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ADDRESS, 
 
 TO THE 
 
 Republican Citizens, 
 
 OF THE 
 
 STATE OF NEW-YORK 
 
 ALBANY: 
 
 PRINTED BY H. C. SOUTHWICR-, 
 
 7C\ State-Street, 
 
h- ? tret 
 
THE ADDRESS 
 
 Of a number of Republicans, from different parts of the State, to. 
 their FelloW'Citisens, on the alarming situation of our Country. 
 
 The subscribers having communicated together on the critical and 
 alarming situation of our country, consider it a solemn duty to pro- 
 mulgate their sentiments to their fellow-citizens, on the subject of the 
 approaching election : and this duty is rendered the more impressive 
 on some of us, because we have thought fit to decline our signatures 
 to an address recently published by several of our Republican bre- 
 thren of the Legislature ; an address, however well intended, yet cer- 
 tainly not calculated to promote that union of sentiment and action 
 among the citizens of this state, which is essential to redeem us from* 
 the perils that menace and the calamities which have befallen us. 
 
 In all free countries parties will exist ; they necessarily arise from 
 different views of public measures ; and when confined within the 
 bounds of moderation, they are calculated to awaken enquiry, to pro- 
 mote virtuous emulation, and to prevent the approaches of tyranny and 
 oppression. When a person attaches himself to a party, he professes 
 to act from a conviction that its principles and measures are condu- 
 , cive to the public good. As long as this object is kept steadily in view, 
 and as long as party attachments are rendered subordinate to patriot- 
 ic considerations, our course is undoubtedly proper and justifiable. 
 But the misfortune is, that collisions of interest^ and competitions of 
 ambition, mingle themselves with, our party preferences : our indivi- 
 dual consequence is too often identified with the ascendancy of a po- 
 litical sect ; and in cherishing the interests of a party, we are too apt 
 to overlook the prosperity of our country. The most pernicious 
 effect of party spirit, is its tendency to impair the strength and dimi- 
 nish the respectability of a state or nation, by opening a door for ex- 
 trinsic intrigue and management. The truth of this remark is most 
 forcibly exemplified in the past and present condition of this confe- 
 deracy. While- we are willing to yield every tribute of applause to 
 the talents and virtues of Virginia ; yet we can see nothing so pre- 
 eminent in her faculties and endowments, as to entitle her to the con- 
 troul of the Union. But however incredible it may appear to pos- 
 
4 
 
 ierity, yet history will record it as a fact, that for twenty-four out ojf 
 twenty-eight years, she has given a chief magistrate to the confederal 
 cy, and has dictated the measures of the nation. The consequences 
 have been felt in giving aB undue and artificial preponderance to that 
 portion of the U nion ; in creating jealousies and discontent, and in 
 aggravating those collisions of interest and opinion, which necessarily 
 arise between states where commerce and navigation hold a distin- 
 guished rank ; and states, where from the predominance of slavery* 
 and other causes, those exalted branches of human industry are con- 
 sidered as secondary and subordinate to other pursuits. It 
 
