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I Imvo sworn upon the Altar of God, eternal hostility to every form of Tyranny over Die Mind of MahVy-ThomM Jeffi-won.
MINTED AND PUBLISHED BY ll WEOD,
Volume IE. B&OOMSBUIiCr, OOIiUMBIA COTOTY, PA. ' SAOTSSBAJ, ' SEPTEMBER 22, 1838.
Bsusnljei 82.
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333si5
OFFICE OF. THE DEM0CH.A.T, .
Next ooit to Romson's Staok Office.
Tlit GOLUMBM DEMOCRAT will be
published every Saturday morning, at
TWO DOLLARS per annum, payable
half yearly in adilancc, or Two Dollars
Fifty Cents, if not paid within the year.
iVb subscription ioill be taken for a shorter
.period than six months; nornny discon
tinuance permitted, until all arrearages
are discharged. , , ,
ADVERTISEMENTS not exceeding a
, tquare will be conspicuously inserted at
' One Dollar for the first three insertions,
and Twenty-five cents for every subse
quent nsertlon. ZPA liberal discount
. wade to those who. advirlisc by the yjear.
LETTERS addressed en business, must
be fost paid.
. At an .adjoined meeting of the Dtiino
cratic Committee of" Correspondence of
f Columbia county, convened at the house of
John, Rhodes, in Danville, on the iJOlh ult.
on motion, it was ,
"Resolved That a Committee of fire
tec appointed to draft an Address to the Free
men of Columbia County upon the subject
of the approaching Governor's election."
Whereupon, the Chair appointed John
Cooper, V. Beat, II, Webb, Levi L. Tate,
and Stephou Baldy, Esq1 said Committee.
I pursuance of their appointment, fno
Committee submit the following
ADDRESS.
From the year 1789 until the present
,.' hour, two gteat political parties have divi
ded the, people of the, United States. The;
' federal (?.nd the. democratic party. The,
J leading features which distinguished the two
parties have cccfinued unphajiged,taiid "$ill,
' remain unchangeable, eo long as pur coun
try, exists aa a republic and a free expres
sion of onimon is considered a constitutional
j
right,
It it however worthy of observation, that
the great democratic party, from the mo
'"ment of its existence, until now, has acted
" and been designated by its original name.
"Whereas the, federal or aristocratic party,
at, if contcious of the odium attached tp its
principles, has exhausted.the political voca-
dnilaiy, in the adoption of a succession of
names, which its leaders have vainly imag
ined, would serve as a garb, to coAC.eal
from the people the aristocralical tendency
of its measures. Thus we find the party
styled "National Republicans," "Friends
of the American System," and finally after
calling to their aid the Anti-masons and Abo
litionists, they have amalgamated and re
iolred themselves 'into a puvty under the
once revered name of "Whigs," us if by
this gros perversion and profanation of a
name, they could change the nature of men
knd measures 11
But however by this sort qf political era-
pyricism they may delude themselves, they
annot deceive us; the cloven foot will dis
play itself, arid by whatever name it is their
good will and pleasure to call themselves,
we can recognize them as no other, than the
arrogant, domineering, and aristocratic ene
my, with whom wo had to contend in 1798.
The same party who opposed i nomas jet-
ferson, and tried by a disgraceful trick, to
place Aaron Burr in the presidential chair.
The same party, who by bargain and salo
Villi Henry Clay, elected John Quwcy Ad
ams. The same party, who supported
James Rossof Pittsburg, and opposed and
slandered Simon Snyder and the same par
ty, who taking advantage of the unfortunate
division in our ranks' in 1885, elected Jo
soph Ritner; Thooame black cockade fed
eral party, who on all occasions, and at all
timuj, have arrayed thoinsclvtw against the
tights of the people, nnd tin 64ine party
who have always contended for a latitudina
gnnsiructiou of the constitution of the Uni
iwl States, and hayo over been intent on di
tnintsUinrf the power of the people, and
strengthening lixo aim cf. tbo general gov-
omiment.
