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Cornell University Library 1994.A Voice from Old Tammany 1
MEETING OF THE PEOPLE!
The public is aware that the Democratic General Committee, in common with
the whole Democracy of the city, feeling great indignation at the atrocious liberty re-
cently taken by the Federal Conservatives with the unsullied name of “ the De-
mocratic Republican Party,” issued a call for a general meeting of the Democracy
at Tammany Hall, for last evening. Though the weather was very unfavorable,
we have never before witnessed such an assemblage of the grey headed patriarchs
and sages of the party, as met together in the old Wigwam. The stage erected
upon which the officers of the meeting were seated, was filled with those venerable
and venerated patriots who would sooner perish by the invader’s sword than permit
their long honored names to be sullied by such doctrines as have been recently and
impudently put forth from the City Hall of this city, “as of their faith.” Such a
spontaneous movement of the fathers of the party, seemed to excite the younger
members with redoubled zeal, and fire them with a fresh determination to wrest
the city from the hands of the enemies of public liberty. A singular coincidence,
alluded to by Mr. Morrill, kindled up the ancient fires of the old Democracy. He
alluded to the fact that it was twenty-four years since Mr. David B. Ogden had
gained sufficient favor with the people as to be recognized as a fit representative
of their honor and interests? that during the late war with England he occupied
the same public post that he now fills, when the nation is threatened with a similar
calamity? and that Mr. John A. King, the brother of Mr. Charles King, who was
the colleague of Mr. Ogden twenty-four years since, and the signer of a certain
report in relation to the butchery of American citizens, was now the Chairman of
the Committee in the Assembly of this State on the Governor’s Message, concern-
ing a like butchery. The effect of this reminiscence upon the audience wastre-
mendous, and all eyes were involuntarily raised to the proud stripes and bunting
that hung upon the ceiling of the room.
The meeting was called to order by Isaac L Varian, Esq., the Chairman of the
General Committee, and on his motion, STEPHEN ALLEN, Esq., was appointed
President:—and on motion of John R. Livingston, Jr., Esq.,
WALTER BOWNE,
JOHN W HARDENBROOK,
ELDAD HOLlMES,
CHARLES G. FEKRIS,
CHARLES DUSENBERRY,
JAMESON COX,
DANIEL STANTON,
CHARLES L. LIVINGSTON,
GILBERT COUTANT,
JOHN HILLY EE,
CHRISTIAN BEECH,
JOSEPH HOPKINS,
THOMAS JEREMIAH,
NEH EM I AH WATERBURY,
. THOMAS HOPE,
JOHN I. MORGAN,
JOHN TARGEE,
ABRAHAM DALLY,
ISAAC DYCKMAN,
WILLIAM S. COE,
WILLIAM MARSHALL,
SAMUEL M. THOMPSON,
JOHN TIMPSON,
GEORGE W. MATSELL,
ALEXANDER STEWART,
JAMES POLHAMUS,
GIDEON OSTRANDER,
JOSEPH O’CONNER,
ANDREW McGOWAN,
HENRY T. KIERSTED,
Were appointed Assistant Presidents.
And on motion of Jesse Oakley, Esq.
HENRY YATES,
FRANCIS B CUTTING,
DAVID BANKS,
MICHAEL DOUGHERTY,
JAMES H. SUYDAM,
FRANCIS FICKETT,
E. D. COMSTOCK,
JAMES LEE,
HENRY STORMS,
DAVID BRYSON,
THOMAS S. BRADY, ,
HENRY VAN HOVENBERG,
THOMAS K. KELLINGER,
DANIEL P. INGRAHAM,
ADAM BLACKLEDGE,
DANIEL F. TIERNAN,
GEORGE PESSENGER,
Were appointed Vice-Presidents,
ItVY2
And on motion of Fernando Wood, Esq.,
THOMAS W. TUCKER,
LAWRENCE P. JORDAN,
JAMES H. COOK,
JOHN McKEON,
SAMUEL J. WILLIS,
PHILIP S. CROOKE,
CHARLES J. HUBBS,
ALEXANDER F. VACHE,
JAMES J. M. VALENTINE,
JAMES MgMILLAN, and
JAMES H. ROGERS,
Were appointed Secretaries.
The object of the meeting was explained in a very eloquent and pertinent ad-
dress by John R. Livingston, Jr., Esq., who then read the address reported by th*
General Committee, which was unanimously and enthusiastically approved.
