The daily union. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1845-1857, 1851-01-01
Political Landmarks.

II is surprising to consider how quickly the great po-
ca landmarks Of the country are defaced obiterated
and forgotten. The that led directly The revo-
luton much matter of cold, abstract history
to most of the present generation the causes that
we informed produced the Peloponcsan or Punic
The struggles and commissions of the confedera-
ton tina, generated present federal constitution are
alike consigned to the ",hings that we're" The furious
and searching ordeal through which the constitution
itself passed before il adopted, recolected as
the "war of the giants who contended on that hard
fought field The keen and vigorous antagoni.m OF JEFF
ferson and Hamilton in the cabinet Of Gen Washington
the alien and ,editon laws" Of the reign OF enor-,he
sauary and conservative democratic resolutions of 1885,
and the political revolution Of lsolare occasionally
fened to as things that not quite forgotten. but
rapidly vanishing from the and of the poll
tcians who imagine they statesmen in the present
times The war OF isia--,he Hartford Convenon--ihe
United States Bank-ibe system of internal improve
ments-he protective tarf-the Missouri Compromise
the annextion Of Texashow these events fit before US
like the quick succession of images hantasorogo,ta-
as silent as mysterious and as free from excitement and
passion We can all remember when the mention of
their mere stirred up the nation with trumpet
and seemed in themselves alone to contain the seeds Of
our death or of glory. The voice OF either might
have stood against The world
Now lie they low. aud poor do them
All these have been in their times great political land
marks; and where they Echo answers
wherc"
But in their stead have other landmarks erected
other luminaes have arisen and burned for their hour
lords Of the ascendant! The Wmot Provsoa diseased
rickety bantingis dead. though not ye, buried. The
admission Of Cafornia-the Texas boundary-the abo
ton of the slave trade in this District almost galvanized
in death into the grnning sembance of life by the doctors
Of South Carolina and Of the Nashville Convention
the fugitive slave law and the abolition Of slaverybese
appear to loom largest the horizon, and TO promise
that they have still " some blood in them" Northern
notification and southern disunion their natural off
spring. and must await the fate OF their very worthy
parents In the nature of things their days cannot be
long They must speedily triumph perish Excite
ment and agitation live fast and die young. II they are
arrested or diverted for moment and their votares begin
to think, their ,riumphal march is at end The pas
sage of the Compromise oted them sadly out Of their
course We may venture hope that they cannot regain
the momentum they have lost II the madness and vo-
ence Of the agitation be even curbed and held fast the
distant nu,terngs OF the storm will be heard-the eb-
bling waves will still continue for some time TO lash the
shore Amidst all the earthquakes and convusons that
have shaken country, there is one political landmark
that times has ottered and been partially obscured in
The fog but IL instantly reappeared when the first clear
glance of the sun became visible. That is the great
broad distinct line Of separation between democracy and
It's antagonist, under whatever it has appeared.
either as federalis national republican, or wh'g As
they say in the forest settlements that line is biasd
from end to end and the boundaries permanently fixed
by as the foundations Of the government itself Men,