Weekly conservative. (Aberdeen, Miss.) 1854-1860, 1855-06-09
To the Editor of the Charleston
Mercury.

Your paper of the 10th instant contains an
article OF no little Significance upon the present
aspect of political parties now struggling for
supremacy in the Northern States of the Con
federacv. 1t has attracted some attention from
several of the newspapers in this State, and
has been commented ON by their editors accord
ing to their predictions or prejudices. As
take deep interest in the welfare and peace of
the Republic, and shall take my stand in the
coming Congress upon none other than M
tional platform. permit me to notice a few Of
your remarks very briefly and to correct some
of the impressions they so decidedly indicate
1t may be that you are mistaken in some Of our
views. but there is enough of truth in the gen
eral tenor of your conclusions to alarm the pub
lie mind. and seriously to demand of American
people the most solemn and careful reflection
"Party organizations, patched up tiuces, and
shallow compromises, have all had their day.
and all ave fallen beneath the violence Of "a
devilish fanaticism and the unholy ambition of
uDprincipled politicians" 1t is very true that
''section has been embittered against section"
and that bad men have brought the country al
most to the verge of dissolution, in promoting
their own selfish purposes, but | still have an
abiding faith in the patriotism and intelligence
of the people. and will not despair of the saliva
ton of this glorious Union.
OF the Wing and Dcmpcrat PAGES, now in
that Say S't any, l lore tEan That YOU
have very briefly, but directly written their
history. With varying sScccss, they have been
the rulers of orr destiny, and each have failed
in securing for ms the peace and tranquility we
so much desired. In both, corruption has done
its work. They 'have sown the wind" and
are now reaping the fruits of that sowing, in
their own everlasting ruin. Websters conserv-
atisrn has fearfully shaken "beneath the intole
rant fanaticism of Seward but it is not de-
stroyed The Wing party is beyond recovery,
but Websters principles are immortal. The
Democratic party has been utterly broken up
by abolition. Its nationality is gone, its plat
form destroyed With President Pierce, its last
pin will be knocked from under t,and'like base
less fabric of a vision, it will leave not wreck
behindu All hopes of national organization
on the basis of either Wing or Democratic prin-
cples being futile, it becomes usall to inquire,
if upon their ruin there may not be built up
truly national party, conservative, patriotic,
American? Does such Il party exist? Iou
have answered for me- and | quote your Ian
guage:
"Slleh was the state of the old parties when,
about n year ago, the Know Nothing order first
made its mark on the politics of the conutry.-
1t pronounced the old parties ciete and rotten.
1t proposed to bury the old Issues which had di-
vided the North and the South, and to erect up
on their gravea grand, comprehensive national
idea, which would override all sectional differ
ences, and give peace and security to the Union.
Sick as men were Of the old parties, disguised
with their vain experiments, and lured by its
peculiar principles; the new party gathered to
its folds many adherents."
There does exist, than IA new party"-the
Know Nothing Order; and | rejoice that You
recognize its existence lou care not to ques-
ton the antagonsm which this party assumes
to exist between the native and foreign born.--
You are willing to accept ii asa fact, and fact
it is. yet" you ask, "wlat DOVE seer" 1T
1.-THE new partly ''exclndes the foreign element,
because it is supposed to be radical, disturbing
and antagonistic to stable nationality, and as
serts that the native born are the only true
friends of the order, conversatism, and the
Union.n | think you are mstakeKhere, for
have nowhere seen the assertion made, that ma
frity alone makes man trne friend of order
conservatism, and the Union Cause and effect
are not always relative, nor does it uniformly
follow that because u man is born upon our soil
he cannot be traitor There are Americans
and their tongues should blister in their mouths
for the words they utter there. American dep
arorues are as foreign. intri p0u!gluIrHJpd LV
the Union if its salvati AocIoomsp abYSa> }.
Again. you say, "Tha nnuuuisS y
came on, and eyerywhet
the Abolition and the iieNV L1
day.D Is this fact, that the Know Nothing
success has only been achieved by their alliance
with Free-soilers? Is it n fact that the Great
American Party an only triumph by an allilia-
tion with American traitors? Is it a fact, that
the new order has incorporated among its prin-
clplc one werl about slavery or fke-soil? Is it
fact that they, too, as party, spit upon the
Constitution, and ignore the compact entered
\ into by the Fathers of the Republic? No! it
\ is not so. New York speaks in tones not to I've
mistaken, and she will stick to her text through
good and evil report; the CONSTITUTION and
The Union, now and forever, one and nsepara-
ble." speak of the new party as national
organization. and in this view ! feel assured
they will neither touch, nor give laid and COM
fort" to the 'slavery question" They are will
ing to let it alone.
But YOU point me to Massachusetts,, in whose
Legislature the Know Nothings were, as you
truly assert, "omnipoteni" and you tell me
that in few short weeks, that Legislature has
given to the world Il record ol lanatlclsfn, dis
gushing rowdyism and shame which the most
degenerate posterity will blush to peruse."
admit ii to be true. But there is even in thai
State some intelligence left, some patriotism
some genuine American feeling. The meeting
of the citizens Of Boston on the evening of the
2lst was very large and enthusiastic one, and
they passed among Others. this resolution.
Resolped. That the Legislature of 1855 standt
without a parallel in its shame. Its inconsist
eneies are garing, its hypocrisy its immorali
ties gross: while folly and stupidity seemed IL
be the presiding genius Of many of its acts and
enactments.
Massachusetts may surrender herself to ''mol
fauaticism,n and nullity the Fugitive Slave
Law as her recent Legislators have done, anc
some of the other Northern States may follow
her bad example but New York has determin
ed to know no North, no South, no East ne