it he gained whatever was within the capacity of his ambition; the country lost as much as it could well bear to lose. All consideration of public good, all the innate patriotism of the heart, private judgment and personal predilections, were swallowed up. Party expediency became the sole rule of action-all else thrust aside. "The party" might and did change its attitude with every change of the moon; driven in its tergiversations from pillar to post; advocating a principle and insisting on a measure one year to forswear it the next; and the whole combination, from high to low, were obliged to follow, and declare with the loudest protestations that they were all the while consistent-veritable democrats -their opponents aristocrats and rank federalists. A great part of the principles which this happy family of patriots advocated from 1830 to 1834, they now denounce as downright heresy. Such was the system of Mr. Van Buren. We have given an outline of it, as forming a part of the history of the times, and because its origin and success is really the only great achievement of his life.

That one so cautious in his general policy, and so uniformly careful to avoid all probable causes of discontent, as Mr. Van Buren had been through his whole life, should have been guilty of a positive impropriety in the first step in his executive career, was a matter of no little surprise to his friends. But his subsequent acts threw this circumstance into the shade, and verified the proverb, that "whom the gods wish to destroy, they first make mad." His whole administration exhibited a series of measures unfortunate beyond example; and they fell upon the public with the weight of a mountain. These measures centred upon one point-the currency-in regard to which he followed out the intentions of his "illustrious predecessor." But the name of that predecessor had lost its charm. The time had gone by when a bad measure, though sealed with the imperial assent, could be forced into popularity. It was discovered at last that even his opinion was not infallible; that his arbitrary dictum was not sufficient to regulate the laws of trade, and the whole domestic policy of the country. The disorders of the times had opened the eyes of intelligent men. They beheld in the vista, not that golden age which the prophets and seers of the new democracy had predicted, nor that ineffable

state which should betoken the advent of a social and political millennium; but instead, the confusion of ruin, the very "blackness of darkness," and all-pervading distress. The previous action of the government had called into being a multitude of local banks, and these institutions had been made the depositaries of the government treasures. Stimulated by this impulse, with a superabundant capital, no power in existence to keep them in check, and relying upon the continuance of government favor, these banks extended their business beyond all bounds of prudence. Speculations in every description of property had become universal; villages and even cities had sprung up in every nook of the remote wilderness of the West, which needed only buildings, business, and people to render them discoverable by the fortunate purchaser; and "intrinsic value" had become an obsolete term. This state of things had its origin partly in other causes, but mainly in the action of the government; and by a more sudden action it was checked. The bubble burst, and carried with it not only the illusory hopes of the rash speculator, but the more solid basis of the prudent and circumspect. Commercial houses that had stood firm through all changes for half a century were crushed;' the activity of business throughout the land was suspended; confidence, and credit, the result of confidence, were destroyed; the banks, which had been fostered and then attacked by government, suspended payment; state obligations were neglected, in some instances repudiated; and even the federal government could not always meet its own engagements. It was at this juncture that Mr. Van Buren disclosed his great measure, and made it the law of the land. The panacea which he recommended in this disordered state of the body politic was the sub-treasury system; and this was the principal measure of his administration. The nature and practical operation of this system are now well understood, and need no new elucidation; the discussions in regard to it have occurred quite too recently to have been forgotten by any observer of events. The introduction of such a system in the most healthy and prosperous times would, of necessity, have produced a disastrous revulsion; and it then added immeasurably to the public distress. The sole pretext for the measure was to protect the govern

ment from losses by the banks; the real design was to destroy every moneyed corporation in the land. It is a sufficient commentary to state that the government lost four times as much, in the space of three years, by the faithlessness and rascalities of its sub-treasurers, as it had ever lost by all the banks since the adoption of the constitution. The fallacy of the system was quickly shown. Peculation and corruption became at once the order of the day; nor was it long before the officer who had only abstracted his hundred thousand was looked upon as a tolerable pattern of sub-treasury trustworthiness. It is fitting to remark, that in 1834, this same sub-treasury scheme was denounced by the whole Van Buren party as a measure unqualifiedly infamous; in 1837, he was equally denounced who was not in its favor:-so much had the new Democracy become enlightened in the interval. A wise statesman, in such a crisis, would have exercised his influence in sustaining both public and private credit. A patriot would have regarded the prosperity and happiness of the people as the great end of all government. Mr. Van Buren regarded "the party" as the object of his especial care, and his own re-election as of greater moment than the welfare of the state.