 must be admitted, that the northern states have a decided supe- 
 riority in wealth, in commerce, in population and in physical strengtl » 
 and are upon an equal footing in other respects. How happens it 
 then, that they have succumbed to the undue encroachments of their 
 south~rn brethren? The answer is obvious. They have been the 
 vie funs of intrigue and the prey of faction. The patronage of the na- 
 I una administration has created a phalanx in each state, ready at all 
 titties to sacrifice its interests to foreign dictation. In the territories 
 which are, i? course of time, to form new states, almost all the high 
 offices are held by Virginians, and thus the foundation of a perma- 
 nent ascendancy is laid. The power of the northern states on the 
 other hand, has been frittered down by the divisions which have 
 been arthilly cherished. But New- York has been selected as a de- 
 voted victim at the altar of ambition; as if it were not sufficient, that 
 she should be divided by the two great parties which extend through 
 th- United States, other expedients must be adopted to destroy her 
 weight. Her republ can party, moving in a solid column, governed 
 by an union of views and action, and decidedly ascendant, furnished 
 a serious alarm to the enterprises of ever vigilant ambition. To be 
 weakened it must be divided. A faction, denominated the Martling, 
 which has its chief seat in the city of New-York, has been encour- 
 aged tor a number of years to distract us ; the leaders have been 
 cherished and patronized at Washington ; funds have been supplied 
 at that place for the support of scurrilous newspapers ; the bounty of 
 the gener 1 government has been lavished on the most unworthy ob- 
 jects ; the most uniform, decided, influential, virtuous and able men 
 "of th republican party have been proscribed ; George Clinton, the 
 father o.' his countrV-^-yes, George CI nton, was publicly denounced 
 at a meeting of these Martiing-men, (of which Mangle Minthorn, fa- 
 ther-in-law to Gov. Tompkins, was chairman) acting notoriously un- 
 der the influencf of Mr. M ..dison's administration : and at a late 
 meeting of the convention of the western district, John Nicholas, a 
 distinguished emigrant from Virginia, m.de an abortive attempt to pro- 
 cure the denunciation of De Witt Clinton* because he was the pre- 
 sidential candidate of the state cf New- York, in opposition \o the 
 will of Virginia, 
 
The blind and implicit submission, which has been so readily 
 yielded to the injunctions of party, has greatly contributed to the 
 misfortuues of America. The law of the dominant party, enacted 
 and promulgated at Washington by two or three individuals, has not 
 only controuled the conduct of its members ; but has become the 
 law of the land. The president convenes his council, composed of 
 the four secretaries and the attorney -ge ^ral : The result of their 
 deliberations, whether applicable to our interior interests, or exterior 
 relations, immediately becomes the law cf the party— The bull of po- 
 litical infallibility is is=ued from the Vatican of the south ; and it is in- 
 culcated upon us to yield prompt and universal obedience. Every 
 man, who dissents from the decrees of the ministry, is considered a 
 schismatic and an apostate ; and denounced as unworthy of public 
 confidence. By these means a despotism was at one lime established 
 over the freedom of opinion and action, a intolerant and over-bearing, 
 as that of the most absolute monarch. The conscience and the under- 
 handing of the party were put into the keeping of 3Ir. Madison and 
 31 r. Gallatin — terror was ^uperadued to the allurements of ambition 
 and cupidity, in order to uphold the predominance of an ambitious 
 member of the confederacy. By these means the cunning of the fox 
 has governed the strength of the lion ; power has yielded to imbecili- 
 ty — and contrary to the uniform experience of mankind the north 
 has bowed to the dominion of th. south. By these means also the 
 advantages flowing from the alternations and changes of authority 
 have been lost ; lines of geography have been the iines of power ; 
 the commercial interests of the country have been trifled awav in 
 chimerical experiments ; overlooked from ignorance of their impor- 
 tance or want of sympathy in their benefits for sacrificed to unwar- 
 rantable antipathies : And the United States now exhibit the singular 
 and melancholly spectacle of a people divided among themselves and 
 rent asunder by party, when at war with the most powerful nation of. 
 the world. 
 
 The state of New- York, justly offended at the monopolv of 
 power possessed by Virginia, indignant at the intrigue and manage^ 
 ment practised to secure that monopoly, and convinced that the best 
 interests of America imperiously demanded a change of men and mea- 
 sures, determined, with unexampled unanimity, to resist the despo- 
 tism of party ; to put down the insolence of power : to assert the 
 honor of the northern states, and to vindicate the commercial inter- 
 ests of the empire. This determination was announced a few days 
 previous to the declaration of hostilities against Great-Britain. The 
 events of the war and the subsequent conduct of the administration 
 have confirmed the wisdom and patriotism of that opposition, and 
 operated as additional inducements, with the state of New-York, in 
 conjunction with the other commercial states, and we believe with the 
 sanction of a majority of the free citizens of America, to persevere ui 
 
the great and important work, which she had undertaken. The re- 
 sult of that contest is well known. It was not undertaken to promote 
 the elevation of an individual ; to enhance the importance of a state, 
 or to gratify any unworthy passion. It was entered into from a deep 
 conviction, that the prosperity and honor of the country required a 
 change. The same causes which produced it, exist with augmented 
 force — and honor, patriotism, consistency, self respect and the dig- 
 nity of the state require, that an opposition, originating in patriotism 
 and dictated by wisdom, should continue until the causes which gave 
 it being shall no longer ruin and disgrace our country. 
 
