Alexandria Gazette

MONDAY MORNING, MARCH 20

Making a Party.—The circumstances under which Mr. Tyler was placed at the head of this Government were different from those of his predecessors. He was not elected by the people to that high station; nor is it at all probable that he would have been elected, had his name been placed before them as a candidate. He could not carry his own State for the Vice Presidency; and though nominated, no doubt, with a view, in some measure, to relieve the apprehensions of the South on the subject of abolition, he had not sufficient weight either with the nation, or with any one of the great political parties, even to serve as the basis of any reasonable anticipation that he would ever, under any circumstances, attain to the station he now occupies, by his merits, his talents, or his services. The results of what is aptly termed the "Hard-cider Campaign," are, however, amply sufficient to show how little reliance can be placed in the most artful devices of human cunning. Scarcely had the corruptions, the delusions, and debauches of this memorable campaign obtained a triumph, when an accident, which these short-sighted deceivers might have foreseen, deprived them of all the fruits of victory, and the man they had chosen as a tool, became their master.

Thus situated, Mr. Tyler, who brought to the executive chair but little intrinsic weight, and could rally but few friends in its support, had his choice of men and measures; and a difficult one it certainly was, to one who has more than once, twice, thrice—nay scores of times—shown himself without any settled principles, and, if possible, still more deficient in firmness to maintain those he professes to cherish. There can be little doubt that he would have entered into the views of the Whig party, thoroughly, had it not been perfectly apparent that such a course would only serve to strengthen Mr. Clay, the great champion of that party's measures, and thus interfere with his views of the succession; for we believe Mr. Tyler early entertained hopes of ultimately obtaining, by a direct vote of the people, what accident alone had bestowed. Still, he went as far as he could, and approved every measure most obnoxious to the Democracy, with the exception of one; against which he had so often publicly committed himself, that an approval would have covered him with lasting infamy. He showed that he was willing to sacrifice the Democratic party, by giving his sanction to every measure but one, whichever acknowledged Democratic Senator opposed; and by placing in his cabinet either notorious Federalists, or renegade Democrats.

All this did not, however, serve his purpose. He refused his approbation to the great measure of all—the favorite bantling of old Lady Federalism, the grand instrument of paper money and corruption; and he was driven from the ranks, discharged, drummed out, with every circumstance of ignominy. The only mutiny in the Federal ranks, on this occasion, was that denominated the Corporal's Guard which followed, and still continues to follow, his tattered banner.

The next step of Mr. Tyler was the attempt to nuzzle himself into the ranks of the Democratic party. He had come to the presidential chair (as Mr. Spencer states in his famous letter) without party, and he must either find or make one. The party with which he associated himself, and to which he was indebted for his elevation, had discarded and denounced him: and he found himself placed in the situation of the bat in the fable, who, having alternately deserted the beasts and the birds, was disclaimed by both. He took to wooing the Democracy, with all the ardor of a first love; and his organs all at once proclaimed that the friends of Mr. Tyler were one and indivisible with the Democratic party—meaning, we presume, that Messrs. Webster and Spencer, now at the head of the two most important departments of Government, were first-rate Democrats.

In short, he evinced the sincerity of his conversion by every demonstration except that of his acts. As might be anticipated from a clear-sighted people, the Democracy resisted these seductive allurements. They had no objection to Mr. Tyler becoming a Democrat if he chose, but they had great objections to becoming Tyler men. Mahomet might come to the mountain if he pleased, but the mountain would not go to Mahomet.

In short, the people had no idea of making a man deacon the day after joining the church; and they utterly demurred to being one and indivisible with Mr. Webster, Mr. Spencer, and other shining lights of Federalism.

This unceremonious rejection of his addresses placed Mr. Tyler in something like a vacuum. He could find no party anywhere, and nothing was left but to make one. He had tried principle, and want of principle; but all would not do. There remained but one resort—and that was, a direct and public appeal to personal interest, through means of Executive patronage. In order to make this as effectual as possible, it was necessary that this great effort of statesmanship should be universally understood and properly appreciated. Accordingly, that discreet young gentleman Mr. Cushing was commissioned to make public proclamation in the presence of the assembled wisdom of the nation, that, for the first time in the history of our country, the patronage of the Government was offered at public sale—not, indeed, for money, but men;—not for so many purses, as in the Mussulman empire, but for an equivalent in desertion of principle, and abject subserviency to Executive will. Every unprincipled knave was invited to desert the Democracy, and send in his adhesion to the one and indivisible friends of Mr. Tyler; and the experience of every passing day clearly indicates that the Executive patronage is, and will be, exclusively directed to divide and distract a party which could neither be cajoled nor deceived. It is in this way, and by endeavoring to establish a distinction between new and old Democrats, that the miserable drivellers who now direct the councils of Mr. Tyler expect to triumph over that stern, inflexible Democracy, which is as old as the world, which has never changed, and never will change, its name or its principles; which can neither be bought nor sold; and which, if deceived for a moment by false professions, or visionary hopes, is ever sure to return to the fold of the true shepherd. We look upon Mr. Tyler, and those in whose hands he is but a mere instrument, to be the most dangerous enemies the Democracy has now to encounter, and all continue to denounce them as such, without reserve.—Globe.