The National Republican And Ohio Political Register

NATIONAL REPUBLICAN.
CINCINNATI:
FRIDAY, APRIL 25, 1823.

CONGRESSIONAL CAUCUS.

We rejoice to learn that the proposition which has been made by the partizans of discord and confusion, to distract and paralyze the influence of the republican party, by means of a congressional caucus, is justly estimated, and universally denounced by the people. The opposition to such a measure, essentially corrupt, and necessarily involving a high degree of political intrigue and moral turpitude, is heard in a tone of remonstrance, from every extremity of the Union. The public virtue and moral feelings of the nation have been roused, and will ultimately triumph. The great body of the American people, at all times capable of forming a just estimate of their rights, and of duly appreciating the patriotic services and qualifications of their most distinguished fellow citizens, will be respected and their voice heard, in the manner pointed out by the constitution. It is, however, a source of much pride and gratification to the friends of good order and the free suffrages of the people, to know that a project so contrary to the genius of our governments and the welfare of the nation, has no advocates out of the faction of the Treasury Department. That monstrous engine of intrigue and political management, supported, as it is, by a most extensive though indirect patronage, of great power and influence, may possibly procure a congressional nomination for the Presidency, but can never control the government through the votes of the people. The enemies of domestic manufactures and important public improvements calculated to place the internal resources of the nation upon the most solid and lasting foundation, must resort to some other scheme to cajole the people, or they will sink to a contemptible minority. We pretend to no very extensive knowledge of this ambitious and plodding party, (composed chiefly of apostate federalists and the discontented and disappointed of all parties) but if the particular friends and leading adherents of Mr. Crawford, do not curse the day in which they interfere with the rights of the citizens, and usurp the prerogatives of the people, by a corrupt congressional nomination, we will consent to be taken for the most consummate blockheads in the country.

The time has been when an attempt to raise an individual to the highest honors of our government, by employing the members of the National Legislature as instruments of secret influence and political juggling, would have been met by the united detestation of every freeman in Virginia; and we do not yet believe, notwithstanding some suspicious indications to the contrary, that the pride and spirit of that ancient state will suffer itself to be employed in the service of a faction, whose measures have a direct tendency to break up the foundation of the Old Republican party and destroy its influence and power in the Union. There are considerations of vital importance to the future growth and prosperity of that state, which will, in our opinion, induce her to unite in support of the liberal and enlightened views of national policy, now urged upon the government by the middle and western states. Virginia cannot sustain her present standing and political power in the Union, by following the views and policy of any other section of the country. New-York, until she abandons her petty strifes and unimportant local divisions, by which she has become degraded in her own eyes and in those of the whole Union, and brings forward her first and best men for high and important offices under the general government, must content herself to act a secondary and subordinate part in the councils of the nation. The population, talents and resources, of that great state, in the present situation of the Presidential canvass, with an undivided effort of all her influence in favor of any candidate she might choose to select, either from her own state or that of any other, would give a new turn to the election, and probably decide the contest.—But it is from the ancient prejudices of Virginia, and the political distractions of New-York, the friends of Mr. Crawford calculate to draw their chief support. It is not impossible, but such a union and understanding may take place between those two states, as to disappoint the high hopes and confident expectations of the partizans of the Georgia candidate.