Washington sentinel., 1854-06-06


trary to his own, is not fit to exercise the righ
of suffrage. 4k
1t is not irreverent or disobedient or unkint
in child to renounce at maturity and on con
viction, the opinions he derived from his par
ents. Indeed, if the father be reasonable anc
right-thinking man, he would take pleasure in
the thought that his son. has mind and charac
ter enough to think for himself
The danger when parents and children are
to each other what parents and children should
be- is not that the latter will differ from the for
mer, but that without rhyme or reason they will
adopt and tenaciously cling to their religious
and political tenets.
Inherited politics are the most foolish of all
politics. There is no more reason why child
should have the politics of his father than tha,
he should be of the same size and have the
same appetite.
There is another error that is oftentimes com
mitted. Men-and all men are fallible-fe-
quently hold a set of political tenets that they
become convinced are wrong; but having long
held them, and been perhaps active and promi
nent propagators Of them, they are afraid OF
ashamed to renounce them, even when satisfied
of their unsoundness. They would give the
world to abandon them. They feel uneasy and
dissatisfied, but they are too proud to acknowl-
edge their error. Moreover, they are unwilling
to meet the taunt of q malignant adversary, the
reproach Of former friend, or the jest Of a
wretched fool As they think, and think hon.
estly, so ought they to act, regardless of conse-
quences. To stiHe conviction is greater Of
fence than to acknowledge an error.
These remarks are not made without an OBJ
ject We know, and know well, that there are
a great many persons, chiefly in the southern
States, who have acted all their lives long with
the whig party, either from conviction or be-
cause their fathers did SO. They see that the
national whig party is disbanded. They see
that most if not all Of the measures of that
party have been abandoned. In many in
stances they have become convinced that those
measures were unwise, ill-advised, and impoli-
tic. But, having all along called themselves
wings, having all along battled against the
democratic party, they are 10th to renounce
their former principles and change their po-
litical course.
If those principles are wrong, it is right
to abandon them. IF their party is broken up
and disbanded it is idle to seize rotten plank
and float off from that party on the broad ocean,
when safe ship is at hand manned by gal
liant crew and sailing under an honored aag
There are wings in the southern States, many
Of them prominent and distinguished men, be-
tween whom and the democratic party there is
more sympathy and congeniality than there is
between them and the northern wing of their
party. If they do not want to become inefi-
cient neutrals, political nobodies, they will have
to act with the one or the other. That they
act with northern wings, we have shown
on another occasion. That they ought to act
with the democratic party, we believe and hope.
They are sound constitutional and patriotic men.
They have already manfully, nobly, and like
patriots met and united with the democrats on
one measure-the Nebraska bill. They sep
arated from their northern brethren and from
some Of their southern brethren on that issue,
a most important and material issue. a test, if
ever there was one, of political soundness. Can
they return to them? Will they, in the Ian
guage of one of their greatest statesmen, who,
if alive now, would be with them, "tread one
step backwards2" Would they 60 to these
northern wings and say, I'VE have sinned-
forgive and receive us back into your en-
braces" Would they 60 back to them know
ing that they are now, at this very moment
meditating junction with the abolitionists and
freesoilers, in order to bring about the repeal
Of the Nebraska bill3 This they cannot and
will not do. They are too true, too honest, and
too patriotic.