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ious and mischievous to a great extent, it is, notwithstanding, the great organ of truth; and in the free press of this country we find the instrument and sole defence of our liberty. If the Executive organs disseminate the most atrocious falsehoods among the people, who thwarts and contradicts them, if not the unbribed presses of the Opposition? If the ingenious sophistries of a war-party occupy for a time the minds of the people, what displaces and subverts them if not those ministers of truth and justice, the honestly conducted newspapers? What may they not do, what power may they not exert, moving forward and together towards great and sincere objects? Let us then no longer complain. With the weapon in our hand, and a fair field, we have ourselves to blame if we fail.

First, then, and above all other aims, should not our care be to present a firm and unbroken front to the enemy: to yield no inch of ground, but with a steady and vehement endeavor press home upon the public mind the great principles by and for which we exist as a party? The integrity of the party depends upon the simplicity, distinctness, and binding force of its first principles-For them it exists-by them it exists--without them-it dissolves and disappears.

To set these forth in bold contrast with those of the enemy, let us cast an eye over the propositions of their electoral "Platform," in which they have condensed their creed. Observe with what a cool impudence they charge upon Whiggism the very practice which it spurns, and of which Locofocoism itself is properly the inventor,--namely, the subjugation of the will of the constituent to that of the representative.* Who, pray, is the inventor of packed Conventions? and who first converted citizens into voting machines, with no more force of will than would suffice to steady a glass of liquor?

Perhaps no system was ever contrived, at least as we have seen it operate, more effectual to extinguish the individuality of the constituent, than so-called "Democratic organization." Without the odor of sanctity, without the honor of aristocraty, without the pride of patriot

See Washington Union, May 4th, 1848.

ism, or the humble enthusiasm of the monarchist, the retainer of Locofocoism leads a negative existence; he is a man of negatives, he is subject to negation, he subsists upon vetoes and denials, his political existence is a blank: history will not remember him; he is a part only of the great mass, or lump, of the Locofoco majority. And yet this party, whose creed it is to sink the citizen in the multitude, has the audacity or the impertinence to charge upon the Whigs that old Federal offence of subjecting the will of the Constituent to that of the Representative. A few testy old gentlemen, there may be, still alive, who think that the representative is to be a nursing father to the "mass" of his poor ignorant constituency; but if there be any such, their place is properly among the draughters of Democratic resolutions, whose ingenuity in sinking the power of the citizen, and exalting that of the government, commends them to the courtesy of all old-fashioned Tories and Federalists.

Nothing, again, is more remarkable in the declarations of Locofocoism than the facility of imitation which it discovers,— the genius for blending contraries: for while it never mentions the government of the nation without prefixing the word 'federal," calling it always the "Federal Government," to convey the idea of its being a mere federation of the States, it has always manifested an extraordinary respect for the Central Authority, and has even dared to question, whether it would not be better if the President were quite free of the Senate in the appointment of civil officers; a liberty which would instantly convert the Presidency into a monarchyelective, indeed, but none the less for that reason a monarchy.

It very gravely advises us, that the "federal government is one of limited powers derived solely from the Constitution -a proposition quite necessary indeed to be set before Locofoco Presi

dents, and before that small minority of office-holders and friends who go by the name of "the People,"--but of which to remind a Whig citizen, were only to insult him.

These dispensers of political wisdom then proceed to say, that the powers granted by the Constitution require to be strictly construed by all departments and

agents of the government:—and yet it has became really dangerous to mention that sometime venerable instrument in the hearing of a Locofoco majority in Congress, for fear you be laughed at for your simplicity. As there is no sect so absurd but it has a text to back it, so there is no usurpation without its constitutional apology. Strict construction is but an entering wedge for innovation, and there is no political heresy but has its constitutional text. Let any man set up this rule of strict construction, and we know what he would be at. Those only who inquire out the spirit of the law are to be trusted for an instant with its application. The letter kills, the spirit only can save us.