George Davis, Esq., then read the resolutions, also reported by the Committee,
which were in like manner adopted, accompanied by resounding cheers.
John W. Edmonds, John A. Morrill, E. J. Webb, Wm. M. Price, and James
T.. Brady, Esqrs., severally addressed the assembly with great eloquence and
effect. It was a most gratifying meeting of the friends of the true Democratic
faith, and if our brethren in the country will put on the like power and energy as
was exhibited here last evening, the honor of the State will be redeemed, and th®
interest and happiness of the people protected.
The Address and Resolutions were as follows:—
To tlie Democratic Electors of tlie City and State
of New-Yorks
Fellow-Citizens—
As above all nations of the earth we have reason to be grateful
for the right of free discussion, and that under all changes of party
ascendancy we can rely upon the power of public opinion for the
correction of error, we owe it to ourselves and the commonwealth
to use the means which, under Providence, we enjoy of giving a
right impulse to that power which governs the whole actions of
State.
At no period of our history has the Democrat been more ear-
nestly called upon for energy, watchfulness, and perseverance,
than at present. At a recent meeting in our city, called under the
sanction of names once identified with our democracy—a meeting
assuming the name of Democratic Republican—we have seen our
party and our principles denounced as “ worthy of contempt.”
That portion of the people who support the general and state ad-
ministrations have been slandered as “ having little to lose in pro-
perty, and nothing to hurt in conscience,” and the administration
itself stigmatised as “ hostile to the business interests of the peo-
ple,” and as “ having produced the distresses which the people are
suffering.”
It will be for you to judge how far they should be called Demo-
cratic Republican whose proceedings and call were published in
terms of sympathy and commendation in every Federal paper;
who at our last election nominated and supported an entire Fed-
eral ticket. It will be for you to judge between the democracy of
those who zealously support an administration elected by the peo-
ple, and the few who have openly abjured democratic usages, and
voted the opposition ticket. Leaving those self-styled Democrats,
however, to reconcile their expressed adherence to the doctrines
of Jefferson with the fact that through their agency a party which
has always opposed those doctrines, has now a majority in our
State Legislature, remember the political history of this Slate for
the last five years. Examine the course of those individuals who
■* are our most earnest opponents ; and if you, the People, have not
discarded long-honoured opinions ; if you have not abjured your3
tried faith in the true basis of popular government; believing, as
we do, in the inevitable triumph of truth and reason—we have no
fear as to the result. There is but one pure spirit of democracy,
and the People from whom it emanates, and with whom it eternal-
ly resides, will distinguish between the sincerity of its honest ad*
vocate and the professions which cloak a selfish ambition.
When we remember the events which have marked the course
of the past and present administration, it would appear absurd for
any claiming the slightest portion of intelligence, to account for
change of political opinion by want of opportunity or means of
knowledge. The re-charter of a National Bank had been urged
by every argument that ingenuity could suggest, and had employ-
ed every resource that monied power might command. Every
vexed question connected with the currency, the distribution bill,
and the Treasury circular, had been discussed in all the moods and
tenses of political debate.—During the last four years of President
Jackson’s administration, the same odium which our opponents
would fix upon the government now, was the burden of opposition
presses from Maine to Florida, and Mr. Van Buren, the prominent
Democratic Candidate for the high office which he now fills, was
then, as he is now, selected as a mark for opposition slander.
The American People recorded their solemn judgment upon the
charges of his enemies.—They believed that the panic and our
commercial derangement arose from causes over which government
could have no control ; and that Executive action, distorted by our
enemies into a war upon the currency, resulted from an honest
wish to guard the public domain from systematized fraud. It will
be for those who were at that time loudest against the United
^States Bank—and who now are willing to prostrate our liberties
before that political Juggernaut—who, after supporting the admin-
istration then, condemn it now as the occasion of our troubles—to
reconcile past professions with present practice.—Until they do so,
it will be difficult to make the People understand what sudden
political revelation could have changed in an instant the settled
convictions of years.