 According to the general sense and practice of nations we had just 
 cause of war against Great-Britain and France ; and upon this hypo- 
 thesis the decision must be entirely governed by our own sense of 
 expediency and true policy. There are certainly strong arguments 
 arising from our form of government, from our geographical position, 
 and from the condition of the different states, which forbid the United 
 States from entering into war, unless urged by the most imperious de- 
 mands of honor and safety. Ours is the only free republican go- 
 vernment remaining in the world ; and all history and experience 
 
 inform us, that war is the pioneer of a military despotism. But 
 
 suppose, that this danger is considered chimerical in relation to 
 us ; yet it must be evident that war is adverse to the morality and 
 equality of republican governments, and that it has a tendency to 
 build up the executive on the prostration of the legislative power : 
 as if the almighty reserved his most awful judgments for the impious 
 attempts of man to kill his fellow man, we almost invariably perceive 
 the most dreadful visitations of physical and moral evil in the train 
 of footsteps marked with human blood. The morals of our youth re- 
 ceive a deadly wound. Dissipation, in :emperance and idleness se- 
 duce them from the paths of virtue, and habits of despotic authority 
 and abject obedience unhinge their republican principles, and render 
 them the fit subjects and willing instruments of military despotism. 
 But look at its effects on our government. The immense patronage 
 with which it invests the executive, the various, the extensive and 
 the complicated discretionary powers, which it draws to him, and 
 the host of officers, civil and military, which it originates, are calcu- 
 lated to invigorate that department of the government beyond the 
 theory of the constitution and to endanger the existence of civil liber- 
 ty. But there are other considerations of equal force which arise 
 from our peculiar position and tlie state of the world. An immense 
 ocean separates us from the old world, and it ought to be a funda- 
 mental maxim of our policy to keep aloof from the intrigues, the con- 
 flicts and the wars of Europe. Peace is a stranger to that part of the 
 globe. By entering into the labyrinths of European policy we identi- 
 fy our destinies with blood, prodigality and misery. At this eventful 
 
aera we behold a military despot, who has overrun the continent of 
 Europe, and a great navalpower which has a supremacy on theocean> 
 engaged in a long and destructive war, during which both have com- 
 mitted great aggressions upon our rights and interests. Experience 
 assures us, that neither has any regard for our prosperity, and that 
 the conduct of each towards us has been regulated by a view of injur- 
 ing his adversary. The voice of true wisdom would in this situation 
 admonish us of the prudence of keeping out of this conflict — To as- 
 sist Great-Britain in destroying France, or to aid France in destroy- 
 ing Great-Britain, would be to enable the conqueror to impose his 
 own terms upon us, and to select us as his next victim ; but if peace 
 without conquest shall be the result of this great contest, is it unrea- 
 sonable to apprehend, that one of the conditions of the pacification 
 may be the destruction of our commerce, or the overthrow of our in- 
 dependence » Altho we are far from intimating, that there is any 
 secret connection between our government and the emperor of 
 France ; yet we have no doubt, but that the war with Great-Britain, 
 conducted as it has been and probably will continue to be, will ulti- 
 mately lead to a close alliance with that scourge of the human race. 
 The mourning voice of Europe informs us that a connection with him 
 is attended with the wreck of independence and the diffusion of wretch- 
 edness. Wherever his arts or his arms have extended, happiness 
 has fled and national prosperity has vanished. Situated as we now 
 are, he will allure us into his snares thro all the avenues of vanity 
 pride and interest. He will employ in this country, as he has done in 
 all the courts of Europe, every instrument of seduction and 
 every mode of temptation. Women, clerks and favorites, about the 
 persons of our leading men, will be enlisted in his service. He will, as 
 the calamities of war press more severely upon us, offer us assistance 
 in ships, money and men — And what would have been at first reject- 
 ed as an insult, will be finally received as a favor — And mark the 
 dreadful denouement of the tragedy. His protection will be to us like 
 the shirt of Hercules, and his friendship will involve our country in 
 wide spreading ruin. 
 