But in all his measures and plans, President Van Buren was doomed to disappointment. Public dissatisfaction was expressed in all forms, in every section of the country. Even the dominant party was divided and rent in sunder. Party trammels could no longer prevent an honest expression of feeling, and thousands of his friends left his ranks and deserted the measures which had brought down destruction upon their own heads. Mr. Van Buren, however, was determined in his course; he had taken to his embrace all the ultra-radicals of the country and listened to their counsels. There was not a vagary so wild, nor a theory so impracticable, that it could not find protection and friendship under the robe of the new Democracy. The President still believed in the efficacy of party discipline. Possibly he thought that as Gen. Jackson, in whose footsteps he had declared it was his highest ambition to follow, had succeeded in bold measures and radical innovations, he, too, might gain some laurels by a similar course. But events were otherwise ordered. His course had left him no power except that which was inherent

VOL. I.-NO. I.

in the office he held. When the day of trial came, his appeal to the "sober second-thought of the people" was answered by shouts of triumph and songs of rejoicing at the election of Gen. Harrison. As a public man, Mr. Van Buren's history is ended. Discarded by his own party and distrusted by the other, his career presents the singular spectacle of unvaried success through a long series of years suddenly closed by the most unexampled reverse in the annals of American politics. We believe he has private virtues, and that he may be by education and habit sufficiently well fitted to dignify a private station. In his retirement at Lindenwold he will survey the course of events with calmness and fortitude. He may be visited by the phantoms of ambitious schemes. He will behold the vast shadow of popular power, ever changing like a tumultuous mist in the valley, invite him down to enjoy again the unsubstantial pleasures, unstable triumphs, of a political career. But another and a meaner has been thrust before him; and he may now employ the leisure and abundant opportunities so kindly afforded, to reflect upon the mutations of the popular will, and to add to his busy experience in life some lessons of philosophic contemplation.

We have presented the prominent points in the history of the last two administrations for the purpose of showing under what circumstances the new Democratic party has perfected its organization. Any mention of the present administration would be out of its order in the narrative. If an exhibition of folly in all its phases is worthy of note, if treachery, perfidy, and imbecility need a record, the administration of John Tyler will demand a separate chapter.

We come, therefore, to the Democracy of the day, renewed into a diseased life from the corrupt remains of the Van Buren party. Professing more than ever an affection for the dear people, more than ever alarmed för the security of freedom and the rights of man, it is desirable to see of what this Democracy really consists.

Every thing has a character of some kind, but it is not always easy to discover what it is. The trouble in this case is, that a mere name, and falsely assumed, as we have seen, has been made a convenient external, universal habit for the party, covering all sorts of form and feature. There is no general character belonging

3

to them, throughout the country, expressed in any defined principles; it is everywhere traversed and broken asunder by sectional doctrines entirely discordant. They are all democrats; but their explanation of the happy term is ever according to their locality.

In South Carolina the man would meet with little short of decapitation, who should deny that the term means any thing else than immediate annexation of Texas, Free-Trade, and the Right of Disunion-this is the lex loci in that state, as laid down by the elect" chivalry." In Mississippi the same definition would be given, with Repudiation added, by way of illustrating the privileges of freemen. In Missouri a metallic currency is the popular exposition, joined with hatred of railroads, canals, turnpikes, and common schools. In Pennsylvania it signifies repudiation, if they have a mind for it; a half-regard for the tariff; and a Mussulman's belief in the consistency of James K. Polk. In New Hampshire and Connecticut it embraces whatever heresy is promulgated, and especially rejoices in peculiar ideas of liberty to annul legislative enactments. In Rhode Island the idea is embodied in rebellion against legal government, opposition to constituted authorities, and immunity for plunder and anarchy. In New York it has most of these traits and meanings combined, with several others of less significance.