It was not until extravagance and overtrading, fostered and sus-
tained by imprudent loans and discounts, had resulted in universal
embarrassment—it was not until the false capital furnished by
the distribution bill, had tempted all classes into wild speculation
and brought upon the land widespread ruin, that we were told that
devotion to democratic principles was to be manifested by hostility
to a sound Specie basis, and by anxiety for a credit system; and
until those who abuse the administration and its friends can shew
in some other manner than by bare assertion, that we have ever
opposed the true credit system, that which grows out of confidence
between man and man, and wants no legislative prop, until they
can point to one act of hostility towards any chartered institution,
the people will believe, that the same grasping spirit which has
been the root of our present misfortunes, prompts the present op-
position to the government, that those who have for years endeav-
ored to monopolize the gifts of party, and to make legislation sub-
servient to private interests, would rather sacrifice political consis-
tency and public good, than their long enjoyed system of ex-
clusive legislative privileges. We are not for the first time to
understand, that by some sects in politics all weapons jstve-deemed
lawful, nor is it surprising that those who have oft and again
yielded to the united strength of the Democratic Party, should4
try to effect by our internal dissensions what they cannot by fair
opposition. It was by alienating from us all moderate men, that
they hoped to prevail against a party, which being essentially popu-
lar, in the nature of things, must be eventually predominant. For
this have we been slandered as hostile to state institutions, and
enemies to the whole system of credit. For this have we been
held up to public odium as agrarians in principle and infidels in
religion. Thus only could they triumph over the people. Thus
only could they retard the advanced Democratic opinions, and
fasten upon the country a new National Bank.
It is our aim that the sentiments of the Democratic Party, so
often and wilfully misrepresented, be thoroughly understood;
utterly disclaiming the false doctrines which our enemies have im-
puted to us, and believing our cause to be that of Justice and right,
we draw our opinions from the spirit of the Constitution, and
trust for their justification to the intelligence of the people, We
acknowledge no principle which would interfere with the right of
property or violate the public faith. We disclaim hostility to any
particular institution or classes, and would extend the protection
of the laws equally to individual or corporation. Holding (in the
language of our Charter of Independence,) “ these truths self-
evident, that all men are created equal ; that they are endowed
by their Creator with certain unalienable rights ; that among these
are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness ; that to secure these
rights, governments were instituted among menwe believe all
laws unjust which destroy that equality, or interfere with those
rights. We think that Justice and the intent of our Constitution,
forbid legislation for exclusive protection, and we would preserve
the right to every citizen of employing his lawful property as he
may think most advantageous to himself. Leaving trade to regu-
late itself, and supply to find its proper proportion to demand, we
would confine legislation within its legitimate sphere—the protec-
tion of all classes in the fair and undisturbed enjoyment of proper-
ty, life and liberty. We believe the only true credit system to be
that which has responsibility and character for its basis, and the
credit system of our opponents, which lives upon legislative pre-
ference, to be partial to the individual and unsafe to the public.
These principles we conceive to be founded upon absolute
justice, and have been advocated by the purest and wisest men of
our country. Washington writes of a paper currency, that it
immediately opens a “ door for speculation by which the least de-
signing and perhaps most valuable part of the community are
preyed on by the more designing and crafty speculators.” Jeffer-
son complained of the omission in our Constitution which set no
limit to the extension of chartered monopolies ; and the debates of
the Convention which framed that instrument, show that the con-
sequences of that omission were foreseen and dreaded there. The
whole system of chartered monopolies, by which legislative privi-
leges are extended to a few at the expense of the many, is unjust
in itself and doubly objectionable from its inevitable abuses. And
among its evil consequences, not the least, may be felt in the ease
with which it has defied all remedy, and the spirit in whieh its
partizans resist every effort at reform. How long are we to be-
hold state legislation under the mask of public convenience, filling
the-cofievs-of individual avarice ? How long are we to see Banks
and banking capital monopolizing the time of our representatives
to the exclusion of objects really important to the public ? How7
with most determined opposition. Our enemies had calumniated
us as being hostile to every existing charter. The question of
Bank reform had been already raised. And as men are prone to
prefer present profit to themselves, to ultimate general good, it
was to be expected that the influence of all, connected or influen-
ced by our chartered banks, should have been cast for a monoply
ticket.