 Independently of these considerations, there are others which ap- 
 ply with great force to our domestic situation. It is well known, 
 that the eastern states rely upon commerce and navigation, as the 
 foundation of their wealth, and the source of their subsistence ; while 
 the southern states look to the products of the earth. The various 
 systems of non-importation, embargo and non-intercourse, and the 
 whole train of commercial restrictions, which have been introduced 
 under the influence of southern ascendancy, have pressed with pecu- 
 liar hardship upon the northern section of the union, and have great- 
 ly tended to sow the seeds of discord and enmity* between the dif- 
 ferent members ef the confederacy. 
 
8 
 
 A War with Great-Britain, considering her maritime strength, mus*; 
 operate upon the commercial states with all the severity of commer- 
 cial restrict Ions* while the wants of the British armies on the conti- 
 nent of Europe would induce that government to keep open the 
 communication) through the medium of neutral and licensed vessel^ 
 and thereby maintain the high prices of agricultural productions. 
 This state of things, so grinding to the eastern states* and so little in- 
 jurious to the southern, ought to have conveyed a forcible admoni- 
 tion to the government, not to rush precipitately into a measure, sd 
 unequal in its operation, and so destructive in its tendency. 
 
 The points of difference between the U. States and Great-Britain^ 
 have been, for a number of years, the following: The impressment of 
 our seamen ; the orders in council ; paper blockades, and the attack on 
 the Chesapeake frigate. Although these had existed in the most ag- 
 gravated form, under the administration of Mr. Jefferson ; and although 
 at the time of the aggression upon the Chesapeake, all parties would 
 have united in a declaration of war ; yet he thought it the part of true 
 wisdom to abstain from the conflict, and not to mingle our fate with the 
 destinies of the blood-stained nations of Europe. Before the declaration 
 of hostilities, G. Britain had made a satisfactory atonement for the affair 
 of the Chesapeake) and had explicitly renounced the doctrine of ficti- 
 tious blockades ; and about the time that hostilities were resorted to, 
 the obnoxious orders in council were rescinded-^— so that in truth the 
 only subject of difference now existing, is that respecting the im- 
 pressment of seamen. We therefore infer, that our national honor 
 did not, at the time that the national sword was drawn from its scab- 
 bard, imperiously require the measure. If it was a point of honor, 
 and a result of necessity at that particular juncture, where was our 
 honor at anterior periods, when more complicated and aggravated in- 
 juries were heaped upon us. The question then becomes a question of 
 policy only, and in solving it, the first point of enquiry that presents it- 
 self is, whether we were in an adequate state of preparation ? A nation, 
 like an individual, may in most cases select its own time for resent- 
 ing an insult and obtaining satisfaction, and it ought undoubtedly to 
 choose that time, when it is in the best situation to act most efficient- 
 ly against the aggressor. The address, to which we have before al- 
 luded, signed by some of the republican members of the legislature- 
 explicitly admits this doctrine, where it declares " that after years of 
 peace, destitute of large military establishments, which the local si- 
 tuation of our country, and pacific disposition of our government, ren 
 dered unnecessary, to have plunged the country into instant wan 
 however just it might have been, would have been assuming a re- 
 sponsibility which could not reasonably have been required of the ad 
 ministration." If this description applies to the circumstances of the 
 country at the time war was declared, and that it doe3 most empb;' 4 
 
scally no honest man can deny, there cannot be a more severe repre- 
 hension of the conduct of the administration. In conceding that war 
 ought not to be declared in an unprepared condition, it concedes eve- 
 ry thing, and most explicitly admits that the administration was with- 
 out the shadow of excuse. 
 