The cardinal principles, indeed, of the new Democracy are reduced to these two: "regular nominations"-and that "to the victors belong the spoils of the enemy." All measures of a positive kind, having in view the substantial interests of the country, are constantly avoided; because on such grounds, it is seen, the harmony of the combination would be constantly endangered. There is something in positive measures which requires discussion, and discussion produces thought, and thought leads to inquiry-but the Democracy must not think. Hence the conduct of this faction, while it boasts so much of principle and censures its antagonists because like independent men they sometimes differ among themselves, has been ever negative and destructive. It has opposed the protection of the national industry; it has destroyed the national currency; it denies to the central government all legitimate and healthy powers, while it has enormously increased its corrupt patron

age, thus tending ever to make it strong for evil and impotent for good. It has always looked with an evil eye upon the national judiciary, because it has instinct, if not intelligence enough, to discern that there can be no friendship between itself and the spirit of constitutional law. It has found its very vital aliment in sowing dissensions between different classes of the community. It has endeavored to set the farmer against the manufacturer, the merchant against both. By its stupid cry of aristocracy, it has sought to engender the most unnatural war between those natural allies, the poor and the rich; and by its senseless babble about Democracy and Federalism, has aimed to raise up a fiercer party strife than has ever been known in the annals of our nation. This has been the finale of that charming picture of promise which Gen. Jackson presented in his letter to Mr. Monroe. This is the issue which has resulted from a prospect so full of hope which the country presented during the administrations of Monroe and Adams; and this is the Democracy which now claims the title and inheritance of an honored party, with which it has nothing in common but a name which it has most dishonestly filched, and to which alone it is indebted for more votes than it could have procured from any other cause whatever. This is the new Democracy

the Young Democracy, as some call it: a Democracy with which the Clintons, the Madisons, the Crawfords, and Monroes of former days could have held no communion: a Democracy, the rise of which some of those departed patriots were just permitted to witness and denounce a Democracy which has so largely figured in the prostration of the industry and currency of the countryin Mississippi repudiation-in South Ca rolina nullification-in Rhode Island mobs-in Congressional contempt for the most positive statutes-in repeated violations of the Constitution-in Texas treaties-in state bankruptcies, and the assumption of the debts of a foreign state

in a radical spirit spreading far and wide, and which threatens, if unchecked, to break up all the foundations of our government. It is a Democracy which everywhere allies itself with infidelity in religion-which holds in most sovereign contempt the intelligence of the people, as is shown by the_arguments it daily addresses to them. It is a Democracy which delights in the dregs of all

that was really objectionable in old Federalism, while it indulges in the foulest slander of the man who was the country's right-arm of strength in her hours of greatest peril. It is a Democracy which although young in years has already given promise of a numerous offspring, each wiser than the sire to which it owes its birth. Already, like some species of prolific cactus, is it sending forth its young shoots in offsets from Tammany, now as little thought of as the present loco-focoism was once, but destined in its time to become the young Democracy of its day, and to have its wild notions respecting community of property and marriage, and its hostility to the monopolies of colleges and academies, become the established doctrines of this ever advancing party. In the progression of ideas it has cast off its original founder, the man from whom it drew the very breath of life, and those who yet remain in its ranks are compelled to quicken their speed to keep up with its rapid pace, and to exhibit such a devotion to the growing spirit of lawlessness as is presented in the letter of Silas Wright to the committee of arrangements at the late Dorr meeting in Providence. So rapid is the Descensus Averni that the acts and writings of the founders of the Republic have long since ceased to furnish matter of appeal to these modern patriots. The name of Washington (significant omen!)-is never seen in the proceedings and resolutions of their meetings. Even the stale reiteration of Jeffersonian principles is becoming less and less frequent among them. In short, it is in every sense of the word a New Democracy, presenting new issues, new measures of destruction, a new and unexampled spirit of ultraradicalism, of which those whom they claim as their political progenitors had no conception. And all this marshalled under names as new as this new phase of the party itself, and yet, as they would have us to believe, names of renown, names connected with so many thrilling emotions-Polk, Tyler, and Texas.

Beyond the certainty that evil would follow, it is impossible to predict what the American people have to expect if such a Democracy shall succeed to the government. Certainly under such rule there can be no uniform and settled mode of action in any department of the government. It is the virtuous man only who, acting from deep and abiding principles, is ever consistent and uniform;

the juggler and the knave must bend to circumstances, and adopt such schemes of villany as the exigencies of his situation may require, to keep his neck from the gallows. We are earnest in this matter. It is a point of infinite moment. Our appeal is made to the clear judgment of the United People. As we have said, there is no really beneficent measure that the new Democracy can agree upon. What then, of benefit, can we look for? what of prosperity think to retain? what disasters not fear? The triumph of such a party, composed as it is of the ends and fragments of faction, would be the prelude to a scene of varying and inconsistent legislation, of temporizing and ill-digested measures, which would be destructive of every rational plan for the good of the commonwealth. No classes would be exempt from the influence of their discordant councils. We are taught by experience. have heretofore prostrated our commercial, agricultural, and manufacturing interests, and there is nothing in the future to be expected at their hands but anarchy instead of peace and good order, and change in the place of stability. If continued under their guidance, the country would at last be divided into factions, each pursuing its downward course with fatal celerity, crushing in its way all those institutions and laws which have given to the American Union its strength, freedom, and respectability.

