and local caliber. On November 30, 1839, the editorial page of the Towanda Banner and Democrat carried the following leader:

An arrangement has been made by which my name, hereafter, will be associated with that of Mr. Fuller in the editorial department of the Banner and Democrat. In assuming a relation so responsible to the Republican Party of Bradford, I can only promise my honest and most hearty efforts to advance the great leading principles of our common Democratic Faith, and to secure and preserve their uniform and steady ascendency in this county. I trust that it is unnecessary for me, after an intimate and close connection for five years with the Democratic patrons of this paper, with most of whom I have the pleasure of a personal and friendly acquaintance, to give them any pledge of my uncompromising and unyielding adherence to the cardinal doctrines of our creed. They have been the witnesses of my political conduct; they also are my judges.

Long will the eventful struggle of 1836, which terminated so gloriously in the election of Martin Van Buren to the Presidency, and the entire success of our county ticket, be remembered by our sterling and tried democracy. That struggle has become an era in

8 An indication of his disposition to plunge actively into every important public question and movement-rather curious, in this instance, in view of his own habits in the years immediately following-is found in the notice of a meeting of the Bradford County Temperance Society, held September 3, 1838. D. Wilmot took a leading part, and moved the question for discussion at a following session, to be held September 14. It was: "Ought the legislature to repeal the existing laws licensing taverns, and to pass one prohibiting the sale of ardent spirits?" His interest in the cause was more than casual. He was on the committee of arrangements of the Bradford County Temperance Society which on July 4, 1841 (three years later) managed a joint meeting with other similar bodies, and "held a celebration with suitable banners and not in connection with any licensed tavern."

In this editorial, as in many other instances which will be noticed later in Wilmot's writings and speeches, the term "Republican" is used interchangeably and synonymously with "Democratic" to define the party to which he belonged-the party opposed to the federalists, or whigs, of his day; the historic forerunner of the present democratic party. The usage, at first a little confusing to modern readers, was common at that time. It was not until some fifteen years later that the words were differentiated as titles of opposing political theories and organizations, and, indeed, the present use did not become thoroughly settled until the campaign of 1860.

the history of the politics of Bradford County. It was my fortune to act an humble part in that trying contest; and subsequently to have shared, in common with the Democrats of this county and the State, the never-to-be-forgotten triumph which elevated David R. Porter to the Executive Chair of this Commonwealth, and scattered to the four winds of Heaven the corrupt dynasty of Ritner, Stevens, and Burrowes. These are matters of heartfelt congratulation; and gratifying indeed must it be to every Democrat to see the party in Bradford, after having suffered disheartening defeats, and struggled through difficulties of no common magnitude, again established upon the firm basis of a certain and unconquerable majority.

The National and State Administrations will continue to receive, as heretofore, a cordial and hearty support from this paper. Van Buren was my first choice in 1836, and every act of his Administration has but increased my confidence in, and strengthened my preferences for, the man. The great leading measure of his administration, the "Independent Treasury" 10 I regard as the only safe and constitutional mode of collecting, keeping and disbursing the public revenue; and its adoption, in my opinion, would have a most wholesome and salutary restraint upon the commercial and banking business of this country.

Governor Porter has already acquired a high and enviable reputation as Chief Magistrate of the Commonwealth. His measures are the result of cool and mature deliberation, and are executed with Roman firmness and energy. The wisdom and foresight of his policy-his strict and undeviating adherence to the principles of Democracy-his solicitude for the best interests and welfare of the State; and above all, his regard for the feelings, wishes and views of the people, are fast uniting all good citizens in his support. D. WILMOT.

Nov. 26, 1839.

His adventure in journalism was not long; his valedictory appeared in the editorial columns of the Banner and Democrat,

19 Now more generally styled the Subtreasury system. A bill establishing it was passed, July, 1840, but repealed, August, 1841. It was reenacted, August, 1846, Wilmot taking a prominent part in support of the measure in the House, as described more fully in a later chapter.

January 16, 1841, with the announcement that the paper had been sold to a Mr. Beebe; but throughout may be seen the expression of a spirit already spoken of-the conception of the political parties (or at least, of the democratic party) as the protagonists of great principles, rather than mere contestants for power; the vision of politics as a struggle of ideas rather than a conflict between candidates. He did not lack command of invective, but it was directed more often toward creeds or policies than toward men. The Banner and Democrat, while he voiced its utterances, was comparatively free from the manner of political writing common to those times, which led a contemporary French journalist to express regrets that "judging from the American papers during the recent Presidential canvass, the American people have taken up, as candidates for the Presidency, two of the greatest rascals in their country."