Thu party, although decidedly to the mi-
from adventitous circumstances. One prin
cipal cause of their power to injure, op
press, and defraud their fellow citizens, is,
that Bid.dle'n old and new Bank, have given
them the command of the currency.. This
bank of thirty-five millions capital, control
as it did, and does, 900 of the State Banks,
ins with them united in a crusade against
the popular control of the general govern
ment. Owned as they are, by federalists
and foreigners, they, have contrived by the
expulsion of the metallic currency from
circulation, to substitute their own paper;
which they issue to an unlimited and illimi
table amount; and having thus the monicd
power within their grasp, they can pur
chase those, whose venality is greater than
heir hontsty, whatever, and whosoew.
can be bribed or purchased,.- they can pur
chase, and bribct And if not checked in
time, the banks will make Presidents, Con
gressmen, Governors; they will make ma
jorities in each of the State Legislatures,
he advocates ef banks will fill all executive
and judicial officers. , Banks will bo. the
principal object of legislation; and the mass
of the people, the fanners, mechanics and
laborers, .will be compelled in silence and
despair, to give up the proceeds of their la
bors, in the-shape of taxes, interest, 'and.
exchanges, to sustain the officers, stockhold
ers, and advocates of these monied corpora
tions, while they, with Nicholas Biddle and
Joseph Ritner at their head, wallow in lux
ury and idjeness., The banks will point
out to political men, ways and means by
which they can improve their fortunes by
speculations in stock. To rnen in trade
they hold out the allurements of borrowing
on easy terms.- To their . hired attornies
tliey pay, large fees. They subsidize and
purchase up printing presses. They get
connected and intertwined vitir the public
improvements, and to the speculator they
offer irresistible temptations.. To resist and
overcome a po.wcr like thisj will indeed re
quire the united, strength, talent, and exer
tion of the democratic party.
If in addition to the banking power, with
the command of the currency, money, ex
changes, and business of the country, the
party can obtain government patronage; if
they succeed 111 continuing and perpetuating
an Union, between tlie uscal concerns ol
government, and the commercial business
of the country, so as to make the prosperity
or adversity of the Union dependent upon
commerce, and the fluctuating nature of its
pursuits; if by backing the credit of the
banks vyith the funds of government, they
can secure circulation to their paper, ex
clude the precious metals from circulation,
and bring all matters and men engaged in
merchandize or speculation, within the
sphere of their control and influence; then
indeed, the days of our republic are num
bered, and we become tho seifs, the slaves,
of a monied oligarchy and this is the con
summation so devoudy 'wished for by the
federal party. .
It is this party, who lavor monopolies,
and exclusive privilege; who are forever
preaching the sanctity of vested chartered
rights, nud justifying every act of aggres
sion, or infraction of the conditions ol tneu
charters, by these monied corporations
who apply the names of Jacobin, disorgan
izer, Loco Fcco, Agrarian, to everyone
who has manliness, and independence, to
resist their encroachments, r.nd to insist up
on their being held responsible for the ful
filment of the conditions under which they
are allowed jo get rich, at the expense of
their fellow citizens. Time nor space will
allow us to trace with more minutenesss,
the dangers attendant upon the nefarious
schemes of this blaekaockade federal party;
suffice it in this place to say, that to this
party Joseph Ritner has attached himself
and by this party must ho bo supported or
not at nil.
The Democratic party on the contrary,
are frumdly to s perfect equality of political
rights and privileges averse to unnecessa
ry multiplication of corporations, for any
purpose for b. etrict construction of tho
charter of car liberties as handed, dowa to
framed it. In that instrument they can
discover no power, delegated by the States,
to create any bank or other incorporation.