 Mr. Madison had summoned an extraordinary meeting of Congress^ 
 in November, 1812, and had opened the session by a message, 
 breathing war and recommending the putting the nation into a corres- 
 ponding armor and attitude. The army he demanded for this pur- 
 pus.', was only ten thousand men ; and it appeared, that he had not 
 availed himself of the vast fund put at his disposal for procuring mu- 
 nitions of war, augmenting the army and fortifying the frontiers. A 
 law was, however, passed, providing for an army of twenty-five thou- 
 sand men. But as no suitable exertions were made for filling up the 
 army, and for protecting the country, the whole proceeding was gene* 
 rally considered as an artifice to obtain popularity at home, or as an 
 expedient to extort concession from abroad ; and at the time war 
 was declared, we were almost, literally speaking, without money and 
 "without men. A considerable portion of our gallant navy was laid 
 up in ordinary. Our army was but a skeleton. A great proportion 
 of our militia was unarmed. Our Atlantic frontier was, to a great 
 extent, unfortified 5 and our northern, as well as our western fron- 
 tiers, were, if possible, still more defenceless. The unjust decrees 
 of Great-Britain and Prance had greatly diminished our commerce ; 
 and our commercial restrictions, accumulated upon those aggressions, 
 had reduced our revenue, springing entirely from commerce, to a 
 very low ebb, and no provision was made to recruit our exhausted re- 
 sources or to replenish our impoverished treasury. The national 
 fervor, which had been excited by the President's message, had en- 
 tirely subsided. The declaration of war was carried by slender 
 majorities in Congress, and it is believed that a majority of the Ame- 
 rican people were opposed to the measure. Under those circum- 
 slances, the sword was drawn ; and will any man say that honor re- 
 quired and policy demanded from us a resort to hostilities, at a time 
 when we were so defenceless and unprepared, against one of the 
 most powerful nations of the world, with numerous and well appoint- 
 ed armies ; with mighty fleets ; and with all the experience and mili- 
 tary skill derived from a long continued war? A war declared so 
 improvidently and unseasonably must be managed inauspici^isly, 
 We have seen the blood and resources of the nation expended in pro- 
 fusion and without advantage — we have seen the important fort of 
 Michillemackinack captured for the want of information to the garri- 
 son that the war existed — we have seen the entire command of the 
 great lakes in the hands of the enemy, whereby the expenses of the 
 campaign have been increased an hundred fold, and its disasters pro- 
 
10 
 
 portionably aggravated — mid we have seen our militia called from 
 their homes in all directions, and converted into standing forces for 
 offensive purposes, against the genius of our constitution and the best 
 interests of the nation — and were it not for the illustrious exploits 
 and gallant achievements of our navy, we should mourn over the lost 
 honor of America. 
 
 It is in vain to palliate our condition, or to conceal the series of 
 disasters and follies, which have assailed our country. We are de- 
 graded by the mismanagement of political empirics and state jug- 
 glers. Before the commencement of the second campaign, a na- 
 tional debt of upwards of forty millions of dollars has been incurred. 
 One year of prodigality has destroyed the savings of many years of 
 osconomy. A standing army of 55,000 men is to be raised ; taxes 
 of the most odious and oppressive kind have been proposed, and 
 will probably be levied. A system of proscription and denunciation, 
 of prodigality and patronage, has been established to prop up the go- 
 vernment ; and the worst measures of John Adams have been copied 
 in a spirit of servile imitation, and to a degree of augmentation, 
 alarming and unprincipled. Why did we oppose the measures of 
 Adams's administration ? Because he attempted to establish a tyranny 
 over the freedom of opinion and discussion ; because he precipitated 
 the nation into a state of qualified war with France ; because he 
 raised standing armies, imposed taxes, and augmented the national 
 debt ; because profusion and patronage were the order of the day ; 
 and because the measures of his administration had a tendency to op- 
 press and degrade the nation ; and will not the same objections apply 
 with ten fold force against the present administration ? We shall soon 
 find, if we do not already 'feel, that the finger of Madison is thicker 
 than the loins of Adams; and that while the latter has chastised us 
 