An editorial on "Whig Tactics," printed May 23, 1840, illustrates well his mode of argumentation, and incidentally reflects the ideas of political economy fostered by his reading in that library at Woodbourne:

We have before said that the Whig party are characterized by no fixed principles. In a Government essentially and confessedly Democratic, and whose welfare and perpetuity they pretend is the only object of their solicitude, their only chart is opposition to Democratic measures. . . .

The party has, to suit its own convenience, at some times assumed Democratic principles-principles which at other times it has most violently opposed. It even went so far as to filch not only some of the principles, but even the name of Democracy, to cover its vile corruptions. The name, indeed, has covered them, but covered them as the Lion's skin covered the Ass; and the democratic principles they have assumed

Hang loose about them,

Like a giant's robe upon a dwarfish thief. . . .

The Democracy is now engaged in carrying into effect a measure which has proved vitally essential to the well being

and perpetuity of the Government. The Whigs, in the recklessness of their opposition, paying no regard to consistency-for it is no characteristic of theirs-and finding nothing else upon which to rest their objections, decry the evils of a specie currency. Truly the ass brayeth, but he doth not now "know his master's stall." Foreign as is a purely metallic currency to the subject of the Independent Treasury; little as the one has to do with the other; notwithstanding they have no necessary nor even probable connection as cause and effect, the party and its leaders seize upon this as the ground and reason of their opposition.

...

They oppose the Independent Treasury because of the evils of an exclusive specie circulation— What are those evils? That, by the necessary diminution of the circulating medium, the nominal value of other commodities of trade would be diminished in the same ratio. The laborer would not obtain as much money for his labor, the merchant for his goods, the farmer for his produce, nor the mechanic for the products of his industry. But the relative value of all commodities of trade whatsoever would be preserved, save in their relation to money. Every man would get just as much of real intrinsic value for his labor, his merchandise or his produce, then as at present, and consequently no one could be injuriously affected by the change, save the debtor. The hardships upon debtors is an evil which must always attend any diminution in the quantity of the circulating medium. But with what admirable grace does the objection come from the Whigs! The Whig party is the bank party in our country. It is the supporter and apologist of bank monopolies-the advocate of that detestable system of legislation which confers exclusive privileges and is identified with the banking interest; and it is a fact which no Whig politician, however reckless and unprincipled, will have the effrontery to deny, that the banks are the instruments of the most ruinous expansions and contractions in the currency-that they have of late years, not once or twice only, but often and repeatedly, produced worse evils than any change to specie circulation could now produce, however suddenly effected. A period of expansion arrives-the banks extend their accommodations-bank paper is plenty-it circulates freely-society ferments-speculation ragestrade is carried to excess in every department-property of all kinds bears an exorbitant price, and enormous debts are contracted.

Next arrives the period of contraction, when the banks draw in their issues and curtail their discounts-money becomes scarce, and panic and distress ensue-property sinks in value to perhaps one third of its former price-creditors become urgent for their dues, and the man, who before bought upon credit to the amount of say $1,000 must now sacrifice property which at the time he purchased was probably worth $5,000 to pay his debt of $1,000. This is the natural and inevitable result of our present and past banking system. It is a result which we have seen effected several times within the last few years, and whose causes cannot be misunderstood nor denied. And the same system has produced the same result in other countries as well as our own. Wherever the system has been adopted it has produced a fever and ague system; at one time producing the madness, the delirium of the highest fever, to seize upon the whole body politic; at another, inducing the damps, the chill of the worst ague to settle down upon the people, to benumb their faculties and prostrate their energies. . . .

But with what admirable consistency can the advocates and apologists of such a system, now urge the evils of a change in the circulating medium of the country as an objection to the Independent Treasury! They, in the first place, tax their imaginations, fruitful of evil, to find arguments against it, and failing to find any substantial objections, they wilfully, perversely, and dishonestly ascribe to it effects which it never can in reason produce; and then, by the shallowness of the objections conceived and brought forth, unfortunately for them betray their own insincerity and destitution of principle. On one occasion they deprecate as the worst of evils any change in the currency; on another, they justify it, and apologize for and advocate the institutions which are the very instruments in producing it.

Another, appearing March 28, 1840, under the head "The Campaign," sketches more broadly his views of the fundamental differences between the creeds of the two national parties of his day, and the historic foundations of the political faith to which he subscribed:

They (the Federalists) contended that the people were too ignorant and unenlightened to be safely intrusted with the control