And yet, a stricter construction of the Constitution might not be undesirable even for the Whigs: it might perhaps lead to the impeachment of a President, who, by wresting the Constitution, has involved the nation in a cruel and costly war.

dilate upon the growing wealth and commerce of the nation, and proposes vast improvements in the army, the navy, the public debt, and the executive patronage, to be paid for in the property and liberties of future generations.

through which it ran,--if the lighthouse benefited especially the coasters of a particular State, more than those of other States,-if the telegraph enriches commercial speculators and manufacturers,— would these incidental benefits be advan

Certain it is, indeed, that the Constitution does not confer upon the general government the power to commence and carry on wars for the acquisition of new territory -as certain as that it does confer the power of "commencing and carrying on a system of internal improvements." Is the system of the post office established solely for the uses of the government, or is its better conduct a part of a system of Internal Improvement for the benefit of the whole people? Is the establishment of a "harbor for shelter," or a lighthouse, or a military road, a national telegraph, forbidden by the Constitution? and if the harbor established for shelter was used also for commerce, though no such use had been conLocofoco majorities, infected with a templated,-if the military road became a horror of unnecessary outlay, declare great emigrant route and stage road,increasagainst all projects of internal improve-ing the value of property in all the districts ment. It were a violation of first principles in their esteem, should the government, or, as they prefer to call it, the federal government, of the nation, lay out a few millions on harbors in the North, or on a canal or a railroad, to connect eastern and western commerce with the South;-ced as arguments against the appropriabut we all know how readily they will vote away a hundred millions, for the sake of external improvement, such as a right of way across the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, a harbor on the coast of California, or a tract of gold mines and Buffalo prairies in the south-west. Millions they will spend to extend cotton interests, millions to the western hunters and borderers, millions in Texas, millions in Mexico and Yucatan, millions anywhere, so it be of no use to the industrious artisans of the North and West. With EXTERNAL IMPROVEMENTS they are greatly in love, with internal, not at all. At home, the strict constructionist, full of the law, bears hard upon his family and neighbors: he is a man of principle, forsooth, a straight-backed Pharisee, a political puritan;-but open to him a project of foreign conquest, for the extension of free trade, of slavery, or of the Democratic privilege of occupying the lands and cities of a neighbor, he begins at once to

tions for such purposes in Congress?

Trusting in the good sense of the nation, we have no fear that this doctrine of Internal Improvement will not ultimately prevail over that Locofoco doctrine of External Improvement. The people will by and by consider that a hundred millions spent in the establishment of a telegraphic Post Office, a universal navigation improvement, including the Mississippi, the great lakes, the harbors of the eastern coast,in the construction of ship canals, and national railroads,-in the protection of a valuable branch of manufacture, agriculture or commerce,will be far better invested for the wealth of the nation than in the maintenance of invading armies. Money spent on Internal Improvements enriches first the employed operative, then the district where the work lies, and lastly the whole nation. But history shows clearly that of External Improvements, the most fortunate are those which only do no

utterly ruin the nation that undertakes them. The wealth of England is the fruit of protection and Internal Improvements her debt and misery on the other hand are consequences of her External Improvements,' or in other words, of her conquests and aggressions.

But the ingenuity of the draughters of Locofoco Resolutions, is in nothing more noticeable than in the guarded opposition which they offer to the national policy of Protection.

"Justice and sound policy," say they, "forbid the federal government to foster one branch of industry to the detriment of another, or to cherish the interests of one portion to the injury of another portion of one common country; every citizen, and every section of the country, has a right to demand and to insist upon an equality of rights and privileges, and to complete and ample protection of persons and property from domestic violence or foreign aggression."

