The true Democrat., 1855-08-21

to preludlce tnelr feelings agalllSI our TepuDil' can institutions. Sound policy requires that by just and reasonable laws they should be attach ed to the country as good citizens. But the system of the know nothings, by degrading would in all human probability sour them into macontents. The de ,ree of national strength Is Tn proportion to the number of attached citi zens. The confidence and affection of the peo pie are mainly to be looked to for the strength o the government. The vast wilds of the est offer space and room Experience has shown that whatever may be the opinions of the first conner, those of his children and the succeeding generations, formed by the genius of American liberty, will be in conformity with those of the American people,
 Know nothingsm claims to be particularly sound on the slavery question. Its friends challenge for it, in this respect, a superiority over any other party. Yet the democratic par. ty, not merely by catch vote platform, but by positive legislation in the halls of Congress, preceded and led the way. Know nottingham has not dared to take a solitary step in advance of democratic enactments; nay It advance that far, with a sorrowful step and lugubrious tone; Witness the following from the l2th plank of its platform. "And as experience has shown 1t impossible to reconcile opinions SD extreme, as those which separate the disputants, and as the call Dc uO ulSuOHOf Ill SUOUtttIty lO tHc laws, the national council has deemed 1t the best' etc. etc. Why this is more solemn than the famous "expressly pretermittng'' paragraph in the same plank; but after all this; after pleading an exemption of "dishonor'' on account of slave ry upon the ground that it was best 'submt- ting to the laws,' and after expressly preter- mlttng' any opinion upon another important pont-thls 12th plank burst know nottingham asunder, and separated it into northern and southern know nottingham. The line of se- paratlon is as distinct as 1t is in the Methodist church, which was sundercd by disputes of the same character. Twelve of the northern States having protested against the 18th plank of the platform and seeded from the national council of know nottingham; yet after this se- cession impudence and elirontery, publishes this platform as national! As we'll ght the mem bers of either wing of the Methodist church claim nationality upon the question of slavery. Whatever may have been the original design, the effect of the know nothing organization, so far, has been to widen the breach between the north and the south.
 Opposition to the Nebraska Kansas law is the anlmatlng principle of their party ill the north, and upon that issue 1t hopes to triumph over the northern democracy; while in the south the same party talks about their being no diahonor ill Submitting to the laws.''
 Now the south has two purposes to accom- pllsh. She intends to maintain the integrity of the southern institutions, and she desires to maintain the integrity of the Union. Her own strength and her resources are ample for the execution of the first of these objects. But if she Is compelled to throw herself upon her own resources, instead of trusting to the laws and constitution of the country to maintain her in- stutlons, the fact would show that the constitu- ton was lost and no longer obligatory. To maintain the institutions of the south, and at the same time, perpetuate the Union, 1t is es sentlal that we have friends Ill the north, who, from patriotism and love of the Union, will hrmly support the guarantees of the cOnstltu- tlon-tor though 1t Is true that out of the Union the south is competent to protect herself; yet 1t is equally true, that to the main tainance of the validity of the constitution northern aid IS indispensable; and to what DOT tlon of the north shall we look for this aid and for protection to the Nebraska Kansas law, upon winch the issue Is now thrown.
 It Is notorious, that none from the north but democrats voted for that law when 1t was pas sed by the last Congress. It Is certain that III the elections which have taken place for members to the next Congress that law does not receive the supportot asingl member from = The democracy has always been national upon thlS ai upon other questions. For, If 1t IS true that a portion of the northern democracy have been affected with the surrounding rottennes5 So rife in the ranks of other parties in the north, 1t IS also true that a portion of the northern democracy have always been sound to the cen- ter, and that 1t has chosen the nobest and the most patriotic of its citizens, as the representa- tatives of that soundness ill the Halls of Con. gross.
 Can 1t be believed that the south will now prove tickle? That she will desert her old and constant friends, who have gallanty stood shoulder to shoulder with her in every battle merely to go gadding after know nothingism winch does not offer to the rights of the south the protection of a single vote from the whole north in the next Congress. Incredible From the earliest time the nation has witnes ed the existence of opposing parties. From that, period to this, the democracy has sustained the con- test against its successive compettors-th3 last and most powerful of whom was the late whlg party, which has now passed away and is swallowed up in know nottingham. This lat ter party, with the alias ''Ameican party'' now stalks through the land, the acknowledged op- ponent of the time honorcd democracy. The contest Ill the elections which have recently taken place in the States have been between these two parties and know nottingham having attracted to itself the fanatlcism and all the other isms of the nation, is no feeble competi- tor. There being but the two great parties of the day, no man who belongs to the one, need talk about being a member of the other. They are oppoSites. The man who is in fellowship with the mystic Sam and attends the dark gatherings, the midnight mysteries of know nothngism, cannot be considered democrat, unless he aban- dons the know nothing conventices.
 ResolUel, That we will support in practice as well as theory, freedom of speech, freedom of the press and the untramelleled right of free dom III judgment and opinion; and that we look upon the mode of proceedings in know nothngsm as an assault upon all these ri ghts.
 ResoIvea, That we will support in matters of religion, the great American principle of tolera- ton, as provided for in the constitution formed by our fathers, and that we look upon know nottingham as attempting to impair this princ- pie.
 Resolvea, That we will yield to no unfrend- ly proscrptive feeling against those who have been adopted into the bosom of the American family; nor will we be at much pains to hunt out the spot where any ones mother chanced to be at the time he was born; that naturalized persons become American when America adopts them, and that we look upon know nottingham as proscriptive and intolerant to such citizens.
 Reso1ved, That the democratic party is the great American party and the true exponent of American feeling and sentiment; that so long as the democracy has the ascendency America will continue to be ruled by Americans
 Resolvel, That we regard it as the duty of the democratic party to organize, and prepare for the contest! That appealing to the Great Arbiter for the event, we will meet this new wal that is waged against us by know nottingham as best we may. That we will firmly adhere to the constitution of the Union, and to the de- mocratic party as its safest expounder That invoking the genius of American freedom, we will advance with "the Star Spangled Banner the eloquent emblem of American liberty in the hands of our democratic standard bearers and that we will defend our flag against all op