They

What the people of this country now desire and need above all things is stability in the government. We have had, for a series of years, sudden transitions, which inevitably produce disorder. The elasticity of the American people is proverbial. Difficulties seem only to inspire them with courage. The ruinous measures which we have noticed could not long keep them in despair; and it was a proof of attachment to their institutions, not surpassed in the history of any people, that during all these times, while the whole weight of the federal government was interposed to check prosperity and enterprise, full obedience was rendered to the laws. They trusted to their own future action at the polls to remedy the existing evils. The inscrutable order of Providence deprived them of the President of their choice, and thereby of the means of effecting the desired reform, and as yet but one ameliorating measure has been adopted. A Whig Congress has given the country a protective tariff.

Under its operation the national revenues have increased beyond the hopes of the most sanguine industry has revived; workshops have been opened that had long been closed; and a new impulse has been given to all branches of enterprise. Facts give more light to men's minds than any series of reasonings. Is not, then, such a measure worthy of support? The conservative part of the Union are committed in favor of the protective policy, on the high ground of principle, and its candidate for the presidency is the father of the system. With Henry Clay at the head of the government, though the details of the law may undergo such modifications as the exigencies of the public may require, the people will have a guarantee that the principle itself will be sustained. On the other hand, the great body of the Democratic party are opposed to the principle. They hold up for the first office in the gift of the people a man, whose whole public course, his votes in Congress, public speeches and acts, convict him of a deep hostility to the system. This is openly proclaimed by his friends at the South, and no man there has the hardihood, and probably not the wish, to deny it. At the North, where the measure is popular, an attempt has been made to create a contrary impression, in direct contradiction of public records and established facts. It is sufficient that in his own neighborhood and state, Col. Polk's friends present it as the strongest inducement to public favor, that he is an uncompromising enemy to the whole protective policy. Duplicity like this is a sufficient condemnation of any party. In the event of his election, one portion of the people, at least, must be deceived by him, and it requires no gift of prophecy to determine on which the effects of the deception will fall.

The Whig party are also in favor of a wise and beneficent system of internal improvement. That whatever is national in character, or is evidently conducive to the common good, should be done at the common expense by the federal government, would seem to be the dictate of good sense and sound policy. The early and earnest action of the government on this subject, is conclusive evidence that the sages and patriots to whom we are indebted for our freedom and our constitution did not entertain such narrow views of the duties and powers of the general government as the

modern Democracy has adopted. But it is remembered that destructiveness is an element in the character of that party; they talk ever of progress, but it is not progression for good. The remembrance comes from fourteen years of their legislative sway in the State and in the nation. That the country has improved in any respect during that time, is owing to causes beyond the entire control of any party. The energy of our people, the fertility of our soil, the genial nature of the climate, and the security afforded for life, liberty, and property by the organic laws of the land, are happily beyond the reach of party power. In spite of bad administrations, natural causes have added to the growth and power of the nation. Under other rule it might have been half a century in advance of its present position. The people do not ask favors of their government, but they demand that its action shall not be always adverse to public good. Those whose very existence is bound up in partisan schemes, and whose only labor is the toil for office, seem to regard the interests of government and people as distinct. The people themselves are content when the government discharges its functions with fairness and equity; but they will not suffer their own public servants to play the part of tyrants and task-masters.

He

Above all, the Whig party contends for the integrity of the Union. For the mere acquisition of territory they will not consent to disturb the harmony and relationship which now exist among the States. No true-hearted American will stop to calculate the possible value of mortgaged lands in the wilderness, while there exists any danger that their acquisition will bring disgrace upon the character of the nation, or sunder the ties that have hitherto bound us together. will look with indignation upon that flag, flung to the breeze in one section of the country, inscribed with those words of dark omen, "Free-Trade-Texas-Disunion!" If his heart beats with one patriotic emotion, he will be found only under the banner of stars and stripes, which in every latitude protects and shields the American citizen. Is there an American who does not appreciate the benefits and blessings of the Union? Let him cast his eyes across the ocean, and see men fighting with their fellows for the very crumbs that fall from the beggar's hand-unpaid labor and luxurious indolence-excesses of wealth, and the direst