The daily national Whig. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1847-1849, 1849-01-27
DAILY NATIONAL WING.
WASHINGTON, ID. 9.
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SATURDAY MORNING. JANUARY n, Is
POLITICAL INTRIGUERs.

preach the right and to practice the reverse,
was more than once letlicitously illustrated
BY the Son Of God in his intercourse With
men during his sojourn on earth but il is
rarely seen in stronger light, we think,
than in the conduct Of public men, in power
and out of power. TO hear partisan leaders
seeking the direction Of public affairs, talk
about their purity and their principles, one
would suppose that they had the exclusive
possession Of all the virtues pertaining to
man, and that those persons, who were ex-
ercising public authority, were guilty Of all
the vices incident to the human character.
While we are disposed to give these place
hunters all credit for their sincerity, we cam
not understand how it is, that when they gain
the seat Of power, they forget, in SO many
instances, to practice what they SO eloquent
" preached, except by attributing to them
uncharitable motives, which we are very
10th to do to any one, The evil--for hypoc-
ricy is an evil, and one Of no little magni-
tude-has become so common, that the pub
lie, when it determines to change its ser
wants, takes it for granted that the incoming
party will do precisely what the outgoing
party did, but il consoles itself with the re-
Election that the members Of the success
ful party will reap the fruits Of the practice,
though in the face of the preaching to the
contrary
Previous to Gen. Jackson's day, there
was some show Of practicing what was
preached, but the thirst for the possession
Of power and place had not, then, taken
so deep hold Of the public mind as it has
since his time His practice was almost
shamelessly the reverse Of his preaching, and
instead Of attempting to conceal the breach
OF the precept, men were found to justify it.
We all remember how patrio.ically General
Jackson preached to Mr.. President Monroe
about administering the Government as a
President ofthe whole people and notof par
ty, and we all remember, too, how President
Jackson did not reduce to practice a single
one of his professions in this respect! And
this antagonsm oil practice 10 precept has
! characterized, in greater or less degree,
every administration from the Jackson era to
the present time. We cannot explain this
state Of things, except upon the suppositon
that parties, having lost their patriotism, re-
gard the possession of power as mere means
of personal ACKNOWLEDGEMENT, which il is law
full to strive for in every possible way
Hence the apophthegm-al is fair in poll
tics.
The corruption Of public morals, arising
from the open exercise Of this system Of
preaching one thing, when out of power, and
Of practising the reverse, when in power, is
deep and wide and ail-pervading, and unless
it is speedily arrested, it is destined to sap
the foundations of public liberty, and over
throw all our institutions. A nation that
openly and in the face Of Heaven will toler-
ate the breach, By its public servants, Of
their solemn promises to reform abuses in
the Government, is fairly OH the road to
ruin, because public justice and public right,
in that event, become no longer the objects
Of Government Indeed Government, in
this country, has come to be very little bet
ter than an organized system Of aggrandize-
ment for the benefit Of the few, to the great
injury Of the many.
One Of the cardinal principles preached by
the Wing party is, that the public offices are
public trusts, and should be administered by
none but competent men; and another OF its
cardinal principles is, that the President
should be the Chief Magistrate Of the whole
people, and not Of a part Of the people
General Taylor announced to the country,
times without number, before hi, election to
the Presidency, that such were his opinions,
and that, il elected, he should reduce them
to practice. And yet, in the face Of his dee
larations to this effect and his known drci-
sion Of character, intrigues are now on foot,
in every part Of the country, from Washing
ton outward, to drive him to convert the
4 public Offices into party spoils, and to be
the President Of party This exhibition
cannot fail to prove painful to every true
Wing in the country, for the whole effort is
one in direct violation Of Wing principles
The intriguers call themselves Wings, and
denounca every man who will not favor their
objects, as no Wing, They have not waited
for Gen. Taylor to be installed into the Pres
idency, but they have, without any regard to
the requirements OF ordinary decency, thrust
themselves into privacy, and besought, beg
ged, insisted, nay, demanded, that he should
turnh7 back on Whigprinciples, should do the
very things which the country condemned in
the present and more recent Democratic dy-
nasties. These intriguers have burdened
him with inquisitive letters by the bushel,
with imploring applications for Office, with
whining, debating, and even threatening
epistles they have even declared, many Of