The Portsmouth inquirer. [volume] (Portsmouth, O. [Ohio]) 1849-1855, 1852-09-24

y
a prehehsive review Of their history, that the
I present Wing party is@identiesl with The
I old Federal party Of the times of John
Adams. no one, who viii giyelhe subject
e the slightest candid consideration, can fail
4 To- perceive the correctness of this coaclu-
sion. And yet, our opponents have the
hardihood to deny it, and to claim regular
. and legitimate descent from tile Republican,
I party. Let us look, fora moment, at the
4 means by which they endeavor to nystify
the subject.
One of their articles is a reference 10 GER
tain measures. which, they assert to have
S been advocated by the Republican party,
7 and because they are now ,.er recently were,
likewise. advocated by the wings, they insist
that the parties are identical In this, they
: display their usual disregard of truth, and
: propensity to Misrepresentation, The Bank
Of the United States, is one of the measures
which they have often cited for this purpose,
} although nova days, they say less on that
topic. They used to point to the fact that
that institution was re-chanered duriag the
administration of President Madison, when
the Republican party was in power, and that
Mr.. Madison himself gave his sanction to it /;
and they thereupon assert that Il, was Re.
publican measure. dishonesty conceaaing
what they know to be true, that Mr.. Jeffer=
son, the founder Of The Republican party,
fought against the 6rst charter of that inst.
I tuition, with the most determined persevef
ance, and never abated in his hostility to it /;
that re-charter was defeated by the Repub-
licans in 1911 that the subsequent act for
its re-charter was passed with the utmost
difficulty, on the plea that it was necessary
10 aid the government in struggling with the
heavy debt then resting upon it, being even
under those circumstances, opposed by the
grea: body OF Republicans; and was finally
sanctioned by Mr.. Madison, with the great
est hesitation, and after he had retained it
in his possession up to the very last moment
to which he could constitutionally do So
The Tariff is snother measure which they
often endeavor to use for this purpose
They tell us of the tariff laws, which were
passed during the administrations Of Wash
ingion, Jefferson, Madison. &C.; but they
conceal the great fact that not one Of those
laws imposed duties as high, by about one
third, or one fourth, as the Democratic reve-
nue. tariff of 1916 They cite the opinions
OF those great men, too, expressed in general
terms, in favor of the tariff system, but keep
out of sight the character of the laws which
they sane toned, and which showed practi-
cally, what sort of tariff system they had
in view when expressing such opinions. -
They keep out OF sight, too, the fact, that u
to 1924, the tariff had never been party
question, because up to that time, no lap
Other than Of a rsvcnue character, had been
passed or attempted to be passcd, and, there
was, therefore, little room for disagreement;
that between that time and 1882, parties Sc pa
rated on the question, and that ever since they
have maintained their present position in
regard to it. But we have not time TO no.
tice all the measures, the history of which,
our opponents have thus misrepresented.-
What we have said is enough to show the
futllity of all such resorts to disguise The
true character, essential and historical, of
their party.
But they sometimes endeavor to effect
their object by pointing to certain men who
now occupy, or have heretofore occupied,
conspicuous positions in the two partes.-I
They tell us that james Bucba uan. Judge
Woodbury., Chief Justice Taney, &c., were
once Federalists and are now-those of them
who are living, Democrats; while those
who are dead, were so at the time OF their
deat5,-whereas, Henry Clay was in early
life Republican, and died a Wbig. Now,
to what purpose is all this? Who denies
it, or cares to deny it? If gentlemen who
commenced life Federalists, in mature years,
forsook that party and became Republicans,
does that prove that the parties have become
confoundcd9 Or, because Henry Clay saw
fit to desert the Republican party and go
over to its adversaries--a fact which is as
notorious as any event in the history Of
American politics, and has often been Ia
mented by the real friends of that great man
are we to infer that those parties have ex-
changed characters? AS well might an English
Tory endeavor to convince a member of the
Anti-Corn Law League, that he and his
party had become pSotectionists, by telling
him that Sir Robert Peel, who was once the
Conservative Prime Minister, died Free
Trader
Such are the puerile subterfugesto which
our adversaries resort, in order TO mystify this
subject and obscure their origin. But they
are all idle. The truth cannot be changed
and If there is any odium in entertaining
Federal opinions, or in being descended from
the Federal party, they must bear it, until
they are willing to forsake both their present
party and its fundamental doctrines.
,t.-