Jeffersonian Republican. [volume] (Stroudsburg, Pa.) 1840-1853, 1847-09-30
Look to the Great Issue.

Look To the Great Issue.
/ If there ever was crisis in the affairs Of the
country, lha, demanded the sacrifice of minor
points of opinion upon the altar of The country
and invoked an union among all who agree upon
the great questions of national policy, ii is now
ion as TO the politics Of the state and nation, and
those opinions have, 10 some extent. assumed
the character Of organization and embodiment
peculiar and exclusive but it is known thai
upon the great questions which involve our ma
tional destiny, there is an oyerw Ginning major
ity against The policy of The presen, admnisra-
lion. The difference is upon minor and incl
dental questions; yet for them the great and
controlling issue is sacrificed. That difference
takes many shapes and looks 10 many results,
all of which are inferior 10 the great questions
before the nation Upon such inferior issues,
thousands of votes have hitherto been thrown
away. The right of suffrage involves the duty
Of suffrage and in that duty i, is required that
the vote of The citizen should be so cast as 10
promote, in the most available manner, what he
regards as the true interests of The republic. A
in throwing away thousands Of votes upon i'm
agined and not real issues and thus, in con-
sequence, the nation has been burlhened with
the Mexican war, with the tariff of 46 and It's
ruinous importarions, and with the prospect of
extending over Mexico The shadow of slavery.
This error has inflicted upon us all that we la
ment of the course of the administration and
it threatens 10 continue those evils, although it
is -ascerlained, by the latest result, that the ac-
tual majority in lhisstale agans, Polk & Skunk
is nearly thirty thousand. The great issue in
Pennsylvania is the policy of the present admin
is,ralion; why should majority so vast be
rendered ineffective by needless divisions upon
minor questions, whatever these questions may
be =? Why tuEn aside from the main, the vital
issue, that which involves all tha, is dear to US
as Americans, to court some ,rifing result as
10 County or Dislrict-a result that inf1uen-
ces no vast interest, and which lasts but with
the year?
Those who regard the present administration
as dark and dangerous, who believe that ii in
volres war upon the peculiar interests of Penn
sylvania, the prostralion of domestic industry
and the sacrifice of the home market-the only
marke. which now upholds the price Of our pro-
duce-cannot hesitate, whatever their peculiar
views, to look to the great issue. Those who
are opposed to failing revenue, national debt,
excessive importation, and inevitable dependen-
cy upon Great Britain must look to the great as
sue. Those who objec, to the avowed object,
of The present war, conquest, acquisition, and
the extension Of slavery, must look to the great
issue. Aud all who, blushing for The feebleness
with which the war has been prosecuted by
IL ,od; IL
done 10 Scoti and Taylor, would rebuke Mr..
Polk and his advisers, cannot but look to the
great issue The contest is one in which The free
States struggle for independence from South
ern tyranny grinding, degrading and ruinous /;
a tyranny 10 be established by the addition OF
slave States from the Mexican conquests and
adequate to secure a, perpetual control of the
United States Senate and those who would
avert this overwhelming calamity must, laying
aside all minor points of difference, look to the
great issue.
The cause OF Gen Irwin embodies these vi.
ral principles. His election will be their TIL
umph-his delea, their prostra,ion. No good
can come TO any party in opposition TO the
course of Mr.. Polk, by voting any icke. bat
that which bears the name of Gen. Irwin but
on the contrary, it must invoke disappointment,
humiliation and self-reproach upon the course
which secures, by dividing the majority, strength
and triumph 10 the designs of the Southern
conspHators.
This view applies to no one division of our
people more than to another: we appeal to no
facton bu, 10 the people at large. The crisis
is one that asks the patriotic and potential in
lerven'ion Of all who love freedom and their
country. Let them differ, if it must be, upon
minor points but not permit the lesser to swal-
low up the greater interest In view of all the
vital questions now before the country, we trust
that every American will be willing 10 concede
for time. all lha, the crisis demands, and looA
to the great issue North American.