The Athens post. [volume] (Athens, Tenn.) 1848-1917, 1853-11-11
POLITICAL PARTIES.
(FRoM THE NEW YORK HEaALD,)

! several stages of active existence and decay
F, They rise, they flourish, they decline, and the
: die. 1t is the universal law of nature, datin
from the disastrous fall of Adam and Eve, an
neither politicians nor political parties, no
cabinets,>no kitchen cabinets, can expect t
escape it. The whig party having fulfilled it
destiny, such as it was, has knocked under +
this fundamental law. 1t is defunct. The ol,
democratic party, therefore, the very life o
which was active resistance to the wings, ha
turned upon itself, and mutiny and open re
bellion have already fatally crippled it. Th,
approaching Congress will finish it, and so b,
it. Its destiny has also been fulfilled; let it die
+ ButTwhat comes nexts New parties, o
course, will be organized; and upon the para
mount and vital question of slavery, sectiona
or national, to this distinct and living issue
we are rapidly drifting. Let the Union meE
who believe that the compromises of the con
stitntion are indispensable to the continued
prosperity and unity Of the republic, take the
initiative in both Houses of Congress. Let
them lay down their platform for Constitu-
tional Union party, and bring all hands to the
mark upon some practical issue. 1t will ulti-
mately be done in the question of admitting
Cuba as n slave State but the end may be
sooner attained in the division of California,
leaving the southern half in the condition of
territory open to Southerners with al! their
property and domestic institutions; or in a
territorial government for Nebraska, with n
special clause for the benefit Of the South; or
in the admission of new slavc-holding State
from the present State Of Texas, according to
the compact of her anneXation or in the pur-
chase Of another slice of land from Mexico
for the extension Of the area of slave labor in
the production of cotton and sugar, both Of
which are cash articles among our most pes
tilent aboltionists.
Let the friends of the Union and of the
rights of the South under the constitution,
try the ground upon some Of these questions
as soon as possible after the meeting of Con-
Gress. Let them touch the Cabinet and the
Van Buren party with this spear Of lthure,
that we may see them in their true shape, and
that the President may open his eyes to the
question, we repeat, are not settled. There
is no peace upon them. There is but hol-
low truce, tor the war will soon be reI,sNadr !.
Nebraska, Texas, California, the mani{c1t|
destiny Of Mexico, and the inevitable anilex1i-
ton of Cuba, will revive, each and al of then,
in their turn, the war of British and N0rthern|
aboliIionism upon the South and against our
glorious Union. And the sooner the friends
of the Union, of both the old eflete parties,
are prepared for the struggle, the better
Their best policy is to act upon the offensive,
by proposing some test which will compel
every man in Congress, the Cabinet and
throughout the country, to show his hand.
The scrub race of our State election, if it
does nothing else, will authorize this move
ment. 1t will show that, from their unclean
associations with the treason OF Tree soil and
both the whig and the demo-
cratic parties are past praying for-that the
time for the organization Of new national
party, practically hostile to the seditious spirit
of abOlitonism in every shape, has come
And for the sake of sounding the Cabinet, the
Van Buren, faction, and the country upon this |
vital question, We trust that shortly after the |
meeting of Congress something will be done.
There is no other way now TO save the ad.
from falling entirely and ruin
ously under the control of Van Bnrenism |
than new and practical test upon the slave
ry question. Let it be applied Start the birds
from the ground, so that we may see which .
are crows and which are pigeons. Fire shot
or two in the stubble and start them up.