THE N OR\VA_ L K ‘T ‘.25 G.~\Zl.*jT'l'F$. 4.}; W FOR PRE SIDENT, @Alt?l’EE% '\‘l‘i’@@§"E‘ERie LIBERTY AND UNION, N-OIV AND FOR EVER, ONE AND IN SEPABABLE. THE GAZETTE. NORWALK, TUESDAY. JAN UARY I9. 1836. STATE CoNvENrroN.—We publish to day the call of the State Central Committee for a Convention to be held at New Haven, on the 24th day of February next. In addition to the duties usually devolving upon that body, will be the important one of recommending Electors for President, &c. and which, we doubt not, will be discharged with a single eye to the great interests of the country. It is, nevertheless, proper that. the press should, without exception, express its opinions re- specting the availability and qualifications of the respective can- didates now before the country, for the high and responsible sta- tion of the Presidency, before the meeting of the Convention, and thereby endeavor to aid the delegates in their efforts to as- certain the direction of public opinion; so that in the event of a choice being made, it may prove to be such a one as shall, from its being the preference of the majority, secure the hearty concurrence of all. We would therefore, most respectfully, call upon the Whig press, to come out in sotne distinct avowal of its opinions, and the reasons for its entertaining them. Our preference-—which, we confess, is not so much personal, as political,--has been, and continues to be, emphatically avow- ed by the name at the head of our columns; and it has been , our endeavor to win over our readers to the same partiality".--- We go upon the great fundamental principle of e.7:pedt'e72.cy-- the basis ofthe great Paley’s moral and poiitcal philosophy---so much abused, because so little understootl—and the basis ofours. Not that expediency which adopts the readiest means to secure the greatest ends in the most direct and unscrupulous way; but that expediency which proves itselfin the anxiom, that honesty is the best polz'cy—-that truth, honesty, virtue, are alone expedient ; and that in the order and succession of events, in this changing world, they always triumph at last. Hence, we cannot con- sider mere popularity, founded upon an adventitous combina- tion of circumstances, and struck out, as it were, from the con- flict of antagonist principles, without any solid claims to endu- ring favor, from high personal qualification and notable services, as recognizable by our notions of expediency. We do not think that because it is asserted that such a man will receive a cer- tain number of votes, he is therefore better deserving ofour pre- ference than another who may receive less. Such a course of reasoning would direct us at once to give our voice for Van Bu- ren. Indeed it would involve the whole State in the same cat- egory. VVhen freedom of election is given to a people, its presumable to mfcr that it is given with the view to its exercise in the cause of liberty and good government, andthatit is not to be influen- ced or controlled by such a condition as peremptory ; although our good friends, the Van Burenites. lay a claim to the public voice upon that very ground, that Mr. Buren stands the best chance, and is, par cxcellcncc, the regularly nomin.'.1ted. This, under any other government, would be called a despotism ;— not by the direct exercise ofa legal power—but by means equal- ly potential. those of terror and prescription-by making the duty obligatory in fealty, honor and conscience, and threatening the- recusant member with destruction of cast and character; by disfranchising him and rendering him disqualified for the exer- cise of thcduties of otlice, or the reception of its emoluments. This is a kind of coercion which is pretty sure to make obedient subjects, under any government; and when we set itin full«op- eration under our own, we are at a loss to define the difference between a democratic or an autocratic despotism---in so far as the principle is concerned. The means are compulsory in both instances. \Ve would therefore, in our address to the people, deal with their judgments, autl not their fears, their prejudices or their passions. Because we do not wish toideceive them, any more than we would desire to coerce them. YVe would not appeal to any catch word-—or invoke the spell of any party name, or threaten them with the displeasure of any great man. Ina contest for principle like the present, names are oflittle significance. De- mocrat or Federal, VVhig or Tory, may be assumed by any fac- tion in the pursuit of power; and some may be mislead by the- sound : but they are evidently people unfit for self-government. and whenever they constitute the majority are to all the ends of‘ ambition, but the popular instruments of despotism, sanctified indeed, by the 1:01; populi, which we are told is the supreme law—but which is far less reasonable than the dictates of a pri- vy council. The uninformed mass, when put into motion by the itz'«'.*::tl1 of the demegogue, is irresistible, and as terrible 8. F~pP,:':’.".t.‘it2 as the ocean blown into tempest by the gale. Like the v”t';:‘«'.tl], too, when it has received its impulse, its march is onw-ard—-it stops not to contemplate the havock it has made—— but buries beneath its merciless surges, the fair and the bra_ve~ And such is too often a picture of the progress of detnocracy. It may yet represent ours. The restrants oflawibegin to be re- garded as onerous—the cry is raised against corporate rights»- the poor are arrayed against the rich---that they may the more readily be made the means to attain power and the instruments ofoppression, to be in their turn oppressed, despised and de- stroyed. Politicians who pursue this course, point to their success as the evidence of their democracy. But this is not the kind of triumph we are looking forward to. It is notjjnerely the triumph — of principle---but of principle by the united exertion of intelli- gent minds---not eager for office, but for good government, no matter by whom administered or under what party name. If , the present party in power will give us that government, we will withdraw our opposition at once---a government without favoritism, without injustice, without abuse, without passion, . without party. All we want is good government. It is all the people want. And such we have not at present. DIGNITY AND VnrtAcn'1'.—'I‘here is a tenth-rate member of Congress from New York in the House of Representatives, by the name ofl\Iann. In the debate on the abolition of slavery in the District of Columbia, he pretended to take part, in which he attempted to be vastly witty upon Mr. Granger, in which at- tempts, it is hardly necessary to say, he presented himselfthe more laughable spectacle of the two. In the course ofa ten min- ered the following dastardy and utes caucus ltarangue, he utt mean observation :-— “The few misguided men in the North, who are desirous of
Norwalk Chronicler