They judge erroneously, however, of the patriotism or intelli-
gence of the People, who look upon a partial triumph, arising
from such causes, an index of future success. The public eye ia
already fixed upon the probable result of a Federal power in the
State. The People already listen with alarm to the rejoicings of our
ancient political foes. They hear the sattelites of a National Bank
exulting in the fancied resurrection of a new Phoenix. They behold
the array of speculators preparing for a new campaign of stock
jobbing and over trading. They hear principles and names iden-
tified with Federalism and synonymous with defeat, proclaimed as
the future destiny of our country. But the ancient spirit of De-
mocracy slumbers not. We have not forgotten that in 1824, the
Federalists, taking advantage of dissensions and misrepresentations
similar to the present, swept the state of New-York—nor that in
the succeeding election the Democracy rallied in their strength,
and regained their legitimate ascendancy. For thirteen years sine©
that period they have maintained it; and it needs but a similar
manifestation of their will at the next election to ensure the same
result. A strict adherence to our ancient party usages—a gene-
ral and manly spirit of conciliation—a thorough understanding of
the means by which our enemies obtained their partial success, and
of the ends which it is intended to accomplish—a determination to
bury all existing dissensions, to forget all individual jealousy, and to
keep steadily in view the stern and unwavering principles which
have ever been the polar star of the Democratic Party—these
must govern and guide us in a contest which, though arduous, can-
not be doubtful.
The consequences of the approaching struggle will not termin-
ate with the election of any particular candidate, nor in the success
of any one measure—They may involve the very life of principles
inseparably connected w7ith good government and the sound inter-
est of the State. If such considerations are worth the solicitude
of true Democrats: if they are important enough to justify some
concession of opinion, remember that in our union is success. Al-
though no opposition can permanently w ithstand the true sovereign-
ty of the People ; and although Democratic principles will grow
and flourish in any soil, and under any sky, yet the blossoms of
the growing plant may perish for a season, and its fruit be destroyed
by unfriendly hands, if we, its natural guardians, disunited by pet-
ty dissensions, leave it unprotected. We ask you, therefore, to
unite with us in a cause which we believe to be that of justice and
truth, which, since the days of Thomas Jefferson, has been that
of the people. The Democratic party, true to itself, has nothing
to dread in a contest for objects so priceless in value ; objects com-
prising the possession of equal privileges, impartial and just legis-
lation ; the protection of private rights ; the advancement of truth ;
the establishment of sound principles of government, and the pro-
tection (so far as human Institutions can be perfect,) of the law’s
and principles purchased torus by the blood of patriots, and hal*
lowed by the memory of ’76.1.	Resolved, That by the character of the Government under
which we live, all political power is justly reserved to the people
—that the better to fulfil their wishes and to exercise that power
which of right belongs to them, trusts have been delegated to agents
chosen by themselves. Among other things the President of the
United States is required to communicate to Congress his views
as to the administration of the government, with reference to the
honor, the interest, and the happiness of the whole people—that:
President Yan Buren has recently, on two occasions, submitted
his views and opinions to Congress on some of the great leading
questions which now agitate the country, and left the final dispo-
sition thereof to the wisdom of that body—that it is the right and
the duty of the people to canvass the acts and the opinions of their
servants on all proper occasions, the exercise of which right, and
the performance of which duty, are among some of the cardinal
principles of the Democratic party, and which had their origin in
the great struggle for civil liberty in this hemisphere.
2.	Resolved, That inasmuch as the propositions presented in
the recent messages of the President of the United States to Con-
gress, suggesting the impropriety of permitting private corpora-
tions, created for private use, to become by legislation the Deposi-
tory of the People’s Money, has called forth denunciations, and en-
gendered feelings unwarranted by the occasion, and as it is a
question partaking merely of fiscal arrangements, involving no
principles that ought to produce a severance of early attachments,
or an abandonment of a long tried and consistent public servant,
this meeting cannot but regret that individuals are to be found who
but recently took occasion to proclaim on the house top, their
attachment to, and their confidence in Martin Yan Buren, can as-
sign no better apology at this time for traducing his character and
perverting the obvious meaning of his measures, than this differ-
ence of opinion on a question of policy, the disposition of which
he submitted fully and frankly to the judgment of the representa-
tives of the people.
3.	Resolved, That as the enemies of the President have made a
comparatively unimportant question, one of great magnitude, this
meeting do not hesitate to express an opinion thereon, and to de-
clare, that they are opposed to allowing the public monies to be
placed in the banks of the several States for private use and em-
ployment, at the discretion of the officers thereof, thereby depriv-
ing the government of the immediate control over, and actual pos-
session of their own funds.
Without desiring to fix any limit to individual enterprize or in-
dustry, or in any manner to throw obstacles in the way of the legiti-
mate transactions of our banking companies, we are under the be-
lief that if there is not a supply of capital adequate to the wants of
the commercial community, without the employment of the money
of the people, adverse to objects for which it was designed, it will
soon be made known to capitalists of other nations who will not
fail, as late experience has shown, to furnish on proper security,
all that may be requested for the purposes of business.