 position. It is not we that have abandoned our principles 
 the men whom the long possession of power has corrupted and led from 
 the paths of rectitude. We support an administration on account of 
 its principles and conduct, not on account of the men who compose it. 
 Principles are immutable and immortal ; while men are fluctuating, 
 changeable, weak and unprincipled. The principles we support are 
 favorable to a free government, and a salutary and patriotic adminis- 
 tration, while the men we oppose are in a state of open hostility with 
 the maxims which have been cherished by the republican party, and 
 with the measures which are calculated to promote the best interests 
 of our country. But we are told, admitting all that you alledge, il 
 cannot avail ; that Mr. Madison is re-elected ; that the nation i? 
 
11 
 
 at war ; that government ought to be supported ; that liie unity of 
 the party ought to be maintained ; and therefore, as at present cir- 
 cumstanced, we ought all to support the man we so recently opposed, 
 and the measures we so sincerely reprobate, for that " a continued 
 '•' opposition would be an attack, not on the administration, but on 
 k ' our country." 
 
 Doctrines so preposterous, so mischievous, and so subversive of the 
 fundamental principles of our government; deserve and shall receive 
 an ample refutation. 
 
 That Mr. Madison is the rightful chief magistrate of this nation 
 for four years, and that he ought to be obeyed as such, when acting 
 within the sphere of his constitutional authority, must be universal- 
 ly admitted. His power and official existence are derived from the 
 social compact, and all thai, is required from us is to acknowledge him 
 as the executive of the nation, and to comply with his legal requisi- 
 tions ; but the same constitution which invests him with high au- 
 thority, also establishes other authorities, legislative and judicial, and 
 renders them independent of the executive and each other ; and it 
 moreover guarantees to the people of the United States the elective 
 franchise. Congress may support or oppose the measures of the 
 President, as the good of the nation may require ; and although he 
 cannot be displaced, except by impeachment, until the expiration of 
 his term, yet at that time the people are at full liberty to do so, if 
 they .think fit. The doctrine contended for renders all other elec- 
 tions a matter of form ; for if the re-election of a President in time of 
 war is to supercede all opposition to his measures, then it is our duty 
 to carry this rule into effect in our elections for the national legisla- 
 ture, and the state government ; for if we are to make no opposition 
 to Daniel D. Tompkins as Governor, because James Madison is re- 
 elected President, then we set up a standard, by which the election 
 of a President is to regulate all other flections, during the term of the 
 Presidency. It is upon this ground unnecessary to harrass the peo- 
 ple by the forms of an election. The end would be fully answered 
 by clothing the President with the power of appointing all the mem- 
 bers of Congress, and the members of the State Government. In 
 Great-Britain the executive office is hereditary, and yet it is never 
 pretended that no opposition ought to be made to his administration, 
 whether in war or in peace. If the political heresy, which we so 
 ardently deprecate, was tolerated in England, then, as the ordinary 
 period of human life is to four years, so much stronger would be the 
 reasons in that country for acquiesceing implicitly in the measures of 
 the administration. But the truth is, that no man has had the har- 
 dihood to breathe such sentiments in that country. It has been re- 
 served for men calling themselves republicans, in the last asylum of 
 
