The daily union. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1845-1857, 1849-04-26
Prose ript1un.

"i IL oceiiis W NC convinced Oh Cdh
scarcely be, for it s,udousy evades statement of the
facts upon which the allegation is based This unbound
ed clamo against the past of the democratic party
has been renewed with increased violence since the in
auguration OF General Taylor, order to justify before
the public any degree of prescription which he or his
ministers may fit to practise One of the organs of
the administration asserts that General Taylor would be
justified should he fill nearly all the offices of the
government with members of the whg party; and
the other contends that degree OF honesty.
paclty and fidelity in democratic office holder can
fit him for the discharge of his duties inasmuch
as the administration could not place confidence in
him account of his political views This is not pro-
scrpon for opinions sake the National Wing afrms,
because it springs from want of confidence forgetting
all the while that this want of confidence is according 10
its showing, the necessary consequence OF unpala
table political opinions. This keen logican and skfu
casust has discovered that mans honesty, capacity,
and fdelity-no matter how great it may be-s not
concentration sufficient to merit the favor OF President
who has solemny promised that he will be the Pes
dent of party, bu. look only to honesty, capacity and
fidelity in dispensing the patronage OF the government
He may have all these qualities. and may abound in
good works; yet if he has not that faith which hopeh
all things from the administration of Zachary Taylor he
should be unfit for the public service. The
administration have confidence in him because of
his views OF public policy and although faithful to his
trust he to be removed and yet this is not proscrp
ton for opinions sake, but removal for of conf
dence which is produced only by the fact that he enter
tans those opinions The idea is too absurd and the
sophsry by which it is supported too shallow. to merit
serious refutaton We have too much confidence in the
intelligence of the American people to believe for
men that they can be mised by such transparent de-
vice.
1t is not our present purpose however to demonstrate
the moral wrong, and point out the demoralizng inu
ences Of that wholesale prescription which the organs of
the administration justify in their columns The people
of the country, excepting always the comorants, whose
greedy gaze is always fixed upon the national treasury
condemn it already. Our intention is only to show
that the excuse urged in defence of prescription by that
portion of the wing press which sustains the usur
pations of power or serves those who wish to bat
ten on the public patronage by os!racsng better men,
is unfounded in fact, and cannot be sustained by evil
dence is charged that the system of rewards and pun
ishments established and put in practical operation
by the democratic party against the earnest remonsrances
OF the federaliss; and that the law of retaliation
should be resorted to- Notwithstanding every pledge and
promise 10 condemn it. We have called upon those who
make this charge to sustain it with proof yet proof
no, not one t,Ie-ha. been furnished, although the
camor has not abated in violence. In view of the ac
ivity of the wing party whenever there is probability
of establishing anything which may bring odum upon
the democrats and the palpable inducement which
many members of that party have for establishing a
fact so important that would be to forward their
patriotic desires to share the burdens OF public duty,
10 linda that fhav hava
this evidence, and failed TO find it. If go back
to the beginning of parties the United States find
that the political guotine was first erected by the feder
alsts; and although they have denounced with ferv'd
eoquence and seeming earnestness its use when they
driven from power, they have never hesitated to
put the bloody engine in active and merciless action
whenever they filled the high places OF the government
When the elder Adams was Chief Magistrate, the doc
trne of rewards and punishments, in all its rgor, was
established the fit concom'ani OF the Alien and Sed
ton laws. 1t was no more than consistent with the
character of him who would punish by penal statutes
too free investigation of and comment on the acts
of the federal Executive, to drive from all Offices OF
honor or emolument those who differed with him on
political questions. Accordingly we find that even in
his short career he filled nearly all the Offices with
his own partisans. Mr.. Jefferson, the great leader
and founder of the democratic party denounced this sys
tenn and conended that there should be degree OF
equality observed in distributing the patronage of the
government lie went no further than that position,
and he even shrunk back from performing this uncon-
genial task which the principle forced upon him. He
did no more than carry out in practice what he advocated
in theory before the whole people. To prove this we
have the express declaration of Henry Clay, made in
1929, that Mr. Jefferson 'only dismissed few ncum-
bents for the purpose of introducing others OF his own
party, and thus doing equal justice TO ALL" When this
declaration was made Mr. Clay had just retired along with
John Quincy Adams's administration, and was actively
engaged in denouncng the proscrptive spirit which he
charged in advance upon the democratic party under the
guidance of Gen Jackson The circumstances under which
this statement made, and the ample opportunities tor
gathering information which its author had enjoyed as
the head Of the Department of State for the four years
preceding entities to the weight of positive demon
stration Mr. Jefferson then, far from originating pro-
scripon did not carry out the system introduced
by the elder Adams. We do not remember that even
federalism had the efontery to bring this charge
against either Mr. Madison or Mr. Monroe II il had, the
circumstance has been forgotten thing too preposter
Gus to be worth remembering
We come next to the administration OF John Quincy
Adams. His premier, Henry Clay, who denounced pro-
scription violently in 1899, after he driven from
power, and justified II so thoroughly when the wings
gained the ascendant in s4l recognised the principle Of
,u..x~A H. 1t