Portage sentinel. [volume] (Ravenna, Ohio) 1845-1854, 1848-11-01
Tile Whig Party.

Everything, wittily says the Philajel-
phia Herald, means something if one has
the gilt 10 understand it. 1t is unphlosoph.
cal to dispose Of puzzle by calling a
humbug. Whatever comes into existence
has some design in il, and as soon as i. be.
comes utterly useless it forthwith goes 10
pieces. There are sermons in stones, u
hard subjects as they are, and ''good in ev.
crything.". however difficult to find it, aud
the whig party must be and mean some
thing. Our apprehension is this: The na-
ture and provdcntlal drift of our ins;tu.
tons give US democratic government, ,and
in practice demands democratic functiona.
ries. The creed and the discpleship must,
in the nature of things, bo kept in some
tolerabe degree of correspondence. Ir
Natural philosophy and theology there may
be parties anita gonizing each other both il
theory and in action, because first princi
pies ere in dispute, and there is no author
ltalive exposi,or; bit Tie doctrines and ;ol
icy ol'our civil government are matters o
convention, and construction by the prop
or authority is absolute and certain. There
can, therefore, be but one legitimate, per.
manent, or substantive party in politics,
but there may be any number Of telnpora
ry, adjective sects, through whom non.
conformity and abuses are 10 be exposed
and remedied. The whig party, we take
it, results from this necessity, and is legili
mately devoted to this reiormatory func.
ton. lis fortunes and history accord well
with this view. | he democratic party holds
the government from the proprietaries in
fee, and the whig party has sort of tink-
er's lien upon Ii for repairs. Once in q
dozen or twenty years. when the democrats,
in tho presumption Of an ndeieasibe title,
behave so badly that they canno. endure
themselves any longer, tho whi5s find
their true usefulness in helping the best oil
them TO turn The rascals out Of office. But
the wings thereupon make the egregious
biunder OF imagining that they are party,
instead Of Il patch for Il regular one.
The conduct and action of the wings sus
tain the same views. While the demo-
Gratis are always preaching principles, they
are always exposing abuses, and complain
ing of mal-adminislration. 1t is tyranny,
not usurpation, that they charge upon their
an: i:s;eais,s And it is owing to the fact
that they are essentially a reform party,
though they naver know thel fact nor wish
it to be so, that they are able to appeal, as
they alway do, to this progressive and bet.
ter sentiment Of the country, with plausi
bic grounds for its support. They always
behave n little better on the question o
peace, anti-slavery, and the right of petit
ton, than their rivals, but theyy mistake
their office; because they physic and plas.
ter the diseased body polite, they take it
into their heads that they ought to be re-
ceived as the head of the family and the
manager of its affairs. If they could only
get it fairly into their heads that they are
only ''segregated association of disgust
ed democrats. and conduct themselves ac-
cordingly. they would truly answer their
providential purpose; but this thing of set
ting up for regular, permanent, and in
tegral organization, puts them entirely out
of harmony with the established order
Of things, and converts what would other
wise be symmetrical movement into a
miserable shuttle, and confounded fuss
generally.