Washington sentinel. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1853-1855, 1853-11-26

South, asserting the vitality of the Wilmot pro-
viso, glorying in the defeat of Lewis Cass, and
declaring that the freesoil faction under the
Buffalo egis, had the power not only to re-
generate the democratic party, but to revolu-
tionize the world marched into the democratic
camp. 1t was the piebald coalition Of undated
animosities and political contradictions. II
came not from the promptings of the demo
cratic masses, but from personal hopes of pre-
ferment The national sentiment was qualified
and obscured.
The shadow of the great principle of nation.
alism alone remained 1t had neither power
nor vitality. All was absorbed in the desire Of
party dominion by the freesoil leaders, the per-
sonal aspirations of prominent deserters from
the national cause, and the craving for spoils
in some of the localities. -Four years of endu.
rance, Of embittered elimination, of desertion Of
the "united" democratic tickets when too
clearly national, ripening during the last Of
three years, under the proscriptive rule of the
coalition leaders in the State governments into
the fercest persecution, in outrage at Tammany
Hall, and finally in the preparations for vio-
lence at Syracuse, left no doubt in the minds Of
democrats, who had reflected on these things,
that further utilization was abuse, and separa.
ton duty. Thanks to the bold and earnest
men at Syracuse, they renowned the bad pre-
cedent of l849, and restored the national de-
mocracy Of the State to their true position--the
only position that can win the respect or secure
the confidence of the great national democratic
party of the Union. Had not this high ground
Of principles and duty been departed from in
l849, the democracy of the State, truly united
and harmonious, would, at this moment, stand
before the world, not only unsoiled, but tri-
III
In reviewing these occurrences, we shall not
do ourselves, or the facts of history, the inius-
tice to speak with hesitation or with any lack
Of candor We gave to the nomination of the
present executive of the United States an earn
political life he had avowed and sustained. as
we believed, the national principle. We hailed
his triumphant election as the ascendancy and
elevation of that principle. We regarded it as
an earnest Of the stability, nay, the indestruct.
Utility of our glorious Union.
We adhered to this belief, Notwithstanding
the selection of a cabinet, curiously mosaic. and
strangely in contrast with the popular expecta.
ton, because we were unwilling to yield a cher
ished confidence, and because we relied upon
the sincerity of the inaugural declarations. But
when in this State we saw the leanings and
associations of the cabinet all in the direction
of the freesoil leaders and their coalition allies
when it became obvious that that class of poll
ticians were their assured and confidential adj.
visers-when we saw the national democracy
Of the State, whose consistency and devotion,
through all the dark periods Of our history and
at all times, no man can gainsay, discarded as
unworthy of confidence or treated as aliens
when we saw this utilization with freesoilism
ripen into manifest interference by cabinet
ministers in our State politics, in the tact
approval of the acts of violence and outrage
by which our conventions were sought to be
controlled, and finally in the election from
official station under the government of honored
and consistent democrats when the assertion
of our political rights in State affairs be-
came irregularity," and consistent political
integrity INSTRUMENTATION when we
saw the power and machinery Of the depart
ments thrown into the canvass in every form Of
intimidation and appliance, we could no long
er doubt the proclivities of the cabinet, their
designs upon the independence and integrity
Of our people, or the danger to all freedom of
opinion, all nationality Of sentiment, and all
liberty Of political action, if allowed to sweep on
unchecked and unresisted in their career Of
attempted domination. Nor could we hesitate
to act as became men, smarting under q sense
of wrong and injustice. That we saw our con-
fdence misapplied, or position misrepresented,
and our liberty of opinion and action in State
affairs invaded, with pain and regret we will
not deny; but that we saw it with fear or in any
craven spirit Of submission to cabinet inter
ference, no man will now assert. It is q noble
spectacle to see a great people sustain gov
eminent, founded on justice, administered with
hberality, and standing upon and maintaining
the principles and avowals by which it evoked
and obtained power; but it is far nobler to wit
ness prompt and gallant resistance to gov
crnment which forgets its friends, renounces its
principles, and aims to tyranize over both.
We say this more in sorrow than in anger
We state facts, without qualification or reser-
yation, but in no spirit of hostility to the chief
magistrate of the nation, to whom we gave our
votes and support, with confidence and alac.
rity, in the contest Of 1852. In all his acts
and recommendations to assert the national
honor or promote the public interests-in all
measures for the maintenance of the compro-
misses Of the constitution, and for faithful and
equal administration Of the government
will receive our cordial cooperation. And if.
discarding or disregarding the councils which
have placed him in seeming hostility to his
early and true friends, he shall place his ad.
ministration where from the beginning it could
have stood in proud defiance Of all effective
opposition, we shall not only yield to it an un.
reluctant support, but hail the change with uu-
affected qualification,
In view Of the results and bearings of this
contest, permit us to nrge upon your considera-
ton the indispensable duty Of following up the
labor that has been SO well begun Although
a spirit is abroad that will not sleep, and can
not be repressed, it will need constant and
vigilant attention to Details and to the work Of
in all the counties and districts.
The want of preparation and the absence of
effective organization were obvious in the re-
cent election, and although high and gene.
rous enthusiasm, and determined zeal may ac-
complish much, both are greatly aided, and
surer results produced by systematic and orga-
nized effort So much is due to the position
you have assumed, the cause you seek to vindi.
cate and advance, and the great national prin-
ciple on which. rests the foundations of your
political fabric
Let no man doubt that this principle of Ma.
will grow and flourish in this free
and. Let no man think that it can be cribbed
BY coalitions or checked "by authority" tits