Their creed is that the people, and they on
ly, are tho legitimate source from which all
power must emanate, and that when they
grant 'flower, or privilege, upon the abuse
of Cither, they have the right, and it is their
duly to resume it and that although they
are not unfavorable to banks properly con
ducted, and properly restricted, chartered
by the States; yet they repudiate with scorn,
the idea, that these institutions, once having
obtained a charter, may infringe with impu
nity its conditions and yet hold their char
ter, inviolate dining the time for which they
wero incorporated. In fine, the democrat
ic party are in favor of a government, which
depends for its strength and duration on the
popular will and having discovered by
woeful experience, that these irresponsible
corporations, are hot to bo trusted, arc in
favor of a complete and perfect divorce of
banks and government. Such are some of
the leading traits, which distinguished tli
democratic party from the federal or aristo
cratic party above described., To this par
ty, David R. Porter has been attached till
his life, and the democratic convention of
iMarch las, having maturely weighed his
claims, and his merits, offer him to you as
the candidate of the democratic party; and
we confidently assure you, that as such, he
will receive the eupport of the democracy
of tho State.
We shall now proceed as briefly as wc
well can, to instance some facts which af
ford reasons why Joseph Ritner should not
he elected. Among the most prominent, is,
that he approved of and signed, on tho 18ih
February, 1830, an act to charter a slate
bank, to be called "the United States bank."
lircp)iseqtfem1eoritieivrsidnTir inc cIcmm
ocratic party in 1835, the federal party com
posed of whigs and anli-masona, succeeded
in obtaining a majority cf the members of
the. house of representatives, who in con
junction with a band of twelve traitors in
tho senate, against the cxpieased wish of
the people, without a single petition, and
without giving time for remonstancc, con
trived to continue this odious and detestable
institution, under a charter from tho most
democratic state in the Union. And this
institution; conceived in wickedness and
treason, and brought forth in bribery and
corruption, by its midwife Joseph Ritner,
fifteen months after its birth, becomes bank
rupt, takes the lead in the stoppage of spe
cie payments; and three weeks before Bid
die had determined to withdraw all the spe
cie of the country to export to England, he
had shin-plasters struck, for some 200 nr
300,000 dollars laying on his counter ready
for distribution. Thus did this farmer gov
ernor, as his friends call him become the
fathei of the shin-plaster system, by which
his fellow citizens have been robbed and
plundered for sixteen months. The very
title to the act, incorporating this wen on
the body politic, is a fraud' in terms, and in
tended for a deception, We will not dwell
longer on this disgusting theme, than to ay
generally, that Joseph Ritner'a deseascd
anxiety toi he re-elected, has made him the
supple and plaint tool of the bank of the
United States, and her subordinate mnnicd
corporations and that he is bound hand
and iot, to obey the behests of these, his
mastlrs, to whom he iu sold body and soul.
By tllem ho breathes, and lives, and has his
bcinglas a political entity;. and he, as In
duly Inund, lauds benefactors, qnd screens
them Vrom merited punishment. If there
were i4 other reasons to oppose him, this
would le nufiicient.
Josephutner ought tp he opppsed, beeauso
when l was pglected it waa promised,
that he Vraa to ratrctjeh expenses and re
form abuies. .And how have these expec
tations bivn fulfilled Widieut going into
mjnuiB dltail, wo ay, that of&cual fltate-
menls imre by the accounting officers of
tho statu, kovo incontcstibly, that Joseph
Ritner, wiuout udding one cent to the per
inamont revtnuo of hd Jtato widiput ma
, K'uif end eik fiuleliiug cwio mite of wll-fp&d
or canal, has in three' years expended nine
millions of dollars. That he has increased
tho Mate debt five million seven hundred and
eighteen thousand dollars! And that he
has projected whut he calls improvements,
which wilLcojil the people of tho stale nix
teen milliajBf dollars! And this is what
he calls relWichmcnt from such econo
my good Lord deliver tis ! Ami how has
ho corrected, abuses? During his admlnia-
alinn, that vicious specias of legislation,
called log-roling, has increased ten fold
ttiat it was during all the administrations
of every Governor which preceded him,
from Thomas Mifflin down to hia own
reign of misrqle and mismanagement. . v
1 he presentsyatem of banking in our
state under thelauspices, and protected in
jts frauds by Joseph Ritner, has given rise
to speculations in coal lands, western lands.
