Portage sentinel. [volume] (Ravenna, Ohio) 1845-1854, 1853-01-12
"EiIlibUSteriSm."

A short time since, says the Union, the whig
press was in panic at the thought that the ap-
preaching victory of the democratic party would
give the country over to the sway of fillibuster-
ism. 1t is amusing to see how the result of the
election has quieted all such apprehensons. Take
the general sentiment of the leading whig presses
for our guide in the matter, and we shall come to
the conclusion that the administration of General
Pierce is to be one of the most thoroughly conser
vative administrations on record. And if we un-
derstand by conservatism that system of public
policy which stands upon rigid adherence to the
principles of national justice and good faith in
foreign relations, this newly nurtured whig conf
dence in general Pierce's conservatism is doubt
less we'll founded. Such conservatism has al
ways been the policy of the democratic party. 1t
recognizes the natural law Of growth in repub-
lie; and it respects always the inherent right of
self-government in other adjacent communities as
right which, when duly sustained and vindcated
by them, may naturally and fifty, and in the in
terests alike of peace and of good government,
seek shelter and protection under the Rgis of our
confederation. In this sense, and in this sense
alone. has the democratic party ever regarded the
extension of our government as its manifest des-
tiny" And it is plain that any other view OF
of our national extension, instead of being con-
servative, would in fact be radically destructive of
all the principles on which our institutions rest.
It was precisely this sort of conservatism which
found utterance in the famous declaration of Mr..
Monroe in regard to the foreign occupancy of this
continent. Mr.. Monroes doctrine is just as emf
nently conservative as the doctrine Of President
Washington, precluding armed interference on
our part with international relations the CONT
nent of Europe. Each of these cardinal ideas of
our policy is the natural complement of the other,
and both form essential portions of our policy of
peace. The infractcn of either puts in peril the
peace of the world.
| 1t is, we think, in harmony with these views,
and in the conviction that they belong to the very
essence of the policy of the democratic party in
its bearing upon our foreign relations, that the
. country in general has come to regard the cleo
ton of General Pierce triumph of the only
conservatism among us which deserves the name,
and as the victory of those principles upon which
alone our national peace can permanently stand
That the leading whig journals, after making the
canvass hideous with what they called the demo-
cratic spirit of rapine and robbery; should ulti-
mately become ashamed of their cry, and so give
it up, was perhaps to be expected; but that they
should so soon have changed their note-that, ev-
EN- in advance of the Inauguration, and before the
result of the election has been officially declared,
the whig press should begin to predict, with as
sured confidence, the prudence and justice of a
President whom they for months denounced a
'sllibuster,' and representative of "fllibuster-
ism"-this is indeed an unusual spectacle, and it
presents new and potent testimony to the wis
dom of the popular verdict as rendered in the late
election.