Massachusetts and Maine are deprived of half a million of dollars, judged by the two Houses of Congress to be righteously their due; and this without the assignment of a reason or even a pretence. When to this is added that the defeat by the votes of his friends in the House of Representatives, of the land bill, which was carried through the Senate by the extraordinary efforts and talents of Mr. Clay, has deprived the people of the two States of an annual dividend of half the above-named sum, it will be admitted that their citizens have no cause to wish the continuance of his administration. funds of which we have been thus deprived, and partly by the individual act of the President, would have carried on a judicious system of public works and internal improvements in every part of the Commonwealth. The It Should the election in Maine correspond with our anticipations, New-Hampshire will be the only State voting against Gen. Jackson in 1828, and likely to vote for him in 1832. is a matter of painful reflection, that while it is necessary even in Tennessee to choose the electors by general ticket rather than in districts, to prevent the loss of at least one of the electoral votes, the intelligence and patriotism of this part of NewEngland should be mastered by the corrupting influences that have been so sedulously applied to it. Passing onward to the South, it is impossible to find another electoral vote, which the President is sure to obtain, till we reach Maryland, where one or two of the districts may possibly still adhere to him. The four remaining States of New-England, New-York, NewJersey, and Delaware, a large majority of the votes in Maryland, and as we believe the vote of Pennsylvania, will be given in opposition to the incumbent. As far as present appearances authorize an opinion, we consider it certain that the following votes will be given against Gen. Jackson, viz: Massachusetts 14, Vermont 7, Rhode Island 4, Connecticut S, New-York 42, New-Jersey 8, Pennsylvania 30, Delaware 3, Maryland 7, Louisiana 5, Kentucky 15, Ohio 21; in the aggregate 164. To these we add, as highly probable, Maine 10, South Carolina 11, Indiana 9, which added to the former sum give 194; the whole number of votes being 288. It is evident, then, that after all requisite allowance is made for erroneous calculations, we are still authorized to come to the conclusion that if the opponents of the Administration are true to themselves, its doom is sealed. But it is only by union among themselves that this great and paramount object can be accomplished. Much has been done; much is doing; the spirit of the people is aroused; the grievance is felt; the peril of the country has come home to the hearts of men; but one thing still is wanting, cordial and effective union. To this we beg leave most earnestly to exhort our fellow-citizens, warning them that nothing less than their undivided strength will suffice for the great work to be performed, and assuring them that with it the plague that is now wasting us may be arrested, and the country saved. Let it not be forgotten for a moment, nor by any citizen, that since the formation of the Constitution no period so critical of its fate has existed. There is too much reason to fear that, in one event of the election, it is the last which will ever be held in these now United States; and we cannot but exhort our fellow-citizens of the Commonwealth and the Union at large to approach the impending crisis with the spirit belonging to the occasion. We have to contend with a party lately possessing a majority in the country, organized under the most skilful political tacticians, wielding unscrupulously the entire patronage of the government, openly proposing the highest offices in the public service as the spoils of victory, inundating through the means of the post-office the remotest corners of the Union with the effusions of a press of unexampled malignity, and besieging the polls with the entire host of office-holders. Against this formidable array the friends of the constitution and of a government of laws have to contend, with no other weapons but those of truth and a zealous patriotism. We implore our countrymen of all names and parties, opposed to the Administration, to arise, unite, and carry on the great work so nobly begun. Already the strength of the Administration is crumbling in the State of Pennsylvania, whose support originally called it into being, and of New York, whose later adhesion seemed to raise it above the fear of opposition. It has been found that the mad boast that the popularity of the President will bear any thing, has betrayed those who trusted it too far. The popularity of a gallant and successful military commander (from whom the National Republicans of Massachusetts never withheld any reasonable ackowledgment) could indeed bear much; but there is a limit to endurance. The law of the land, the independence of both branches of the National Legislature, the Supreme Court of the United States, the currency of the country, the leading principles of public policy, the characters of its best and purest citizens, the Constitution and the Union, all of which have been assailed, trampled upon, or menaced, are too costly a sacrifice to be offered up to any man. The Convention rejoice in the belief that the time has not yet come in the United States when any man's popularity will bear this. Too much has been exacted of the supporters of the Administration. The extraordinary spectacle has been exhibited of a President nominally retaining the confidence of a majority of the People and of their representatives, but complaining, through his recognized organ, that not one of his measures can obtain the sanction of Congress. But at last the