The Van Buren press., 1871-03-14
Whence the Power of the Unknown Car
pet-Bagger9

Patrick Henry cndeavored to impress
upon his compatriots, that small States
preserved the liberties of the people and
that TO run of after splendid empire
would TO lose them those liberties. The
latter had been the error of all nations
1t was the natural result of pride And
God never failed to punish pride, when
it became impious. The nations inva
riably found that when the empire be-
came as splendid as they had wished it,
it crushed with its weight, and consumed
with its splendor, the interests and liber-
ties of those who erected it, and whom ii
was intended to glorify and protect
The United States is growing into a
splendid empire. Hitherto it moved
grandly on, controlled by the two coun-
ter-acting forces, said to be everywhere
observable in nature, one which impels
or causes to fly from the center and the
other which binds or tends to the center
In Natural Philosophy they are called
the centrifugal and the centripetal forces.
In nature they balance each other so as
to preserve the due equilibrium of those
forces, which regulate the laws OF life
and matter in the universe He who con
trolls them is too wise to permit cne to
get the better of the other
In our government the tendency to Sc
cession may be likened to the centrifugal
or flying off from. this centre-force; cor
solidation, or aggrandizement Of all
powers by the Federal Government, to
the cent<ipetal,. or tending towards-the
centre-force. Either, unrestrained by the
other would soon disturb the equpoise
intended, and swiftly sweep the govern
ment into destruction. The whole tend
ency now is to consolidation or the CEN
trpetalization Of our system, which
means the destruction of our system.
The carpet.bagger is representative of
centripetalization or consolidation. lie
is an emmisssary of the central power.
Thence he gets his authority and thence
he expects his reward. He cares moth
ing whatever of the opinion of those he
is sent to rule over in the States, 50 long
as his acts are such as TO meet the ap
proval of his masters at the centre Let
no man forget the CENTRE nor, in cal
culating the influences by which to meas
ure the policy of State officials as well
as Federal. Governor Clayton is inin
itely more anxious to please his party
leaders at the center, than to concliate
the people at home. He will betray the
latter with impunity, and laugh at their
betrayal, if it answer the purposes of
those who control at the center. The
same may be said Of every carpet bagger,
in every one of the Southern States
The interests Of the carpet bagger and
those of the people Of the States are dia-
metrically the opposite of each other
Until every carpet bagger in Office in Ar
kansas is disposed of and his place filled
by Others who will naturally represent
the interests Of the people, such carpet
bagger may be looked upon as defiant
enemy of the best interests of the people
and of the State, and will be seen to seek
none..but his own interests, through the
interests of those who control him at the
centre Our first duty then, is to ad
vance our own people to positions Of
high official Importance, let them be of
what party they may, The centripetal
force is threatening to swallow us up in
the centre. Let us cease to tend to the
centre and by looking to the powers of
the States, and the interests and wishes
Of the people of the States to give a new
impetus to any force that may counter
act this dangerous tendency, which
threatens to subjugate us completely to
delegated masters who look only to the
centre for authority and expect only from
the centre appreciation.