A foreigner, unacquainted with our politics, would think upon reading this ingenious resolution that a party existed in the nation, whose policy it was to subvert some particular branch of industry by the exaltation of other branches; and that this same wicked faction had it in mind to leave unprotected the libertes and properties of citizens. The Whig party hold that every manufacture, every department of agriculture, every species of commerce or industry, from the cultivation of cotton and potatoes to the making of broadcloths, and the composition of works of art, has a just claim upon our care and brotherly pity this party holds, that as the first office of the government of every nation is to protect the lives and properties of its citizens from foreign aggression, its second and not less important is to protect their industry and enterprise from foreign competition: they place these two duties upon the same ground of patriotism and humanity, and hold that to be a wretchedly weak and inefficient government that cannot fulfil them both. What matters it, say they, if we are kept poor and miserable, whether t be by the competition of foreign labor and capital, or by the terror of foreign leets and armies? Should our commerce be extinguished by the fleets of an enemy, we should forthwirth arm ourselves and

proceed to vigorous retaliation; nor should we cease from war until the slightest unarmed vessel that bears our flag might sail unmolested into every nook of the ocean. But if this be so, if we are jealous for our commerce, and cheerfully tax ourselves millions, keeping up a vast and costly naval armament for its defence, by what infatuation are we persuaded to neglect this source and great material of commerce, this manufacture? Commerce is but a carrying trade-a free porterage; and is it lawful to lay indirect taxes for that, and not lawful to do the same for the materials of that? Is it lawful to take five millions a year from private property in the shape of revenue tariffs, for the support of commerce, and not lawful to take as much by the protection of manufactures? It is hardly necessary to say that these ingenious and respectable "Platforms" convey a falsehood, by insinuation; and if any ultra Democrat reads this, let him be assured that his instructors deceive him. The Whig policy is not what they affirm it to be; on the contrary, Whig legislation means to extend protection to the LIFE, PROPERTY, INDUSTRY, CREDIT, and HONOR of every citizen; to convince him by a judicious and patriotic conduct, that it is actuated by no theories, nor by any blind or selfish interest, but by the one desire to make this nation the free, the rich, and the powerful.

On the delicate question of constitutionality, which every honest mind will approach with the most serious regard, the party who oppose all beneficent action of the government, exhibit a singular inconsistency. While they profess to be of the Jeffersonian school of politics, they strenuously and obstinately oppose the policy of which Jefferson must be looked upon as the first patron, if not the father. "Shall the revenue," says that President to Congress, in his eighth annual message,

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be reduced? Or shall it not rather be appropriated to the improvements of roads, canals, rivers, education, and other great foundations of prosperity and union, under the powers which Congress may already possess, or such amendments of the Constitution as may be approved by the States? While uncertain of the course of things, the time may advantageously be employed in obtaining the powers necessary for a

system of improvement, should they be thought best." Thus evidently of opinion that the Constitution does not directly forbid such a use of the revenue, he yet respectfully intimates that if any are doubtful upon that head they should proceed at once to alter the Constitution, to make it agree with their policy.

Already in his sixth annual message he had pressed this policy upon Congress:"The question now comes forward, to what other purposes shall these surpluses be appropriated, and the whole surplus of import, after the entire discharge of the public debt, and during those intervals when the purposes of war shall not call for them? Shall we suppress the import, and give that advantage to foreign over domestic manufactures? On a few articles of more general and necessary use, the suppression in due season will doubtless be right, but the great mass of the articles on which import is paid, are foreign luxuries, purchased by those only who are rich enough to afford themselves the use of them. Their patriotism (!!) would certainly prefer its continuance and application to the great purposes of the public education, roads, rivers, canals, and such other objects of public improvement as it may be thought proper to add to the constitutional enumeration of federal powers." Here we have the great father of Democracy, not only advocating a political tariff, but proposing to continue this tariff, for the support of a system of Internal Improvement; in aid of which, and to satisfy the scruples of Mr. Madison and his friends, the Constitution is to be altered!-a system of internal improvement, let us observe, to be supported by a protective tariff! This was the Jeffersonian policy, urged in the Messages of 1806 and 1808! "By these operations," continues the first President of the Democratic party, channels of communication will be opened |

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between the States; the lines of separation will disappear, their interests will be identified, and their union cemented by new and indissoluble ties. Education is here placed among the articles of public care; not that it would be proposed to take its ordinary branches out of the hands of private enterprise, which manages so much better all the concerns to which it is equal; but a public institution can alone supply those sciences, which, though rarely called for, are yet necessary to complete the circle, all the parts of which contribute to the improvement of the country, and some of them to its preservation. I suppose an amendment to the Constitution, by consent of the States, necessary, because the objects now recommended are not among those enumerated in the Constitution, and to which it permits the public moneys to be applied."

