Southern sentinel. [volume] (Plaquemine, Parish of Iberville [La.]) 1848-1858, 1854-10-07
IHE RISE OF An AMERICAN PARTY.

Union within the past year. cannot be doubted
, after the evidences afforded by the late elections
q both here and elsewhere. What the causes are
which have led to this prevailing sentiment il
is not our purpose at present TO inquire
Whether it has grown out of the gradual aban-
donment of their distinctive political tenets by
the Wings and the consequent assimilation of
the two great parties of the country, or wheth-
er it has been induced BY indiscreet efforts in
certain quarters to consolidate, As 4 seperate
body, 4 purely foreign party in our midst, that
should weld tie balance Of power in flu
ture contests, it needs not now to determine
Il is sufficient to know that the facts exist-that
4 vigorous and ambitious phase of AmericaniSIn
has been arou>ed-and that it is one which
must be met and appreciated by every man who
takes part or interest in the political affairs of
the nation. Large element in the controlling
thought of a people cannot be Ignored, and wise
and patriotic citizens, instead Of clinging blind
" to the deserted forms of past position, will
rather seek to guide and mould such new ideas
into conformity with the spirit Of our free in
stitntions.
!Americanism after all is but the outpouring
Of Il wide and deep love for our own country
the pulse as it were of our nationaIity-and in
itself contains the germ of evcry noble thought
that looks to our country's welfare. 1t is the
very atmosphere in which patriotic feelings are
nu'tured, and perhaps there is no good citizen
in all the land who if s, seriously questioned
would not admit that he endorsed its prompt
ings. recognized its teachings and approved its
instincts. He that would make war upon such
4 sentiment-a sentiment that embraces the
common gIories, and prospects, and hopes, as
we'll as the common unity of our great nation
does not deserve that name, and should receive |
neither countenance nor support from his fell
low countrynlcn.
We have been led to these reflections BY the
fact, as before stated, that very recently this
American question, if it may be so called, has
risen into a vast prominence from one end of
the United States to the other; and that various
public and partizan newspapers perceiving the
storm cloud, as they fancied it to be, which was
to overshadow their local politics, have been
hurried into an ill-tempered dennnciation of
Americanism in the abstract az we'll as in the
concrete-of Americanism flowing from deep
sympathies with all that is pure and healthful
and HIStiDrff yp in nNP nv rovoropOopf NJ m
our own soil, as well as of every self.assumed
and self styled Americanism with which the
of the honr may seek to cloak him.
self to promote his own sinister ends. Such !
strike in the dark, and like the Athe-
nian bastard throwing stones at the crowd, are
in danger of striking their own father. Neither
is such a COURSE. in any manner wise or philo-
|,
The principles IN which this fully aroused c
sentir ent must result-the thought !
10 which it will give expansion and force-and J
the high interests which prompt and originate t
t are essentially correct, conservative and ma ,
ional. No matter from whence the impulse {
nay have come: no matter what means NAV i.
'ave been used tc start it into splendid vitality, t
10 matter towaros what narrow and bigoted, t
md intolerant ends designing persons may {
seek to directits incalculable energies-stiIl the {
oundation is sound and solid-ihe primal ele- u
nent is right. Journalism therefore which
'coffs at in toto-which ridicuIes or denounces C
he whole manifestation, of which the country Il
$ so full, which plumes itself upon partyism i,
n hostility TO Americanism, will neither carry v
weight and conviction with its arguments, nor Fl
eceive support from the sympathy of those to =
it appeals. They who set their faces \
gainst the instructive a%filiation of the American b
eople must fall, and their fall will be merited h
nd unregret,ed. n
For our W part. we shall not be drawn Y
ITO anv such paricidal quarrel. We shall not e
'ink i'll of any man for saying he is American, n
Or feeling that he is American, or for acting !" :"
,ronghout as an American. We are Americans 81
u~rselves, and enter as fully as any into the al
cry recesses of that sentiment which give
oxen Of our national existence, hailing it as
he surest guarantee of the durability of the
MON. If any one should affirm that he was I'll
lore American than ourselves--eyen should 80
e seek its proof in a Pilgrim ancestry-or far. ~ ~
Ter still should he think to establish it bv NJ
eclaiming in behalf of exclusions and ~restric. sc
ons, we would have no cause of anger, if only pl
his God and his conscience he believed y
lat he was actuated by true American impul. q
8. We could honor the sources of his CON- oh
ctions, although we might doubt his evi. pc
noes, or question his conduct. VI
And it is just here that we take our stand or
the rise and spread of an American spirit, W;
e that shall be full orbed, steady and radiant va