4.	Resolved, That without intending to make any imputation as
to the soundness of the banks, or to question their fitness as spe-
cial depositories of individual or public monies, we hold it to be
incompatible with the public interest, and detrimental to individu-
*1 prosperity, that the revenues of the General Government should
he mingled with the monies of banks and brokers in the general5
long are our Legislative Halh to be the arena for political specu-
lation ? Look at the state journals and our public records. Look at
the present condition of our banking institutions; and reflect
whether those considerations of public convenience under which
the friends of monopoly justify exclusive banking laws, have been
answered ; satisfy yourselves how far our trade and commerce has
been guaranteed from revulsions, how far public morality has been
improved. If we believe that the power of distributing bank
stock is a temptation and a bribe to the political gamester—that
bank loans may afford a means of retaining political adherents, or
administer to the extravagance of those who would be rich without
labor, if our banking system has proved insufficient to. provide us
a safe and redeemable currency, then whatever be the length of
time during which it has been tolerated, whatever the influence
exerted in its behalf—justice and sound policy dictate one course :
—abandon a course of legislation which drives real capital from
its natural channel to seek employment in other States. Allow
the capitalist to use his wealth where it may most advantage him-
self, and assist others ; strike from your Statute Books enactments
which juries will not enforce, nor the community sustain. Thus
shall we drive from the lobbies of the capitol the annual crowd of
hungry applicants who embarrass the labors of our representatives
and poison the fountains of justice. Thus we should abolish the
whole system of intrigue ; by which while a good law is made to
depend upon a bad one—and public advantage converted into a
stalking horse for private self-interest, millions of capital now
dammed from use or circulating abroad, will flow to set the wheels
of industry in motion, and fertilize the clearings of enterprize in
every corner of the State. We aim not at depriving chartered
societies of any privilege, nor at limiting their sphere of operation ;
—they should share with other citizens the confidence which
wealth always claims ; but we would remove every toll-house
from the highway of competition, and destroy that unwise system
of preference which gives the lie to our professions of equality.
Good and evil are so inseparable in human institutions that abuses
are tolerated for their attendant benefits until error from long as-
sociation is confounded with truth—but if in defiance of experi-
ence and reason, fear of innovation is to arrest the steps of justice,
in vain have we inherited the precious heir4qom of civil and re-
ligious liberty.
It is natural that the individuals who have abjured our Demo-
cratic usages, and are now in an unholy alliance with the Federal
Party, should denounce the course of the Executive as hostile to
public safety and private property, and that they should deny that
our Democratic representation spoke the public sentiment. It is
natural that they who have so long monopolized exclusive privi-
leges should term that law destructive which interfered with their
high prerogatives. Neither the General nor State Administrations
could hope that a scheme which aimed at freeing the government
from Bank influence, which would deprive a monied aristocracy
of an unlimited use of the public money, would meet with favor
in the eyes of our opponents. But the American people, deeply
interested as they are in the faithful management of their property,
convinced as they must be by past experience, that Banks and
Bank officers are not the safest depositories of the public funds,
will believe those funds safer in the coffers of a government of
$heir choice, than with institutions over which they have no con-6
trol. They may think a public officer, elected by their vote and
amenable to their censure, less liable to temptation than a Bank
director, in whose appointment they have no voice, over whose
conduct they have no power; they may regret that the govern-
ment had not retained the immediate management of the people’s
money rather than entrust it to companies whose notes are irre-
deemable, and who at this moment owe their existence to a stop
law. The annual Messages of our National and State Executives,
breathing this spirit, meet with our unqualified approbation. Their
recommendations, carried into practice, tend to separate the gov-
ernment and its action from the dangerous influence of monied
corporations. So far from uniting the purse and the sword, they
would prevent that alliance, by placing every dollar under the im-
mediate and jealous supervision of Congress. They would de-
stroy one great source of reckless extravagance, and remove a
continual temptation to overtrading. They would preserve the
people’s wealth from the grasp of fraud, and provide a check upon
over issues arid over trading, which, not more severe than was the
United States Bank, should be more equal and far more honest.