iron ore lands, city out lots, kc. fcc. Ev
cry purchaser, anxious to have arail-road or
canal near his property at the public cx
penso, has aided in annually flooding Har-
risburg with shoals of adventurers and bo
rers to obtain appropriations for these loctl
purposes; so that the people have been
ttxed nome millions-of dollars to make the
rich richer, aud the poor poorer!' to make
nn acie df coal land worth when bought,
fifteen dollars, bring to the rich speculator
one hundred and fifty, and this by the aid,
procurement and prostitution of his official
duties, of this retrencher of expenses and re
lormer ot aouaes, jnsepli Kitncr : 1 ft)3
1.1
indeed to fertilize the rich man's field by
the sweat of the poor man's brow ! ! For
tho liuth of this accusation, fellow citizens,
wo refer you to the items of the annual ap
propriation bills passed during the adminis
tration of this patriotic governor, Again,
is it a reform of abuse lo suffer our canal to
L'ccoirSLalntoit a.drj-d.itr.h from Ih? n reject.
V,inat;-iition of the ofliceraofhi: excellency?
Is it an evidence cf reform of abuses that
the tolls received from the canal . hal not
reached the amount calculatad on, by soms
fivo hundred thousand dollars? Is it an ev
idenco of correct administration, that at the
ensuing session, some new species of taxa
tion must be resorted to, in order to supply
the deficit in the State Treasury? Or is it
a correction of abuses that the offices, the
contracts, the labour, of our public works,'
are put up for sale, and the price asked is a
surrender of the right of suffrage? a destruc
tion of tho freedom of the labouring cla3sea
of the community ! ! And who is it that
asks you to bend and crouch dnd become
fawning sycophants and slaves? Who isj it
that tells you that the condition of yotir ob
taining employment is, that you:murt- vote
for Josej h Ritner? Thaddeus Stevens 1 the
Governor's governor !. President of the
Pennsylvania boaid of Canal Commission
ers ;. a Yankee, graced with all the match
less impudence1 and effrontery which adorn
tho whole fraternity of tin cart pedlars !
Unprinripled, selfish vulgar, and dominee
ring, shrinking from the castigating lash
of those who can more than cope with him;
he slinks like a flogged hound to his kennel
under the merited chastisement of tallented
and honest men : from whence hs issues,
his Dnrc3 healed by gubernatorial salve, ' to
act his part of corruption and fraud, anion?
those, willing to sacrifice tho name and
character of freemen, in order, that through
ha instrumentality, ihey may dip their
spoons in the flesh, pots of Egypt. And
can he freemen, .of one of the most enlight
ened republican cpuntids of the state, vote
for' a candidate sueh as this?
In December, 1S37, the legislature pas
sed a bill, makingappiopriations to our pub
lic works ; among these was contained an
appropriation to the Gettysburg rail-road,
with a proviso, directing a suspension of the
work on'that road after tho first of January
nxt the money appropriated to bo ap
pliad to existing debW. Thaddeus Stevens
was dwply imerested in this road, and .de
sirous that the work should go on. And
how do you suppose the chief magictrato of
the stile contrived to mdjlge the wiahas of
his favoritcl Would you believe that he
could
i lyjekpt this bill unlil pftor tho fut of
iTf, mid then roturnit to tlio I.o$U-
Jaiiuarj
Mature, with a message, that although ths
first of January, 1838, was intended by
both houses of tho Legislature as the' day
on which work on this rood should cexaej
yet as the bill did not become a law until
after the first of January, he, the Governor,
would construe it as meaning the iirst of
January 1839; having retained .the bill1 for
the express purpose of producing this effect.
