Martinsburg Gazette And Public Advertiser

POLITICAL:

The Administration and Opposition.

Opposition to the administration, secretly determined from the moment John Quincy Adams was raised to the Presidency, has on the occasion of the Panama Mission displayed itself in organized form, resolute purpose, and vindictive rancour. That harmless, if not beneficial measure, the only one which it has recommended apart from the ordinary concerns of the Government, and which for these reasons, presented the object against which preconcerted opposition might be most safely directed, without incurring a disagreeable responsibility to constituents, has been selected as the theme of reprobation, and the topic of popular declamation and invidious insinuation against the purity, and designs of the Government. The ranks are formed, the leaders chosen, the march designated, and the intention avowed, to drive the existing Administration, constitutionally appointed, from the Government. At such a time, and under such circumstances, it is important to examine into the character of the party thus created, to see who it is that composes it, to ascertain their ultimate objects, and to consider the consequences to which their machinations may expose the great interest of the Union.

Up to this period, parties in the United States have been based upon principle--upon different views of the Government best suited to the character, wants and condition of the people--or upon different constructions of the character of Government. Such were the Federalists and Anti Federalists--the Republican and Federalists. As these parties acted upon principle, so they were as parties sincere in their convictions, and honest in their views--they were parties in short, necessarily growing out of the nature of things, and necessary to preserve the healthy condition of the government. They were parties, present all over the Union and dividing the people, and not factions. But a new epoch in our civil history has arrived. And a new party differing in its constitution and purpose, from all former parties, has during the present winter hoisted its flag on the wall of the Capitol of the United States.--This party is composed of the partisans of the defeated Presidential Candidates, of the personal enemies of the President, the personal enemies of Mr. Secretary Clay, and the disappointed from whatsoever cause. From whatsoever source, and from whatsoever quarter. These elements compose the opposition--the opposition not "to the mal-administration of the Government," but to the men who compose it--not to the Mission to Panama, but to the men, John Q. Adams and Henry Clay--to bad measures, but to good measures too, where the fear of the people impose no restraint upon the licentiousness of faction. In this combination we see all sorts of extremes, physical, constitutional and moral, meeting---old Republicans and ultra Federalists--the black cockade and red breeches--strict construction and latitudinarianism--Roads and Canals and State Rights--the leader of the Kentucky relief, and the New York Bucktails--selfish, subtle, and cautious cunning, and open denunciation--finally, Vice-President Calhoun, and Col. John Randolph. We read in scripture, that one day the lamb and the lion shall lie down together in peace and good will; but here is a reconciliation accomplished without the aid of the millennium, equally incredible. Be it remembered, however, that this union is temporary--that it has been formed for a particular purpose only, and that as soon as this is effected, it will immediately dissolve in its own discord--and the elements resume their former and natural hostility. They who compose it, hunt together not on the principle of the lion and the jackall--but the Lion and the Tiger. The prey when run down, is not to be divided on partnership principles, but Mr. Lion, whosoever be he, Gen. Jackson or Mr. Calhoun, will claim it all. When this catastrophe happens, and we live to see it, we shall heartily pray that reynard may step in, and disappoint both and all of the hungry and rapacious cannibals.

This, fellow citizens, is the constitution of the new party at Washington, and these are the ultimate objects of their united exertion. If any portion of the party is honest in its opposition--If any portion be regulated by the desire to confine the Government (as is the pretence of all) within the pale of the Constitution, and Jeffersonian principles that portion consists of a few Crawford men, who by the extraordinary events of the last twelve months, find themselves now acting with Mr. Crawford's bitterest personal and political enemies, and to promote that object which they a short time since feared as the greatest evil that could befall the Union. We mean the election of John C. Calhoun, the highest handed latitudinarian of the day--the representative of the feelings and principles of that State, from which according to John Randolph, all the bitterest pills have come--the election we say, of John C. Calhoun to the Presidency of the United States." We will not comment upon the singularity of this event--or trace the circumstances which brought it about--or congratulate these friends of Mr. Crawford upon the company in which they find themselves. But surely, of all the remarkable revolutions of opinion which distinguish the present times, the most remarkable is, that John Randolph should have turned hewer of wood and drawer of water, for the late Secretary of War--that the direct tendency of his political course, if not of his purpose, should be to elevate the Vice President to the Presidency of the United States.

The opposition then is organized--it is comprised of the most discordant and dissimilar materials--of persons radically distinct in political opinion possessed of radically different ulterior views--and united upon the single, isolated concurrent wish, of overthrowing the present Administration. It is self evident, that a combination so formed, and so governed, is a faction an unprincipled faction--founded on dissimulation to each other, and treachery to the interests of the country--begun in disappointment--nurtured by envy and ambition--and ending it may be, in the overthrow of the existing Administration, but certainly (as all unprincipled combinations end) in quarreling among one another.

Meanwhile, we anticipate from this unrighteous and premature opposition, increased strength and popularity to the Government. The feelings which inspired this faction are confined to the city of Washington, and to those breasts in which ambition rages, disappointment burns, or interest calculates. They are not participated in by the mass of the people. Contented to live under a constitutional government, constitutionally administered, the people are indifferent about the name of the President, his pedigree, or the place of his nativity.--Feeling themselves possessed of the equal rights of freemen--seeing these rights secured to all around them--seeing their country happy, prosperous and abundant--unoppressed by the tax-gatherer--by the weight of the present, or fears of the future--the people will neither catch the contagion of faction, or be duped by interested ambition. Looking from the past to the future, relying implicitly upon the intelligence and patriotism of the great constituent body, the expectation is much more reasonable, that the machinations of this faction will recoil upon itself, and that the patriotism of the wise and the moderate, interposed between a well meaning Government and a designing faction, will confer on the former increased confidence and popularity.

In our government, it is not very material whether the Administration is supported by a majority in Congress or not. Do its worst, and an adverse majority can do no more, than perplex, or defeat some measure unessential to the interests of the nation. They cannot--dare not--stop the wheels of Government. They dare not withhold those supplies of money, without which the Government cannot hold together. They dare not refuse to confirm those appointments without which the Government and the justice of the country be administered." They may select this measure for an example of their vengeance, or that victim for their resentment, but they must after all, see that the Constitution and the laws are enforced. We are not in England, where a ministerial minority is the signal for a change of ministry. We have a written Constitution, periodical elections, and an intelligent constituent body. To these, we are willing to consign the fate of a government in whose purity and good intention we have confidence, and of a faction for whose designs we have neither respect nor confidence.

Con. Whg.