Weekly national intelligencer. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1841-1869, 1852-09-25
NATIONAL INTELLIGENCER.

NATIONAL NTELLIGENCER,
We do not know that we have ever before seen, in
50 few words, a more comprehensive and conclusive
vindication Of the WING PARTY from the charge Of
being opposed to Progress" in the true ooncep-
ton of that term, than is contained IL the subjoin-
ed article. We kave taken he srtepsa sstalici.e
she posnts winch most attracted our attention in it,
PROM THE LYTCHBURG ''vIRGINIAN'' OF SEPT. 70
PROGRESS
To the obseTvant and impartial mind no more
groundless pretenson could be presented than that
Of the Locofocos, that theirs is the party Of "pro
gress !" and yet there is scarcely any one of the
many assumptions with which they have SO long
managed to delude unsuspecting people by which
they have profted more than this If agitation
were progress-if to hare hept all the elements OF
social and political life IN perpetual state Of e-
element and discord-to hare encouraged the buc-
caneeriag spirit of class of citizens in its
lawless designs against the peace and prosperity of
other nations, were promotion of the substantial
welfare of the country, then we admit that the
claim Of the party would be indisputable. But by
those who are Of opinion that our prosperity as a
republican people depends upon the cultivation Of
the arts of peace and faithful observance of those
laws and treaties which have been enacted for the
protection of our individual and national rights,
widely different conclusion will be arrived at
Education, commerce, the industrial arts, and
peace, internal as well as external are the wheels
by which the machinery of a true and safe progress
must be propelled. Let any man ask himself what
the Democratic party have done or sought to do for
these, and answer the question to their credit if he
can. Let him consult their history, examine their
party creeds, look to their Legislative action, and
say what system or measures they have established
or attempted by which these great agents of i'm
provement and progress have been strengthened and
benefited
What encouragement have they ever given to
the laJors of the manufacturer, tie miner, the agri-
culturist, and the drtisdns What have they ever
done to sustain these grand elementary interests of
the American people, against the pauper and con-
vict labor of other countries Nothing and worse
than nothing For years they have warred, with
unrelentng hostility, against every attempt of the
Wing party to foster and support them. What
have they ever done, as party, towards the erten-
sion and protection of commerce? Nothing, and
worse than nothing They have permitted hun
dreds of lives and millions Of property to be sacr
feed annually to the dangerous impediments that
obstruct ae great ricers, and bar oat our ships
from safe and accessible hdrbors along the lakes
lands are plundered every year for petty and local
purposes, they found party, steadily resist
ing all attempts of the Wings to increase the
of commercial intercourse, and render more secure
the lives and property of those who are engaged il
it. Their present candidate for the Presidency sig
nalized his career in Congress by unvarying OPP
position to every scheme having these objects in
view. What have they done to keep down intestine
conanaotion in. the country or preserce peace NTH
foreign natonss The history of the past will show
that the policy they have uniformly pursued has
brought on us all the former, while it has been
characterized by much that was at war with the
latter and who does not know that but for the re-
straining and conservative influence of the Wing
party always exerted in favor of the public tran
auility our present condition, as consequence Of
such course on their part, would have been sadly
different.
indeed, there is nothing in which the progressive
character Of the two parties has contrasted fa
vorably TO the latter than in their constantly
cised conservatism BY ,olich The ,ohole governmental
machinery has been kept an sound porking order.
On all occasions, when danger has threatened our
institutions at every crisis in our monetary affairs,
whenever one Of those revulsions that sometimes
shake the business system like an earthquake has
threatened us; in whatsoever manner the rights or
interests of our people have been imperlled, Wing
influences haze been felt, harding of, steddying,
and protecting, ike The principle Of good in he
moral ,oorld. It has been finely said of Whig
principles, that they were like electricity in the
physical universe--sometimcs dormant, bm al
aoays possessing IN themselves vgor and Uitaii.y,
fructifying, vivifying, and purifying every thing
with which they come in contact. They are not
the offspring of any passing emergency, dying with
the use to which they applied; but they are
unicersal and everlasting applicable at all times,
and suited to every possible condition in which
people can be placed