The southern press. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1850-1852, 1850-12-16
From the .kstr Orleans Bee.

must have remarked, that throughout the South
ern States party lines are becoming fainter every
day, and the time does not seem far distant, when
they will be- at least for season, entirely oblit-
Grated. There is no difficulty in tracing this po-
litical fusion to its legitimate causes. lnrinscally,
the divisions and demarkations which some years
ago utterly isolated Wings from Democrats, inter-
posing between them insurmountabe barriers of
constitutional doctrine and construction, have
gradually worn away, until both parties almost
occupy a common platform. The question Of
National Bank-perhaps the most potent OF all
the issues between the two parties-is confessedly
obsolete. 1t has ceased even to be presented IN
the customary batch Of resolutions which the De-
mocrats prepare for their avowed political assem-
blages. The internal improvement question is no
longer confined to party-since in the West and IN
many parts Of the North, the people of all shades
Of political opinion, rantain the right and duty OF
the General Government to foster schemes of
manifest public utility. Neither is distribution OF
the proceeds Of the public lands party issue, for
it has been tscitly abandoned. What then sepa-
rates Wing from Democrat Little more than
the tariff question, which is every day losing It's
prominence, and which, even Georgia and one or
two other States Of the South, shall develop more
fully their manufacturing resources, will number
its partisans among the most ardent and uncom-
promising Zen ocrats, just as it now does in Penn
sylvania. Party spirit, therefore, from inherent
and inevitable causes, is dying out in the South,
anu except as contest between tue pOsSeSSOrS OF
powers and the claimants Of power-between the
L" ms" and the d" outs;"it hardly be said to be
based on well defined, permanent and leading is
sues.
If, however, the decay of political antagonism
has been in some measure brought about by the
absence Of salient points OF difference between the
two parties, the process of fusion has been vastly
accelerated by the recent growth Of an issue, far
transcending in importance and consequences all
mere struggles for place and preferment, all con-
trorerses touching the proprlety and expediency
of any particular measure. We refer of course to
the question Of the Union. This great, over
shadowing question has absorbed all minor ones
and sunk them into temporary oblivion. The
very words "Whig and Democrat" seem to he
loosng their meaning, and giving place to the
more significant designations of "Unonist" and
" Disunionst. Both of these new parties derive
accessions from the ranks of those who formerly
fought under opposite political banners. In Geor-
gia, in Louisiana, in MIssissi ppi, in Alabama,
this is pre-emnently the case. We have seen in
the first named State, that in almost every county
the Union ticket, as well as the disunion,
composed Of an equal number of Wings and De-
mocrats, so that whatever might have been the
aspect Of the convention with reference to the ac
ton Of the State on the Compromise measures,
that body was certain to contain, politically, as
many Democrats Wings. In Louisiana, the
same tendency to the extinction of party divisions
exists. The great Union meeting was thronged
with the ablest men Of both parties; a Democrat
presided over the assembly, and the hottest De-
mocrats in our city sat side by side with the most
uncompromsing Wings, as Vice Presidents. In
Mississippi the Wing papers, opposed to disunion,
have formally renounced politics and party, as
sumed titles indicative of the sentiments which
animate them, and will hereafter do battle under
the standard of the Union alone, until its preserva
ton and perpetuty are secured beyond perad
venture. In Alabama similar feeling exists,
fhnn0 1neta i,c -
the absence of excitement. But day or two ago
HENRY CLAY, the founder of the Wing party,
openly declared he would vote for Union Demo
cat for President, in preference to a Free-soil
Wing; and we have no doubt that every Wing ia
the South would proudly and gladly initiate his
example.
These Developments are too palpable to escape
observation. The time has arrived when the orly
question in the South must be, care you for the
Union, as it is, or not?" He who is not with us
on this great issue, is against US. He who would
disturb the Compromise, break up the adjustment,
and set ua all ahoat once more dark and
stormy sea of uncertainty and agitation, is no
friend to the Union, let his lips protest whatever
they may. The Northern Abolitionist who ra yes
at the Fugitive Slave law, and counsels its repeal,
is as much disunionist as the Southern fanatic,
who wakes furious at the abolition of the Slave
trade in the District of Columbia and clamors for
the abrogation Of the act. SEWARD is disunion,
ist and so are QUITMAN and SouLE, for all three
are bent on mischief, are striving to overthrow the
recent Legislation of Congress, and doing what
they can 10 produce state of things that, if
unchecked, would unavoidab!y lead TO disunion.
Against such men and their principles. the Union
party of the Souh-made up of Wings and De-
mocrats who love their country better than the
scurvy struggles and petty fruits Of political dis
sension--is banded together 1t is a party that
clings to the Union, that asks nothing more than
the observance Of the Constitution and the laws,
that wants no change in legislation, and that is
invincibIy and radically opposed to all attempts,
direct or indirect, to array one section Of the coun
try in al attitude Of hostility towards another