That he will stoop to any means howev
er contemptible, to assist his re-election
his proclamation ordering the banks to' .re
sume on the 13thof August, fully evinces.
On the 0th of December, 1837, Jotepb,
Ritner anounced, that such was the sound
situation of the state banks, that resump
tion of specie payments could take placo
at anytime in his lata proclamation!, ho
has admitted, that he had the powerto com
pel the payment of specie ) he has admit
tad, that tho sbin-plaoter currency was ru
inous to the country ; .that, the batiks had
been and still weie'trespaising on the law?.
And yet Governor Ritner, having tha-.potiv
er, bound as ho wss, to es tho tw a faith
fully, eiccuted knowing as hs : did, ; tup
anxious wishes of the citizens of the state
generally, out of tenderness, or- front few
of these monied corporation!; shuts': his
eyes, ears, and heart to the distresses of hifi
fellow citizens, until he is. informed by Jlr.
Biddle, that neeeeiity compels him to obey
ths voice of the ,piople anu he,.1 Ritner,
has a glorious opportunity of prcoiisinr; ta
trick on Iii9 fellow citizens by issuing i
proclamation, commandingtho payment o
specie on the 13th of August. 1838, thir
teen days after the banks had commenced
paying specie, except Biddle's Bankv and.
one or two.under its immediate control,-au.&.
eight raon'thsi tfier ho i.,liadudec!rcdrtliat
thuv .could resume.st .'any iimsi-ikt-M
which for ..low- cunn:nj,'rmcsnKS3,vK
falsehood, would have 'disgraced the mess
paltry politician that ever set a bar-room ;ia
an uproar. And wo are asked, by the)
lightened black cockade federalists, to sup
port a Governor, w.ho can-desosnd from hip
high station, an,d by such pitiful political
quackery, humiliate and disgrace the , stat
and peopletover whom he presides, in'crdetf
to conciliate tho monied ;aristqcracya27.;ia
his favor, and to icontfnu hii .reign of-ignc
rar.ee, folly, extravagance, acd childUh im
becility, fur sncther period of three ysnr.
Freemen ;of, the county of Columbia, wp
,can not, w 11 not, iccoiamend such ana.
ta your support I ,.,
r y. ' il''
We will now turn our attention lo tho
candidate recommended by tho delegates in
convention in March last, David R. Porter.
He ;s by birth a Pennsylranian, tha son of
a revolutionary officer ; he has always boeji
a firm and unwavering democratic republi
can he has represented tho county of
Huntingdon an anti-masonic eounty--re-turned
to the legislature by a majority, of
700 ..votes. He held wilder Governors
Shnltz and Wolf almcet all tha county leffii
cos in Huniingddn county he was elected
State Senator in 1830, from an anti-masont
jo senatorial dietrict by a majority .of 340
votes, in which Joseph Rimer hid a major
ity in 1835 of 533 votes-and in Hutitiii.
don county Joseph Ritner had a majority
for Governor of S08 votes. T.his brief
statement we deem sufficient to .ehcwtli
worth of our candidate, and ths estimation
in which ha was !:e!d by thosa who best,
know him. And this we deem Bufiicijnt (0
refute all falsehoods and slanders raised uy
the black blockade party lo injure him; s ;j
Fellow Citizens, David R. Porter is. la'
every quality of head and heart 'worthyof
your support! njiWo therefore recommend
him; and adjure you, on the day of the elec
tion io tnrn out to a man arrange your
business so that you can attend anddoyont
duty on tho second Tuesday of Oetobor
next aa you value your fibedom as ypti
prize tho legacy of Inepcndenca cqueataol
to yon by your ancestors ,we call you, itq.
the wcuo and ask you to aid your breUv
ren of the democratic parly throughout, tfy
sujre.iit this contost HfilU, tlio eoua of Maj
mon