachmeI
on public freedom, these monstrous violations
ims republican principles Yes, indeed Didn't
im- Republican party" collected in its mig
ion, Like Teneriiit or Atlas unremoved,
a n NJ, Gas the Union would ssy,) hurl him headlo
), or from power, and put in man who, instead
our thirteen, spent twenty-siX millions, knock
ms about every thing just as he liked for eis
Ths years. and, being measured again by the sandi
xer- at Richmond, (Which is now kept in the ba
the room at the Union otfice.) was pronounced,
agic "a curse" but the " Greatest and Best -
MY What, then, is this Republicanism of
IoYy Union Isita bank of thrty-ive, or Gene
into Jacksons bank of fifty millions Is it the
are Bank system or is it the Subtreasury? l.
That Hard Money or is it Treasury Notes /
eX- NulIi6co,;on . ar l. IL tho proci,mo,ion . I
ade, ~ Wi W +, Wv 49, u n
nsti- inc i.Ap"iSc :" - ~, Pcirh"ioe' 'hc NC" .
must scy decision Is IL state Rights or Is II u
cav Jackson's fiat" that the States never had an
er,r Isit Annexation or is it Mr. Van Buren's
gov caraton (assented to by all parties at the til
ii bv " that while Mexico continued to fight, the
obi nexaton of TaXas would be- on our part, an
of war and OF dishonor p Is it Forty-nine ?c
Is 50 it Filty-four And is it, above all things,
S o ~, illegal this mpolitc this wanton th, vast
NH Of war which the President has been allowed,
Ics- rcbukcd, ITO make, for hi own ends only, up