Republican vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1857, 1849-07-23
From the Wheeling argus.
Col. Thonapsoga's Letter.
Wheeling, w., Ju
To THoIAs EWING, Esquire,
Secretary of the Interior.


Sir u address you it is better, as it is cast
er, to deal with something of substance, than
TO beat the air or wrestle with shadow. There
is a sense Of duty which inpels the arm in strik-
ing ut an embodiment OF evil there is waste
OF time and want of purpose In trl1lng with
nullity It was once my office to arraign at the
bar of public opinion lyler-but he was some
body. He had opinions and purposes of his own,
and he taught you, at least, that he was a man.
| viii not atraign that successor, who under your
1nalign impressment has surrendered every at
tribute of the independent man to be the pa
geant-puppet OF the presidency. It is not my
purpose to deal with an inlbecility, which enas
culates the office of President, for, in good time
viii the people vindicate their own constitution,
which declares, that The Executive Power shall
be vested in President of the United States of
America You, sir, will live to see in the
coming triumph of the Popular Cause the prin-
ciple of official responsibility affirmed, and as
you shall sink, amid the hissings and execrations
of your countrynlen, you will see President of
the United States of America vested with the
Executive Power, and consoientiously observing
his oath of Office, 4 solemnly swear that ! will
faithfully execute the office of President of the
United States The constitution contemplates
no fractional President it provides for no parti
toned responsibility, and Congress has failed to
legislate pun which appropriates the name of
your puppet President TO the eighth division Of a
man And it will be in vain for the injudicious
admirers of military renown or the venal para
cites, who flatter where thrift may follow fawn-
ing to claim that his cognomen Of old Rough
and Ready is a spontaneous tribute paid TO the
distinctive hero and is Just popular estimate Of
the qualities of the man and the soldier for this
is secondhand phrase-the cast-oH clothing.
Venial, petty larceny, stolen from the lite OF
Cromwell. But whatever comparison or con-
trast exists between Cromwell and the pageant
President, there is no identity, nor any point Of
similitude between the tyrant, whose tyre was
the tiger, and he, who was styled the Father Of
his Country and every discriminating mind
will perceive that claim for any likeness is as
false in the first instance, as it is ridiculous and
absurd in the last The claims induce contempt
and invite the application Of the dirlinutive cpl
thet-P oissoaaallle-which republican France
practically gives to the race OF kings.
The second Washington and the admiristra-
ton of the earlier Presidents! In what the
likeness consists which has been claimed by
these phrases no one has yet told US. Perhaps,
az there is "a grace beyond the reach Of art SO
is there similarity beyond the expression OF
language which the political enthusiast can only
reach III that moment OF rapture when his hand
first clutches the spells of party and the otfal OF
patronage With Whigs who proclaim this doc
trine Of spoils it is nothing else; with the dem
ocratic party it was something beside. Although
claimed by one prominent democrat, as spolls,
still Office was distributed to the members OF
that party from political necessity, when the
force OF party discipline and the pressure of the
various means and arguments brought to bear
upon individuals in Office of the anti-democratlc
party taught them the creed and compelled them
to adopt it. tThat a faithful discharge of off
cial duty to their country, under democratic
TO
But no democrat complains for removal from Of
flee and do not l had no reason to expect
that your disposition could be changed or your
purpose altered by the Judgment OF the elder
members OF the profession i'll the District and
The general opinion OF your own party 10 you,
sir, would not use their offers of service frankly
and honorably rendered. As to the Office (Dis-
trict Attorneyship) 1t was one which had reius-
ed when a Wing was the incumbent and had re-
commended his continuance; it IS an office
never sought but the duties of which endeav-
ored faithfully to perform. And you will under
stand, that it is not ofmy case nor because Of
the universally Of your act OF prescription that
complain but it is because it is Justification OF
the avowed and publicly received opinion upon
which Gen. TAYLOR was elected, and | have Sc
lected you as the person to whom to address this
episte as the principal agent III that system OF
falsifcation-the partizan panderer who made
soldier forfeit his word a man OF some reputa-
ton relegate his honor. Moderation, conserva-
tism. a happy medium between the conflicts OF
the old parties, in which the Wing Party should
abandon the errors OF the past and advance with
the spirit OF the age use the sentiment OF one OF
MIR Clayton's speeches was the main idea which
constituted the aaforiel of the political campaign
of 1913 BY the advocates of the successful can
.lidats. And you know the crowd of endorsers,
which thronged the bye-ways and public marts,
for General Taylor,
4Whose HONESTY they all burst swear for,
Tho not a man Of them knew wherefore"
And now might add in the fitting language of
the satirist
"This too might we, but who would be deceived
The Greek alone may lie and be belieyed.'
But over all the arguments and persuasives OF
that contest the impression most deeply made
on the public mind most visible to the public
comprehension and to great extent, not the
least acceptable to very many was the idea that
prescription was to be prescribed Many
dreamed that, that noblest guaranty of the Con.
stitution which protects the citizen in the free
exercise and expression of his religious faith
was by the doctrine and conduct of new man
to be extended to political opinions. The blgot
cannot at this day propagate his faith by fire and
faggot, but Thomas Ewing by the sword OF pro-
.cription would teach conformity of political o.
pinion. And this is the Administration formed
on the model of Washington
But You, sir, are the colossal figure OF this Adj
miuis.ration, (the Triton of the minnows,) not
receiving the estimate of your dimensions from
any acts of intellect which have yet marked your
official career, but from the elevated scaffold on
which you perform your public executions-a
lanp-post secretary stationed at Hthe corner OF
the Rue de la Venevie,'' and who, having degro-
ded Tyler's administration with the number OF
your prescriptions, denounced him, as have
heard, for having made you infamous, but hay
ing earned the reputation you seem now deter
mined to deserve it. Were it blood, and pro-
scription formerly meant death and now means
all you dare do to your political enemies, the
blossoms of the laurel which crowns your cab,
net would be tinged with sodeep dye as would
make your prescriptions the co-rival OF the pro
tectorate of Cromwell, and in one point make
the similtude apparent. But as you are fond OF
epithets drawn from the lives of famous men,
and of comparisons from the histories Of the past,