Such are the opinions entertained by the Democratic Party, and
such are the results which they anticipate from success. Those who
quote the sentiments of Jefferson without appreciating their truth
or following their precepts, have endeavoured at our last election
to purchase our defeat, even at the expence of surrendering the
state into the hands of the Federal Party. Previous to 1836, un-
der the semblance of Democracy, ambitious individuals had insin-
uated themselves into our high places, and monopolized the hon-
ors and gifts of the party. They thrust aside the honest and un-
pretending, and wielded the party power to private interests. Ma-
ny a Democrat was driven from our ranks by iheir baneful influ-
ence, and rather than submit to a domination so oppressive, with-
drew from our cause his influence and vote. Thus was the major-
ity of the Democratic Ticket defeated at the election, and the
same causes which produced division among us then, are busy now.
The name of Loco Foco is affixed to all who deny that Democracy
consists in piling office upon office, and monopolizing the high
seats of honor and profit ; to all who demand that Legislative pro-
tection should be equal and impartial: to all who disbelieve in the
infallibility of a mere handful of men, who, bloated by ill-gotten
and long enjoyed power, assume to lead public opinion, and call
themselves “The Party.”
These who have succeeded in producing dissension among us,
and creating alarm and distrust among the people of the State. A
reckless system of misrepresentation, attributed all existing troubles
to the Government and held up its supporters to censure as destruc-
tive and jacobinical. By the aid of double tickets—by introducing
a disregard of ancient party usages—by inciting local divisions,
and inducing apathy and over confidence, our adversaries have suc-
ceeded for a time, in deceiving the electors of the State ; and when
we remember how diligently it was proclaimed that our success
would be a death blow to every chartered company, it will not
appear surprising if the Democratic cause has met with strenuous
opposition wherever banks or bank influence was to be found. It
is not for us to impugn the motives of men, or to complain of the
influence of those Companies as a body, or of any one in its cor-
porate capacity; but it cannot be denied that where Banking fa-
cilities were most generally extended, the Democratic Ticket met9
operation of trade and speculation. And we deem it unsound in
theory, and inconsistent with any former practice, to admit, as has
been recently asserted, that the revenues of the government
” should be circulated among the community to whom they rightly
belong.” The disposition of the monies of the government is made
pursuant to laws, in the formation of which it was intended that
the general interests of all should be carefully protected. As well
might bank directors, who are but representatives of stockholders,
be coerced into a loan of their funds, as the officers of the general
government be induced to make a disposition of the monies of the
people contrary to the obligations imposed upon them. The cla-
mors for some years past for the use of the monies of the govern-
ment deposited in the local banks—where a portion of the people’s
representatives seemed desirous again to place them—resulted in
the passage of the general deposite law, the operation of which
contributed to hasten that great commercial crisis, which, in its ef-
fects, was as disastrous to individuals, as it was prejudicial to the
character of the nation. And this meeting are apprehensive that a
like disposition of the people’s money would produce the like ef-
fects.
5.	Resolved, That the people have a right to speak of Banks and
Bank charters, without being subjected to the charge of assailing
“the Institutions of the State we hold a Bank charter to be like
every other contract formed or made for the more convenient ar-
rangement of business affairs—that all, or nearly all, Bank Char-
ters in this State are within the power of legislative action, and
that the property vested therein ought to receive the same protection
from the people and the constituted authorities, that is due to every
other species of property, and that whenever the people, by whose
power these artificial bodies are created, require a change in rela-
tion thereto, such change ought to be adopted, if no private rights
are violated thereby, without any impeachment of the justice or the
judgment of that people, who, by the constitution and law of the land,
are the true and legitimate sovereign, and to whom an appeal can
at all times be made for the correction of any errors that may have
been committed by their representatives—and we desire to have
the poliical conflicts of the day kept distinct from the ordinary busi-
ness transactions of life ; and, but from a disposition that has with-
in a few years been exhibited to convert the power of the demo-
cratic party to objects of private speculation and gain, the harmo-
ny of that party would have been longer preserved and many of the
topics of political controversy would not have been agitated or dis-
cussed, and if the friends of monopolies suffer by that agitation or
discussion, be the responsibility on their own heads.
6.	Resolved, That our respect for, and confidence in William
L. Marcy, remains unimpaired, and that we approve of his late
message to the Legislature of this State, and particularly do we ex-
press our satisfaction at the views contained therein, in relation to
the restraining and general banking laws ; and we cannot but in-
dulge the hope that the Legislature will promptly carry out these
vietys by passing a law restoring to the people their rights in this
particular.