12 
 
 civil liberty, to revive and propagate the exploded doctrines of pas- 
 sive obedience and non-resistance. In Great-Britain a foreign war, 
 instead of blunting, frequently sharpens the edge of opposition, The 
 people of this stale were certainly dissatisfied with Mr. Madison pre- 
 vious to the declaration of war, and they manifested this dissatisfaction 
 by holding upauother candidate. Now if war is to silence alldiscussion, 
 to extinguish all opposition $ and to remove we'll founded objections, then 
 all that is necessary for a President to do, desirous of a re-election, 
 is, so to conduct our foreign negociations as to bring about a war. Is 
 not this doctrine holding out a premium for turpitude, and opening a 
 Hood-gate for the introduction of ali possible calamities. And here 
 permit us to remark, that the President has always an ample oppor- 
 tunity of exasperating our differences, and embittering our animosi- 
 ties with foreign nations. He may, by dexterous management, in- 
 volve us in a war, almost at any period of his administration ; and 
 this extensive and almost unlimited power over our foreign negocia- 
 "iions, we are induced to consider as one of the vulnerable parts of 
 the conslitut on. But why should war deprive us of the full exer- 
 cise of our elective franchise ? Of all events it is the most interesting 
 to individuals, and to nations. It brings in its train such a multitude 
 of evils, and is the prolific parent of so many crimes and calamities, 
 that of all human concerns it is the most important. If it is to be 
 referred to the foreign government, with whom we are in hostility, it 
 is also to be referred to ourselves ; it has an interior as well as an ex- 
 terior bearing. We are not to be deluded by the artifice so. contin- 
 ually practised, of confounding the government of a country with 
 the administration of that government. The government ought at all 
 times to bo supported ; and the administration only when they act 
 right. The government is the social compact, tb<" charter of oirf 
 liberties, the palladium of our safety. The administration are the 
 rulers selected by the people in the exercise of their elective inm- 
 chise for a definite period ; and they must be kept within the paths 
 of duty by the multifarious checks engrafted in every free constitq- 
 tion. They are to be checked by the co-ordinate branches of the 
 government, by the people at elections, and by the sovereign controul 
 of public opinion, elicited by freedom of discussion and investiga- 
 tion. If these guardians of the temple of liberty are suffered to 
 sleep ru their posts, or to be seduced from their duty, tfeea we may 
 bid adieu to the blessings of Republican government. The true 
 rule is, that, as between pur administration^ and that of a foreign 
 country, we ought to act with the former, because it is, generally 
 sneaking, essential to our well being. But in a question between our 
 administration and ourselves, we ought to act against them, if their 
 conduct is hostile to our interests, ** 
 
13 
 
 Under these impressions we should aid in repelling the attacks 
 end crippling the strength of tin- enemy 1 , but at the same time we 
 are not to forget the majesty of the elective franchise. When we 
 m l and subdue a foreign enemy in the tented field, we may also 
 conquer a weak and corrupt administration at the polls of election. 
 Wfaefl the people are aggrieved by the misconduct of their rulers, 
 the o ly legitimate remedy is to be sought in the ballot boxes, and if 
 they fail in one election it is their duty to persist in other sueceed- 
 v,:z I . 'ions until redress is obtained. The choice of a President 
 does bgi necessarily determine the future conduct of the administra- 
 tis '•;. Congress are Independent of his control, and the state autho- 
 rs ■ move in another orbit. A strong expression of public opinion 
 at elections, whether it operates directly by the removal of the un- 
 we'thv ruler, or indirectly by the displacement of his supporters, is 
 the : i. corrective of public men, and the only constitutional safe- 
 guard of the rights and interests of the people. Mr. Madison's pow- 
 er to injure the country may be effectually controuled by the choice 
 oi patriotic and enlightened men in congress and the several state 
 go . &nntents, who will arrest him in his career of error, and compel 
 h m to devote the functions of his office to the good of his country. 
 No party ought to be encouraged which prefers its own prosperity 
 to that of the country : The unity and strength of a party are to be 
 maintained by th* 1 supnort of honorable men and patriotic measures; 
 by an adherence to consistency, honor and public spirit — not by 
 veering about with the fluctuations of public opinion, or the fleeting 
 successes of ifefltoderate patronage and artful monopoly. Two thirds 
 of the republican party in this state, are, to say the least, dissatisfied 
 with the conduct of the general government. To attempt bv the 
 discipline of party to adlure this mighty power from the paths of 
 honor and consistency, into the support of men whom it has so re- 
 cently reprobated and so strenuously opposed, is a chimera engen- 
 dered by political fanaticism and cherished by the desperation of 
 folly. 
 
