The Arkansas banner., 1843-12-16

power. III tiiS next House oI Representa- tives, their strength will scarcely be as one to two
 What had Mir. VAN BuREN's popularity or unpopularity to do with the fall or rise of the Democratic party Here are the causes which effected its fall, and those which pro- duced It's rise , They are independent of him, and both Ill the action and reaction adequate to the effect. He was their victim, without the power of successful resistance, and the result IS no more to be attributed to his un- popularity, than that of any other Democrat who fought and fell on the same occasion.
 Except the fact of Mr VAN BuREN's de- feat, all the evidence is, that he was more popular with the Democratic party, in 1840, when defeated, than in 1886, when elected In l840, he obtained l,123,057 popular votes, and, in 1886, but 763, 149 A consi- derable section of the Southern Democrats, who did not support him ill 1886, voted for him Ill l940. He gained votes he acquired new friends What, then, is the evidence that he had become unpopular? Simply the fact that his adversary had the most votes. How did he get them? Palpably, by means having nothing to do with Mir. VAN BuREN's popularity.
 But he is a beaten candidate, and it is bad policy to run him again So was JEFFERSON a beaten candidate; yet the Democracy ran him again! So was JACKSON beaten can dldate; but he was not, for that reason, dis earded by the Democracy. So was HARRI- SON beaten candidate; and CLAY is a THRICE beaten candidate-twice by his enc mics, and once by his friends.
 To De beaten by unfair means, INCREASES the strength of candidate, instead of dimi- nishing it. This was one of the principal sources of argument and elements of strength Tn General JAcKsoN's successful contest with Mir. ADAMS. There is always predisposi- ton ln the minds and hearts of the people to rally to the support of him who has been put down by foul play, Has a grosser case ever happened than that of MT. VAN BUREN, Was ever play more foul than the Whig play of 1o403 Undoubtedly, the manner ill which Mr. VAN BUREN was beaten, gives him de- clded advantage over all his competitors. It induces generous hearts to rally around him, with an enthusiasm which no other candidate can inspire, while clear heads perceive, in his restoration to power, the most ready and ef- tectual means of restoring, beyond doubt or cavil, the principles of administration which he fell in defending
 To assume that all those who voted against Mir. VAN BuREN, in 1940, will vote against him, in lS44, is to deny to the people not only every generous impulse, but all common honesty. Devils, and men like them, hate those most whom they have most wronged but such Is not the character of the American people. Honest in their impulses, and just in their designs, they are as prompt to repair an unintentlonal injury, as to vindicate violated right We doubt not that thousands and tens of thousands, who followed the igais fatn@s of Whigism, in lS40, are now waiting with solicitude, to redress, in 1914, the wrong they did both to Mr. VAN BUREN and Democracy. It IS human nature and Heavens justice, that honest men, put down by falsehood and in- justice, shall be reinstated by truths irresist- ibe reaction:
 '.Truth, crushed to earth, will rise again;
 The eternal years ofGod are hers.''
 Like the fabled Anteus, the just man gains strength by his fall, and rises more powerful than ever
 But 1t is said, this natural and peculiar de- sire to reinstate Mir. VAN BUREN, is all un- worthy spirit of revenge which ought not to be indulged. Is this true? Revenge is an eager desire to inhict injury for some real or imaginary wrong or disappointment. What of this is there in the eager desire generous bosom has to redress wrong inflicted per haps by itself? Is 1t revengeful in Demo- crat, whether he voted for Mir VAN BUREN in lS40 or not, to wish, by his restoration to office, to wipe out every unjust imputation cast upon him in that contest If 1t be, then justice is revenge, and the God of justice is a God of revenge. If 1t be, 1t Is wrong to re- pair injury and wicked to be just! No, no This feeling is one of the purest and holies impulses of our nature. It is implanted in the human bosom by Heaven itself as one o its most effective instruments to redress this worlds wrongs and vindicate its own vio- lated laws.
 But it is not alone as matter of individu- al redress, that we look upon Mr. Van Buren's restoration as just and important. We con- sider it the most effective way to vindicate and reinstate the principles which were struck down with Me man If we abandon the man, though we adhere to the principles, the wings will feel but half vanquished, and oe shall feel but half victorious. The partial success of their foul means will be an inducement to try them again, and the same fact will dimin- ish the zeal and confidence with which De- mocrats will resist them five would place the stamp of indelible reproduction and eternal infamy on the falsehoods, frauds and perjuries of 1S40, we must reuerse their effects and not leave trace or a germ to encourage such outrages hereafter. How can we do this but by raising up the man as well as the princi- pies whom those outrages struck down ?- The man becomes measurably identified with the principles, and we cannot completely heal the wounds of the one without redress ing the wrongs of the other.
 Such, we are sure, is the opinion and feel ing of large portion of the Democratic par ty, and we believe, of a vast majority. They look upon Mir. Van Buren, not as the cause ol their defeat but as the pecuiiar rictim of a common wrong His unsullied character his just, manly and independent conduct