The republic., 1851-11-01
southern Democracy.

have more than once called attention to the cir
cumstance that the southern wing of the De-
mocratic party is hostile to the Compromise
measures, and has everywhere furnished the
material of which the disunion movement is
composed In Georgia, Tennessee, and Ala
bama, the Democrats formed the secession
party, and the triumphs of the Union can
didates were accomplished with Wing votes;
in Virginia, the Democrats shirked the ques-
ton of fidelity to the Compromise, and in at
least one instance elected man chershlng
secessionst views; and in Mississippi, where
the contest is now going on, Mr. FooTE
can only hope to be elected by the sufrages
of Wings The Union has held tenacously to
different version of these matters, but It's
southern contemporaries refuse TO acqulesce In
the conclusions it has put forth More than
one has suggested to the metropolitan organ
that its action in the premises is obnoxious TO
its old friends in the South, and involves a
studied misrepresentation Of their views The
.NiSsissippian, for example, pronounces the
attempt to elicit from its State an approval of
the Compromise, ''a cheat, "a shameless de-
vice used to draw their affections and their
confidence from their favorie champion"
Colonel DAVIS, "and lead them into the sup
port of the FILLMORE Administration. The
.MisSissippian proceeds to say:
at is significant fact that convention of the
Democracy Of any southern State has expressed
approval of the Compromise measures. In some
instances the southern Democracy have expressed
reluctant acquiescence, a matter of choice be
tween the alternatives of resistance endurance,
but in none have they endorsed those measures.
| ''In Tennessee, the Democratic candidate for
| Governor, General Trousdale, took the ground
openly that those measures were fraud upon the
South and should be submitted to with the distinct
| understanding that encroachments should cease.
| Governor Collier the Democratic candidate for
Governor of Alabama, occupied the same position,
with his avowal further in favor of the right of
cession.
"The recent Democratic Convention of Virginia
did not avow appreciation of the Compromise.
This is indicative of the existence in that State, of
deep seated hostility to those measures, and 'sul-
| lem acquiescence in them Couple the refusal to
endorse the scheme with the triumphant re- election
| of Senator Mason, who fought against it from be-
ginning to end and with the nomination of all the
Representatives who opposed it, and there can be
no doubt to the real condition ofpubc sentiment
in the Old Dominion on the subject"
| No amount of sophstry can clear away the
facts as thus stated by Democratic print,
which may be allowed to speak with some
show of authority in relation to the Democrats
of Mississippi. The points involved in the
other illusions have long been patent to
everybody but the Union.
! similar tale reaches us from Louisiana,
though with some happier characteristics. In
stead of perssting in the fatuitous course which
has wrecked the party in other Southern States,
the Democracy of Louisiana '.is progressively
adopting the conservative doctrines of the
Whgs'' The New Orleans Bulletin makes
| this statement, and adds:
'The party which processes to be par erceuenee
the party of the people, has been forced to abandon
its destructive principles and yield to the all-pow
erful and prevailing sentiment OF nationality which
now pervades the entire country.
''Under other circumstances Louisiana Democ-
racy would have been marked and destructive,
| in its natural phase, as the Democracy of Alabama,
Mississippi, and Georgia; in each and all of which
States the Democratic party, the lees of it, are
identical with the secessioniss of South Carolina.
| In these States the Democrats, who have not yet
discarded the name, manfuy declare themselves
| to be opposed to the Compromise, and in favor OF
secession they pronounce such opinions to be con-
sonant with the principles of pure Democracy; and
| they are by no means mealy mouthed in denounc-
ing all those renegades of the party who, for ex-
pediency's sake, cloak falsify their real senti-
ments as nothing more less than subraissionists
| "From the fortuitous circumstances of time
alone the Democracy of Louisiana has not fully
and openly committed itself upon the great nation
| al issues which have distracted, defeated, anJ
| ruined the party elsewhere. This was most lucky
hit. Had the elections in Louisiana prece ded in
stead of followed, those in our neighboring States
or had the secessionists of those States succeeded
| the very same issues would have been adopted
| here; and at this moment the name of Democracy
would have been merged in that of Southern Rights
which, as defined and undersood, is convertible
| title for secession.
"a year ago, just this month, the seed was sown;
the ground was we'll titled and cultivated, but the
| harvest too late for it to mature. Had it not
been for this casual circumstance, and had the
"seasons" been more propitioua, we should have
had as plentiful crop of dragons teeth-other-
wise called secessionsts-as Mississippi has pro-
duced.
at good luck alone, and not principle, or
even the common result of sagacity-policy, that
estopped the Democratic party in its proclivty to
| destruction
Repentance at the eleventh hour is prefer
able to persistence in wrong, but in this case il
will afford no ground for claiming for Louis
lana Democracy the merit of being par erceL
lence the friends of the Union. Their conver-
sion is polite, and will, no doubt, be useful
In the mean time it tends to exhibit still more
palpably the miry nature of the slough in which
Southern Democracy generally is imbedded.
The Administration.
If the present Administration have not mani
tested an honest desire to do their duty to the