The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1855-08-22

4 at SYRACUSE, IcVltcS tuc interesting QueeLlOu
| of New York in connection with national poll
tics, and the probable strength of the various
factions Of the State. There are now in the
field seven distinct parties, with several of:
shoots. First come the hards, with buckler
and shield; and respectable set Of men they
are. They constitute the Christian sect Of
American politics, with their selfdenial, their
resolute refusal to associate with the imps and
sinners of the administration and Tammany
Hall and their "noble army Of martyrs." In
truth, resting upon the constitution as the
ark of their political covenant, they have adj
hered to that compact with all the faith Of the
Apostles of old 10 the religion of the new dis
pensation. When General Pierce turned
against them, and became their Pilate--their
betrayer and their oppressor--they stood firm,
and were ever ready to offer up sacrifices in
honor Of their principles. They rejected his
Offices with scorn, because they could hold
them only by evil association and the corrup
tion of good manners. The blood of the mar
tyrs, it seems, has been the seed Of the church.
The debit of the administration is the credit
OF the hards. As the former sinks, the latter
rise.
These men come together tomorrow in State
convention. They are first in the field. They
open the campaign-lay down their principles,
and present the men by whom they will be
guided. They will utterly repudate this ut
terly faithless administration. They will talk
of Pierce and Marcy precisely as they are
| do justice to the Washington Union and the
| Kitchen Cabinet. We confess to o little liking
| Of The hards. They are resolute, firm, honest,
| and withal generous They are the only sect
that could ever Withstand the temptation Of
the spoils, and that is the true secret Of Marcys
hostility to them. They rejected the bats Of
the administration with disdain-they had cou-
rag to speak right out, when to speak was to
suffer-.
They have now their reward They occupy
the vantage ground, especially over their soft
competitors. The latter are encountered with
the administration, and that is enough to sink
any party; the hards have the credit OF all
Gen. Pierce's blunders, and that is enough to
enrich them. Time has worn ont the Offices in
the hands Of the President hence those who
look to the loaves and fishes see as much that
is valuable in the four years of new admins
tration as in the one of the present. Besides
Pierce has now deceived pretty much every
body, and his followers are leaving him like
| rats from sinking ship. This is all to the ac
| tual credit of the hards IL is obvious, then,
that they have before them an important busi-
| ness. They are the "light Of the political
| world" just now, the nucleus around which the
| great national democracy must concentrate,
and, it may be, Of the administration of the
government for four years after the present
imbecility shall expire.
The vote for Bronson and Seymour last fall
was no criterion, in . national point of view,
Of the strength Of the two rival factions Of the
democracy Of this State. The former took too
much time to consider the temperance ques-
ton, and then cut it in two, somewhere about
the centre while Seymour met that humbug
by a slap in the face, and bold challenge to
fight. The excitement upon the subject was
intense. 1t rode down every other issue, and
but for the interposition Of the Know Nothings,
whose injunctions and oaths kept their men to
their candidates, Seymour would have been
elected by thirty thousand plurality. The
question, however, was not between Seymour
and Bronson, but between the fanatics who
| were pressing the Maine law, and the great
mass of the business men and the well disposed
and orderly people of New York This is
| plain, because, on the Congressional and Legis-
lative, vote the national democracy were deci-
dcdly stronger than the administration softs.
On the election Of United States Senator by the
Legislature Dickinson had more votes than the
soft candidate. Seymour was supported for
Governor Notwithstanding his Identification
with the administration. That was his curse,
and it was overlooked. The truth is now that
the softs, without drawing to themselves any
sympathy from the other factions, arc utterly
borne down by the Custom House, Pierce and
Marcy. 1t is well to look into these things, be-
cause, in the minute subdivision of our State
! politics, we arc liable to lose all landmarks
Of rational calculations and to under or over
estimate the strength Of factions. We have,
for instance. the hards, the softs, the old wing,
the Seward republican, the Know Nothing, the
liquor and anti-liquor parties, and perhaps
others Two of these are probably destined to
great disappointment republicans and the
softs. The latter is stencil in the nostrils of
all fair men. II is enough that ii carries the
administration. Its convention will seek to
ignore all the great questions which divide the
country-to PROSTATE the democracy at the
feet of the fanatics and make them suppliants
Of aims, rather than soldiers of the true faith
of the constitution.
The national democracy are fairly gloriled
by the treachery of their soft opponents. They
must march up and seize the very horns of the
altar-they must avow national principles
they must endorse kansas-sustain popular
sovereignty there-dcnounce the Missouri
compromse-all interventions with slavery,
the administration Of General Pierce and all