Semi-weekly North-Carolina standard. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1852-1853, 1852-09-08
For the Standard.
For the OIdIIualo
HINTS FOR THE PEOPLE.
TUE E1rcrIvE FRANCHISE.

nav onenIy would be quickly and ind gnantly
ressted Those who desire TO appropriate 10 the lie"
the rights of the many know this and their only nope
is to deceive you into improper or il-adVised use
of it, that it may 10 be OF any value In your
hands. By misrepresentation and unfair statements
they endeavor to deprive of your confidence the men
whom YOU ought trust, and to induce you to rePose
it in those who will certainly betray it. Against tnls
you should be on your guard. Suspect the SIN
cerity of every who has the audacIty TO ended'o
10 control your vote, and especially by Appeals do
dressed to your preiudices your passions. IhoSe
who desire nothing but fair expression OF tue PoPu
lar will, need never resort 10 personal appears "
ulous anecdotes or covert insinuatIons 10 oesHoy
public estimation respectable citizen. "A Iau2n'
says Meures' in his Memoirs OF Empress JoseP"i"e'
goes in most for more Than an argument w"
among tickle and not over-scrunulous people sucn Is
dc no,ver of ridcule that had France beheld Bona
nar,e Touring as the hero of scandalous process
Is little likely they would have so quickly hailed him
as First Consul. " There is buta step between inc
sublime and the ridiculous, was Bonapartes *"n
fayorite and is the experience OF every one
that the more solemn, elevated or dgnihed any SUD-
iect NAV be- the more readily is laughter provoked by
the association with ,even suPpostion,ot any thing
mean, common or insignificant Ii ridlcule "ere III
deed the of truth then would those very thngs
which wont to hold most sacred ana l1ue' DC
most easily proven to be false and contemplate.
PARTIES.
Ever since the formation of our government NOSE
who have aspired direct public opinion nave oeeh
divided into great parties, originally known DIS
Federalists and Republicans The one the advocates
feels there must be in all governments that this Is the
best and the Safest and that the people at large II
left to the fair exercise of their common Judgment
will generally do what is best ter all. Inc other
party, believing popular government unsafe, and con-
ceiving that it is best for all that pub lie affairs shouio
be committed altogether to what are called the en-
phtened classes have been disposed to limit as nuch
as possible the power of the masses. They seem to
have thought this important justify any means
for its accomplishment. To achieve this they have
resorted to all imaginable devices. They select as
their candidates for office those who can appeal with
most success to any thing but to the GOOD sense ana
Judgment oe the people, and hold that he is the best
patriot who is most successful IN decelVng the mass
es into virtual surrender of their power at the ballot
box. When the people have discovered this enmty
of that party TO their power and privileges under one
name, straightway that party assumes another, anu
practices the same system of deception under 1t un-
til it is again discovered, when it again changes its
name. In the time it endeavors (and too often
succeeds) to beget suspicion, dstrust and contempt
in the minds of the people against their true friends
by misrepresentation, abuse, atlXlng to them con-
temptuous names, rdicule, and by greatly exagera-
ting and holding up to continual gaze their faults or
defects, from which no created being is exempt.
The name under which this latter party is now act
ing, is that of Wing name rendered sacred to the
American people during our revolutionary struggle,
and under which this party has been more eminently
successful in decevng the American than I'M
derany that j! has heretofore borne. Whether convert
is made from its ranks to the other party, or from
that into its own, with the dexterty which always
belongs to fraud, it turns it equally to its own adj
vantage. In the the Wings say, " how can
you call US Federaliss." (he name by which theye
are best Hnown to the American peope.) Was not
Mr.. such-an-one a Federast, and does not he belong
to your party In the other they say MIR. such
who belonged 10 your party, sees his
error and is ashamed of the stupidity corruption of
the republican party and Withdrew from. it. And
when they have been forced to abandon some favorite
scheme of their party, they have the eontery almost
to deny that they ever had any connection with it
call it obsolete idea, and say that there is pro-
e DrODCS6d,
should all other of deception have failed, they
say there is really difference between the par
ties-that both have from time to time advocated the
same measures and that both are now aiming at the
same end.
Now, if be really true that there is no difference
between the two parties, why is all this excitement
Why is this violent exertion elect one man in pre-
ference to another :? Men do without motives,
and If precse the same result is to follow, whether
another is elected, is it be believed that
men could Stir themselves up TO such interest in the
contest! And if the only motive of men who thus
talk (and if they speak truly there be other) be
that one may be elected who i'll distribute the pub
lie patronage among them and their friends. are they
worthy TO be listened TO at all The course of that
party does tend very much show that the scramble
for Office is the great impulse of its action. Ii is
shown IN the unchristan bitterness with which the
Wings denounce all who oppose them-it is shown
IN their inscriptions hanging of the private and
public characters of the distinguished men of the
country, who have not been of their party for exam
pie Mr.. Jefferson and Gen. Jackson, and host of
others living and dead-I is shown in the fact that
they never bestow any Office from the highest to the
lowest on any man, whatever may be his peculiar fiji.
ness for the particular office who is known to be Of
adverse politics. In North Carolina no office has
verbeen conferredbya Wing Legislature on a known
Democrat.
In all this the wing party differs widely from the
republican. The latter seldom indulge in any per-
sona bitterness combining itself the discussion of
facts and principles, ii not only respects but cherish
es with pride the private and public characters of the
distinguished men of the country. Under all its ad-
minstrations large portion and often majority of
the oticehoders of the country have been of opposing
politics. and in n ork Carolina, during the long and
uninterrupted continuance of democratic maiorities in
the Legislature up TO 1886, most of the prominent
Offices, not purely political, ia whg hands.
The wbig party seems 10 have faith in the poll
tcal integrity of others, and to have looked upon
commonwealth as Utopian, and therefore has deemed
right and prudent to oreslall art6ce, and appropri
ate as far as possible all the public advantages.
In conformity With all this the one party has ever
been In favor of what it calls liberal construction
OF the federal constitution the other believing that
constitution TO be the compact under which the gov
eminent was formed, by which the rights of States
as well as individuals secured, the many against
the lew and the few against the many, tie weak
against The strong and the strong against the weak,
has insisted upon adherence as nearly literal as
possible to It's terms These the principles of the
two parties. 1t is that particu lar acts NAV
not be found 10 correspond with the PRINCIPLES But
the great question is which are the true principles
No man set of men is perfect, and in looking for
good man we do not expect to find one who has
never slnned, but are content to meet with one of
sound principles, who processes and strives to act
Up 10 Inem But one of the acts of Satan, or of bad