The daily national Whig. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1847-1849, 1849-05-21
To TnE EDIToR or T.HE NaTIoNAL WHO



TO TIE EDITOR or THE NATIONAL WHiG,
!, QUILLs FROM AN OLD PoRouPIsE.
The puerle efjrts Of the Union 10 hold up tn
President Of tho United States 10 the public eye II
!, the light Of one who has deliberately violated hi
promises not TO remove iullty, dishonest o. ncom
petent incumbents from Office when the public In
terests demands H. are dsgracefu In their charac
ter, both ia moral and political point Of view =
more particularly on the part Of one whose age ant
standing heretofore in society," ought 10 have prompt
ed him TO respect the feelings Of those who really
feel for him, ii not for himself; and eschew such
vicious course Of conduct thar whatever claims hs
may have 10 the indulgence OF even those whom ht
Injuries so wantony In their private and public char
acter, In not caslIgating him as he deserves II does
rot follow as matter Of course, that every citizen
is thus be restrained from putting the old pension
or of the Locooco party upon the rack, and iortur
Ing him little In the way in which he daily torture-
those who have done him no personal or politics.
injury.
And, pray SIR let ME ask, inhe first place, who Is
the editor of the Union that he should claim eyemp-
ton from attacks according 10 the qneer notions Of
the editor Of tho Pittsburgh Commercial Journal
when every dart that he throws enters the heart
Of his victim, and kills not only HE political exs
tence, but his Immortal SPIRIT Can any thing be
moro fercclous-more malignant more unchrlstan
than this old mans continued assaults upon the pr
vate character Of respectable and most gentleman
ly officer OF the Governmental Henry Warren
the Second Assistant Postmaster General, merely
because he is discharging his duty according TO his
conscience and tho necessities Of his situation.
will tell you who this editor js-he IS the well-paid
pet Of the Democratic party in Virginia, whose alb
strac doctrines Of policy have beggared and bc-dd
the finest commonwealth IN The Union; 90 much
So that her best farmers and mechanics have had
fly from her precincts 10 foreign States TO make
living rather than to stay at homu and strive. Her
population In consequence is diminishing lie num-
bers daily, as-the census Of 1910 will show, and as
the census of 1850, too, viii show. fear Virginia
has neither farms, OF what may be understood as
such, according to the acceptaon Of the term In the
Northern or Western States; nor has she manufac-
tories of any kind, with a few exceptions in Wing
neighborboods. Her Locofoco statesmen Of the pre-
sent day are below mediocriy in talents as her COM
mercal and manufacturing interests are below the
lowest standard OF those Of any other State In
the confederacy for they too seem TO partake of the
general decline that has taken place in her unfort-
nate career. Her citizens, with the exception Of a
few overgrown planters, who live upon Locofoco
politics as pastime, have little or no interest In the
soil upon which they la. or. In many Of her Con-
grcaslonal Districts there are neither schools nor
newspapers, for Mr.. Wise, hut q few years since,
boosted in Congress-, that there was no paper In his
and II Is no doubt the case In other districts Of the
''old Dominion" Look, too, at her commerce, and
tell us what tits With many Of the finest hsrbors
and rivers In the world rrigntine and bounding her
shoreswih land unequaled the face Of the earth,
| Tor richness aud beauty Of sceneTy--wth mineral
wealth, almost equal 10 what Is said Of that In the
mountains Of Mexico; with everything In fact that
Is calculated 10 enrich and ennobe q great State,
nay, an Empire--here we have upon our border q
retrogradng State, not through the want Of all the
resources which God and Nature have SO literally
bestowed upon her but through that almost obsolete
system Of policy which hangs round her neck like
milestone and Of which the venerable editor Of the
Union is now, he has always heen when editor Of
The Richmond Enquirer, the EMBODIMENT. 1t
Isl sir, with shame that confess the weakness and
impoyerishment Of State Of which am proud TO
call myself acizen, but II is even so yet II IL the
same system Of degradation that obtains there, that
the editor Of the Union would extend to the whole
Of our beloved country BY the policy or the party
which he represents as lie organ and TO effect this
he Is trying, through the dsgracefnl vehicle under
his control 10 drive gentlemen from Office, either
by coming calnmnies upon their private reputation,
or giving currency 10 Them, which ls still worse,
from the pens of men more reckless OF the decency
Of lie than himself 1910 Is I y 80 n,
Only look upon hs columns If his paper, on any
day of the week, and you will find such choice cpl
iheis in them as The following, VIZ; "harn 'ibiaeh-
guard" disgracsf spectacle" &c., applied to men
equally, II not more decent and respectable thar
he is and yet, forsooih, the piitsb,rg Commercia
Journal" would take the old sinner by the hand
II he was here, as his quasi defence Of him shows
save him from just casgation for his temcriiy, and
hor f,,,
do on vine, words like those quoted above from
his choicest paragraphs Really, air, the sensitive
ness Of some men, connected with the press, is nn-
accountable when grey hairs Kid gloves, and broad
cloth, cut in dandy fashion, covers the skeleton
frame Of worn-out typo Of eighty years, whenever
Il sins on the pure white sheet of mans reputation,
and blots and blurs II al over with the alpacaike
fluid Of vituperaion and detraction. doubt, sir If
the editor of the Ptsburg paper were TO search the
purlieus of every city In tho Union and select from
their organs The cream Of all their choice srcles In
the line Of attack and defence adopted by them in
their relation with society, that he could be more
successfnl than in the columns Of the Washington
| Union.
Surely the state Of morals which governs the read
ers Of the Union-except those who take II for ex-
animation must be at the lowest ebb, If what he
says in todnys number be true that It Is increasing
in the number Of its subscribers now that ii has los,
nearly all the patronage Of the Government. But
will not believe that the better feelings Of our nature
are SO lost among my fellows as TO credit what the
Union asserts concerning the increase Of its sub
scrpon list and precisely for this reason that those
for whom Il really caters, loo depraved and con
sequeny too poor to be able to pay for years sub
scription, while those Of the party who have talents
character, and wealth, have become SO Disguised
with Its conduct towards the Administration, tina
they would feel conscious Of becoming particep
crimns in ull its dirty work, If they were TO con-
tribute anything towards it's circulation.
i Among its numerous folles not to speak ofits oh
scenity and coarseness Of language towards It's poll
tical opponents Is the power II assumes, Of suppos
ing that the Senate Of the United States Is going