Spirit of Jefferson. [volume] (Charles Town, Va. [W. Va.]) 1844-1948, 1852-11-09
RHAFK EsULT.
20 "a na.IaEsoa Uaiea afEIiaay

Frsmstbe WaskingtOa UniOa efFEiaEy
The annihilaGon Of The oott-Whig party be-
fore The arousea intelligence, patriotism and
public .yirtne sfths people of the United States,
i. one of the most i1strpetive and 81 poll
tseal rspolaai5as o. record. From Tie returns
which are. before Us, and z synopsis OF which
is eiveR below, we are led 70 infer with esn-
fdencs that OF all The States yet heard from.
only two-yemont and Massaehusetis-haVe
given even meagre pturaties in favor of Gene
raj Scott-the popular majority in eyery State
heard from being probably againsthim, and in al
most every case being a majority Overwhelming
and unprecedented. vi the STATES not heafd
from1here is no feasonto believe the wings have
carried a single one. This is political reVolu-
ton which, at first view, would seem impossible
under our institutions and political usages.
IL, at the assembling of the Wing Convention
in Baltimore, any man had stood up and toretold
such a result-hat any manthen that
two hundred and ninety-six leaders ofsthe great
Wing party, in full consultations could by any
possibility resolve upon any given course for this
canvass which should leave them in adhesive
minority IN ererg Slate of the Union, and pile mp
against them an aggregate majority of hundreds
of thousands in all the States taken together, and
finally reduce them to eighteen electoral votes out
of two hundred aud ninety-six-had any man
said beforehand that such a result could have
been prepared and brought about by such a con-
%vention, such a prophet would assuGedly have
been universally regardedasthe withstand most
deluded ofdreamets! Yet such is the stern and
instructive fact which now stands out plain and
%palpable to be read. and p~ondeted of all men
The reason is clear enough now. There was
not one single element of moral power in the
whole Wing position.
lis sectinnsIjsm was an onfya1a IN fba aonsFi.
tuition, and ON the good faith of the people pledg-
ed to maintain it.
Its reliance upon mere military reDown and
service as a claim to the highest civil Office was
an outrage not only upon the public intelligence,
but upon every principle of public liberty.
Its pretexts to hide its sectiOnalism. and to
place the claim of the Wing candidates upon any
other than military grounds were from the first
seen TO be gross frauds
And, finally, the P~retence that a canvass SO
organized and conducted could be called in any
sense a Conservative canvass, was the most obi.
Gus fraud of all. All the intelligent conserva-
tism of the land knew at once that in our fedora.
ton there is no one political element SO utterly
and hopelessly destructive as sectionalism. II
knew, moreover, that in a republic, to rally con-
serVatlsm under a mere military banneri is a glar.
ing decentralization. Feeling this, it found it.
self summoned to sustain a candidate whose po-
litieal life, among illustTiOuS services in another
walk of patriotic duty, exemplifed almost every
extreme of political error; and then, to crown
this whole elaborate architecture Of party ruin,
this SAINT sober, quiet, staid, distrustful conserva-
tism of the country found itself literally supplied
with picture books as an inducement and a guide
for its exercise of the great right of the vote!
The result is before us. The conservatism of
the country turned away in utter disappointment
and disgust.
And yet This is but one-haIf, and less than one.
half, of the case.
There was not one element of moral 1ceakness
in the position of the united democracy.
In the face of serious difficulties, first of all it
planted Itself firmly on national ground-the
ground o~fjustice and good faith under all the pro-
visions OF the constitution.
1t sternly forbore to make it's politics a per-
s%onality.
1t refused to tamPer with the old, time-honor-
ed democratic creed. 1t called upon the country
to sustainsin its entireness and purity the policy
a century, had made The country prosperous and
great.
And, finally, ittook, as the chief representative
of that policy, a man who had shown a great
ness of nature which, without efFort or osten-
tatIon, could rise above all the temptations of
public life and political ambitiOn-a man, who,
having first shown a thorough, comprehensive,
and profound appreciation of the democratic
creed, and approved himself as eminently quail
fed to lead in the great work of bringing it
home to the convictions of the people and to
all the interests of the country, bad then, in
his youth, of his W choice. laid down high
public honor, and plunged into the depths OF
private life, content to display his powers in
the faithful discharge of all its duties, save
when his country called on him to grid on his
sword for war, or when some emergency of
high public concernment in The political af-
fairs Of his own State called him forth to dis
play on that theatre a wisdom, patriotism, en-
ergy, and courage, worthy of the highest states
manshiP of the best days Of the republic -
And his associate in the democratic nomina-
ton was in all respects eminently fitted to grace
that illustrious companionship, and to show by
his acknowledged ability, consistency, and pru-
dence, both in public and private life, the sin
cerity and singltness of purpose with which
The democratic party in selecting its candi.
dates had sought TO put fairly in nomination
the democratic sentiment of the country!
Between two parties thus organized and
thus led, the people could not hesitate, and
have not hesitated. The whole land is demo.
cratic. The whole organized opposition to de-
mocracy is a ruin and as the Wing party
goes into liquidation and winds up its affairs,
the country must wait for the new firm and
style in which The business of conservative .op-
to the Democratic tendencies of our
and our people, shall henceforth be
carried on?
THE RESULT.