Washington sentinel., 1853-12-06
FOUR YEARS OF VIRTUE.

FOUR YEARS OF VIRTUE.
In the unhappy feuds that have arisen in
New York-in the injudicious transfer Of them
from thatarenat othe national arena at Washing.
ton by heinterposition of one ofthe departments
of the government, which undertook to decide
between the respective merits Of the Dickinson
party and the Van Buren party, and delibe-
rately yielded the palm to the latter-in these
feuds and dissensions, the journals through
out the country have taken their sides. Much
talent and ability have been displayed on each
side. In addition to the ability evinced by
those journals which have espoused the cause
of the true constitutional democracy-to the
honor Of the press We speak it, they have ex-
hibted manly independence, an honest sym
pathy, y,anuncalculatingd gdisinterestedness, worthy
of the early days of the republic. Satisfied that
they were right, without calculating cost with
out calculating consequences turning deaf
ear to objurgation and reproach- only
the honest convictions of their minds, the pure
sympathies of their hearts-they ranged them
selves on the side of the true friends of the Con-
stitution and the country.
If all the presses and politicians of the
country had but followed the honest dictates
of their hearts--if they had thought only of
the purity Of their party faith, and the true in
terests of their country, the ranks of this gal
liant division would have been filed to over.
flowing. But caution, fear, ambition, restrain
ed them. They counted the cost, and cast in
their fortunes with a faction that their souls
abhor.
Many we know are honest in their espousal
Of the cause Of that party known as the softs.
But others had respect unto the recompense
of the reward" The loaves and fishes had
more charms than trials and prosecutions.
To be hard was to incur denunciation. To
be a soft was to enjoy reward.
"Where the carcass is, there will the eagles
be gathered together"
Let them revel in their spoils But day of
reckoning will come. Let them feast to-day,
they may fast tomorrow. The rewards Of sin
may be slver-but its retributions are shame
and sorrow.
Among the journals that have established
reputation for ability and independence, in this
contest, we name with great pleasure the Indi
ana Evansville Enquirer. 1t has won for it
self a name Of which it may be proud. We
have several times copied from Its columns,
and this morning we transfer from it to our pa
per the following sensible article, to which we
| invite the attention of our readers:
"A few remarks may explain more fully
these definitions. A few hard shells arrayed
| themselves against the President, very few,
and they met with the condemnation of their
party. The hard shell has never swerved from
the faith of the party, his record is pure and
undefled, he may be accused Of seeming oppo-
sition to a man, but the most shameless cannot
accuse time of antagonism to a principle.
Among the soft shells some few were Cass men
in AS, but the vast majority of them were Van
Burenites and defeated General Cass; still
greater number are and were and will always
be opposed to the compromise, Their leader,
the willy, treacherous, talented Van Buren
hoped that God would strike him dead when
he endorsed the fugitive slave law. He has
kept his word. Neither he nor his party have
endorsed the fugitive slave law. The game to
be PLAYED BY John Van Buren, and the freesoil
wing has been fully laid open in very able
article in the New Orleans Delta. He that
runs may understand it. Johns views of the
Baltimore platform are peculiarly cunning.
| Read them
! u.y1rha.~ the platform was constructed, | stood
upon il here and ven. TO predict that the State
| Of New York would do so hKeW 80. iAe aclon
g.
lowed this prediction, and the election, by an over
whelming majority confirmed its truth. | regard
| this platform as in substance, declaration that
the compromise measures, including the fugitive
slave law, are TO remain undisturbed during the
administration OF General Pierce, and to be faith
fully enforced that the slavery agitation is not to
be renewed in out OF Congress- under any pre,ext
whatsoever. This involvesn no appreciation of those
measures.
SIS there man in the United States who
cannot understand the Van Buren, policy now
Is it not plain, from his own assertion, that the
Baltimore platform, instead of being finality,
is to last only four years At the end of that
time the scarifed wound is to be broken open,
the country is to go through again the excite
ment, the misery, the terrors of other scenes of
anticipated disunion! The old sore is to be
lacerated, the prosperity, mental and physical,
of communities is to be prostrated--the south
is to be arrayed against the north again Is
any man who is in his senses willing for this ?
Yet this is Van Buren's policy. He states em.
phatically that he does not approve of these
measures it is truce, not treaty. In the
meantime, what is his course? During the
truce, how does he act 2 He is abolitionizing
the democratic party. He is procuring place
and power for his own adherents--he is put.
ting sentinels in all the strong places, so as to
have an army and forts when he shall declare
war again. Or, perhaps, at the end of four
years, he will again enter the market. He
will again offer for sale and consent to be
bought off for another four years with the
patronage Of the government. He is EN-.
ulating the Bey of Algiers, war or money!
He is pirate who creates the dangers, to fore
go which he must be paid. He would have
the Union men pay for their ransom in gold,
and the national democrats have initiated Bren-
nus-they have thrown their sword into the
scale and the scale has kicked the beam. The
national democrats saw all this long ago, as
We may see it now. They saw that to the end
OF time the Van Buren faction would have to
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