7.	Resolved, That the result of the recent election in this State,
has in no wise disheartened or discouraged the Democracy of this
City. The friends of free principles and of equal laws, and the
just administration thereof, contemplate with entire security the
perpetuity of their principles. As they are enabled to trac$ their10
recent defeat to a want of energy on their own part, to an enlarg-
ed confidence in the integrity of their views, and a too firm reliance
upon the activity and zeal of those whose professions and practice
were foupd to be at variance, we entertain no doubt but that the
errors of the past will be effectually corrected in the exertions of
the future, and that at the next contest the character of the State
will be redeemed from the politicil stigma temporarily fixed upon
it.
8.	Resolved, That our confidence in the honorable Silas Wright,
Jr. remains undiminished ; and we cannot permit ourselves to be-
lieve that either prosperity or adversity would alter his feeling or
change his relation towards the Democratic Party.
9.	Resolved, That it is a duty we owe to the Democracy of the
State, to pronounce the proceedings of a meeting purporting to
have been held at the City Hall, in the City of New-York, on the
second of January inst. under the assumed name of “Democratic
Republicans,” a gross libel upon the Democracy of this City; and
it is due to truth and justice to declare that many of the individt^
als who purport to have taken a part therein, openly and boastingly
voted at the recent election, the entire Federal Ticket, headed by
a distinguished Lawyer of this City, whose vote as a member of
the Legislature in 1814, against the war, added nothing to his re-
putation as an American Patriot: and though we do not desire to
make the application of the maxim in all its severity, that “a man
is known by the company he keeps,” yet we deem it to be due to
our brethern in the country to state the fact, and leave the infer-
ence as to the authenticity of the record of those proceedings, to
be drawn as the truth of the case will warrant.
10.	Resolved, That the use of opprobrious epithets is in a great
degree a matter of taste, of habit and of education; and while the de-
mocracy, unlike its calumniators, does not arrogate to itself the
possession of all “the decency, the virtue, the morals, and the wealth
of the community,” it feels no more disturbed at the present day,
on being called “ Agrarians,” “Loco Focos,” or “Radicals,” than
it did in the brightest days of the illustrious Jefferson, at being cal-
led “Democrats and Jacobins.” The Democracy will shrink from
no investigation of its principles ; and the private lives and con-
duct of its favorite champions we will cheerfully put in comparison
with those who aspire to “conserve” themselves into public esteem.
11.	Resolved, That the efforts made by the opposition to the
Democratic Party, to fix upon President Van Buren and his
friends a hostility to State banks, is unworthy the professed advo-
cates of truth and sincerity. Though it is well known that during
a distinguished legislative career of nearly twenty years, he con-
tributed largely to call out the resources of the State and add to
its reputation and renown, yet no evidence can be shown of any
act of injustice or enmity on his part, towards what is mawkishly
called “the Institutions of the State;” on the contrary, his un-
tiring endeavors to secure the free use of capital, through the in-
strumentality of a general law for banking, introduced into the
Senate of the State, and by that body passed, ought at least to ex-
empt him from the charge of hostility to the trading and commer-
cial interests of the country, and especially as his course and opin-
ions upon this subject have ever since been in unison with that
measure of commercial freedom. And it is alike unjust and hypo-
critical in the enemies of Democracy to charge upon the friends
ff- the President a disposition to unsettle the rights of property,ii
bf to interfere with the honest pursuits of individuals. For the
public voice will bear testimony to the fact, that those friends ar«
strenuous for the execution of the laws made by the representatives’
of the people, whether they relate to the payment of a six-penny
postage upon letters,or the more prominent duty imposed upon arti-
cles of luxury, and that too, without suggesting the “ novel experi-
ment of raising an army to march upon the capitol to reform ima-
ginary abuses at the bayonet’s point.”
12. Resolved, That the Democracy of this city continue to be
opposed to the establishment of a National Bank, and that in their
judgment such an institution is not required for the regulation of
domestic exchange, any more than exchanges with foreign nations,
the rates with which are governed by the course of trade, influ-
enced by the scarcity or redundancy of currency and the impor-
tation and consumption of articles of luxury and necessity. The
rates of exchange between the various States of this Union, de-
pend upon similar principles, and no fictitious capital or credit can
permanently establish a regular and uniform rate of exchange be-
tween the trading town of any State or of the several States. And
it affords no evidence of either wisdom or experience to confound
facilities for the collection of debts with the unvarying and uni-
versal laws of trade—the latter banking corporations cannot con-
trol, and with which legislators ought not to interfere.