And yet, notwithstanding this deference to the scruples of strict constructionists, we find him, in the eighth annual message, proposing a system of protective and discriminating tariffs, without even a hint of unconstitutionality. "The situation into which we have been forced, (by the war.) has impelled us to apply a portion of our industry and capital to internal manufactures and improvements. The extent of this conversion is daily increasing, and little doubt remains, that the establishments formed and forming, will-under the auspices of cheaper materials and subsistence, the freedom of labor from taxation with us, and of protecting duties and prohibitionsbecome apparent." He never doubts that Congress has the power to impose duties for the protection of manufacturers, but only finds no clause in the Constitution which allows the duties so collected to be given back to the people in the form of internal improvements for the aid of that internal commerce upon which manufac turers depend for their existence.

SIR THOMAS BROWNE.

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reflection no less healthy and sane than the most necessary and becoming action. There are minds, too, especially endowed by nature with the fitting qualities for meditation-for study-for tranquil observation. With an intellect to perceive, a heart to sympathize, a tongue to communicate,— the hand to execute may be wanting, and yet no monstrosity be apparent-no deformity and no deficiency. Individuals, in the main, are but divers limbs of the great body of humanity-alone complete in themselves, and each fully performing its office, yet none accomplishing its ultimate purpose, or proving itself absolutely indispensable, but in co-operation with the rest. To be a genuine scholar, is doubtless one of the most exalted stations to which a human being can be called. And those who profess to underrate the importance of letters, have been among the first to do homage (however secretly or unconsciously) to learning and genius.

In the troublous times that marked the close of the reign of King Charles the First, and through all the commotions and vicissitudes attendant on the career of Oliver Cromwell, there lived in the quiet city of Norwich a remarkable man, whose spirit was never conscious of the tempests that raged about him,-whose "soul was like a star, and dwelt apart," in the regions of tranquil contemplation. To live inde-ity and no deficiency. pendent of one's age, to be insensible to the thraldom of time and place, to bring the past and future into a common range of vision and upon the same plane with the present, is an elevated state of being, rare in this world, as the destiny of man plainly requires that it should be. Most men and women are born into a condition of life, whose actual, stern, pressing duties impose a limit to the motions of an enthusiastic temper, and restrict the range of imagination within the sphere of attraction that surrounds the substantialities of human existence. To inquire whether such be In many respects, the celebrated scholar our lot entirely through the fault of our- whose name has suggested these remarks, selves, were, perhaps, "to consider too is without a parallel. The class to which curiously." Rousseau has well styled re- he belongs includes many varieties, indeed, flection a disease, if we assume as the type though founded upon certain general charof reflection that peculiar cast of mind, and acteristics, common to all. In some, the that unnatural style of thinking, of which scholar is but dimly apparent through he was himself a pattern. To meditate another predominant shade of character. upon the modes and conditions of our life, We distinguish between those qualities at the very time a necessity is laid upon us which constitute the fundamental elefor immediate, energetic effort, is at once ments of poetic genius, and those which unhealthy, enfeebling and ruinous. We belong simply to the man of letters do not reason upon this necessity. We and the student of nature. Yet the state the fact; for it stares us in the face two characters are many times combined— at every corner-in the market-place, in the former always, in such cases, predomthe work-shop, on the wharf, in the count- inating. The scholarly character, again, ing-room. Severe, unceasing conflict everysometimes remains subordidate in the man where, with the rude elements of matter of business, through a long series of years stubborn collision with the subtler motions-prevailing at last or entirely smothered, of mind—anguish of the heart to be borne ip against-oppression of spirit to be enlured and patiently subdued: these make ip the great sum of human experience.

The scholar is a character that inevitably ppears, wherever civilization and refinenent have made any progress. There is

VOL. II. NO. 1. NEW SERIES.

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according to worldly success or failure. The daily avocations, also, pertaining to the three professions, are such as in general to distract the attention from literary studies; yet with each of these, the scholar is frequently mingled, in a greater or less degree.

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