 Tn a case so simple and clear, and when we are called upon to de- 
 cide, whether we shall obey the rescripts issued from Washington, 
 or the solemn injunctions of patriotism ; whether we shall follow the 
 light of our own understandings or pursue the simulated voice of our 
 party, we shall not hesitate as to our line of conduct. We shall no! 
 support the election of DANIEL D. TOMPKINS and JOHN 
 TAYLER, because they are brought forward and recommended as 
 the partisans of the cabinet at Washington : because it would give 
 the lie to all our past professions, and dishonor us in our own estima- 
 tion and in the opinion of mankind ; because at the last Presidential 
 election, they evinced a cold neutrality, or an insidious hostility, in 
 defiance of the almost unanimous sense of the state ; because we are 
 
14 
 
 firmly convinced that they are as blindly devoted to the Virginia 
 Dynasty as the prefects of France are to their Emperor, or the Sa- 
 traps of Persia were to the great King ; and because we are fully per- 
 suaded that their election would fortify the power of weak and wick- 
 ed men, and encourage the pursuit of measures which have nearly 
 extinguished the sun of our national glory, and whicli have covered 
 our land with ruin. Although a dark day has set in upon our 
 country; yet we do not despair of the republic. The most 
 gloomy periods of the revolution did not indeed produce ca- 
 lamity more extensive, and humiliation more complete. In the 
 midst of the tempests which frown over us, and through the dark- 
 ness that surrounds us, we can, however, discern some glimmer- 
 ings of light in the distant horizon. The pressure of the times 
 may break down the barriers of party, and the mandates of patriot- 
 ism may unite the best heads and hearts of our country for its salva- 
 tion. But if the present lines of political division are still to continue ; 
 and if America, by a species of miracle, is rescued from impending 
 ruin ; we still have no doubt but the conduct we recommend is the 
 course pointed out by wisdom and true policy. The amputation of 
 the gangrene may restore the body politic to health ; and after 
 breaking the " green withes, as a thread of tow is broken when if 
 toucheth the fire," with which a meretricious influence, acting from 
 an extrinsic impulse, has attempted to bind it, the Republican Party 
 will rise, like Sampson, from his slumbers, in all the majesty of reno- 
 vated strength and consolidated power. 
 
 Philip Van Cortlandt, Westchester, 
 
 Obadiah German, Chenango, 
 
 Elisha Arnold,* Clinton, 
 
 Pierre Van Cortlandt, junior, Westchester, 
 
 IT. Tracey, Chenango, 
 
 Thomas B. Cook, Greene, 
 
 John C. Hogeboom, Columbia, 
 
 Kitchel Bishop, Washington, 
 
 Russell Attwater, St- Lawrence, 
 
 H. A. Townsend, Steuben, 
 
 S. Southwick, Albany, 
 
 • Mr \rnokl being conscientiously opposed to war, is not to be considered 
 as expressing any opinion, directly or indirectly, in its favor, by his signature 
 to this Address. 
 
15 
 
 Joseph D. Fay, New- York, 
 David Thomas, Albany, 
 Billy Trowbridge, Cortlandt, 
 Sebastian Visscher, Albany, 
 Richard Lush, do. 
 John V. N. Yates, do. 
 Richard Hiker, New- York, 
 Sylvanus Miller, do, 
 G. A. Worth, Albany, 
 HL F. Yates, Montgomery, 
 David Van Ness, Dutchess, 
 John Nicholson, Herkimer, 
 William Kirby, Essex, 
 Ebenezer Foot, Albany, 
 Isaac Kibbee, New-York, 
 
 James S. Kipp, Oneida, 
 
 Elijah H. Metcalf, Otsego, 
 
 Sylvanus Smalley, Madison, 
 
 Walter Martin, Lewis, 
 
 Daniel Shepherd, Washington, 
 
 Henry C. Southwick, Albany, 
 
 Michael S. Van Der Cook, Rensselaer, 
 
 James Wands, 2d, Albany, 
 
 Halsey Rogers, Washington, 
 
 Asahel Clark, do. 
 
 William Roberts, do. 
 
 Cyril Carpenter, do. 
 
 Thomas J. Davis, St. Lawrence, 
 
 Reuben Whallon, Washington, 
 
146 '" 
 
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