18. Resolved, That we view with alarm the efforts now making
by the federal members of the House of Assembly, to repeal the
law prohibiting the issue of small bills; that although the circula-
tion of bills of that denomination, issued by banks out of the
State, is a crying evil that requires correction, yet if the banks
would return to their duty and redeem their bills in specie, the
putting out of that specie would drive the small bills of other
States out of circulation. And, inasmuch as the Democracy of
this city are not represented in the popular branch of our Legisla-
ture, we earnestly appeal to the Democratic members from the
other counties, to oppose the passage of any law authorizing the
issuing of any bills by the banks of this State, under the denomi-
nation of five dollars.
14. Resolved, That we approve of the ability and zeal with
which the Hon. C. C, Cambreleng and Eli Moore have discharged
their public duties in supporting the measures recommended by
the President, in relation to the public monies, and that we enter-
tain full confidence in their fidelity as public servants, and their at-
tachment to the principles and doctrines of the Democratic Party.
STEPHEN ALLEN, President.
WALTER BOWNE,
JOHN W. HAROENBROOK,
ELDAD HOLMES,
CHARLES G. FERRIS,
CHARLES DUSENBERRY,
JAMESON COX,
DANIEL STANTON,
CHARLES L. LIVINGSTON,
GILBERT COUTANT,
JOHN HILLYER,
CHRISTIAN BERGH,
JOSEPH HOPKINS,
THOMAS JEREMIAH,
NEHEMIAH WATERBURY,
THOMAS HOPE,
JOHN I. MORGAN,
JOHN TARGEE,
ABRAHAM DALLY,
ISAAC DYCKMAN,
WILLIAM S. COE,
WILLIAM MAh SHALL,
SAMUEL M. THOMPSON,
JOHN TIMPSON.
GEORGE W. MATSELL,
ALEXANDER STEWART,
JAMES PQLHaMUS,
GIDEON OSTRANDER,
JOSEPH O’CONNER,
ANDREW McGOWAN,
HENRY T. KIERSTED,
Assistant President$.12
HENRY YATES,
FRANCIS B CUTTING,
DAVID BANKS,
MICHAEL DOUGHERTY,
JAMES H. SUYDAM,
FRANCIS FICKETT,
E. D. COMSTOCK,
JAMES LEE,
GEORGE
THOMAS W. TUCKER/
LAWRENCE P. JORDAN,
JAMES H. COOK,
JOHN McKEON,
SAMUEL J. WILLIS,
JAMES
HENRY STORMS,
DAVID BRYSON,
THOMAS 8. BRADY,
HENRY VAN HOVENBERGH,
THOMAS K. KELLINGER,
DANIEL P. INGRAHAM,
ADAM BLACKLEDGE,
DANIEL F. TIERNAN,
PESSENGER,
Vice- Presidents.
PHILIP S. CROOKE,
CHARLES J. HU BBS,
ALEXANDER F. VACHE,
JAMES J. M. VALENTINE,
james McMillan,.
H. ROGERS,
Secretaries.
New’York, Jan. 9th, 1838.
At a Meeting of the Democratic Republican General Committees
held at Tammany Hall, January 25, 1838, the following resolu-
tions were unanimously adopted:
Whereas, A resolution was adopted in the month of August last,
by the General Committee, approving of the establishment of the
Madisonian at the Seat of Government, “as a promising auxiliary
in the cause of Democracy,” and recommending it “ to the support
of our Republican fellow citizens as sound in doctrine, firm in faith,
and true to the principles and usages of the Democratic Party,”
and as tfie Madisonian in the opinion of this Committee, has pur-
sued a course adverse to those views, it becomes obligatory upon
them, to announce their want of confidence m said paper, There-
fore,
Resolved, That this Committee have seen with regret, the course
pursued by the Madisonian, in prostituting itself to the views of a
faction in opposition to the administration, and feel impelled by a
sense of duty to declare that the Madisonian has proved itself re-
creant to the principles and usages of the Democratic Party, un-
sound in faith, unfriendly to the administration, and entirely un-
worthy the support and confidence of the Democratic Party.
Resolved, That the Washington Globe continues to deserve the
support and confidence of our democratic fellow-citizens, for its
fearless and unwavering support of the administration, sound po-
litical faith and strict adherence to the princij>les and usages of
the Democratic Republican Party.
Resolved, That the Preamble and Resolutions, be signed by
the Chairman and Secretaries and published.
ISAAC L. VARIAN, Chairman.
ELIJAH F. PURDY,
LEONARD LEE,
Secretaries.
Joseph M. Marsh, Printer, 5 Eldrid^e-sfc.