The Middlebury register. [volume] (Middlebury, Vt.) 1850-1882, 1854-11-01
Tho Republican Party.

wear ~
Tho Republican Party.
Is this party needed in the present as
pect of our national affalrs2 We think
it is, and have some reasons TO give for
our conviction.
The question of paramount impor.
tancc, now claiming the attention of the
American pcople,i is tho question, whether
freedom or slavery shall honceforsh be
the controlling element in this great Re-
public. 1t is obvious that the South is
pushing resolutely and desperately for
final and unqucstioncd supremacy in the
national councils, and that the issue thus
rendered can be successfully met only by
an organization having basis differing
from any of the old party platforms. The
Wing and Democratic parties have nei-
Their of them been formed with reference
to this question. and while an immense
majority of both ut the north are fully
prepared to meet the issue offered by the
south, it is evident that they cannot do
so. unitcdly and ctfcctually, without a
new organization.
Again, the old party questions are
nearly all obsolete, and such CT them as
remain arc not of a fundamental charac.
ter. They are matters Of expediency,
not of principle, and are like to be set.
tied much more satisfactorily, if left as
open questions, than by making them The
basis of distinct party organization
They are certainly of character alto
gcther trivial, as compared with the qucs-
ton, which has recently been so emplat-
ically forced upon the attention of the
nation. The essential character Of our
Institutions,thc hopes of civilization and
Chrstianity,all the great and permanent
interests of these United States. are in.
volyed in tho struggle, which the south
has now renewed for the extension Of its
peculiar Institutions In such crisis,
shall We Of the north be found false to
our poslion--false 10 our instincts as
frecmen-ialso to our country and to our
Code We hope for better things of the
north. We trust there is manhood
enough among us- enough of superiority
to old party names and trivialiiies-
enough of patriotism and devotion to the
highest wcli-bcing of the Republic, to Sc
cure union Of ALL who are resolutely
bent OIL maintaining the rightaud giving
to it permanent and urlucstioued Sc.
carly
We know that there are timid men.
and selfish politicians who object to such
u union as sectional, But We think it
sufficient to say, that it is not necessarily
sectional, for We believe the best part of
Vie south will rejoice in such a combina
tion, and b' sides, that, if it must be Sec
tional i'll its organization, it is national in
its ends Its aim is the highest aud
most truly national that any party has
ever proposed to itself; and, in our judg.
ment, there can be no greater folly than
to shrink from its lofty purpose, because
the men,who MAY sympathse with it, are
found mostly in one section of the coun-
try.
We do not forget that there are fool.
ish men and dishonest men. who will
raise the cry,that this organization, which
we advocate, is only an Abolition party.
To all. who have sincere objections on
this point, it will be enough to say, that
the abolition party aims at the Abolition
of slavery, where it now exists, while
the design of tho Republican party is, to
prevent the extension of slavery into
territory where it does not exist, and
thus secure permanent advantage in
our national councils to the interests of
freedom. We personally desire the sup
preston of Slavery in the southern
States, and, were VIC resident of the
south. would TO our best to bring it about.
The south emphatically needs an Adolf
ton party-but for the north or the
country at large, We arc not now advo-
eating it. All, that the north can ac-
complsh by party organization, is en-
braced in the aims of the Republican
movement.