delusion is broken. Press after press, district after district, State after State, of those once devoted to him, is giving way; a tremendous reaction has taken place; and it is at this time a matter of serious doubt whether there is a single individual in the United States, unbiassed by the possession or the expectation of office or emolument, and whose judgment is entitled to respect, who will say that the present Administration can be continued with safety to the country. It is one of But the last struggle will no doubt be severe. life or death to those who subsist on the spoils of victory. The opponents of the Administration have strength enough to overturn it, but none to waste on mutual dissensions or a warfare with each other. Considerate and reflecting men must come forward, and let their voices be heard. Hasty and indiscreet. partizans of no denomination must be permitted to sow discord between the forces united in this patriotic warfare. The last hope of the Administration is in our divisions. Bereft of strength in itself, it now relies on the weakness of the separate sections of those opposed to it. It strives to excite dissensions among them, and exasperate them against each other. But it strives in vain, and the Convention trust that they speak the voice of their constituents when they proclaim it as their own sentiment, that not one vote in opposition to the present Administration shall be thrown away. In discharging the duty devolved upon them of nominating a list of Electors, the Convention present to the good People of the Commonwealth the names of fourteen citizens, believed to be devoted, on patriotic principle, to the election of Henry Clay and John Sergeant, as President and Vice President of the United States. The Convention does not deem it necessary to enlarge upon the merits of these distinguished individuals, already adopted as their candidates by the people of the Commonwealth, by whom we are ourselves delegated, and by the National Republican Convention assembled at Baltimore. In Mr. Clay the people of the United States behold a statesman of the most distinguished talents, of long and various experience in the public service, and of the most devoted and generous patriotism. In early youth and in maturer years, as a citizen and as a representative, at home and abroad, in peace and in war, in the chair of the House of Representatives, in a most important diplomatic capacity, in the cabinet and in the Senate, he has been the strenuous, indefatigable, eloquent and triumphant supporter of those principles of government and policy on which the union of the States and prosperity of the People depend. Mr. Sergeant is eminent among the first jurists and statesmen of the country. His professional respectability, and public services both at home and abroad, are such as to entitle him to the support of the People of the United States for the high station to which he has been nominated by the National Republican party. The entire political lives of these distinguished statesmen are a guaranty to the country that, beneath their auspices, the reign of violence, of arbitrary discretion, of secret influence and peremptory dictation will pass away, and that of civil rule will return. Under their Administration, the people of the United States will enjoy, what they are now deprived of,the benefit of a government of law. The directory of the Administration will be sought in the statute book, and the other constitutional depositaries of the law, and not in a private executive construction. Offices, whose uncorrupt discharge is essential to the welfare of the people, will no longer be regarded as spoils of victory. Appointments repeatedly negatived by the constitutional advisers of the President will not be renewed, by his sole will, the moment that the Senate adjourns. The execution of laws will not be suspended on the pretence of their unconstitutionality. The countenance of the Administration will not be extended to an unprincipled press, nor offices of trust and emolument bestowed as the reward of the slanderer. The patronage of the Government will not yet be exerted to defeat the will of the People. The great domestic interests of the country will be upheld, by a steady, unequivocal support. Its industry will be spared the shock of a disordered currency. The faith of treaties will be kept sacred; and the honor of the United States be sustained in their intercourse with foreign governments; and the union of the States, the precious legacy we have inherited from our fathers, will be preserved unimpaired for our children. These are the objects for which we contend. If we succeed in the noble effort, we shall enjoy the satisfaction of having contributed to rescue our beloved country in the hour of her dearest peril. If we are destined to fail and it is appointed by an all-wise Providence, that our country shall be abandoned to a continuance of that misrule, which has brought it to the verge of ruin, we shall have the consolation that we, at least, were not wanting to our duty. The interests at stake are beyond all power of description. Mighty battles of nations arrayed against each other, may be lost or won, with no other effect than to decide by what name of tyranny both shall be oppressed. But if in the great civil warfare now waged, the friends of the country are defeated; if, by the divisions of those who march beneath it, the banner of the Constitution is cloven down, the cause of liberty protected by law is sacrificed for all nations, and for all time. The crisis is fearful, the danger impending, the responsibility tremendous; and this Convention calls upon every man, as he loves his country, to come forward and do his duty. NATHANIEL SILSBEE, President. |