The Whig Standard

WHO ARE THE WHIGS?

In the Whig ranks in this State, we find that venerable officer of the Revolution, Gen. Pierre Van Cortlandt, as well as Maj. Van Campen, and other heroes of '76. We find also in the same ranks, those illustrious patriots, James Kent and Ambrose Spencer. Should not this fact convince every reasonable man that the Whig cause is a just cause—that Whig principles are good principles—and Whig measures wise measures?

What inducement can the heroes of the Revolution, whose heads are whitened by the frosts of nearly a hundred years, have to promote the triumph of any party unless they sincerely believe it to be a pure and upright party?

Why should learned and wise jurists, whose whole lives have been ardently devoted to upholding the institutions of their country, and administering impartial justice on the grand principles laid down by the founders of our Constitution, be anxious for the success of the Whig candidates, unless they believe that their triumph would be the triumph of law, order, and honesty? It is useless for the Locofocos to deny it, the Whigs of the Revolution are the Whigs of the present day, and all those, without a solitary exception, who have during the last fifty years manifested a firm and unwavering attachment to the Constitution of the United States, and who love the Union as it is, are also Whigs. It is in the Locofoce ranks that we find the nullifiers and disunionists of South Carolina, and the disorganizers, and Dorr-ites, and Texas lovers, and Mormons, and repudiators of every State.

If we examine the list of those who have within the last few years conferred the most liberal benefactions upon the humane, religious, or literary institutions of the country, we find that all, with scarcely an exception, are ardent supporters of the Whig cause. Who gave $50,000 to the New England Institution for the Blind? Thomas H. Perkins, a Whig. Who gave $10,000 to Williams College? Amos Lawrence, a Whig? Who gave $20,000 to the Mercantile Association of Boston? Abbott Lawrence, a Whig. Who gave $60,000 to the Massachusetts General Hospital? A few Whig merchants and manufacturers of Boston. Who gave the State of Massachusetts $10,000 for the promotion of the cause of popular education? Edward Dwight, a Whig. Who gave during his life more than $100,000 to Brown University, and at his death bequeathed $30,000 to the State of Rhode Island for an Insane Hospital? Nicholas Brown, a Whig? Who gave to the same State, for the last mentioned purpose, $40,000? Cyrus Butler, a Whig. Who gave $30,000 to the Hartford Athenaeum? Daniel Wadsworth, a Whig. Who paid for the writing, publication, and gratuitous distribution of 10,000 copies of a valuable work on education, in every school district in New York? James Wadsworth, a Whig.

We might extend this list almost indefinitely. But enough has already been said to prove that the Whig party in this country numbers among its members the greatest benefactors of our race, of which the nation can boast.—Troy Whig.